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What's the best "comeback" / "return to form" / "late career surprise" album by a band who's "golden years" had passed?


Entre_Perpetuo
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IMO, a band that releases a bad album or 2 and then releases a great one isn't really staging a "comeback," and I don't consider a band 2 or 3 years removed from their masterpiece in their late career. So, with that said:

 

AC/DC - Power Up

 

Paul McCartney - Flaming Pie - McCartney III

 

George Harrison - Cloud Nine

 

John Lennon - Double Fantasy

 

Black Sabbath - The Devil You Know (Dio era), 13 (Ozzy era)

 

Judas Priest - Firepower

 

Whitesnake - Forevermore

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A few come to mind:

 

Kiss's Revenge comes to mind. It was only 3 years after their last, but they'd been on a hair metal comfy cloud for a long time when they rekindled with Bob Ezrin and showed the world they were back with the Gene lead single Unholy.

 

Styx's The Mission - 14 years since their last album and it was going to be a concept album about going to Mars. Had f***ing DISASTER written all over it, but damn if it wasn't stellar. Crash Of The Crown might qualify had The Mission not proven to be so great itself.

 

Van Halen's A Different Kind Of Truth - Just love this thing. Many recycled unreleased ideas, some newer ones. First DLR-VH album since 1984 and it had teeth. China Town, Honeybabysweetiedoll, Blood and Fire, She's The Woman, Big River? Yeah, I still get excited listening to it.

 

Iron Maiden's Brave New World - Erased the awfulness that was Maiden in the 1990s. I literally cried hearing The Wicker Man for the first time, I was so RELIEVED.

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I am a big fan of The Who's most recent record in 2019, titled simply WHO.

 

I think as a band, the have been very careless with their own legacy - endless rehash collections, songs sold to tv shows and commercials, greatest hit tours etc... so that when they put out their first album in 12 years - and only their 2nd record since 1982! - it really didn't seem so special. But I think WHO is a really good album that kinda got lost in the shuffle. Someone else mentioned Bob Dylan in the thread (which I very much agree with), and one of the things that is interesting about his releases is that Columbia Records or his management or both have managed to treat every new one as an event - as something special from a legendary artist. Of course, whether you're a fan or not, that is fairly objectively true, because he's so historically important, but not every "classic" artist gets that kind of consideration in the public eye with their new work. I don't know how in the hell you make an album "important" in this day and age, I really don't...but I do know that there were 2 or 3 songs on WHO that I thought would have real resonance as singles out in the world...but it seemed to disappear.

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I am a big fan of The Who's most recent record in 2019, titled simply WHO.

 

I think as a band, the have been very careless with their own legacy - endless rehash collections, songs sold to tv shows and commercials, greatest hit tours etc... so that when they put out their first album in 12 years - and only their 2nd record since 1982! - it really didn't seem so special. But I think WHO is a really good album that kinda got lost in the shuffle. Someone else mentioned Bob Dylan in the thread (which I very much agree with), and one of the things that is interesting about his releases is that Columbia Records or his management or both have managed to treat every new one as an event - as something special from a legendary artist. Of course, whether you're a fan or not, that is fairly objectively true, because he's so historically important, but not every "classic" artist gets that kind of consideration in the public eye with their new work. I don't know how in the hell you make an album "important" in this day and age, I really don't...but I do know that there were 2 or 3 songs on WHO that I thought would have real resonance as singles out in the world...but it seemed to disappear.

 

I just listened to it the other night, great disc! Not quite on the level of Who's Next or their rock operas, but energetic playing, good songwriting, and Roger and Pete still sound great on vocals. Some really good messages in there too. What else is an aging rockstar supposed to write about? According to many, the same things they always wrote about, but Pete is smarter than that. All This Music Must Fade, We Don't Wanna Get Wise. Excellent material. If they had stretched out a bit more instrumentally instead of keeping every song sharp and snappy I imagine it might have caught more attention, just a gut feeling. It was a great comeback for sure, and I got my copy at no extra charge with my concert tickets from that summer. Incredible show, one of the best I've seen.

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I am a big fan of The Who's most recent record in 2019, titled simply WHO.

