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Post by kds on Mar 28, 2019 17:53:46 GMT
This is somewhat similar to the "And the bands played on" thread, but I want to highlight bands / artists who managed to release really good albums late in their careers.
How late? For argument sake, let's make the bands / artists Rock and Roll HOF eligible at the time of release, 25 years after their debut. Mainly, because I don't think albums like Abbey Road and LA Woman really come to mind when I think of late career releases (even if it's technically true in those cases). And.....here.....we.......go
The Beach Boys - That's Why God Made the Radio (2012 - 50 years after their debut) - I can easily look past the autotune and Foskettness of this release and marvel at the fact that, somehow, some way, Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine, David Marks, and Bruce Johnston, released a new Beach Boys album in 2012, and it's really really good.
The Who - Endless Wire (2006 - 41 years after their debut) - Also the first Who LP in 24 years, and the first since the death of John Entwistle. A good collection of songs in the first half, including Mike Post Theme, Fragments, Black Widow's Eyes, and It's Not Enough give way to the mini opera Wire and Glass on the second half. Really solid material.
Iron Maiden - A Matter of Life and Death (2006 - 26 years after their debut) - For my money, no band has been producing such consistently good later era material and putting on great live shows as well as Iron Maiden. Since Bruce Dickinson's return to the band, they've released five really good albums. This one was so good, the band decided to play it from start to finish on their 2006 tour.
Pink Floyd - The Division Bell (1994 - 27 years after their debut) - After two albums in the 1980s that were essentially Roger Waters and David Gilmour solo projects respectively, the post Waters Floyd hit a high mark with their final proper album. Thanks in part to Richard Wright's return to the songwriting fold, this album sounds more like a true Pink Floyd band album than anything since Wish You Were Here.
Deep Purple - Infinite (2017 - 49 years after their debut) - Purple look to be pretty close to calling it a day on a great career, but two years ago, they released what might be their most consistent album post Ritchie Blackmore / Jon Lord. Bob Ezrin manages to get some really solid material from Purple on this loose and fun album.
Van Halen - A Different Kind of Truth (2012 - 34 years after their debut) - OK some of the material dates back to before VH's debut was released. But, the first (and so far only) album of the Roth and the three Van Halens lineup delivers exactly what you want from a VH album. Big fat hard rock with blistering solos, and Diamond Dave being Diamond Dave. The only real shame is that, other than a 2015 tour, the VH camp has been silent since this album's release.
Judas Priest - Angel of Retribution (2005 - 30 years after their debut) - Rob Halford returned to the band, and they released a great mix everything that's great about the mighty Priest. There's fast, thrashy songs, mid paced fist pumpers, a couple ballad, and a 13 minute song about the Lochness Monster?? OK, maybe that wasn't a great idea, but otherwise, the album's great.
I'm sure I'm missing a few, and may post later. Feel free to add.
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Post by Kapitan on Mar 28, 2019 18:11:38 GMT
Great thread idea! Let me think about this one.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Mar 28, 2019 18:25:02 GMT
The Johnny Cash American recordings with Rick Rubin come to mind. Johnny was in his 60's when he started recording with Rubin, and was a long way from his "hit making" years. Johnny gets a lot of credit for stepping out and taking a chance by changing his style, especially at that age and after so much success doing it his way. Of course, by that time Johnny's recording career had fallen on hard times so there might've also been the feeling of "what do I have to lose". I think Johnny's American Recordings have now become the reference or concept for older ex-stars who might want to step outside the box, for whatever reason.
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Post by kds on Mar 28, 2019 18:33:17 GMT
The Johnny Cash American recordings with Rick Rubin come to mind. Johnny was in his 60's when he started recording with Rubin, and was a long way from his "hit making" years. Johnny gets a lot of credit for stepping out and taking a chance by changing his style, especially at that age and after so much success doing it his way. Of course, by that time Johnny's recording career had fallen on hard times so there might've also been the feeling of "what do I have to lose". I think Johnny's American Recordings have now become the reference or concept for older ex-stars who might want to step outside the box, for whatever reason. I actually meant to include that on my list, but I see that I forgot. American Recordings, as well as American II and American IV (the last one released while Cash was still living) are all really good albums. I've cited those as examples of why I'd like to see Brian Wilson work with Rubin. Rubin has also gotten some really good later era material from Metallica and Black Sabbath.
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Post by Kapitan on Mar 28, 2019 18:56:09 GMT
Tom Waits – Mule Variations (1999) and Alice (2002). Waits’s first album was released in 1973, so these were 26 and 29 years into his recording career, respectively. The former is a wonderful grab-bag of styles, from his Beefheartian recitations over junkyard noise to what should have been a chart-topping ballad in a just world (“Hold On”). The latter is the album version of a musical he wrote music for based on Alice in Wonderland, a creepy minor masterpiece. Waits has had several other good (but not as good) albums since then. He, like Dylan, was an old man in a young man’s body when his career started, so he actually seems to have simply aged into himself.
Lou Reed – Ecstasy (2000). The Velvet Underground & Nico was released in 1967, so this is 33 years into his popular recording career (with the term “popular” being used loosely, and excluding his Pickwick Records discount session songwriting/recording). The lows, especially in the mid to late 70s and into the 80s, were REALLY low, but there were some occasional reminders that the guy was a genius. Ecstasy was really a surprise, though, muscular, tight, well arranged. A rock band fronted by one of the best, yet somehow age-appropriate. He didn’t sound like he was trying to convince anyone he was 24 years old.
