Classic Rock Artist's later era albums. Will any of these ever become "classic"?

Certainly the three Dylan albums already mentioned. I’d add to the three, 1989 Oh Mercy as a later work.
1994 Sleeps with Angels by Neil could be considered a later work
Think that 1997s Blue Moon Swamp by Fogerty deserves mention.

 

I know “oldies” is a sliding range because my fave SoCal oldies station added stuff up to and including the 80’s to their playlist roughly a decade ago. I’ll assume the same would be true of “classic rock”, except that music that would even loosely fit that genre hasn’t been made since around 2000 IMO.

 

No such thing. Only songs you don’t like.

There isn’t one bad song on Babylon if you give it a chance. Also subject to personal taste of course.

 

Not so sure. Babylon is a totally different approach and sound. Maybe you could meld Voodoo and Bang but I wouldn’t. Between those two, there are only about 3 tunes that I don’t love. I think two Voodoo and “Neo-con” from Bang.

 

Wow...this rocks! Still sounds like them, but it's ratcheted up from earlier works. Never heard it & never would've if above poster hadn't put it here. Nice going!

 

Leonard Cohen and Depeche Mode late career albums will positively reappraised in the future.

I also wince at the "classic rocker" label.

 

Leonard Cohen did some important stuff later on, for sure. What does "classic" rock even mean? The term evokes a sense that the category is somehow classical in nature when compared to regular rock (?)

The evolution of rock could go the other way. Assuming guitars and drums don't go away, and that it takes another couple decades to discover the next great thing in music, rock could go back to one big category. Beatles being played along-side Fleet Foxes, with Nirvana, The Beach Boys, Shins and Fall Out Boy? Maybe it could happen..

 

For a while now. The local classic rock station up here in Boston has kept "The One I Love", "Losing My Religion" and "Man on the Moon" in heavy rotation since at least the late 90s. They've been playing songs by U2 for just as long.

 

Joan Jett and The Blackhearts' last two albums, "Sinner" and "Unvarnished", are two of their best albums ever.

Cheap Trick's last five albums ("Special One", "Rockford", "The Latest", "Bang Zoom Crazy...Hello" and "We're All Alright") are just fantastic...one better than the next.

All classics in my opinion.

 

These should be classics
Judas Priest -Firepower. As good as anything they ever released.
Rush Clockwork Angles. Bad sound notwithstanding, a really good album. And one their better ones if you ask me.
Dream Theater Distance Over Time. One of their best in years, and has turned into one my favorites of theirs.

 

"Firepower" and "Clockwork Angels" are both top notch records.

That's for sure.

Rush really went out on a high note.

 

We live in an era when even those classic albums are not that classic anymore. Not only the concept of "album" is not as important now as it was before, but also the number of people who were there when those albums were first released (those who truly consider those albums "classics") is diminishing as years pass by. Just my 2 cents.

 

Most people didn' care about albums even during the so-called classic rock era.
Even concept albums like The Wall achieved success on the strength of their respective radio hits, because that's all what people want - except for the dedicated fan.

There will always be the fan and the casual listener. The casual listener never cared about albums and never will.

 

i would agree with this assessment ONLY if all of those albums were edited down to about 40 minutes each (like Blackstar).
there's no salvaging Hours though...

 

Good topic. It's a rare thing for artists well into their career to release a legit classic. Here's my list:

Savage (Gary Numan)
Aerial (Kate Bush)
Stereo/Mono (Paul Westerberg)
49:00 (Paul Westerberg)
Psychedelic Pill (Neil Young & Crazy Horse)
Oh Mercy (Bob Dylan)
Time Out Of Mind (Bob Dylan)
Love And Theft (Bob Dylan)
Modern Times (Bob Dylan)
All That You Can't Leave Behind (U2)
Rain (Joe Jackson)
The Next Day (Bowie)
Blackstar (Bowie)
Heathen (Bowie)
Turbulent Indigo (Joni Mitchell)
Fear Inoculum (Tool)
A Moon Shaped Pool (Radiohead)
Forth (The Verve)
Wasp Star (XTC)

I'd include Rush's Clockwork Angels here b/c there are a bunch of legitimately great songs on it BUT I simply cannot get past the gawdawful production.

 

Jethro Tull Crest of a Knave
Lou Reed New York
David Bowie Heathen
Iggy Pop Post Pop Depression
Robbie Robertson Robbie Robertson
John Fogerty Centerfield
Mick Jagger Wandering Spirit

 

Maybe where I lived was different. But everybody I hung out with had a record collection. What I mean by that is a dozen or more albums, and most of us had a carrying case of cassettes in the car. This was as a high school kid. Now, we are nuts here on SH Forums in that we all probably have a thousand or more LPs, CDs, Box Sets in a room somewhere. But I never knew anybody in my formative years that did not love the idea of owning a copy of Led Zeppelin IV or The White Album. It was a prize to get a record album as a gift. And don't even get me going on the 12 for a penny club. We all did that deal more than once.

