Greatest Comeback

What was U2's comeback? And was Joe Strummer really ever obscure?

Lou Reed's "New York" in 1989

I never did understand what was supposedly so go about that album (or, for that matter, his previous "comeback," The Blue Mask). Sure, there's a few pretty decent songs on there, but overall, it's not an album I come back to very much.

Maybe it seemed better in 1989?

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i'd say u2 were a basically classic-rock dinosaurs before all that you can't leave behind came out, and that that one completely turned them back into current pop stars, with critical heft and pop-culture heft to boot.

and joe strummer was certainly more obscure than, say, bob dylan or johnny cash or frank sinatra.

YES c. 1983

New York definitely sounded better in 1989.

brian wilson?

Yeah, he is right up there for sure.

i'd say u2 were a basically classic-rock dinosaurs before all that you can't leave behind came out, and that that one completely turned them back into current pop stars, with critical heft and pop-culture heft to boot.

prior to atyclb, u2 went through the commercial embarrassment of pop, where their big abc-tv special was the lowest-rated show in the history of network television, most dates on the tour were half-sold, and the record sold far below expectations. still, "below expectations" for u2 meant about 2 million copies instead of 10 million copies. but in 2000 they weren't thought of so much as classic rock dinosaurs; they were a once-"important" band who had floundered the last time out and weren't being paid much attention to.

I wish Howard Tate could have been an answer to this thread. I was really rooting for Rediscovered to gain some traction a few years ago.

i picked up New York in a secondhand shop the other day. there are some cracking songs on there but it does tail off a bit in the 2nd half. and some of the subject matter sounds a bit dated now since the Giuliani purge of NYC.

Santana?

Justin Timberlake is definitely up there.

Beyonce too, but she sort of segue'd rather than "came back"

ummm

the 3 singles off the last n sync album all charted in the top 20 which directly led into the 3 monster singles off jt's first album

he would be a great candidate for 'greatest reinvention' but he didn't have to come back from anywhere...

Yes, but was jt's first album any decent? I mean, it wasn't like a *BOOM* comeback but, to me, anyone going from N*Sync to FutureSex/LoveSounds deserves a nod.

xp fair enough compromise. I was interpreting "comeback" to encompass not only reunions of positively-"done" bands but someone who successfully made it from - to +

oh ok

yeah i interpreted the thread title as someone whose career once seemed dead and that was never true for jt

justified is good too!

On that note what about Kraftwerk with their recent tours?

Fingers crossed for Portishead....

Vashti Bunyan.

Kylie, surely. She's up there among the most obvious ones.

Madonna also had kind of a European comeback in 1998, but I'm aware that "Erotica" and "Bedtime Stories" were still huge in the US even if paid a bit less attention to over here.

Didn't Dickie Ashcroft 'die' on stage in about 1993 while in the US?

Also can someone make a function for this board where you can block certain poster's comments?

Killfile, dude.

Does Killfile actualy exist? I thought it was like Atlantis!

(don't bother with that one)

Um, this is getting to be "one album sold less than it's predecessor, but the following one sold loads!" type entries. Kylie. Yeah ok. Pssh!

Kylie was out of the limelight for most of the 90s, save for that Nick Cave duet. Yes, she released records, but very few people cared.

1 Kylie Minogue Tears On My Pillow Jan 1990 Notes
2 Kylie Minogue Better The Devil You Know May 1990
4 Kylie Minogue Step Back In Time Nov 1990
6 Kylie Minogue What Do I Have To Do Feb 1991
6 Kylie Minogue Shocked Jun 1991
16 Kylie Minogue Word Is Out Sep 1991
4 Kylie Minogue & Keith Washington If You Were With Me Now Nov 1991
2 Kylie Minogue Give Me Just A Little More Time Jan 1992
11 Kylie Minogue Finer Feelings Apr 1992
14 Kylie Minogue What Kind Of Fool (Heard It All Before) Aug 1992
20 Kylie Minogue Celebration Nov 1992
2 Kylie Minogue Confide In Me Sep 1994
11 Kylie Minogue Put Yourself In My Place Nov 1994
16 Kylie Minogue Where Is The Feeling Jul 1995 Notes
22 Kylie Minogue Some Kind Of Bliss Sep 1997
14 Kylie Minogue Did It Again Dec 1997
14 Kylie Minogue Breathe Mar 1998

1 Kylie Minogue Kylie - The Album Jul 1988 Notes
1 Kylie Minogue Enjoy Yourself Oct 1989 Notes
9 Kylie Minogue Rhythm Of Love Nov 1990 Notes
15 Kylie Minogue Let's Go To It Oct 1991 Notes
1 Kylie Minogue Kylie Greatest Hits Sep 1992 Notes
4 Kylie Minogue Kylie Minogue Oct 1994 Notes
10 Kylie Minogue Kylie Minogue Apr 1998

Her mistake wasn't so much going "alternative" but signing to a trendy label that actually was on the way to going paws up.