Frank Zappa – The Yellow Shark (1993). This album of chamber music was released 27 years after the 1966 Mothers of Invention album Freak Out!, which can probably be considered Zappa’s debut. (He, like Reed, had music released prior to that, but under other names, without major labels, etc. It isn’t considered canonical.) As the ‘80s wore on, he released a lot of live albums and Synclavier (e.g. early computer-programmed) albums. This was a “classical” album with real musicians, and it was spectacular.
Bob Dylan – Love & Theft (2001). Thirty-eight years in, Dylan released what remains to me one of his four or five best albums ever. He began flirting with the sound on Time Out of Mind, but it was here that he found that modern-day roots musician/sage vibe, eschewing most of the Lanois reverb and all of the ‘80s drum machines and throwaway songs. I love Modern Love, from 2005, too; it feels like a sequel to L&T.
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Post by B.E. on Mar 28, 2019 18:56:20 GMT
This is a really interesting topic. I've always wanted to delve into it, because I think there are very few albums by legacy artists that are truly on the same level as their best work. Aging makes this nearly impossible. Artists become less creative, less productive, and their voices inevitably suffer. For my money, Tom Petty's Highway Companion is one of the best examples of an artist matching their earlier work. It was released in 2006. 30 years after his debut album. It doesn't sound like it. And that's what this is all about (IMO). I don't have to give it a single allowance.
George Harrison's Brainwashed (40 years after his debut) and Cloud Nine (25 years after his debut) are both very good late period albums. Neither of these quite live up to George's best work, but they are good albums nonetheless.
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Post by kds on Mar 28, 2019 19:33:56 GMT
This is a really interesting topic. I've always wanted to delve into it, because I think there are very few albums by legacy artists that are truly on the same level as their best work. Aging makes this nearly impossible. Artists become less creative, less productive, and their voices inevitably suffer. For my money, Tom Petty's Highway Companion is one of the best examples of an artist matching their earlier work. It was released in 2006. 30 years after his debut album. It doesn't sound like it. And that's what this is all about (IMO). I don't have to give it a single allowance. George Harrison's Brainwashed (40 years after his debut) and Cloud Nine (25 years after his debut) are both very good late period albums. Neither of these quite live up to George's best work, but they are good albums nonetheless. The works don't even have to be on the same level as their best work. With the exception of Iron Maiden, none of the albums I listed are really on par with those artists' best work, but I think once you log a quarter century in the business, it becomes a little unfair to judge current releases with the prime releases. For the purposes of this thread, I'm thinking albums that, taken on their own merit, are very enjoyable listens. The two George albums you mentioned are good examples.
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Post by Kapitan on Mar 28, 2019 20:22:07 GMT
I thought of a few more. First, allow me to point out something kind of funny (if you’re into laughing at my stupidity, as you should be). As I was running through possibilities for this list, I thought, “why am I only thinking of older artists? Nobody new is coming to mind.” And, uh … after about two seconds I realized that this exercise is by definition for older artists, since there is a 25-year requirement from their debuts! I think I need a vacation.
David Bowie – Blackstar (2016). I’m not a huge Bowie fan, though I have dabbled here and there and really do like some of his stuff. But while his first album was 1967 and his best (in my opinion) were from the early-mid to the later 70s, Blackstar was shockingly good when it was a surprise release in late 2016. Then, of course, he died virtually simultaneously. So I guess that was that.
Elvis Costello – North (2003) and The Delivery Man (2004). While I’d heard a few of his songs (mostly not knowing they were him) and knew him for his once unique look (before hipsters everywhere adopted the glasses and suits), I wasn’t a fan until right around these albums, so I admit my assessment of them might be skewed. But I love them both, putting them right up with or just slightly below his best early work that is usually considered his peak. North is full of gorgeous, complex music akin to a Tin Pan Alley songwriter, while The Delivery Man is more a roots-rocking affair that features one of the most beautiful ballads of the past 20 years, “Nothing Clings Like Ivy.” (“The Scarlet Tide,” too, is great, like a long-lost folk standard .. except it’s not.)
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Post by kds on Apr 1, 2019 13:27:00 GMT
Heaven and Hell - The Devil You Know (2009 - 39 years after the debut album from Black Sabbath) - The label says Heaven and Hell, but that moniker is a mere formality, as this is a Black Sabbath album. When Ronnie James Dio rejoined Sabbath for a third stint in 2007, they had to change their name to Heaven and Hell when they decided to tour to "avoid confusion" with the Ozzy Osbourne fronted Black Sabbath. Unexpectedly, the lineup of Dio, Iommi, Butler, and Appice recorded a new album in 2009. Even though it was short on some of the uptempo songs that graced the early Sabbath Dio albums, it was a really good album, and a fitting farewell for Dio, who passed away the following year, opening the door for.........
Black Sabbath - 13 (2013 - 43 years after their debut) - A year after Dio passed, Ozzy Osbourne returned to Black Sabbath. Unfortunately, Bill Ward was not a part of the reunion, album, and farewell tour that followed, but Rick Rubin got a really good set of songs for Sabbath's first LP with Ozzy since 1978.
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Post by B.E. on Oct 5, 2020 3:07:51 GMT
Dang, we left off a no-brainer.
Roy Orbison's Mystery Girl (1989, 32 years after his debut) was an incredible comeback. Being a Wilbury surely helped, but this album brings the goods. "You Got It" and "She's A Mystery To Me" don't just rival his Wilbury work, but his own former glory. I'd add "California Blue" and "The Only One" to that list as well. Others might add "A Love So Beautiful" and "The Comedians"...well, I think you get the picture. This is a very strong album, and he sounds remarkably well (like his younger self) on much of it. The 40-track Essential Roy Orbison (2006) features 6 songs from Mystery Girl (more than any other album).
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