I recall a buddy of mine who had a single parent and was always short on pocket money. His older brother had a lavish LP collection. I was over at his house one day playing my guitar. My pal needed a guitar cable and offered up his bro's copy of Physical Graffiti in exchange for my spare. I took that deal. When his brother found out his head exploded.

The record album was a fixture in my life as far back as I can remember.

 

I think "New York" is already a classic.

 

Brilliant Westerberg calls - and around the same time, Tommy's Village Gorilla Head is a stone cold classic

 

I gotta be honest - I'm not sure why you're saying that when even on this forum, 'Wild Life' was not considered any more impressive. Even the bonus content was not liked by anyone here. Outside of the forum, I looked and looked for articles on 'Wild Life' and 'Red Rose Speedway' when the big barn box was released, and between the two, there was only a Billboard article about 'Red Rose Speedway' sounding good. Otherwise, neither have gotten any re-evaluation. Only 'Ram', 'McCartney' and 'McCartney II' have been re-evaluated positively and only 'Ram' can be considered in the 'classic' category. For every rock fan that likes the self-titled albums, they'll be someone who doesn't.

I can understand if people wanted to mention Egypt Station as an album that this forum loved but outside of the forum, the ratings always were 7 or 8 out of 10. I don't think that's really 'classic' status - maybe something like Chaos And Creation could be considered a 21st century biggie cause it's got big time critical and fan consensus.

 

These seem more like favorites of yours than what people consider possible classics that most can agree on. Something like Blackstar would rate over Heathen for example. Post Pop Depression is a great example that you came up with where everyone agreed it was a great album. The others are good of course but they're not on that top tier.

 

My post wasn't about the forum, and I don't care if "the bonus content was not liked by anyone here". Has nothing to do with what I'm talking about.

As far as reappraisal for Wild Life:
In Defense of Paul McCartney & Wings' 'Wild Life' and 'Red Rose Speedway'
Wings was a better band than Paul McCartney or his critics think
Wild Life: One McCartney Album’s 45-Year Journey From Appalling to Amazing
WINGS. WILD LIFE REISSUED (2018): “And in the end . . .” there's a begin-again?
Rediscovering Lost Paul McCartney: Wings “Wild Life” and “Red Rose Speedway” Stand Test of Time



Wild Life is in better standing now than it ever has been. I'm not saying it's now considered a masterpiece or even something great, but reaction to it is now generally positive - which is why I placed it under green in that graphic.

 

This is very true.

 

Surely that is subjective.

 

My post wasn't about the forum either it was about both in and outside. But I just can't agree that it's generally positive. 1st off it's been 50 years of people from all walks of life not really thinking this is a good or even an average album. I think it's a bold claim after just a year of feeling it is now considered a good album, would carry the weight of all opposed for half a century.

I really do appreciate you taking the time to post these and read everything right away-we're both Mac fans so we're both interested. I was happy that a few of the other albums got praise years later but I don't think these articles are totally positive and then a lot of the positive has to do with the feel of the album being loose as opposed to liking most of the songs as in lyrics and music. Now Red Rose Speedway has gotten a bit more praise and originally was not totally trashed like Wild Life. It's tough for me to argue that RRS didn't get a bit more re-evaluation - AllMusic Guide had upped the rating from a 2 to a 4-star album years earlier and I think people did wake up a bit to the double album concept. The additional songs are praised in one of these articles.

I'm not seeing enough praise for Wild Life. And we're talking of a handful of articles that are on the positive side but there are plenty of other articles.
Billboard: They praise "Bip Bop" and "Wild Life" and conclude by calling it 'fresh and inviting'. Not bad praise but twice the article mentions low stakes and low ambition and hence they are basing it off that.
Salon: 'For these reasons alone, the LP was widely ridiculed—and rightly so.' They praise a couple of songs individually though.
Trunkworthy: And while I would love to say I have the power to ignore all context and give a straight review, I can’t. Still, it’s not a cop-out to say that Wild Life is audacious, prescient, and ultimately satisfying precisely because it is by Paul McCartney and it was recorded more than 40 years ago. This article is definitely big praise and it was enjoyable to read his theory on the band starting out with a couple of jams like bands start out with, then a cover, then more accomplished songs until a big finale. Excellent theory there, but he does admit bias to liking the album in the first place cause it was Paul in his prime.
Elsewhere: It's a mixed review - trashes half, enjoys half.
Showbiz411: Genuine praise -seems like a level-headed article that likes the whole album.
David Fricke/Rolling Stone: I don't know- I like him - saw him talk with John Fogerty about the Woodstock box in person-great guy...but it's on Mac's website? Hmm..
----
So while I don't agree that it is now considered a good album by general consensus, you have proven me wrong that there were no articles at all about it that were positive - they may only be a few but I said 'none' - thank you for opening my eyes with these some. I do see AllMusic Guide has upped their rating to 3 stars - used to be 2. Adding that in - they are better reviews but again, it's just not enough for me to go with 'good' - I still see people viewing it as below average overall and when adding in the 50 years weight of negativity, it would need a long time to make up for so much. Paul himself has bashed it more than praised it so it's tough - we know Paul will say an album's good if it's good. Anyway thanks - don't want to derail the thread too much - see you on the Mac song thread.