Truly great records by people over 40

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Are there any? Is there an artist who created the best music of his/her career after the age of 40? or even 35?
(Jazz & classical excluded)

― bham, Monday, 22 March 2004 16:36 (twenty-two years ago)

Scott Walker 'Tilt'

― fcussen (Burger), Monday, 22 March 2004 16:41 (twenty-two years ago)

Fat Possum to thread!

― The Huckle-Buck (Horace Mann), Monday, 22 March 2004 16:41 (twenty-two years ago)

or even 35?

guided by voices. robert pollard was 37 when bee thousand came out and 38 when alien lanes came out.

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Monday, 22 March 2004 16:43 (twenty-two years ago)

going back almost a week...

― Aaron A., Monday, 22 March 2004 16:44 (twenty-two years ago)

tom waits 'bone machine'

― fcussen (Burger), Monday, 22 March 2004 16:46 (twenty-two years ago)

yo la tengo, painful and i can hear the heart beating as one. the mid'-90s streak that most people consider their peak took ira from age 36 to 40.

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Monday, 22 March 2004 16:48 (twenty-two years ago)

Neil Young - Ragged Glory/Freedom came out when he was around 45.

― Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Monday, 22 March 2004 16:49 (twenty-two years ago)

willie nelson, red headed stranger. age 42.

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Monday, 22 March 2004 16:51 (twenty-two years ago)

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000002LU7.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg
WELL over 40.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Monday, 22 March 2004 16:52 (twenty-two years ago)

george jones, i am what i am. age 49. and he made several damn good ones for another solid decade after that.

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Monday, 22 March 2004 16:54 (twenty-two years ago)

and of course frank sinatra didn't start making great albums until he was in his 40s.

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Monday, 22 March 2004 16:55 (twenty-two years ago)

Robert Wyatt turned 35 in 1980. He has created so much amazing work since then (Old Rottenhat, Shleep)

― JaXoN (JasonD), Monday, 22 March 2004 16:56 (twenty-two years ago)

I think Jerry Lee Lewis was around 40 when he did some really terrif country stuff for Mercury (imo better than his late 50s rock/roll stuff).

― The Huckle-Buck (Horace Mann), Monday, 22 March 2004 16:57 (twenty-two years ago)

marvin gaye, here my dear (age 39) and midnight love (43).

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Monday, 22 March 2004 16:58 (twenty-two years ago)

Miles Davis - Bitches Brew/In a Silent Way era -> Agharta/Pangaea.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Monday, 22 March 2004 17:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Lots of Jazz, Lots of Gospel, lots of Folk -- in fact, you'd probably be harder pressed to find TRULY GREAT albums in those genre's from folks UNDER 40.

Her's a good one from a 60-year-old:

Johnny Cash -- American Recordings.

― christoff (christoff), Monday, 22 March 2004 17:16 (twenty-two years ago)

(Jazz & classical excluded)

Oh shit didn't see this.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Monday, 22 March 2004 17:18 (twenty-two years ago)

Me neither -- but still, lots of Gospel and Folk and...

Lambchop -- Is a Woman

― christoff (christoff), Monday, 22 March 2004 17:26 (twenty-two years ago)

Lots. For starters --
http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0000C8AW7.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg
http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000002LMK.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg
http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000007Q8J.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

― Jazzbo (jmcgaw), Monday, 22 March 2004 17:29 (twenty-two years ago)

http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B000025JTQ.02.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

― Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Monday, 22 March 2004 17:30 (twenty-two years ago)

Oh, maybe not the best of his life (at least in Dylan's case). Missed that. But I'm sticking with Lucinda.

― Jazzbo (jmcgaw), Monday, 22 March 2004 17:30 (twenty-two years ago)

i realize this is about records, but almost all of the best things at atp los angeles last year (sonic youth, beefheart, watt & hurley, burma, stooges, nels cline) were forty plus. i'll take that lineup over any six under forty bands you can come up with.

― dan (dan), Monday, 22 March 2004 19:17 (twenty-two years ago)

Bowie to thread, obv. My picks for great ones would be Earthling and Heathen,

― Jordan (Jordan), Monday, 22 March 2004 19:23 (twenty-two years ago)

Muddy Waters "Hard Again" at age sixty-something.

― briania, Monday, 22 March 2004 19:59 (twenty-two years ago)

I second Tilt. I'd even venture to say it's easily the bravest "over 40" (heh) record here...

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Monday, 22 March 2004 20:07 (twenty-two years ago)

How about ANY record by Howlin' Wolf, who didn't start recording until he was 40.
Peter Guralnick writes of Wolf -- at age 55 -- shimmying up a curtain with one arm while singing into the microphone tugged under the other.
http://www.furious.com/perfect/wolf/graphics/wolf3.jpg

― Jazzbo (jmcgaw), Monday, 22 March 2004 20:27 (twenty-two years ago)

Doc Watson's FIRST proper recording came when he was 40, and he's had another 40 years of recording since.

― christoff (christoff), Monday, 22 March 2004 20:51 (twenty-two years ago)

Pardon me, but there are dozens of "truly great" records that would fit this category. I find this thread absurd and no, I am not over 40 or anywhere near it.

