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Great albums by bands past their prime

Butch Had Not

By Butch Had Not
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Butch Had Not

Butch Had Not 2969

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I was jamming (poorly) with a friend and playing For Whom the Bell Tolls, laughing at how bad modern Metallica is. Then the conversation changed to great albums from bands past their prime. I had a really hard time coming up with many. I really like The Division Bell but not sure if that is "great".

 

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sidis

sidis 9823

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this prompt is a bit of a brain twister, butch...if you said put out an album that was good and you listen to, it might be achievable but since there are so few "great albums" out there, I'm not sure how that works in your mind.

hmm.

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dcar00

dcar00 14154

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Just now, Rip76 said:

Black Ice wasn’t bad either.

agreed but both Thunderstruck and Money Talks were pretty big hits that were bigger than anything off Black Ice.  And it came after 3 or 4 albums that were pretty meh.

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sidis

sidis 9823

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4 minutes ago, Stringer said:

Would “All That You Cant Leave Behind” count? 9 years and 2 misfires since Achtung Baby.

i gotta say, based on my understanding of the prompt, this has to be one of the best possible fits.  u2 undoubtedly past their prime of unforgettable fire, joshua tree, and achtung baby. put out two shit albums in zooropa and pop, and then come back with a really good album in all that you can't leave behind.

nicely done.

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Serak The Preparer

Serak The Preparer 3431

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I realize this stretches the definition of band but the first thing that come to my mind was Time Out of Mind by Bob Dylan. He had a LOT of woofs in the 80's through mid-90s, then TOOM, Love and Theft, Modern Times, etc., almost created a mini-prime for him. 

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nolongerU2horn

nolongerU2horn 761

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19 minutes ago, sidis said:

i gotta say, based on my understanding of the prompt, this has to be one of the best possible fits.  u2 undoubtedly past their prime of unforgettable fire, joshua tree, and achtung baby. put out two shit albums in zooropa and pop, and then come back with a really good album in all that you can't leave behind.

nicely done.

POP is actually a very good album

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Carl Spackler

Carl Spackler 3479

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image.png.5a63848d911f524c5b0f69afa5f0fbc0.png

 

When Cheap Trick put this album out in 1997, the band hadn't released a really good, cohesive album since the early 80's, IMO, and arguably not since Dream Police in 1979.  Between 1982 and 1997, they had the occasional hit and some good songs here and there, but their albums were inconsistent or (in some instances, such as The Doctor) downright bad.  But this one was a roaring return to form.  Too bad their label went under right after it was released, which totally screwed any promotion an otherwise stellar album should have received. 

 

image.png.e14d9637f3c8c1a282eacf33590896b3.png

 

I dug pretty much everything R.E.M. did up through Automatic for the People, but after that my interest started dropping off.  I like some of their post-AFTP stuff, but much of it is meh.  However, I thought their last album, Collapse Into Now, was really good.  Maybe knowing they were going to be calling it quits motivated them.

I think the Johnny Cash example noted above is a good one, too.

Also, after slogging through much of the 70's with spotty results, the Kinks put out Low Budget, which rocked.  Their next two albums were pretty good, too.     

 

 

 

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Paul Wesley

Paul Wesley 3278

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On 5/29/2024 at 9:47 AM, sidis said:

  u2 undoubtedly past their prime of unforgettable fire, joshua tree, and achtung baby. 

If the trajectory of Muhammad Ali's career would have mirrored that of U2, he would have defeated Liston, defended his title admirably roughly four times, and then Trevor Berbick would have relentlessly beaten the absolute shit out of him for 37 years.  

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Butch Had Not

Butch Had Not 2969

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On 5/28/2024 at 12:36 PM, sidis said:

this prompt is a bit of a brain twister, butch...if you said put out an album that was good and you listen to, it might be achievable but since there are so few "great albums" out there, I'm not sure how that works in your mind.

hmm.

I think the thought exercise comes from a place where you listened to bands and they started to suck and you say to yourself "I only listen their old shit now" and you are mentally over them and accept they are never the same band.  Then they hit on a album out of the blue and you absolutely are floored about the resurgence. 

Bon jovi kind of did this during their "It's my life" era.

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dcar00

dcar00 14154

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Santana - Supernatural. yes a bunch of guest stars and co writers but it was a huge album after years of meh.  

Van Morrison - Too Long in Exile

U2 was a good one but I'm trying to think of bands where there is a big 3 or 4  album, many years major decline(very low charting) and then a reasonable hit/comeback album.  hard to come up with some because most bands just break up.  solo artist probably have more.

 

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honolulu horn

honolulu horn 6158

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McCartney's Flaming Pie put an end to a string of really insipid work through the 80s. Some would argue Flowers in the Dirt was the return to Macca form, but I don't think it holds up as well. McCartney has essentially been on a non-stop run since Flaming Pie of really good, thoughtful, catchy and creative stuff. 

Sticking with ex-Beatles, George Harrison's Cloud 9 is a no-brainer.

As far as Cheap Trick goes, I like the pick above but would list Bang, Zoom, Crazy, Hello as mine. That album sounds like vintage CT and kicks all kinds of ass. 

But Johnny Cash's American Recordings is the clear runaway winner. 

 

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