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

a tribe called quest reunion [Started by Fritz Wollner (Fritz) in July 2006, last updated five minutes ago by Dr Keith Assblow (stevie) on I Love Music] 3 new answers
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 [Started by niels in October 2017, last updated forty-five minutes ago by alpine static on I Love Music] 1 new answer

Goldfrapp - Tales of Us

m b v, it took 22 years but it was worth the wait. Portishead's Third is another example of an amazing comeback. The Tindersticks "The Someting Rain" also fell into that category. They reinvented themselves on that one. And the last Apartments album, their most touching release. These days I am waiting for Yo La Tengo to surprise me again, I know they can do it but since "Summer Sun" and the underwater movie soundtrack they have lost me completely. And they used to be my fave band.

Vashti Bunyan - Heartleap

Leonard Cohen maybe not surpassing his best stuff late into his career, but keeping it damn close

(kept, I suppose)

Oxbow - Thin Black Duke after a decade off is pretty inspiring

Scott Walker - Tilt

David Bowie - Blackstar

yeah, I like a lot of Bowie's late material and The Next Day was a decent comeback record but nothing suggested he was going to do something as strong as Blackstar

Cohen a good example too.

Nick Cave – Skeleton Tree

Autechre - I thought the journey was over around the time of Draft7.30 / Untilted, and that they'd stopped making music I was interested in any more. But since Quaristice they seem to have bounced back with increasing returns on every album and I'm just as excited about a new release as I ever am.

Dizzee Rascal - Raskit

xp I never wrote Autechre off completely, but aside from a few highlights I hadn't been really enthused by anything they released since Confield. But Elseq is an absolutely stunning achievement in quality and quantity, and without question some career highs in there.

Oh the other big one is Radiohead on A Moon Shaped Pool. I'd written them off on TKOL, and was ready to reassess a big swathe of their 21st century work as 'a good bunch of songs but mostly awkwardly-formed and wishy washy'. But that album affirmed their status as classic band in my eyes.

I never really "got" AMSP but I'm always happy to hear a lot of people found it so good

‘The Something Rain’ is a great shout.

Wire's '23 Years Too Late' from Read & Burn 03 absolutely floored me when it came out, and I'd still love to see them follow that path... Still time I suppose...

They'd already put out Read & Burn 1 and 2, and Send, so they'd already come back very, very strong IMO, but yeah 03 is amazing too. fwiw Graham Lewis' solo stuff (especially All Under) does kind of follow that path and he's about to release an album of swirling chaos with Thighpaulsandra as 'UUUU' so he's probably the one to track

‘The Something Rain’ is a great shout

Nah, like all the post-break-up Tindersticks albums it's a far cry from their best work.

gonna say every TMBG disc since from 2007 has been a nice surprise

Nah, like all the post-break-up Tindersticks albums it's a far cry from their best work.

I'd rank the last 2 American Music Club albums among their best. Likewise the latest Mark Eitzel is top form.

"gonna say every TMBG disc since from 2007 has been a nice surprise

― frogbs, Monday, 2 October 2017 14:37 (two hours ago)"

TMBG??

Shirley Collins.

Sparks are kind of an obvious answer for this thread, everything they've done from 2002 on has been stellar. Its really the most consistent part of their career and it sort of came out of nowhere.

Okkervil River for me too - Away is my favorite of theirs now, and I had almost given up hope after I Am Very Far and Silver Gym

Cool topic. I agree with Bowie's Blackstar & Nick Cave's Skeleton Tree, I think both those albums rank with their best.
Niels' mention of Okkervil River intrigues me a lot. I have most their stuff and like it all (also IAVF/SG), Black Sheep Boy remains unsurpassed, but I don't have Away yet.

A band that surprised me a LOT in this regard was Madness, who released their strongest album by far with The Liberty Of Norton Folgate in 2009.

Duran Duran as well: their 2010 album All You Need Is Now is probably my favourite of theirs.

Paul Simon - Rhythm of the Saints remains my no.1 Simon album, but I find So Beautiful or So What thoroughly excellent.

