500 standout songs from an(y) artist's "late period"

which may be relatively unknown because most jumped ship years ago. get 2 work!

500. "Driftin' Back," Neil Young. (Even though Neil fans tend not to jump ship--I did in a way--and even though he's probably just hitting the middle period of his career.)

499. "real love," yes. (anderson and rabin rekindle (already post-prime period) 90125 sublimity without horn)

498. "Everything But You," The Undertones. (From their early aughts return to recording, this one's in my top 3-5 songs from their whole career.)

497 - 496. “Mike Post Theme” and “Tea and Theatre,” the Who. From 2006, on their first studio record since 1982, the best songs they’d done since “Who Are You.”

495. Coil - “Going Up”
I don’t know if Coil fans jumped ship, I don’t think so. To me it feels like Coil made their best music late in their history, starting with Musick To Play In The Dark. This is a cover of the theme song from the long-running British sitcom "Are You Being Served?” from Ape of Naples. It was reportedly the closing song of their final live performance.

“….First floor: telephones, gents ready-made suits, shirts, socks, ties, hats, underwear and shoes…going up…Second floor: carpets, travel goods and bedding, materials and soft furnishings, restaurant and teas…going up…” ….a recitation that became a beautiful elegy

Great thread idea, but question: what qualifies as an artist's "late period?" Like what if it's an artist that hasn't been around for that long (ie ten years) but hasn't been popular in years?

sounds fitting. songs from works far less popular than previous ones

494. "Me and the Bees," the Softies
493. "Baby Lee," Teenage Fanclub

<3 Baby Lee, so good. rest of the album didn't do it for me at all

492. Pink Floyd, 'High Hopes'

491. Celtic Frost, 'A Dying God Coming Into Human Flesh'

490. Gil Scott-Heron, 'Me and the Devil'

Anthrax (UK) - One Last Drop

oops 489

488. Scott Walker - Farmer in the City

487. Tracey Thorn — 'Swimming' (2010)

486. Alain Bashung, 'Je t'ai manqué'

485. Tom Waits - Hoist That Rag

484. Joe Strummer - Johnny Appleseed

483. The Fall - Weather Report 2
482. The Fall - Loadstones

481. Laurie Anderson - Another Day in America

480. Lou Reed & Metallica - Junior Dad

479. Merle Haggard - "Wishing All These Old Things Were New"

478. Curtis Mayfield - Here But I'm Gone

477 - vashti bunyan - across the water

476. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Babe, I'm On Fire

475. Billy Corgan - "Processional"

Should I just list the tracklist for Blackstar now or what

lol

474. Motörhead, “Thunder and Lightning”

473. Leonard Cohen - Democracy

472. John Lennon - "Watching the Wheels"

In that case i shall post:

471: Hercules and Love Affair - Omnion [feat. Sharon Van Etten]

mulling over the criteria, this really doesn't apply to artists that died young. also everyone knows "Watching the Wheels."

however, this song remained unreleased for 12 years after his death, so I'm including it, because it's a stunning song & recording and definitely under appreciated/lesser known:

470. Elliott Smith - "True Love"

469. They Might Be Giants, "Can't Keep Johnny Down"

468. Stereolab - "Everybody's Weird Except Me"

477 - vashti bunyan - across the water

― kolakube (Ross), Saturday, January 13, 2018 7:37 PM

Just, the entirety of Lookaftering and Heartleap, really.

467. REM, "Supernatural Superserious"
466. Nilsson, "I'll Take a Tango"

465 linda perhacs - prisms of glass

(yeah austin)

464. Sonic Youth - “Rain on Tin”

463. Prince - “Baltimore”

462 - marianne faithfull - no child of mine

(also riffed on in a pj harvey uh huh her cut)

Technically not a song, but whatever:

461. Franz Liszt, 'Nuages gris'

Always got the sense that pop musicians (in the broadest possible sense) tend to burn out fairly quickly while classical composers' late works are often among their very best (cf. Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Liszt, Wagner, Brahms, Debussy, Ravel, Sibelius, Nielsen, Berg, Webern, Shostakovich, etc.). There are exceptions, of course, but even those are debatable (Chopin, Schumann, Fauré, Schoenberg, Ives, Stravinsky, Messiaen, Takemitsu, etc.).

