...in pop music

I hope he makes a post just to prove the submitter wrong.

During those dark years, Neil spent any time when he wasn't busy recording rockabilly and country albums wallowing in 80's synthesizer hell. If you're familiar with his work but not this particular period, the thought of Neil Young and a synthesizer probably sounds pretty terrifying.

Oh no! He's not doing exactly the same thing all the time!

/Hair: Blonde
//Eyes: Blue
///Weight: 110
////Disposition: Even
//Mood Code: Rotary Adjustable

Even thought I don't consider it a comeback album and I liked Blaze-era Maiden, you gotta throw this one in there:

I lol'd @ subbysaurous rex...

Just watched that movie again this week...

Words can't do enough justice.

Without Van Halen 3, Cut the Crap and Chinese Democracy, this list fails.

Ian: Here it is!
Derek: Visitor's Day. isn't it?
Ian: Here it is, lads! "Smell The Glove"...gather round.. Where's David?... David, David, get up here!
?: Come on Ian, you're kidding..
Derek: David, "Smell The Glove" is here. Hello, Jeanine.
Ian: The moment we've all been waiting for...Here we go, plenty for everybody...here you are.
David: I never thought I'd see...I never thought I'd live to see the day.
Ian: What do you think?
Derek: Is this the test pressing?
Ian: No, this is it, yes, that's right...
David: This is "Smell The Glove" by Spinal Tap....
Ian: That's "Smell The Glove" that's, that's the jacket cover, it's going out across the country in every store.
David: This is the compromise we made...this is the compromise you made?
Ian: Yes.
Derek: Is it going to say anything here, or here along the spine?
David: It's not going to say anything?
Ian: No, it's not going to say anything.
Nigel: It's going to be like this, all black...
Ian: No, it's going to be that simple, beautiful, classic!
?: Does look a little bit like, you know, black leather...
Derek: You can see yourself in... both sides.
David: I feel so bad, I feel so bad about this...
Nigel: It's like a black mirror.
David: Well, I think it looks like death...it looks like mourning. I mean it looks...
Ian: David, David, every, every movie, in every cinema is about death; death sells!
Nigel: I think he's right, there is something about this, that's that's so black, it's like; "How much more black could this be?" and the answer is: "None, none... more black."
David: I think, like you've, like rationalizing this whole thing like into something you did on on purpose. I think we're stuck with a very, very stupid and a very, and a very dismal looking album, this is depressing.
Nigel: David!
David: This is something you wear around your arm, you don't put this on your farking turntable.
Nigel: David, it's a choice.
Ian: I frankly think that this is the turning point, okay? I think, I think this is...we're on our way now.
Nigel: I agree, I agree...
Ian: It's time, time to kick arse!

/like he could kick anybody's arse

Steve Earle peaked with Guitar Town, Exit 0, and Copperhead Road. The live album is good too, but after that he lost me. Love Johnny Cash, but not that album. Can't argue with #1. Who the hell is Nas?

The Billdozer: Even thought I don't consider it a comeback album and I liked Blaze-era Maiden, you gotta throw this one in there:

Preach it brother. I nearly wet myself when I found out Bruce and Adrian were back.

Trick of the Tail by Genesis, FTW.

Santana's Supernatural? Comeback, I guess, but I must say that Rob Thomas track was awful, yet everyone seemed to like it for some reason.


I'm not necessarily sure about comeback albums, but these are albums put out by great groups who were previously putting out mediocre albums:

- Wire: Send
- Killing Joke (s/t 2003)
- Ministry: Animositisomina (Too bad they never really went anywhere afterwards. Still better than almost ending with that awful DSotS album)

If you want to talk about true comeback album, I have to go with Dirt Farmer by Levon Helm. After surgery for throat cancer, he thought that he would never sing again. His voice is not the same as it was when he was in the Band, but it is a remarkable comeback.

