Best comeback album?

[but LDV followed both a significant period of inactivity and a lineup change.]

Cristi wrote: I forgot about Deep Purple's Perfect Strangers.  Come to think of it even The Battle Rages On was (kinda) a comeback album.  90125 was not meant to be a Yes album, as it started as a Squire/Rabin project they were gonna call Cinema. But with 4 former Yes members in the line-up... well, you all know how it went in the end.  And BTW I love the album.

The Anders wrote: AFlowerKingCrimson wrote: Some people on here don't seem to understand what a comeback album is. A comeback album isn't a good album after a band has done mediocre albums. A comeback album is an album where the band returns after a long hiatus or reforms after being broken up.  That's a very narrow definition if you ask me. I would say coming back after a long hiatus is one type of comeback, finally doing something great after a long period of little inspiration is another - an artistic comeback.

I'm with you Anders. A comeback may be a return after some considerable absence, or it may be seen as a return to form (achieving critical or commercial success, or becoming fashionable in some sense again...). I'd argue that it needn't even be that lengthy a period. A band might release two great albums, then the next one a year later is considered poor, then the next one a year later is considered successful and called a comeback. For instance, "After releasing three great albums, 2014's "Taste Me Pegleg", 2015's "The Pirate's Booty" and 2016's "This Pirate is Arrrr Rated", in 2017 Captain Hooker (aka William Kidding) released the atrocious flop, "Swab Me Poop Deck"; however, the Captain's next album "Yo Ho Hoes & Mo' Hoes" proved to be a major comeback garnering huge critical and popular success."

Edited by Logan - June 16 2019 at 18:15

To me, a three year hiatus is a significant break for a group that at its peak released 7 top shelf albums in the space of 6 years. Doing so with a lineup change made it even more so, again especially since prior to that lineup change, they were the model of lineup longevity, having carried the same 5 for over a decade.

Detail.

AFlowerKingCrimson wrote: Fischman wrote: To me, a three year hiatus is a significant break for a group that at its peak released 7 top shelf albums in the space of 6 years. Doing so with a lineup change made it even more so, again especially since prior to that lineup change, they were the model of lineup longevity, having carried the same 5 for over a decade. See, I don't really agree with that. I have heard people call "tango in the night" by Fleetwood Mac a comeback album. I don't see it though although it is at least a good album. I think as bands progress it's expected that later on they won't be as productive.

That does seem to be the case. That doesn't change my analysis though.

I also tend to think of LDV as a comeback under the criterion others have mentioned; an artistic comeback. I really like Octave, but even with that in mind, it's well below the big seven that preceded it and, IMO, LDV, which is also a superior album.

So LDV isn't the longest hiatus, or the biggest lineup change, or the best Moodies album, but it's close enough in each category that when all are put together, I think of it as a great comeback.

TenYearsAfter wrote: Logan wrote: AFlowerKingCrimson wrote: Ok, so then Going for the One and Peter Gabriel's SO were come back albums? :P You could say Calling All Stations was  a comeback album. Whether it was a good comeback album is a whole different story.  Some might call them comeback albums, not everyone will agree. I wouldn't call Going For the One a comeback album, as I think the former album Relayer to be better. If you just mean because they came back with that album after three years absence, then one could call it a comeback from that perspective. I wouldn't call So a comeback album (maybe if the former year's Birdy soundtrack was thought to be lacking in merit). Commonly, in my parlance, a comeback refers to a return to former success either artistically or in terms of popularity. For that reason, I wouldn't use the term comeback for Calling All Stations, even though they came back with a poor album after some years of inactivity. My point, though, was that a comeback album can be "a good album after a band has done mediocre albums" and it need not only refer to "an album where the band returns after a long hiatus or reforms after being broken up." If I'm missing your point...   I disagree about calling GFTO from Yes not a comeback album, because the word comeback has different meanings, in the case of GFTO it means that The Caped Crusader returned, after leaving Yes a few years before. The comeback was even in style, and in harmony with The Hippie With The Iron Fist!

Haha, okay. The return of the caped crusader and keyboard warrior whose SJW superhero name is "Woke Man".   Indeed, "comeback" can be interpreted in various ways.

I wasn't claiming that it is not a comeback album, merely that I didn't consider it to be a comeback album (in the context of what I was trying to illustrate with the fictitious Captain Hooker before nor due to my limited knowledge). While I heard the album once, I didn't even know the personnel on that album. It's not one I would have commented on had it not been raised in response to my earlier post as I'm not much of a Yes fan.

Magma's K.A. (mentioned in the OP) would by choice of comeback album.

While I don't actually think it's as great as what came earliest (I even prefer To keep From Crying), I might also mention Comus' Out of the Coma despite sounding somewhat like a pastiche of itself. When I think of Out of the Coma, I think of Spinal Tap's Back From the Dead. Not Prog, but actually Spinal Tap's Back From the Dead was a good comeback for me, and actually so was Break Like the Wind before that.

Marillion-Brave (because Season's End was kinda weak).

verslibre wrote: Rush – Vapor Trails. Seems many don't realize the band had unofficially called it a day between Test For Echo and VT. At his daughter's funeral service, Neil told Geddy and Alex that the band was as good as done. VT should be regarded a miracle. I know I do: The songs therein are the best they'd composed since perhaps Power Windows. A corker of an album.

 

AFlowerKingCrimson wrote: Cristi wrote: I forgot about Deep Purple's Perfect Strangers.  Come to think of it even The Battle Rages On was (kinda) a comeback album.  90125 was not meant to be a Yes album, as it started as a Squire/Rabin project they were gonna call Cinema. But with 4 former Yes members in the line-up... well, you all know how it went in the end.  And BTW I love the album.  Well, being that the band was broken up and did eventually go by the name Yes I think we can nonetheless call it a comeback album even though in my opinion it was a very different sound for them and they probably should have called themselves Cinema. However, the idea of selling more albums and making more money was appealing to the record company if not the members of Cinema/Yes themselves.  The only post 90125 Yes album I think that would qualify is Fly From Here even though they weren't actually broken up.