Similarly in other areas of music: John Coltrane did some of his most significant and influential work in the last 1-2 years of his life. Bill Dixon made an absolute game-changer (Vade Mecum) at 67. Cecil Taylor’s legendary Berlin residency, which included arguably his most towering work (Alms/Tiergarten (Spree)), occurred when he was in his late 50s.

Also, Gyorgy Ligeti's Violin Concerto. Not numbering since it's not a song but it's my go-to answer for this.

Yeah, that’s a good one. Love the Viola Sonata as well.

"Always got the sense that pop musicians (in the broadest possible sense) tend to burn out fairly quickly while classical composers' late works are often among their very best (cf. Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Liszt, Wagner, Brahms, Debussy, Ravel, Sibelius, Nielsen, Berg, Webern, Shostakovich, etc.). There are exceptions, of course, but even those are debatable (Chopin, Schumann, Fauré, Schoenberg, Ives, Stravinsky, Messiaen, Takemitsu, etc.)."

yeah i kind of want to omit classical musicians for that very reason, we could put in everything from Beethoven's Late Period here easy

460. robert wyatt - free will and testament
459. demis roussos - who gives a fuck

458. jimmie rodgers - years ago
457. richard jose - when you and i were young, maggie (1930 electrical recording)

456. Pet Shop Boys - Love is a Bourgeois Construct
455. XTC - Easter Theatre

454. Blue Cheer- 'Gypsy Rider'

453. george harrison - any road
452. charles mingus - cumbia and jazz fusion
451. czeslaw niemien - spodchmurykapelusza
450. sun ra - pleiades
449. the cowsills - under the gun
448. van dyke parks - wall street
447. sly stone - get away
446. silverchair - tuna in the brine
445. ultrasound - sovereign

444. Robert Forster - Demon Days
443. Suede - Snowblind
442. Scritti Politti - The Boom Boom Bap
441. Kate Bush - A Coral Room
440. Prince - A Million Days
439. Brian Wilson - Midnight's Another Day
438. The Cure - Cut Here
437. Soft Cell - Last Chance
436. Paul Buchanan - Cars In The Garden
435. Tindersticks - This Fire Of Autumn
434. Saint Etienne - Over The Border
433. Edwyn Collins - 31 Years
432. Janet Jackson - No Sleeep
431. Tracey Thorn - Oh The Divorces
430. Duran Duran - Runway Runaway

Re: classical musicians, the Ligeti violin concerto is kind of a special case in that his late period found him struggling to find a style or some cohesion, but in terms of "significant late work" for Ligeti I'd put the piano Etudes way higher than the violin concerto (which has some of the most superfluous alternate-string tunings I've ever encountered)

429. Cher - Believe
428. Diamanda Galas - O Death

I'd put the piano Etudes way higher than the violin concerto (which has some of the most superfluous alternate-string tunings I've ever encountered)

― flamboyant goon tie included, Sunday, January 14, 2018

Them's fighting words.

Luther Vandross - "Dance with My Father"

426. Massive attack with hope Sandoval - the spoils

425. Laurent Garnier - "1-4 Doctor C'est Chouette"

Just, the entirety of Lookaftering and Heartleap, really.

― he doesn't need to be racist about it though. (Austin), Saturday, January 13, 2018 11:51 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Came here to post this. Heartleap in particular is astonishing--she made her best album at age 69.

I like the Ligeti piano etudes, yeah. I should listen to them again; not sure I have since I did my comprehensive exams. Would be interested to hear fgti expand on the tunings in the violin concerto. What about Penderecki's third string quartet from 2008?

(I think it's great, although obv not as iconic as Threnody.)

<3 Baby Lee, so good. rest of the album didn't do it for me at all

But.. but.. "Sometimes I Don't Need to Believe in Anything" !!!

I like the Ligeti piano etudes, yeah. I should listen to them again; not sure I have since I did my comprehensive exams. Would be interested to hear fgti expand on the tunings in the violin concerto. What about Penderecki's third string quartet from 2008?

