Greatest Comeback Albums

[misch]

Roy Orbison - Mystery Girl

[username]

Can we count Pink Floyd after Syd in this?

Not really imo. The transition was much more gradually.

Saucerful already had gilmour on it and only featured two Syd songs.

After that it was just 4-man Floyd without Syd. More and Umagumma weren't that much more or less successful than Saucerful I think.

Then they slowly started to transition in a less psychedelic more melodic sound. They hadn't *really* blown up yet fame-wise.

[bt88]

I gotta go with AIC's Black Gives Way To Blue as well. No one thought Duvall could fill in and do it justice and he did.

[Guest Len B'stard]

There's no such thing as a 'great' comeback album, you have your time, your allotted slot to be great in and you either do it or you make a nause of it, artists that subscribe to these sorts of concepts are at an immediate disadvantage. But no, there have been no great comebacks of popular music, it doesn't really work that way to be honest, you have a sell by date in popular music and once you've passed that you've had it effectively.

You have your time to do your thing and make a mark...and when it's gone then it's gone.

Nonsense, Aerosmith came back from the dead and were one of the biggest bands in the world again in the late 80's early 90's..........they had a successful second career which could be argued as more popular then the first....

Financially successful, OK, i'll get with you on that but a taxidermised Elvis in a glass cabinet would also be financially successful too, other than that they just went out and played the same old type of shit they did before and essentially became a dilute parody of what they once were, which weren't all that to begin with. Nothing was achieved, no artistic zenith, no particular expansion on or improvement on their sound or the shit they played, i don't call that a successful comeback, i call that a fools paradise.

This is just wrong. It's not even worth arguing. You don't have an "allotted time slot to be great". People can disappear for years and come back better than ever. They can make record after record and suddenly get inspired and make great shit again for years. You're talking straight nonsense.

Tom Waits - sappy drunk piano songs for OVER TEN YEARS. That's all he did. He had great songs, they were all in that sort of style. Then he randomly came out with Swordfishtrombones after getting inspired again. Damon Albarn - was in Blur for about TEN YEARS doing brit pop and the like, blur evolved over that time, then died. Then, he "came back" with the Gorillaz, totally different artistic expression.

You're saying these examples don't exist. They do. Stop!

Tom Waits doesn't REALLY count as popular music though, does he, really? Also, Tom Waits has been pretty consistent his whole career, he didn't just come out with Swordfish Trombones, i think you'll find he'd been steady making albums every 1 or 2 years since the 70s at the point Swordfish Trombones was released, so hows that even a comeback? And Damon Albarn will always be Damon from Blur, you can't seriously sit there and tell me The Gorillaz eclipsed what Blur were/did.

So yes, at least in the case of Tom Waits, The Gorillaz can be construed as one though i guess, i'll give ya that but even then, didn't exactly measure up to Blur.

This is just wrong. It's not even worth arguing. You don't have an "allotted time slot to be great". People can disappear for years and come back better than ever. They can make record after record and suddenly get inspired and make great shit again for years. You're talking straight nonsense.

Well gimme an example then. Worth arguing or not, you haven't managed a decent one yet.

Edited June 21, 2012 by sugaraylen

[bran]

Anthrax - Worship Music

nice. was never the biggest anthrax fan but i really like this album

obviously being a huge dio fan my favorite song is in the end

[The_Universal_Sigh]

There's no such thing as a 'great' comeback album, you have your time, your allotted slot to be great in and you either do it or you make a nause of it, artists that subscribe to these sorts of concepts are at an immediate disadvantage. But no, there have been no great comebacks of popular music, it doesn't really work that way to be honest, you have a sell by date in popular music and once you've passed that you've had it effectively.

You have your time to do your thing and make a mark...and when it's gone then it's gone.

Nonsense, Aerosmith came back from the dead and were one of the biggest bands in the world again in the late 80's early 90's..........they had a successful second career which could be argued as more popular then the first....

Financially successful, OK, i'll get with you on that but a taxidermised Elvis in a glass cabinet would also be financially successful too, other than that they just went out and played the same old type of shit they did before and essentially became a dilute parody of what they once were, which weren't all that to begin with. Nothing was achieved, no artistic zenith, no particular expansion on or improvement on their sound or the shit they played, i don't call that a successful comeback, i call that a fools paradise.

This is just wrong. It's not even worth arguing. You don't have an "allotted time slot to be great". People can disappear for years and come back better than ever. They can make record after record and suddenly get inspired and make great shit again for years. You're talking straight nonsense.

Tom Waits - sappy drunk piano songs for OVER TEN YEARS. That's all he did. He had great songs, they were all in that sort of style. Then he randomly came out with Swordfishtrombones after getting inspired again. Damon Albarn - was in Blur for about TEN YEARS doing brit pop and the like, blur evolved over that time, then died. Then, he "came back" with the Gorillaz, totally different artistic expression.

You're saying these examples don't exist. They do. Stop!

