Bands that recovered after a prolonged dry spell (critical or commercial)

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The Blue Mask and Legendary Hearts both got a lot of critical notice at the time of their release

Elvis Telecom, Friday, 25 July 2014 06:12 (nine years ago) link

Want to say The Kinks, but I'm surprised at how well those late-70s albums sold.

Elvis Telecom, Friday, 25 July 2014 06:14 (nine years ago) link

[band that found success following a specific formula, who then decided to break from that formula, and then returned to that formula]

linda cardellini (zachlyon), Friday, 25 July 2014 06:50 (nine years ago) link

Metallica

StanM, Friday, 25 July 2014 10:01 (nine years ago) link

(...if you ignore Lulu)

StanM, Friday, 25 July 2014 10:02 (nine years ago) link

I dunno, they've never had a commercial dry spell, and critical consensus on Death Magnetic isn't that much better than Load or Reload right?

the joke should be over once the kid is eaten. (chap), Friday, 25 July 2014 11:54 (nine years ago) link

No way do Prince or Metallica fit the bill

Master of Treacle, Friday, 25 July 2014 12:29 (nine years ago) link

I know it's not a by any means definite guide to commercially/critically acclaimed albums, but if you take the rateyourmusic 'bold = good' basic structure of declaring albums revered-

Neil Young - who's gap between the acclaimed 1978 record 'Comes a Time' and his next 'bold' record 11 years and 8 record later, followed by consecutive releases after would qualify? https://rateyourmusic.com/artist/neil_young

Further examples would include Bruce Springsteen (1984-2006), Roxy Music (1975-1982)and The Fall (1986-2003). I know that obviously this is a very flawed method but may serve a little substance.

nxd, Friday, 25 July 2014 13:02 (nine years ago) link

Wait a minute: where's Rust Never Sleeps?

guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 25 July 2014 13:03 (nine years ago) link

Under 'Live Albums' - proving a flawed system :)

nxd, Friday, 25 July 2014 13:09 (nine years ago) link

Aerosmith is probably the ultimate commercial example

relentlessly pecking at peace (President Keyes), Friday, 25 July 2014 13:14 (nine years ago) link

in that their comeback was sustained for at least 10 years

relentlessly pecking at peace (President Keyes), Friday, 25 July 2014 13:16 (nine years ago) link

Further examples would include Bruce Springsteen (1984-2006)

huh? i guess that 2006 is just the seeger sessions? that isn't really a "return" if it only lasts one album

and if rateyourmusic doesn't rate tunnel of love that's their problem

linda cardellini (zachlyon), Friday, 25 July 2014 20:15 (nine years ago) link

pretty hard to find folks who had a bonafide multi-album valley between two legit high periods, imo, outside of the "ugh disco" and "ugh the early eighties" folks

da croupier, Friday, 25 July 2014 21:00 (nine years ago) link

bee gees are rare "ugh the early 70s" group

da croupier, Friday, 25 July 2014 21:02 (nine years ago) link

Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band sort of qualify here, I think.

Trip Maker, Friday, 25 July 2014 21:03 (nine years ago) link

In Rainbows following Amneasiac and Hail To The Thief?

piscesx, Saturday, 26 July 2014 00:29 (nine years ago) link

oh yeah radiohead couldn't catch a break in the early '00s

da croupier, Saturday, 26 July 2014 00:37 (nine years ago) link

Maybe Herbie Hancock? After his electro-funk albums of the 80s, I don't think he had much critical or commercial success until 2005... Though I don't think serious jazz-heads still rate the 00s crossover albums that high, but nevertheless they've certainly given more him more acclaim than what he's had for decades.

Tuomas, Sunday, 27 July 2014 11:55 (nine years ago) link

Heart

Jake Brown, Sunday, 27 July 2014 13:31 (nine years ago) link

Five years between their biggest chart hit and their comeback, that's not much of a dry spell.

Siegbran, Sunday, 27 July 2014 18:06 (nine years ago) link

Should we argue about the length of the dry spell? Aerosmith was only 8 years between platinum albums and had two gold ones during that span. Heart split with most of the original band members then finally had big hit singles beginning in 85.

Jake Brown, Monday, 28 July 2014 04:01 (nine years ago) link

MTV was not checkig for Aerosmith at all until "Walk This Way"

Now you're messing with a (President Keyes), Monday, 28 July 2014 13:21 (nine years ago) link

Santana

Οὖτις, Monday, 28 July 2014 20:30 (nine years ago) link

MTV was not checkig for Aerosmith at all until "Walk This Way"

In their early years, when they'd play anything because there hardly was anything, the video for "Lightning Strikes" got some airtime.

Humorist (horse) (誤訳侮辱), Monday, 28 July 2014 20:35 (nine years ago) link

Roy Orbison, although he mostly didn't live to know it.