Well I'll pull out my score of the thing and take it to the Ligeti thread lol

424. Portishead - The Rip

Jazz and classical probably has many albums that qualify. In rock/folk Scott Walker, Tom Waits and Nick Cave are the ones that come to my mind and which have aged like fine wine. I could probably add like 40 songs from Tom Waits alone.

423. Slowdive - Sugar for the Pill

does Damon Albarn as Gorillaz count as a late period? Does 13 by Blur count? He was only 30 when the debut by Gorillaz and 13 got out but he had a decade experience with Blur by then.

Is there an age restriction or is it based on the position of the last albums in the overall discography?

so far it mostly feels like "after the world moved on" which i think is fine... thread could theoretically work as a signpost for fans of the more famous stuff to check out this one song and realize hey, they kept on making music, and it was good! though i imagine ilm is the kind of place where most people already know all the 'late work' of artists they like.

422. Nick Lowe - Let's Stay In And Make Love

421. David Axelrod featuring Ras Kass — 'The Little Children' (2001)

421 Bryan Ferry - San Simeon

420. Sparks - Dick Around

If that’s the definition then scratch Portishead and Slowdive as it seems the world was still paying attention 10+ years later and they ended up in several EOY lists

Also they were headliners in several festivals the year those albums came out.

nah i mean do whatever you want, it's not my thread anyway! plus i think comebacks of whatever kind count in the sense that people may not be expecting them to be good, they are "late" in the sense of no longer being in the moment/movement that they once seemed a part of, records that land independently of larger forces and come out of whatever that artist is pursuing in their own path, whatever.

419. Warren Zevon - Keep Me In Your Heart
418. Warren Zevon - Porcelain Monkey
417. Bruce Springsteen - We Take Care of Our Own
416. Bob Dylan - Pay In Blood

But.. but.. "Sometimes I Don't Need to Believe in Anything" !!!

― geoffreyess, Sunday, 14 January 2018 16:30 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

actually yeah I do like that one

415. Paul Simon - Love is Eternal Sacred Light

"late period" is something that's frequently only visible in retrospect. in 2004 would mission of burma's "onoffon" be considered "late period"? is it now? they've made three albums since then. you know what (so) fuck it:

414. mission of burma - ssl 83
413. armand schaubroeck - god made the blues to kill me

419. OutKast - Morris Brown

Sorry - 412. OutKast- Morris Brown

411. Neil Diamond - Hell Yeah

There are two 421s so

409. R.E.M. - Horse to Water

408. Vainica Doble - Dices Que Soy
407. Emmannuelle Parrenin - Maison Cube
406. Meredith Monk - Ascent

Can we try not to post tracks by currently-active bands that might have twenty more years in them? Cheers

405. Grace Jones - Williams Blood
404. Kylie - Get Outta My Way
403. The Go-Betweens - Finding You

402. ZZ Top: "I Gotsta Get Paid"

401. Harry Nilsson "Everything is Food"
400. Yoko Ono "Goodbye Sadness"

399. Solomon Burke: "Diamond In Your Mind"

398. Garland Jeffreys - Coney Island Winter
397. A Tribe Called Quest - We The People

396. Monkees: "Birth of An Accidental Hipster"

Can we try not to post tracks by currently-active bands that might have twenty more years in them? Cheers

― #TeamHailing (imago)

oh look it won't literally kill anybody, i'd rather we not just spend _all_ our time around here talking about dead people

395. Monkees - Shorty Blackwell

394. george harrison - when we was fab

393. moloko - statues

392. David Bowie - I Can't Give Everything Away
391. Richard Thompson - She Never Could Resist a Winding Road
390. Leonard Cohen - Show Me the Place
389. David Byrne & Brian Eno - Life is Long
388. Tom Petty - Down South
387. Tommy Keene - Black and White New York
386. Blondie - Under the Gun (For Jeffery Lee Pierce)
385. Pretenders - Who's Who
384. Kate and Anna McGarrigle - Jacques et Gilles
383. The Ramones - I Don't Wanna Grow Up
382. Tina Turner - I Don't Wanna Fight
381. Billy Joel - River of Dreams