 

I think as a band, the have been very careless with their own legacy - endless rehash collections, songs sold to tv shows and commercials, greatest hit tours etc... so that when they put out their first album in 12 years - and only their 2nd record since 1982! - it really didn't seem so special. But I think WHO is a really good album that kinda got lost in the shuffle. Someone else mentioned Bob Dylan in the thread (which I very much agree with), and one of the things that is interesting about his releases is that Columbia Records or his management or both have managed to treat every new one as an event - as something special from a legendary artist. Of course, whether you're a fan or not, that is fairly objectively true, because he's so historically important, but not every "classic" artist gets that kind of consideration in the public eye with their new work. I don't know how in the hell you make an album "important" in this day and age, I really don't...but I do know that there were 2 or 3 songs on WHO that I thought would have real resonance as singles out in the world...but it seemed to disappear.

 

I just listened to it the other night, great disc! Not quite on the level of Who's Next or their rock operas, but energetic playing, good songwriting, and Roger and Pete still sound great on vocals. Some really good messages in there too. What else is an aging rockstar supposed to write about? According to many, the same things they always wrote about, but Pete is smarter than that. All This Music Must Fade, We Don't Wanna Get Wise. Excellent material. If they had stretched out a bit more instrumentally instead of keeping every song sharp and snappy I imagine it might have caught more attention, just a gut feeling. It was a great comeback for sure, and I got my copy at no extra charge with my concert tickets from that summer. Incredible show, one of the best I've seen.

 

I agree with you...if the songs had been allowed to breathe a tiny bit more, it might have been better. I think with The Who there has always been a tension between their more expansive material and their early, perfect "pop" singles, which pack so much punch into a brief time frame. I wish they had dropped the last song on the record "She Rocked My World", which I think is a piece of total crap, and used that extra time to stretch each tune a tiny bit...

 

I have always loved that Townshend has chosen to write about where he's at, and not be frozen in forever rock&roll adolescence, like say The Stones. God, even back on Who Are You he was bemoaning and accessing his place as an aging rocker...and that was 44 or so years ago?! The band was only 12 or 13 years old at that point....

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I am a big fan of The Who's most recent record in 2019, titled simply WHO.

 

I think as a band, the have been very careless with their own legacy - endless rehash collections, songs sold to tv shows and commercials, greatest hit tours etc... so that when they put out their first album in 12 years - and only their 2nd record since 1982! - it really didn't seem so special. But I think WHO is a really good album that kinda got lost in the shuffle. Someone else mentioned Bob Dylan in the thread (which I very much agree with), and one of the things that is interesting about his releases is that Columbia Records or his management or both have managed to treat every new one as an event - as something special from a legendary artist. Of course, whether you're a fan or not, that is fairly objectively true, because he's so historically important, but not every "classic" artist gets that kind of consideration in the public eye with their new work. I don't know how in the hell you make an album "important" in this day and age, I really don't...but I do know that there were 2 or 3 songs on WHO that I thought would have real resonance as singles out in the world...but it seemed to disappear.

 

I just listened to it the other night, great disc! Not quite on the level of Who's Next or their rock operas, but energetic playing, good songwriting, and Roger and Pete still sound great on vocals. Some really good messages in there too. What else is an aging rockstar supposed to write about? According to many, the same things they always wrote about, but Pete is smarter than that. All This Music Must Fade, We Don't Wanna Get Wise. Excellent material. If they had stretched out a bit more instrumentally instead of keeping every song sharp and snappy I imagine it might have caught more attention, just a gut feeling. It was a great comeback for sure, and I got my copy at no extra charge with my concert tickets from that summer. Incredible show, one of the best I've seen.

 

I agree with you...if the songs had been allowed to breathe a tiny bit more, it might have been better. I think with The Who there has always been a tension between their more expansive material and their early, perfect "pop" singles, which pack so much punch into a brief time frame. I wish they had dropped the last song on the record "She Rocked My World", which I think is a piece of total crap, and used that extra time to stretch each tune a tiny bit...

 

I have always loved that Townshend has chosen to write about where he's at, and not be frozen in forever rock&roll adolescence, like say The Stones. God, even back on Who Are You he was bemoaning and accessing his place as an aging rocker...and that was 44 or so years ago?! The band was only 12 or 13 years old at that point....

 

Yeah not every song is perfect on that one. I can't recall off the top of my head which one I'm less enthusiastic about, but I will say She Rocked My World isn't much of a closer. In a career featuring We're Not Gonna Take It, Won't Get Fooled Again, and Love Reign O'er Me, it would be nice to try to close the album out with more of a showstopper.

 

Excellent point about the tension between their early perfect pop songs and their slightly later more long winded stuff. I was thinking the same thing. It's like they wanted to be 60s Who again, which is cool and all, but why not embrace both sides of the legacy?

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