I would have included Deep Purple's "Perfect Strangers" and Little Feat's "Let It Roll". But that's just me, I guess.

phlegmography: Trick of the Tail by Genesis, FTW.

Not really a comeback album, per se. More like start of a new era for Genesis.

/seeing The Musical Box on Sunday night in NYC doing their Trick of the Tail show

Lowell George: I would have included Deep Purple's "Perfect Strangers"

I came here to say that.

assegai: ...in pop music

Probably a semantics issue, but to me, there were quite a few acts on that list I wouldn't call 'pop music'.

But I get what you're sayin'.

Vapor Trails.



Not that I really like it, but I thought they were dead and gone after Test for Echo. The release of VT meant more shows and more road trips.

I wouldn't say Freedom was a comeback for Neil Young so much as a return to politics. In 1988 he had "This Note's for You" banned from MTV and ultimately won the Best Video award from MTV for it.

But yeah, "Rockin' in the Free World" is a classic song.

15 years. 15 farking years for them to make a follow up to one of the greatest albums of all time. And it rules.

SPna15:

[Cynic]

15 years. 15 farking years for them to make a follow up to one of the greatest albums of all time. And it rules.

THIS.

Atheist is supposedly recording a new album after 15 years as well. Looking forward to that.

Strangely absent:



/hotlinked

waiting for the new My Bloody Valentine

Not really a come back album I guess but it took a long time/a few APC albums to get this out.

Gotta agree with pretty much all of this list. However, Freedom by Neil Young really isn't a comeback album. The stuff he produced in the early-to-mid 80's is certainly different and less popular. But a lot of people think its great. Trans is one of my all-time favorite albums.

Yeah, with Freedom he "came back" from being experimental to being pure Neil Young. But its not like his career was tanking. Its not like he was unsuccessful at what he was trying to do previously.

I expected most of the list to be dominated by Lanois albums. That there was only the Dylan one is both refreshing and disappointing.

irockalot: Without Van Halen 3, Cut the Crap and Chinese Democracy, this list fails.

Van Halen 3? How do you call that a comeback album. Yeah, Van Halen was down and out and certainly nowhere near their former selves. But this album falls way short of returning them to that glory. If they were a "10" at the beginning, slipped to a "4"... this album gets a meh "5" or "6" in my book.

Cut the Crap was good, but it didn't bring The Clash back anywhere near where they were. It was almost a throw-away "after the fact" album.

Chinese Democracy... too early to tell.

Gunny Highway: Not really a come back album I guess but it took a long time/a few APC albums to get this out.

That album is turrible..Im a huge tool fan..haha..huge tool fan...anyways that album blows..their next album will be there comeback album.

I thought "Break Like the Wind" was Spinal Tap's comeback album?

Black Sabbath "Heaven And Hell" was a comeback after the last couple of Ozzy-era albums.

I would have put Moody Blues "Long Distance Voyager" on the list.

Of course, I have yet to meet a rock writer/critic who doesn't think the Moody Blues are retarded.

They forgot this one. I think that the band might have gone on to a bit of a career second wind after putting out this one, eh?

1) Dylan didnt release 'Self Portrait', CBS did.

2) WTF does 'Mission of Burma' mean? One of the stupider names for a band out there.

Death.
Magnetic.

Go ahead, flame on. You know I'm right.

The Rising, Freedom, Back in Black - all great pics.

Time out of Mind was good to a lesser degree. Certainly the Fleetwood Mac album above deserves to be on the list.

What about these?

Grateful Dead - In The Dark
Pink Floyd - Momentary Lapse of Reason
John Prine - Fair and Square
Ten Years Later - Rocket Fuel

Gunny Highway: Not really a come back album I guess but it took a long time/a few APC albums to get this out.

It did take a while but that would mean either Opiate, Undertow or Aenima were bad which they weren't. It was totally worth the wait. Next one should be out sooner rather than later. Maynard's getting old and he knows it.

