To me, The Real Thing (and the Chuck stuff) exists in its own universe. If someone were working their way backwards through their discography, they'd be in for quite the shock when they got the the early stuff. The leap between TRT and Angel Dust is ridiculous.

The Real Thing music-wise, was written and recorded before Patton joined. He just added lyrics and vocals. With Angel Dust you had Patton involved in the songwriting process.

Their early stuff is good. I still listen to Introduce Yourself quite a bit.