David Sylvian - nothing will top Gone To Earth for me, but I do certainly adore Manafon

I got massively into Joseph Arthur back in 2004, he quickly grew to be one of my most favourite artists of all time. He's very prolific and hasn't ever released a song which I didn't like. I already thought so in the first seven years of being a fan, and then he released the albums Redemption's City followed by The Ballad Of Boogie Christ Act 1 and Act 2: those three are my faves of his now.

Dylan's Love and Theft

Another one: Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark - History of Modern. English Electric was very good too. Haven't heard their new one yet.

English Electric, definitely.

A Tribe Called Quest
Dylan with Love and Theft
The Go-Betweens with Oceans Apart

In fact a lot of synthpop bands/artists put out some unexpectedly strong work this decade: English Electric, Electric, Splinter, The Minutes, Music Complete (even though I didn't like it at first) and now Depeche Mode with Spirit this year. ABC put out The Lexicon of Love II which was unexepectedly strong, too.

Before that, Erasure's Nightbird was an unexpected return to form and an album not many people thought Vince & Andy had in 'em at that point.

New Order's Music Complete, indeed, awesome album.

Also, in 2007 I assumed Manic Street Preachers were pretty much a spent band until they put out Send Away the Tigers and Journal For Plague Lovers back to back, although in hindsight Lifeblood was nowhere near a mis-step.

Yeah, Manics as well: I'm less taken with Send Away The Tigers myself but Journal For Plague Lovers and Futurology are two of their very best albums to me.

Peter Gabriel - Up.

Jay-Z - 4:44

Also, I'd like to get a mention of Echo & the Bunnymen in, although I'm totally biased when it comes to them as they're my no.1 band of all time. And while I don't expect them to ever release an album anymore that's on the level of their classic first four '80s albums, I certainly love everything they've done since then and I thought their most recent Meteorites (2014) had several songs that actually even surprised me with how good I thought they were (title track, Constantinople, Lovers On The Run, Market Town, New Horizons).

Roisin Murphy - gone fishing

Didn't expect she would top ruby blue or overpowered

Neneh Cherry's Cherry Thing is the best thing she's done by far, and Blank Project is close. Her early career now feels like working hard to fit genres together, but now they just flow.

Somehow I never got into those late Neneh Cherry albums. For me she reached her peak with Homebrew, what a warm album!

Joe Strummer - Global a Go Go

A great, sprawling record. It's not the Clash, it's its own weird thing, capped by an 18 minute instrumental. The lead song, Johnny Appleseed, is one of the very best things he's ever done.

Jayhawks: I find Mockingbird Time (2011) their best album with Mark Olson; Paging Mr. Proust (2016) their best without him.

Valentijn, you're gonna love Away - it's great on first listen and grows from there. Certainly their best sounding album imo and has a cool Van Morrison feel.

A band that surprised me a LOT in this regard was Madness, who released their strongest album by far with The Liberty Of Norton Folgate in 2009.

this, and their latest was pretty bloody good as well.

Underworld - Barbara Barbara, We Face a Shining Future

it wasn't quite on the level of their trio of '90s classics but surprisingly close

Iron Maiden's last one brought me back into the fold for the first time since i was a teenager

Underworld are constantly on this level for me, hearing "Scribble" for the first time immediately came to mind when I saw the thread title

Pet Shop Boys' The Pop Kids is one of their best ever singles, just about in their Top 10 even. No one was more surprised than me.

It must have been a shock for 80s Lou Reed fans when the 1-2 punch of New York and Drella happened.

immediately thought the same about "Love is a Booshwa Contract"

'The Pop Kids' is great, but then Pet Shop Boys have had a shitload of great singles post-Very, even from their lesser albums.

Lots of good suggestions here. Nightbird, Tales Of Us and Oceans Apart are great examples.

Glory by Britney. I never thought she'd get near the quality of Blackout again, especially after Britney Jean was such a disaster. A year on and I think Glory is up there as her second best album.

Saint Etienne's Tales From Turnpike House is another one. Sound Of Water is comfortably my least favourite album of theirs and Finisterre was only a slight improvement. Turnpike House fully got me back on-board when my enthusiasm was really low. Easily their best album since So Tough. Words & Music isn't far off that quality either.

Paul Buchanan - Mid Air