Tom Waits doesn't REALLY count as popular music though, does he, really? Also, Tom Waits has been pretty consistent his whole career, he didn't just come out with Swordfish Trombones, i think you'll find he'd been steady making albums every 1 or 2 years since the 70s at the point Swordfish Trombones was released, so hows that even a comeback? And Damon Albarn will always be Damon from Blur, you can't seriously sit there and tell me The Gorillaz eclipsed what Blur were/did.

So yes, at least in the case of Tom Waits, The Gorillaz can be construed as one though i guess, i'll give ya that but even then, didn't exactly measure up to Blur.

This is just wrong. It's not even worth arguing. You don't have an "allotted time slot to be great". People can disappear for years and come back better than ever. They can make record after record and suddenly get inspired and make great shit again for years. You're talking straight nonsense.

Well gimme an example then. Worth arguing or not, you haven't managed a decent one yet.

Tom Waits is in the rock and roll hall of fame and has been on "best of lists" for albums from at least 4 decades. Nah, he's totally indie.... You're just finding the smallest details and changing them every time with every example. You said artists only have a certain amount of time to be great/popular/artistic/come up with new or fresh ideas. Tom Waits proves all those, Damon proves all those. Tom wasn't a come back so much (well sort of) but he proves even ten years after you start you can do something completely different but great. You said that's impossible. Obviously it's not. Period. Gorillaz are INCREDIBLY popular they headline every festival they play. How are these not good examples..? Lol christ. Gorillaz are way more popular in the states than Blur save maaaybe that one song Song 2.

Portishead - Third - They left trip hop behind and came out with a new album ten years later different from their distinctly 90s sound in 2008. It was on all sorts of best of lists. Are they not popular enough to count? What will be your excuse for them?

These are just examples I'm giving away from my itunes. I've plenty more I'm sure. Plenty of the one's mentioned by others work too these are just toward my tastes.

Edited June 22, 2012 by The_Universal_Sigh

[luciusfunk]

I'd say The Works from Queen after Flash Gordon (I read somewhere that it sold less than a million copies worldwide) and Hot Space only selling five million copies. They came back in 84 with The Works selling 12 million copies.

[moreblack]

Yes there are great comeback albums.

Off the top of me head:

Brave New World for Iron Maiden was a big one.

For the ex Gunners, I'd say Contraband.

No Quarter for Jimmy Page & Robert Plant.

Perfect Strangers - Deep Purple.

Unplugged - Eric Clapton.

Death Magnetic - Metallica.

[bran]

Yes there are great comeback albums.

Off the top of me head:

Brave New World for Iron Maiden was a big one.

For the ex Gunners, I'd say Contraband.

No Quarter for Jimmy Page & Robert Plant.

Perfect Strangers - Deep Purple.

Unplugged - Eric Clapton.

Death Magnetic - Metallica.

i think brave new world is one of the top 5 best maiden albums great album start to finish i forgot about perfect strangers another amazing album

[RandallFlagg]

I gotta go with AIC's Black Gives Way To Blue as well. No one thought Duvall could fill in and do it justice and he did.

Last Of My Kind, BGWTB, Private Hell, A Looking In View, Acid Bubble and When The Sun Rose Again are awesome.

[Johnny Drama]

Black Gives Way To Blue by Alice In Chains

This, this and this.

STP's was rubbish though.

I gotta go with AIC's Black Gives Way To Blue as well. No one thought Duvall could fill in and do it justice and he did.

Last Of My Kind, BGWTB, Private Hell, A Looking In View, Acid Bubble and When The Sun Rose Again are awesome.

It's because he didn't try to be Layne. If they got someone like that it would have sucked so much.

[RandallFlagg]

I actually think he should have got more singing time on the record

[Johnny Drama]

I actually think he should have got more singing time on the record

True that. If your not really used to the album and how the vocals have been layered, you'd just think it was Jerry the whole album bar Last of My Kind.

[Guest Len B'stard]

Tom Waits is in the rock and roll hall of fame and has been on "best of lists" for albums from at least 4 decades. Nah, he's totally indie....

The Stooges are in the rock n roll hall of fame and have been on best of lists since forever, i wouldn't exactly class them as being mainstream popular music. Would you?

You're just finding the smallest details and changing them every time with every example. You said artists only have a certain amount of time to be great/popular/artistic/come up with new or fresh ideas.

No i didn't, i said artists in popular music, as in mainstream popular music.

Tom wasn't a come back so much (well sort of) but he proves even ten years after you start you can do something completely different but great.

yeah but it ain't a comeback if he's consistently releasing product, which he was, especially with the example you cited. You got a point on the Gorillaz thing i guess, taking into account the stateside popularity and that. Portishead i guess i can't really comment on cuz they don't really interest me, you might be right about em.

[Chinaski]

Back In Black seems the most obvious and incredible example.

No i didn't, i said artists in popular music, as in mainstream popular music.

