Greatest Comeback

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?

the best comeback is yet to come, obviously it is mark hollis with his second solo album. anytime soon.

It certainly isn't on par with a Sinatra or a Cash, but Robert Wyatt's nice rise in public profile after last year's album was a pleasant comeback.

Unsane. Came back with their best album then made an even better one in 2007.

Surprised Chxck didn't come here to mention Rick Springfield and Billy Ocean.

Mission of Burma

tony bennett

and yes 90125 otm

Sinatra and Johnny Cash are, as everyone says, going to be hard to beat... some open questions are in play...

What's the distinction between a proper comeback, and just having a sort of weak album and then stepping back up to heights sort of near where you were at before? How long do you have to be a nobody for the comeback to count? Madonna seems like a question mark on both of these...

How long does it have to last to be a comeback rather than a drop-in? I'm thinking of George Harrison on that last one.

U2 probably counts though. Even if they weren't exactly an irrelevant flop act in the late 90s, it's clear that between Achtung and ATYCLB they were a bit out to sea.

Scott Walker too? Never done much commercial success as a soloist, but has received huge critical success from the mid 90s onwards.

And Dion.

Marianne Faithful would get my vote (although Walker would also be a good choice.)

Didn't see a mention for Tina Turner. Private Dancer in '84 was a huge comeback after a hellish time in 70s / early 80s.

edit, Daniel, Esq. mentioned it above. Worth calling out again 'cos it was a great personal triumph for her making the sales comeback all the sweeter.

The Bee Gees

DISCO

lock thread

Revive.

Next theme for record club is 'phoenix from the flames'.

good theme!

Wire's Noughties revival for sheer quality if not unlikelihood

That mbv record was pretty stunning for a band that hadn't released anything for 20 years

also true

it was pretty stunning on any metric imo

Dinosaur Jr made some excellent records in the last few years.

Swans must be a contender. They were pretty much finished in 1997, playing to half-empty houses all over Europe on their "farewell" tour. Since they came back in 2010, Gira's been getting the best reviews of his career and the band are playing to larger audiences than ever.

yeah that's a really good one

really want like chapterhouse or w/e to come back with a work of raging brilliance, any examples of a mediocre band doing this

Leonard Cohen too. Not that he ever went away exactly, but he didn't tour for 15 years between 1993 and 2008. That comeback tour was the biggest of his career and saw him playing arenas for the first time.

Suspect strongly that Tom will play The Chills.

Aerosmith have to be up there. My Mom said they played at her prom!

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