Lauded artists who tanked creatively critically and commercially, but then recorded a brilliant comeback by which point no one gives a shit.

First, I apologize for that word-vomit-title of a topic, lol. Hopefully this isn’t an already well-covered topic somewhere else on this site. I’ve been thinking about this subject a lot lately. It may be due partly to my love of the indie rock/pop genre, a subset of music that relies heavily on reviews to churn the hype machine.

There are two recent examples of what I’m talking about that come immediately come to mind. The first is Rogue Wave’s 2016 release, Delusions of Grand Fur; by all accounts, a critically-ignored, if not outright-panned album. The second album was released this year, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah’s The Tourist.

I first heard of Rogue Wave back in ‘04, from their consistently-excellent album, Out of the Shadow. This album kind of soundtracked my journey from a naive college graduate to a naive corporate drone. From there I also enjoyed most of 2005’s Descended Like Vultures, only to then forget about the band’s overall existence. Fast-forward to 2016 where, out of almost sheer boredom - almost on a whim - I decide to check out Rogue Wave’s latest album, Delusions of Grand Fur. It then proceeds to continuously blow my mind - especially when comparing my personal reaction to the overall general critical reaction of that album. It landed in my top five albums released that year, easily.

Everyone here knows about the Pitchfork hype behind Clap Your Hands Say Yeah’s debut album, an album I thought had a few great songs among many that were mediocre. And most of you know about their eventual critical letdown of a record, 2007’s Some Loud Thunder (I still like this album, fwiw). From then on, it seems this band, both culturally and critically speaking, fell off the face of the earth, critically and culturally speaking. I thought of their 2011 album as mostly forgettable (so forgettable that I’m not even bothering to look up the proper album title). But that all changes for me to when I, again, basically check out their latest 2017 album, The Tourist, mostly on a whim, and then basically go on to fall in love with it. I believe it’s their best album from start to finish (and since I’m the first to nominate it on the ILM EoY list, 12/28/17, I can tell that I’m alone in this sentiment).

So what says you? Any albums that you loved recently fit the above criteria?

The title cut off, making this thread even more confusing, lol. Here is the title in total:

A thread about once critically-lauded artists (based on their first album or two of releases, or however many), only to then release an album or two (again, whatever the amount) of mostly-shit output, thereby losing goodwill among critics and fans alike, only to then release, to you, a brilliant comeback album release (but at that point, no one longer gives a shit.

The Chemical Brothers definitely did this with Further

The Orb too, I think their last two (Moonbuilding and COW) are about as good as any classic Orb albums really

waiting for Interpol to come through on the last part of this premise

perhaps a variation upon Artists who made some of your favorite music and you thought they'd never reach such heights again but then they went right ahead and did something that's possibly even better

very excited to hear about the new CYHSY, had more or less the same experience as you (apart from the fact that I think the debut is great)

The Orb too, I think their last two (Moonbuilding and COW) are about as good as any classic Orb albums really

this.

The Strokes did this with Comedown Machine which is sometimes my favourite album of theirs

the biggest shock for me was Weezer's White Album which was by far their best work in 20 years

musicfanatic, I can't stand looking at this thread title any more. I think niels is right that his is a similar enough thread, but that title is not great either. I have attempted to streamline the current thread title for you because I am a bored mod.

Lauded artists who tanked creatively critically and commercially, but then record a brilliant comeback by which point no one gives a shit.

If you like the change I can switch it.

haha, I had a hard time parsing my thoughts when I made that thread

Mod, that works! Apologies for the vomitus attempt at a title. Niels, I wished I found that thread, apologies.

I can see The Orb and Chemical Brothers being a part of this discussion.

Niels, I would love to hear your reaction to CYHSY's latest? I adore it, again after ignoring this band for half a decade.

Drive-By Truckers. A Blessing and a Curse and Go Go Boots were both underwhelming, it seemed like their best songwriting days may be behind them. Now with English Oceans and American Band they're back at their peak.

I'd definitely say Roddy Frame deserves a mention in this regard — even though I'd say that the album where critics initially turned against him (1984's Knife) is easily my favorite thing he's ever done.

The rest of the time he was using the Aztec Camera name, he was infrequently brilliant. However, his output since 2002 (including that year's Surf) has been pretty solid; at least as good as the best of the post-Knife Aztec Camera stuff, if not better.

I loved Dreamland but haven’t kept up since then. I’ll check out his newer stuff.

I guess I might nominate Matthew Friedberger's recent solo album: Mr. Fried Burger, I Resume . It checks at least 2 of the boxes: formerly critically lauded, and no one seemed to give a shit. Is it a brilliant comeback? I don't know, but it definitely has its moments.

The Strokes did this with Comedown Machine which is sometimes my favourite album of theirs

aw I'm not the only one

Roddy's solo albums have a handful of memorable tracks but are otherwise lost in my mind to the point that I'm finally selling them. I wish it was otherwise but the highs of his first two a Aztec Camera albums will never be scaled again.

I nominate Paul Weller's 22 Dreams / Wake Up The Nation / Sonik Kicks trilogy for the thread. Brilliant after so, so many duds.

i have never given a shit about anything paul weller has released except for "wake up the nation"

I'm at that point where I really don't need another Paul Weller album.

Porter Ricks - Anguilla Electrica, these guys came out of the blue with a super solid release

I guess I might nominate Matthew Friedberger's recent solo album: Mr. Fried Burger, I Resume . It checks at least 2 of the boxes: formerly critically lauded, and no one seemed to give a shit. Is it a brilliant comeback? I don't know, but it definitely has its moments.

― o. nate, Tuesday, 2 January 2018 02:16 (nine hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

ttthhhiiiissss

musicfanatic I gave the new CYHSY a quick listen, didn't really grab me but I'll give it another go sometime

plenty of female artists end up here eventually

Who?

Mr. Fried Burger, I Resume

To be fair this is a really terrible title to pick if you're looking to convince people to start giving a shit again.

The Strokes did this with Comedown Machine which is sometimes my favourite album of theirs

aw I'm not the only one

― Men's Scarehouse - "You're gonna like the way you're shook." (m bison), Monday, January 1, 2018 7:54 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

comedown machine club

M Friedberger has never really been about making people give a shit and basically lucked out into success early on before quite obviously reacting against it (Rehearsing My Choir through Widow City is a FABULOUSLY zero-fucks run of weirdness). His sibling was having none of it so they did one last FF album more to her tastes and then parted musical ways. Good luck to her but I'm with Matthew in the crazy corner

rehearsing my choir was dope, it makes me sad though that the fiery furnaces have been forgotten and seemingly erased from 00s indie history. i mean, blueberry boat barely gets mentioned anywhere anymore and that record remains a stone jam, a classic