Lee626, Saturday, 2 August 2014 10:39 (nine years ago) link

A few years ago the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame had an Orbison exhibit, and among the pieces displayed was a handwritten note he'd written to himself, like a to-do list for his career. I think it was dated 1985 or 86. First item was "FIRE MANAGER."

Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Saturday, 2 August 2014 15:54 (nine years ago) link

Steve Earle?

banjoboy, Saturday, 2 August 2014 16:04 (nine years ago) link

the flipside to this thread would be "bands who abruptly became shit after a prolonged period of consistent quality"

Neanderthal, Saturday, 2 August 2014 17:36 (nine years ago) link

Yo La Tengo in a walk, there.

rockist papist scissorist (WilliamC), Saturday, 2 August 2014 17:40 (nine years ago) link

he flipside to this thread would be "bands who abruptly became shit after a prolonged period of consistent quality"

― Neanderthal, Saturday, August 2, 2014 5:36 PM (8 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Metallica would fit in to that one.

the joke should be over once the kid is eaten. (chap), Saturday, 2 August 2014 17:46 (nine years ago) link

the flipside to this thread would be "bands who abruptly became shit after a prolonged period of consistent quality"

― Neanderthal, Saturday, August 2, 2014 12:36 PM (33 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yo La Tengo in a walk, there.

― rockist papist scissorist (WilliamC),

sadly, irrevocably, true

EZ Snappin, Saturday, 2 August 2014 18:11 (nine years ago) link

Yeah, totally. It was a swift and sudden fall, and though I haven't kept up very closely, all accounts are that they have yet to fully recover.

Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Saturday, 2 August 2014 18:20 (nine years ago) link

Haven't The Cure been a little meh for a while now?

StanM, Sunday, 3 August 2014 19:05 (nine years ago) link

yes, but not profoundly shit, and they ambled downwards slowly

boney tassel (sic), Monday, 4 August 2014 03:41 (nine years ago) link

Daft Punk maybe... I had given up after Human After All.

LimbsKing, Monday, 4 August 2014 10:24 (nine years ago) link

Autechre? Felt their output in the early-mid 2000s was a bit aimless until they bounced back with Quaristice. Still, in the context of recent output things like Untilted sound pretty great in retrospect.

3kDk (dog latin), Monday, 4 August 2014 10:30 (nine years ago) link

maybe we should have another thread about bands who haven't recovered yet? (Underworld? Do the Chemical Brothers still exist?)

StanM, Monday, 4 August 2014 10:34 (nine years ago) link

The Cure pretty much dropped off a cliff IMO; from Disintegration (amazing obvs) to Wish (frequently amazing) to Wild Mood Swings
(an abomination).

piscesx, Monday, 4 August 2014 11:53 (nine years ago) link

Autechre? Felt their output in the early-mid 2000s was a bit aimless until they bounced back with Quaristice. Still, in the context of recent output things like Untilted sound pretty great in retrospect.

I'm not sure if there's a consensus that Autechre were ever that good?

Tuomas, Monday, 4 August 2014 11:56 (nine years ago) link

nice one, Tuomas.

3kDk (dog latin), Monday, 4 August 2014 11:56 (nine years ago) link

"Bloodflowers" and the self titled album were decent tho

everyday sheeple (Michael B), Monday, 4 August 2014 12:00 (nine years ago) link

Decent is pushing it but I'd give them a grudging "OK". Compared to how much I like pre-1990 Cure that's still dropping off a cliff.

Yo La Tengo I don't really agree with, I'm guessing the drop off is Summer Sun but that's the only one I don't like much, I think they recovered fine.

Just noise and screaming and no musical value at all. (Colonel Poo), Monday, 4 August 2014 12:17 (nine years ago) link

As a non-Cure fan, I'm curious as to why people hate Wild Mood Swings so much. I've only heard 'Want' and 'Mint Car' off of it but I like those songs well enough.

3kDk (dog latin), Monday, 4 August 2014 12:37 (nine years ago) link

maybe we should have another thread about bands who haven't recovered yet? (Underworld? Do the Chemical Brothers still exist?)

Isn't this almost all long-running bands? Bands that recover are an exception to the rule

silverfish, Monday, 4 August 2014 13:59 (nine years ago) link

also re: autechre, pretty much every period of autechre has its defenders.

silverfish, Monday, 4 August 2014 14:03 (nine years ago) link

yeah that was my thought exactly. I do think both bands you named still sell out most venues they play. Chems sold a lot of records in the mid-00's and I think Further was reviewed well so I don't think they count. UW's last decade obviously wasn't as good as their first one (can't blame 'em for that) but I wouldn't say they were on a "dry spell".