The last LP on that list was the "Impossibe Princess" one. They should have kept the title, but instead they dicked around and issued it 6 months later.

I can confirm that Killfile does work. It makes life here a lot easier.

so if killfiled person posted 57 times in a row you wouldn't know anything happened?

How does one do Killfile?

KILLFILE 2.0

Eh?

How to:
1) install Firefox
2) install Greasemonkey extension
3) click on koog's link above and install the script
4) right click on smiley monkey face at lower right of FF
5) choose to Manage User Scripts
6) select kilxor and click Edit button - should open script with notepad
7) add user names to the line (inside the square brackets, using the info in the comments of the script): var fules = [ /Jaq/ ];
8) Save file
9) Make sure Enabled box is ticked. Click okay to close Greasemonkey manager dialog.

-- Jaq, Monday, May 21, 2007 1:34 PM (7 months ago) Bookmark Link

idk i've never done it but i'm pretty sure that's the instructional thread

Ah, I use Safari; any hope for that?

er idk nick. if you're serious about doing a killfile i would talk to tombot or someone who knows how to do it.

Marvin Gaye, Midnight Love?

Maybe Tuomas would offer to kill Geir for me, they're on the same landmass? That's gotta be easier than a killfile.

What's wrong with going "tsk, Geir" apart from when he says something totally obnoxious? Cause then you'd never know, and then some unknown git would be all YEAH and such!

Moving right along here and back to topic: Charlie Rich.

I actually think Geir hit this on the head with ol' Frankie Boy.

elvis 68, sinatra and cash are all strong.

paul mccartney with flaming pie? i know it wasn't huge, but...

McCartney has had "comeback" at various times. "Flaming Pie" was as definite US comeback for him, in Europe, it was with "Flowers In The Dirt" already. And, as he had struggled to sell for a while after "Flaming Pie" (even the excellent "Chaos & Creation In The Backyard" didn't achive the popularity it would have deserved), last year's effort could almost be considered kind of a comeback too.

How about Turboneger. Given the state the band members were in around the late 90s, it is kind of surprising that they would go on and become bigger than ever (in popularity at least) in the oughties?

Sleater-Kinney

^yeah, can't argue that.

Failure's comeback record this year was absolutely incredible too. I didn't even like their 90s stuff that much to begin with, but then they re-formed as middle-aged men and absolutely knock one out of the park.

er, can't argue with that.

I can't believe no one's mentioned it here or on the Facebook post I made - Kate Bush! Aerial!

Best Comeback of all time was James Brown on the T.A.M.I. Show. Dude was done. Down for the count! Nothing left to give. Cape was on, show was over. And he just kept coming back! That's some straight up Lazarus shit.

Did he also hop off a stretcher as he was being taken off stage or was that another show?

I don't remember a stretcher at the T.A.M.I. Show, but it seems logical that it would be worked into the act at some point!

"and your mother too!"

this year the greatest comeback was definitely the apartments "no song, no spell, no madrigal". after 18 years!

Carcass

Van Der Graaf Generator circa Godbluff

It's not New Order, that's for sure.

cibo matto
avalanches
slowdive
(mind if there is a general best comeback albums thread that would be cool)

Tindersticks The Something Rain comes to mind.

dino jr, tho they weren't gone for that long

Jerry Lee Lewis went on to become a big country star in the late '60s after the Myra Gale marriage scandal got him blacklisted 10 years earlier.

A Tribe Called Quest

Avalanches is a good one, not only in that it was a "true" comeback but it also managed to live up to expectations and perhaps even surpass them

Magma dropping perhaps their two best studio albums in 2004 and 2009 feels like it counts here even if those albums are primarily made up of 30+ year old material