Although I've never actually heard it The Moody Blues "octave" seems to be one of the first ones to come to mind for many people(especially prog fans). What are some other turkey comeback albums?
Although I've never actually heard it The Moody Blues "octave" seems to be one of the first ones to come to mind for many people(especially prog fans). What are some other turkey comeback albums?
i put both ELO's 'Zoom' (2001) and 'Alone In the Universe' (2015) in this category........they don't suck but both are mediocre.....
Interesting idea for a thread. Octave is certainly a good choice. I can only salvage a couple of songs worth anything on that ('Stepping In A Slide Zone', 'Driftwood'). A sad way for this line-up to go out...a comeback so disastrous it saw Mike Pinder and producer Tony Clark out the door!
Queen and Paul Rodgers' The Cosmos Rocks was garbage IMHO. A big-budget pub rock album that had nothing to do with Queen, really. It flopped hard (failing to go to Number 1 anywhere, even in an era of reduced sales) and deserved to.
I was very disappointed by The Who's Endless Wire upon release. When I listen to it now it's not terrible and some of the acoustic songs in particular are good, it just doesn't hang together very well- think the first track 'Fragments' should have been the album title! I'll also never understand why Pete Townshend dialed up 'Tom Waits impersonation' to sing 'In The Ether'...not a bad song, ruined by that vocal. I burst out laughing when I first heard it!
Lynne handling the drumming doesn't help. Not that Bev Bevan played anything difficult but he's a drummer, and it makes all the difference. Lynne also has used this same ultra-dry production style since the late 80s...I miss the extravagant ELO sound.Originally Posted by klothos
and bass, too....he's a very bland/lackluster bass player......its usually easy to tell which songs he played bass on and which Kelly Groucutt did ( and by 1983's "Secret Messages", that sounds like 90% Lynne on bass)
In The Hot Seat had some good music on it I thought but I just never really warmed to it.
Same with Well's On Fire.
OTOH I'm a big fan of The Division Bell.
I guess there will be some clarification needed as to what circumstances count as a "comeback."
Genesis - Calling All Stations.
CSN/CSNY - American Dream
Yeah, I have cosmos rocks with Paul Rodgers and I think I played it once or twice. I agree it's pretty lame. Maybe two halfway decent songs on it at the most. Some people seem to like it though so go figure. Anyway, I forgot about that one.
Perfect Strangers is kind of a mixed bag. I like some of the songs. Not sure I would say it should be considered one of the worst though but I think they could have done better. DP seems to be one of those bands like JT who are pretty hit or miss imo.
As for calling all stations I actually like it. It is the closest thing they ever came to neo prog aside from maybe ATTWT.
For Cosmos Rocks I liked the song small(and the reprise). I think that one stood out. I really don't remember much else.
'Small' was one of the ballads...pleasant enough, I guess. But the bulk of the album was crushed under the weight of bad, bad lyrics and lazy 'rawk' cliches. What is interesting is that it feels like only people who bought it at the time of release heard it...it's been totally forgotten.
I'll state the obvious mention a couple Yes records: Union and Open Your Eyes. Both were supposed to herald a new era in Yestory (or whatever you want to call it), but both were kind of duds, with like two or three good songs on each of them. Of course, Union was only just barely a Yes album.
I never did hear Psycho Circus by Kiss, but I remember the gaggle of songs they played when I saw them on that tour didn't impress me much. I do remember even before it came out, people who had heard advance promo copies were saying you could tell Ace Frehley and Peter Criss hadn't played on most of it.
jethro Tull's Thick As A Brick II
Queensryche's Operation Mindcrime II
Regards,
Duncan
Humble Pie "On to Glory"
What was that Patti Smith album with “People Have the Power” on it? I pretty much blocked it from my mind until this thread came up.
Confirmed Bachelors: the dramedy hit of 1883...
The Crosby Stills Nash and Young reunion album from 1990 isn't suppose to be very good either.
One of the worst, I think, was the Mahavishnu comeback in the 1980s. Only JM was there from the 70s bands and it sounded like decent 80s fusion at best.
I also didn't care for Momentary Lapse of Reason at all.
I am actually amazed by how many good comeback albums there are: Black Sabbath (13), Magma (KA), Asia (Phoenix), Camel (Dust and Dreams) just to name a few.
^Yeah, dust and dreams was great and so was Phoenix. I have BS 13 but haven't played it yet. I need to go look for it. KA I haven't heard yet.
Agree with this. I thought "Zoom" was horrible, and although "Alone" was better it was still not all that great.
Agree, I was so looking forward to this album. I pull it out every once in a while to see if it will grow on me, but it never does. Just did nothing for me, and I am a huge Who fan.
One that comes to mind is Heaven And Hell (aka Black Sabbath) “The Devil You Know”. Another album I was looking forward to for a long time, but aside from a couple of tracks I thought it was very mediocre.
I love “Perfect Strangers” in fact it is one of my favorite Deep Purple albums. The next one “House Of Blue Light” was a let down to my ears though.
As for “Calling All Stations” there are 4 tracks that I really like on it, and a couple of other ones that I at least enjoy. Not a stellar album for sure, but not the total turd that some seem to think it is.
^Agree about CAS. As for House of Blue Light I was a bit disappointed but I suppose I should give it another spin anyway. There are some very good tracks on Perfect Strangers for sure but ultimately I found it to be a bit uneven.
How are people feeling about Fly From Here 6 years on? Have to admit I don't even remember the last time I played it- must be 3/4 years ago. At the time I thought it was OK but was disappointed to find out how many decades-old songs had been used.
Another one springs to mind...Traffic's Far From Home. Not a bad record as Steve Winwood solo albums go, but it was a Traffic album. Too slick IMHO.
Last edited by JJ88; 03-03-2017 at 07:37 AM.
The Byrds' comeback/reunion album of 1973, Byrds. Featured all 5 original members, and it was a dud. Couple of good numbers, but no jingle-jangle guitar. Think I've played it maybe twice since I got it the day it came out 44 years ago.
Lou
Looking forward to my day in court.
Thick as a Brick II was not a Jethro Tull album - Ian Anderson released it as a solo album.
Since his most previous solo album was 9 years earlier, I guess it could count as an IA solo career comeback.
I'm of the same mind now as then - good album, but only really made good by the use of old material, so it didn't portend much in the way of a re-energized Yes from a creative standpoint (a perspective validated by the train wreck that was Heaven & Earth).
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