Not really a comeback if it's the last album, I guess...



Yeah, I know Apple Venus Vol. 1 came out first.

While it certainly isn't my favorite album on the list, Private Dancer should be closer to #1. In a way, it is the definitive "comeback".

Aerosmith gets too much hate. Pump and Permanent Vacation are awesome albums, as is Rocks. Toys in the Attic is okay. And everything else kind of sucks or is meh.

Neil Young deserves to be higher. You have to remember that in comparison to what he put out in the 70s, Freedom is the only album in the 80s that is even remotely comparible in quality to his 70s albums, and is at least equal to Rust Never Sleeps, Tonights the Night, On the Beach, and Harvest. I guess Old Ways could have been a mediocre 70s album. Everything else in the 80s really was either pretty bad or bland, with most of the good songs leftovers from the 70s (see Hawks and Doves).

Somewhat comeback albums: Angel of Retribution, Steel Wheels, Use Your Illusion I/II (Comeback from GnR Lies).

PianoDemon
/seeing The Musical Box on Sunday night in NYC doing their Trick of the Tail show

WHAT?!?!!?!?!

i thought the musical box broke up, the "peter gabriel" guy left, the "phil collins guy" went off and formed his own Collins years Genesis tribute, that didn't work, he split it up [due to creative differences], and now i thought he had his own solo tribute artist thing to Phil.
are you tellin me that the musical box is back together?
and they're doing Collins era stuff?

AWESOME
you lucky person you!
"Trick of the tail" is a great album... one of their very best IMHO.

POSSIBLE comeback albums:

"On every street" by Dire Straits [yes i know it wasn't as great as B.I.A., but what can you do?]
"We Can't Dance" by Genesis
"a momentary lapse of reason" [yuck] and/or "division bell" [yay!] by Pink Floyd
"Rock Bottom" by Robert Wyatt
"2112" by Rush. ["Caress of Steel" was considered a failure, and the subsequent tour was the "down the tubes" tour... like if the next album isn't F****ing awesome then they're doomed and possibly rejected by their record label.]

Steve Windwood's Back in the High Life

SPna15: 15 years. 15 farking years for them to make a follow up to one of the greatest albums of all time. And it rules.

IT's not quite as amazing as Focus, but it great on its own merits. It's not like they tried to make a sequel 15 years later and failed. They moved with the times and made a modern-sounding album that doesn't suck like modern metal tends to.

Oh btw: expect an Atheist album in 2009-10. Now all we need is Pestilence to reform and the Jazzy-metal trifecta is in play.

Don't call "Smell the Glove" a comeback!!!

I would've included Ragged Glory over Freedom for Neil Young's "comeback" album. It came out first and was much more of a return to form to his '70s heyday, and I actually think it's a better album overall. Freedom of course had "Rockin' in the Free World," but I thought the album as a whole was a bit too polished.

My favorite comeback of album of all time is "All the way" by Little Jimmy Scott. Buena Vista Social Club was another, very high-profile, one that got overlooked in TFA. And King Crimson seems to put out a strong comeback album every decade or so.

The award for most improbable comeback has to go to Pat Martino though, relearning everything from scratch after losing all memories of his music carreer.


/Good call on Steve Earle. Quite different from his early stuff but I like it
//Flatlanders comeback album was a bit disappointing

LL Bean J: I would have put Moody Blues "Long Distance Voyager" on the list.

Of course, I have yet to meet a rock writer/critic who doesn't think the Moody Blues are retarded.

Always been a fan. LDV was a huge album for them. Maybe it was the spark they got from Patrick Moraz, who was with Yes for a while.

zappaisfrank: Black Sabbath "Heaven And Hell" was a comeback after the last couple of Ozzy-era albums.

Never Say Die and Technical Ecstacy may not have had the hits, but they were some really well done albums.

How about Yes's 90125. I see someone mentioned Iron Maiden's Brave New World.