380. Bobby Womack - Please Forgive My Heart

379 dr. john LOCKED DOWN

378. Pulp - Sunrise
377. The Blue Nile - High
376. Dusty Springfield - In Private
375. Prefab Sprout - The Best Jewel Thief In The World

374. Kate Bush - Lake Tahoe

373. Grant Hart - It Isn't Love
372. Bob Mould - Lucifer & God

371. The Roches - Us Little Kids

370. Big Star "Lady Sweet"

369. Michael Jackson "You Rock My World"

368. Elton John "I Want Love"
367. Pixies "Ain't That Pretty At All"
366. Beastie Boys f/ Nas "Too Many Rappers"
365. Mariah Carey "#Beautiful"
364. Gil Scott Heron "New York Is Killing Me"
363. Scott Walker "Epizootics"
362. Swans "Oxygen"

361. Beach Boys - Somewhere Near Japan

369. Michael Jackson "You Rock My World"

― billstevejim, Monday, January 15, 2018 1:39 AM (forty-four minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

so otm

360. Todd Rundgren - That Could Have Been Me [feat. Robyn]

yesssss to somewhere near japan

359. Love - “Gather ‘Round”

358. Squeeze - Can of Worms

357. Rodney Crowell - I Don't Care Anymore

356. The Alarm - 45 RPM

355. Steely Dan - Jack of Speed
354. Steely Dan - Cousin Dupree
353. George Harrison - Stuck Inside a Cloud
352. Mr. Fingers - Qwazars
351. Nas - The Don

could do a whole post for the Dino Jr. reunion, here's a few of my faves

350. Dinosaur Jr. - Ocean In The Way
349. Dinosaur Jr. - Said The People
348. Dinosaur Jr. - Pierce The Morning Rain
347. Dinosaur Jr. - I Know It All So Well
346. Dinosaur Jr. - We're Not Alone
345. Dinosaur Jr. - Be A Part

344. Killing Joke - The Great Cull
343. Killing Joke - Hosannas from the Basements of Hell
342. Killing Joke - Death and Resurrection Show

341. Gary Numan - Love Hurt Bleed
340. Thomas Dolby - 17 Hills
339. Devo - No Place Like Home
338. Underworld - Ova Nova
337. Yes - Homeworld (The Ladder)
336. They Might be Giants - Unpronounceable
335. Falco - Die Königin von Eschnapur
334. Gordon Lightfoot - Restless
333. OMD - The Right Side
332. Scooter - Close Your Eyes
331. Denki Groove - Fallin' Down

330. Queen - Innuendo

329. Depeche Mode - Going Backwards
328. OMD - History of Modern (Part 1)
327. Gary Numan - Lost

326. Barry Gibb - In the Now

325. Metallica - "St. Anger"

324. Mark Eitzel - I love You But You're Dead

344. Killing Joke - The Great Cull
343. Killing Joke - Hosannas from the Basements of Hell
342. Killing Joke - Death and Resurrection Show
― Mungolian Jerryset (bendy), Monday, 15 January 2018 15:28 (six hours ago) Permalink

bendy honoring the fire

I rate those tracks, and other on their 00s albums, above a lot of their prime time hits, eg "Love Like Blood", though for some reason I haven't caught up with their last two albums.

341. Soft Machine - Soft Space

in the spirit of this thread - is there anything worth checking out on the last two Cranberries LPs? Or the previous two for that matter?

340. New York Dolls - Dance Like a Monkey

339. Talking Heads - Blind

338. The Beach Boys - Goin On

337. XTC - The Wheel And The Maypole

336. The Suburbs - Turn The Radio On

335. Modest Mouse - "Strangers to Ourselves"

334. Mavis Staples - If All I Was Was Black

333. caetano veloso "não me arrependo"

332. arthur lee "somebody's watchin' you"

331. grant hart "you're the reflection of the moon on the water"

330. lou reed "egg cream"

329. mayo thompson "plekhanov" (w/ sven-åke johansson)

328. paul simon "once upon a time there was an ocean"

327. junior parker "taxman"

326. Tom Waits - "Day After Tomorrow"

never been able to get into Tom Waits but I saw him perform this song on The Daily Show in late 2006 and it's stuck with me for 11+ years, I don't think I've actually heard it since then.

does "saint of me" by the stones belong here? i think maybe it does?

