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

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