Maggie killed Quagmire (collest baby ever) (frogbs), Monday, 4 August 2014 14:03 (nine years ago) link

when do ppl think YLT dropped off

socki (s1ocki), Monday, 4 August 2014 14:09 (nine years ago) link

silverfish OTM

Re-Make/Re-Model, Monday, 4 August 2014 14:10 (nine years ago) link

Cure are weird for their patchiness from 90s onward.
Despite having 4 dazzling songs I still think Wish is possibly their weakest.
Wild Mood Swings would be a great if you trimmed 5 or so tracks.
I'm still not sure what to make of Bloodflowers, sometimes I think it was the weakest but I consider it quite ambitious and different even though I don't have many favourites on it.
The selftitled album has some great stuff but quite a lot of weak stuff too.
4:13 Dream is the most solid thing since the 80s and a lot of fun. But a lot of fans seem to be less enthusiastic. My only complaint is the b-sides were forgettable.

Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 4 August 2014 14:31 (nine years ago) link

did they recover? what's a good later album?

not really - their 2010 'comeback' was kinda decent though, just naming a band I love that turned to crap.

Maggie killed Quagmire (collest baby ever) (frogbs), Monday, 4 August 2014 15:15 (nine years ago) link

still great live though.

3kDk (dog latin), Monday, 4 August 2014 15:16 (nine years ago) link

maybe we should have another thread about bands who haven't recovered yet? (Underworld? Do the Chemical Brothers still exist?)

― StanM, Monday, August 4, 2014 8:34 PM (Yesterday)

as others said, Underworld have never really fallen off, their interests just keep changing, as they have since 1982. Chems last album was one of their best ever and their last two tours were spectacular. (Live tours - I saw a bit of a DJ set early last year and it was pretty dire.)

The Cure pretty much dropped off a cliff IMO; from Disintegration (amazing obvs) to Wish (frequently amazing) to Wild Mood Swings (an abomination).

― piscesx, Monday, August 4, 2014 9:53 PM (Yesterday)

Disintegration (amazing obvs)
Never Enough (one of their best singles ever)
Hello I Love You (better than The Doors)
the re-recording of Primary for Mixed Up (fantastic)
Wish (frequently amazing)
b-sides from Wish singles (maybe their most solid batch of b-sides ever)
Lost Wishes (good enough that they should have done one of these every few years)
Burn (magnificent)
Young Americans (pretty inessential)
Dredd Song (quite bad)
The 13th (fantastic, if only it had been successful enough to encourage further genre faffery like this in future, and all the best b-sides of the WMS era)
Wild Mood Swings (at least 1/3 good, but 1/3 the opposite)
Wrong Number (really mighty, a far better use of Gabrels than anything he's done with them since)
A Sign From God (barely remember this but IIRC it was right not to release it under the band's name)
World In My Eyes (doesn't do much, especially against some really interesting or well-done covers on the same album)
More Than This (total snoozefest)
Bloodflowers (consistent but to no effective end)
Coming Up (idrc, mildly poppier than the album maybe but so what)
Cut Here (gorgeous, one of their most affecting songs, shimmeringly pretty for all its sadness and beautifully sung)

and then a decade where every guest vocal Smith has done for an electronic act is an incredible jam but the band haven't recorded a note I give one eighth of a fuck about. (tbh I've not listened to the full albums, but Simon hates one and Robert feels the other one is tragically compromised so it's hard to imagine I missed out.)

boney tassel (sic), Monday, 4 August 2014 15:56 (nine years ago) link

Holy fuck! I've never even heard of that Lost Wishes stuff! I guess youtube is the only option I've got for that. I still need some odds and ends and a few singles (I wish Join The Dots collected all the non-album singles as well as Lost Wishes).

Sometimes I get the false impression that I've been there and done it with my favourite bands but there are usually a few more loose ends I need to get.

Sic, I'd highly recommend you get 4:13 Dream. It isn't meaty as you might want but it is fun, very accessible and doesn't have the fatigue/overfamiliar quality I hear from the previous two albums. It sounds quite like Wish to me (probably the presence of Porl). I think this album deserved a better reception than it got but I think a lot of people were reluctant from the previous two albums.

Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 4 August 2014 17:43 (nine years ago) link

Duke Ellington and His Famous Orchestra. Couldn't get arrested in the early 50s, and were reduced to accompanying an ice show in 1955; in 1956, their Newport performance killed, and resulted in their best-selling album.

Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Monday, 4 August 2014 17:57 (nine years ago) link

dinosaur jr? the records sure sound like it. the solo mascis stuff masquerading as "dinosaur jr" wasn't shit but it wasn't as good as the original group. kind of impressed with out how smooth that revival went

― marcos, Thursday, July 24, 2014 11:23 AM (1 week ago)

mission of burma another ex of same, 80s indie rockers rebooting to wide acclaim, if not massive pop success

t warrior w/ triptykon, one among many (many) metal bands & figures w/ recently celebrated "comeback" periods

ps: will happily pay upwards of $5 for decent eparistera daimones vinyl, pm me

Adding ease. Adding wonder. Adding (contenderizer), Monday, 4 August 2014 17:59 (nine years ago) link

^ triptykon & last cf album, should say

Adding ease. Adding wonder. Adding (contenderizer), Monday, 4 August 2014 18:02 (nine years ago) link


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