I despise them, and certainly don't want to steer the thread in a direction of awful music, but surely Take That count as a mainstream popular act that 'came back' then?

It was more than just a one off cash grab greatest hits tour like so many other 90s pop groups have had, those bastards just won't go away and as far as I am aware still sell a shit load of records/tickets to their live shows, I assume off the back of nobody ever knowing what to get their mums on mothers day. Now they were jumpers and have facial hair suddenly they get proper music coverage too.

Edited June 25, 2012 by Chinaski

[Projected]

Jennifer Lopez - Love

[bran]

solitude aeturnus- alone: made great albums since 1991 but then went away for 8 years before returning with alone it could be considered their greatest album

heathen- the evolution of chaos: heathen released 2 albums 1 in 1987 and 1991 then disappeared for 18 years and came back in 2009 with a great album

[James Bond]

Brave New World is at the top of my list. It also happens to be the first Maiden album I ever heard so it gets bonus points for that.

A Different Kind of Truth proved that the Van Halen boys can still put out a killer album. It's up there with the best of early Roth.

I know lots of people around these parts dislike KISS but Sonic Boom at the very least proved that Gene and Paul can still write music. Not really a comeback, but it was the first album in over 10 years so I'll count it. Modern Day Delilah was a great lead single. Sounded like it could have been on Revenge.

[Zeppelin]

solitude aeturnus- alone: made great albums since 1991 but then went away for 8 years before returning with alone it could be considered their greatest album

heathen- the evolution of chaos: heathen released 2 albums 1 in 1987 and 1991 then disappeared for 18 years and came back in 2009 with a great album

The Evolution of Chaos is a ridiculously good album. I'm hoping Heathen get back into the studio soon to make another album.

[GivenToFly]

I don't know if anyone has mentioned it yet, but

Bob Dylan - Time Out of Mind

Stylistically it wasn't much of a departure for what came before it (although elaborate arrangements became more prominent) but it truly looks like a comeback to me. There were 7 albums between 1983's Infidels and 1993 and, save Oh Mercy in 1983 which was decent, they were pretty much crap. Then four years pass after the last release and out of nowhere comes Time Out of Mind kickstarting a trilogy of jawdropping records (Love and Theft and Modern Times were the follow ups) kicking sense into everyone who'd thought he was done for.

[Desperado]

Welcome to my Nightare - Alice Cooper (don't know if you can call it a comeback but it was his first solo album)

[Graeme]

Train- Save Me San Francisco (I actually like their intermittent albums between this and Drops of Jupiter a lot, but they suddenly had a second lease of life with Hey Soul Sister and they've been huge ever since).

James- Hey Ma

In Flames- Sounds of a Playground Fading

Runrig- The Stamping Ground

[gabrielsevenn7]

There's no such thing as a 'great' comeback album, you have your time, your allotted slot to be great in and you either do it or you make a nause of it, artists that subscribe to these sorts of concepts are at an immediate disadvantage. But no, there have been no great comebacks of popular music, it doesn't really work that way to be honest, you have a sell by date in popular music and once you've passed that you've had it effectively.

You have your time to do your thing and make a mark...and when it's gone then it's gone.

Nonsense, Aerosmith came back from the dead and were one of the biggest bands in the world again in the late 80's early 90's..........they had a successful second career which could be argued as more popular then the first....

Financially successful, OK, i'll get with you on that but a taxidermised Elvis in a glass cabinet would also be financially successful too, other than that they just went out and played the same old type of shit they did before and essentially became a dilute parody of what they once were, which weren't all that to begin with. Nothing was achieved, no artistic zenith, no particular expansion on or improvement on their sound or the shit they played, i don't call that a successful comeback, i call that a fools paradise.

I disagree. I'm not a big Aerosmith fan but they did evolve to some degree after Permanent Vacation. They grew. Get a Grip is one of my favorite records and I'm not really a big Aerosmith fan. "That one last shot, Permanant Vacation/And how high can you fly with broken wings...." That record brought them back from the dead and exposed them to a whole new group of people. They were bigger after than before and their place in history is defined as much as, if not more, by the stuff they put out after their comeback.

[gabrielsevenn7]

Ozzy coming from Black Sabbath--Blizzard of Oz. He was toast.

Megadeth coming back after Dave's injury and "retirement" of Megadeth. Well, actually every record is a comeback album of sorts since the band is never the same except for the 90s.

And Justice For All after Cliff. The album with no bass player, essentially. I've thought about overdubbing my own bass on that record more than once...Maybe that's just an evolution, though.

Back in Black....maybe the biggest one of all. But they weren't on a downturn, their singer just choked on his own vommit. But it was certainly a reinvention.

Contraband for Slash, Duff, and Matt.

This isn't really a comeback but the story of how Led Zeppelin came to be out of the Yardbirds is one of the coolest stories in music.

This Is It--Michael Jackson....ha ha. I wanted him to come back.

[The Sandman]

KISS' Psycho Circus?