Sorrow Knows by the Gun Club

325. buddy guy - i gotta try you girl

324. Elvis Presley - Moody Blue

323. Tom Zé--Pour Elis (from 2014's A Dog in the Milky Way.

I don't think I've heard a Moby song since Play, or that one from Miami Vice (one of the mornings... etc). Can anyone recommend anything?

322. American Music Club-'Patriot's Heart'

321. Janet Jackson - R&B Junkie

320. Superchunk - Break the Glass

319. brian eno - idea of order at kyson point

318. Neil Young - Bandit (although plenty of fans were still on board as of Greendale)

317. Gun Club - Cry To Me

316. Talk Talk - New Grass

315. The Smiths - Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me

can a band that only lasted five years qualify for this thread? seems like an artist needs to stick around long enough to pass thru their imperial phase and into the doldrums only to then come back with a late career success.

314. David Byrne - Strange Overtones

^^ Also agree that the Smiths never had a "late period"

313. Mary Hopkin - Gold and Silver
312. Roddy Frame - From a Train
311. Marianne Faithfull - Late Victorian Holocaust
310. Tom Zé - Atchim
311. Sonny Sharrock - Many Mansions
310. Duke Ellington - Thanks for the Beautiful Land on the Delta

I don't think I've heard a Moby song since Play, or that one from Miami Vice (one of the mornings... etc). Can anyone recommend anything?

he released these 11 free Long Ambient pieces two years ago: http://moby.com/la1/

can a band that only lasted five years qualify for this thread

I know, still the premise of the thread hinges on artists who have lasted longer than a decade and have gone through a rough period of shoddy work/lack of commercial success. The comeback aspect seems crucial. Nirvana were a band for seven years, but I wouldn't call "Scentless Apprentice" or "Moist Vagina" examples of "late period" work.

I think the version of "Higgs Boson Blues" off of the Live from KCRW is one of the all time great Nick Cave tunes. The slower druggy feel the live one has just fits the tune way better than the studio version which to me now sounds rushed.

xp first post itt:

which may be relatively unknown because most jumped ship years ago. get 2 work!

― trife's rich padgett (rip van wanko), Saturday, January 13, 2018 7:19 PM (four months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

imo short-lived artists can totally have meaningfully "late" periods, but yeah, picking songs out of those isn't necessarily super interesting since with a small discography it's likely most fans know those tracks... just for me personally the fun thing is artists who have standout songs from deep in what most listeners would assume are the weeds, where you could plausibly be a "fan" of that artist and never checked out whole albums of dubious-looking late stuff. ymmv tho!

that's great topic. unfortunately a little difficult to search for beyond trying "deep cuts" or whatever, which still don't really capture what you describe

doesn't

309. Puff Daddy - Come with Me Feat. Jimmy Page
308. The Beach Boys - Kokomo

307. Buddy Holly - Love Is Strange (Apartment Tapes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Zb3DrMioVA

(1998 is "late" puffy?)

306. Jackson Browne - You Know the Night (Full 15 minute version is best)

I'm disappointed this thread died in its infancy. Mainly I was just hoping to uncover great post-2000 songs from the corny bands I listened to in the '90s. (I stopped being a regular consumer of music in 2000.)

Sonic Youth, Yo la, BTS, Will Oldham, Blonde Redhead, Wu Tang guys, Robyn, New Pornos, Broadcast, Chan Marshall, Mary Timony, Natalie Merchant, Thalia Zedek, Steve Malkmus, Pixies, etc etc

So many of us are now in our 40s and probably hopped off many bandwagons a long time ago and are missing out on some good stuff.

Leonard fucking Cohen

stones, dylan, fmac, scott walker

305. The Breeders - Dawn: Making an Effort

(actually all of All Nerve)

cool ty

listening now

nice, my work here is done :)

Mary Timony? hope you're not sleeping on Ex Hex:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNe_xrmd28w

Robyn almost won the albums poll last year

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IxdQUpQjqc