Band Who Blew Artistic/Commercial Comebacks?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Matthew Tate, Oct 25, 2016.

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  1. Koabac

    Koabac Self-Titled

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    Yes, sorry, "substandard" was probably a poor paraphrase of what you were saying - and you are most certainly NOT alone in your feelings about R.E.M. They inspire healthy and robust debate, bless their hearts.

    And, holy crap, YES, if ANYONE needs a comeback album, it's Costello. I get that he doesn't see the point of spending a lot on studio recordings and that they're there just to feed his live show new songs these days, but, jeepers, dude, just once I would love a new Costello album I didn't have to TRY to get into. "Blood & Chocolate" was the cut-off for me, too, in terms of BOOM, whole album I love. I've loved many individual songs since and I'm a Juliet Letters fan, but it just becomes cherry picking after that and for an artist of his calibre, it's just bizarre.

    Chilton is one of my all-time heroes. I'm one of the few people who adores his sloppy solo albums filled with obscure R&B covers. We lost him way to soon.
     
  2. SteveCam

    SteveCam Forum Resident

    Deep Purple. The comeback album Perfect Strangers with the mark II line up is still one of their best albums. I doubt anyone could have predicted such a strong album almost 10 years after their last studio album and a number of line up changes. Not in 1984. However, it never really lasted. The follow up, House of Blue Light is a decent album, but the momentum seemed gone and the mark II line up was done soon after.
     
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  3. zen

    zen Senior Member

    Seemed being the key word there. The momentum was there if you actually attended a concert on the HOBL tour...and the HOBL album was much more "artistic" than Perfect Strangers. I don't think Deep Purple really belong in this thread; unless, you can't help yourself. Emerson, Lake & Palmer's comeback is a much better example, IMHO.
     
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  4. Cassiel

    Cassiel Sonic Reducer

    Location:
    NYC, USA
    Despite any quality assessments regarding their later work, weren't REM playing to the largest live crowds of their career when they broke up?
     
  5. RichC

    RichC Forum Resident

    Location:
    Charlotte, NC
    Yes. They "blew" that "comeback." Which is why "The Fixer" from Backspacer was their biggest radio hit since "Last Kiss." And why that album and the next both hit #1, the band's first since 1996. And why they're currently playing to the biggest audiences of their career.

    Most every band would kill to "blow it" like Pearl Jam has recently.
     
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  6. Andersoncouncil

    Andersoncouncil Forum Resident

    Location:
    upstate NY
    well, if you count the Wilburys he did. But yes, that was basically the end of his solo career.
     
  7. Andersoncouncil

    Andersoncouncil Forum Resident

    Location:
    upstate NY
    YES---after 90125. Big Generator was kind of successful, but not close to 90125. They couldn't pull off a long term 80's prog comeback like Genesis did. And then we got ABWH/Union which put the final nail in the coffin.
     
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  8. pool_of_tears

    pool_of_tears Searching For Simplicity

    Location:
    Midwest
    In all fairness, it lasted from mid 86 to mid 1990...9 top 40 hits, 2 of which reached #1. I'm not sure I'd call that quickly fading.
     
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  9. audiotom

    audiotom I can not hear a single sound as you scream

    Location:
    New Orleans La USA
    Winwood had an incredible album ten years ago with About Time only to have the next one be a real dud
     
  10. m5comp

    m5comp Classic Rock Lover

    Location:
    Hamilton, AL
    Utopia had a commercially-successful album with Adventures in Utopia, and then Todd Rundgren decides to follow that with, of all things, a Beatles-parody album (Deface the Music).
     
  11. RichC

    RichC Forum Resident

    Location:
    Charlotte, NC
    Well, aside from the two OTHER #1 hits they had after We Built This City.
    But any argument that thinks of the band Starship as a "comeback" for Jefferson Starship is probably doomed from the start.

    But I totally agree with John Fogerty. One of the best examples. Centerfield gave him the best reviews and sales since CCR... And then Eye Of The Zombie was SO bad it took him another decade to mount another comeback!
     
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  12. jimjim

    jimjim Forum Resident

    The Velvet Underground

    The 1993 reunion tour was well received (even if the live album wasn't) and there was talk at the time that they were working on something new for the first time since 1968. Some suggested an MTV Unplugged special was afoot but judging from Cale's live outing with Tucker & Morrison in 1994 (an early form of Eat/Kiss show), I think they were planning on doing something far more in spirit to their early soundtrack work. However, as Lou had signed them into his deal with Sire/Warners this idea was never going to run with them and coupled with his irksome dominance rising on tour, it lead to a huge bun fight & they split again. Shame.
     
  13. SJB

    SJB Beloved Parasitic Nuisance

    Yes's output slowed to a crawl when Rabin joined - probably because of creative friction between him and Anderson. The gap between 90125 and Big Generator was longer than the gap between Drama and 90125, during which the band broke up. Union might have been a triumph, if the band(s) had just been allowed to create what they wanted to create. Instead it became The Jonathan Elias Project Featuring the Night of 1,000 Session Players (with special guests yes). There's a whole alternative universe out there where record label executives aren't allowed to interfere with the creative process unless they are George Martin.
     
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  14. Bloom

    Bloom You're embarrassing me in front of the wizards


    Except Monster, New Adventures In Hi Fi, and Accelerate are amazing. This has been done to death and really just boils down to if you discovered R.E,M. pre or post Automatic.
     
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  15. SJB

    SJB Beloved Parasitic Nuisance

    A worse misstep, I think was the Jefferson Airplane reunion in 1989, with most of the classic lineup. They should have just toured and released a live album of that. Instead, they threw together a reunion album that, I would contend, does not stand among their stronger efforts.
     
    JRM likes this.
  16. I think "Kokomo" was more of a fluke than a genuine commercial comeback. It's a good but not great song that became a huge hit because it was featured on a very successful Tom Cruise movie.
     
  17. That one I dislike. Not as interesting as their other classical variations.
     
  18. SJB

    SJB Beloved Parasitic Nuisance

    Not to mention the Hollies. They got Nash back in 1983, but instead of reigniting the Clarke/Hicks/Nash writing team, they sang material by others which has not aged well.

    CSN is noteworthy because each of its members has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice. It's sad that each of CSN's precursor groups tarred their legacy with lackluster or aborted reunions.
     
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  19. pickwick33

    pickwick33 Forum Resident

    Truth be told, I think the Warners albums were spotty compared to their earlier records.
     
  20. pickwick33

    pickwick33 Forum Resident

    It's entirely possible they didn't want to.

    In the words of Rick Nelson, "if memories were all I sang, I'd rather drive a truck."
     
  21. mikaal

    mikaal Sociopathic Nice Guy

    Iggy Pop 1978
    Iggy Pop 1980
    Iggy Pop 1987.......
     
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  22. pool_of_tears

    pool_of_tears Searching For Simplicity

    Location:
    Midwest
    Wish You Were Here is far better than the previous two albums (A$$, S/T)
     
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  23. pickwick33

    pickwick33 Forum Resident

    Wasn't Ass an odds-and-sods compilation?
     
  24. pool_of_tears

    pool_of_tears Searching For Simplicity

    Location:
    Midwest
    No
     
  25. pickwick33

    pickwick33 Forum Resident

    Knowing Frank Zappa, the scenario you just described is SO un-Zappa it isn't funny. Doing a "Daughter Of Valley Girl" is the kind of thing Zappa was intentionally running away from. Besides, that one hit served its' purpose - I've read a quote somewhere that "Valley Girl" FUNDED those classical recordings, so it worked out exactly the way he intended it to.
     
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