― Thea (Thea), Monday, 22 March 2004 21:01 (twenty-two years ago)

he was over 40 when each of these were released:

http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drc400/c474/c47416v4h98.jpg

(the closest thing to my FZ-meets-kraftwerk/numan/berlin-era bowie fantasy)
http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drd700/d757/d75736mmi00.jpg

(plus ça change, y'all ...)
http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drd700/d757/d7573711c8i.jpg

http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drd700/d757/d75738yh8ss.jpg

http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drc500/c541/c54141l2b1p.jpg

(he was dead when it was released ... but it was recorded before that):
http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drf000/f069/f0693612u80.jpg

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Monday, 22 March 2004 21:03 (twenty-two years ago)

Ray of Light, no? Lots of people really get a kick out of hating it, but it's my favorite Madonna album.

― Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Monday, 22 March 2004 21:09 (twenty-two years ago)

mark hollis "s/t", david sylvian "blemish", the new john cale as well as "music for a new society" and "fragments of a rainy season", isn't bjork almost 40 now? caetano veloso's "noites do norte" is pretty great, also recent tom ze stuff, all the arto lindsay solo albums, but esp. "prize" and "mundo civilizado", the last album by the ex, that's about all i can think of.
any great rap records by people over 40?

― naturemorte, Tuesday, 23 March 2004 04:26 (twenty-two years ago)

jazz to thread

― Matos W.K. (M Matos), Tuesday, 23 March 2004 04:30 (twenty-two years ago)

he was dead when it was released ... but it was recorded before that

As opposed to all the albums he recorded after he was dead?

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 23 March 2004 04:31 (twenty-two years ago)

http://www.record-eurasia.com/sleeves/serg-hist.jpg

― tokyo rosemary (rosemary), Tuesday, 23 March 2004 04:40 (twenty-two years ago)

jason said it...

Shleep by Robert Wyatt is one of the truly great records of the 90s, or any decade.

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Tuesday, 23 March 2004 04:50 (twenty-two years ago)

"As opposed to all the albums he recorded after he was dead?"

I know it was recorded before his death but The Ensemble Modern have been happily performing The Yellow Shark since then....

Could we start a thread on posthumous releases or would it just end up as a "name a classical composer" session?

My nomination for best album to be recorded and released by a stiff:

http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drc400/c484/c48496ja1o3.jpg

― Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Tuesday, 23 March 2004 10:08 (twenty-two years ago)

Are there any? Is there an artist who created the best music of his/her career after the age of 40? or even 35?

Kylie to thread!

― Siegbran (eofor), Tuesday, 23 March 2004 10:11 (twenty-two years ago)

"Are there any? Is there an artist who created the best music of his/her career after the age of 40? or even 35?"

Howlin Wolf never started recording until 1951 with Sam Phillips, when he was 41. He moved to Chicago and started recording for Chess full time the next year.

Muddy Waters was 38 when he started to record for Chess in 1951 and never recorded with his electric band until a couple of years later.

― earlnash, Tuesday, 23 March 2004 13:45 (twenty-two years ago)

Wire's Send and Read and Burn shit ranks with their best stuff. Which is really saying something.

― The Good Dr. Bill (Andrew Unterberger), Tuesday, 23 March 2004 13:46 (twenty-two years ago)

Jonathan Richman, Jonathan Sings! (43) and Rockin' and Romance (44). I love albums he's done in his 50s, but I know a lot of people won't share that view.

― Canada Briggs (Canada Briggs), Tuesday, 23 March 2004 16:11 (twenty-two years ago)

I think Nick Cave just tipped 40 as The Boatman's Call came out.

― Onimo (GerryNemo), Tuesday, 23 March 2004 16:22 (twenty-two years ago)

charlie rich, behind closed doors. age 41.

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Tuesday, 23 March 2004 17:55 (twenty-two years ago)

benzino is 44

― %%, Tuesday, 23 March 2004 18:06 (twenty-two years ago)

hasn't bjork just edged 40 for vespertine?
maybe son house's 60's business, lord knows how old.

― matthew james (matthew james), Tuesday, 23 March 2004 22:34 (twenty-two years ago)

Toni Halliday was 37 and Dean Garcia was 43 when Curve's Gift came out.

― Jeremy (Jeremy), Tuesday, 23 March 2004 22:57 (twenty-two years ago)

R.E.M. - UP

― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Tuesday, 23 March 2004 23:14 (twenty-two years ago)

Wire - Send.

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Wednesday, 24 March 2004 00:46 (twenty-two years ago)

Can:
Holger Czukay, born 1938
Jaki Liebezeit, born 1938
Irmin Schmidt, born 1937

And then there's:
Ivor Cutler, born 1923
Lee Hazlewood, born 1929
James Brown, born 1933
Hans-Joachim Roedelius, born 1934
Alex Harvey, born 1935

...many others too

― Dadaismus (Dada), Wednesday, 24 March 2004 02:21 (twenty-two years ago)

KLF
The Orb

― the music mole (colin s barrow), Wednesday, 24 March 2004 02:47 (twenty-two years ago)

...and Underworld

not that I think they're truly great, but interesting that "dance" was produced by some of the oldest fuckers in the world outside of jazz, folk and classical.

― Dadaismus (Dada), Wednesday, 24 March 2004 02:55 (twenty-two years ago)

a couple:

-lee "scratch" perry ... he was 40 when "super ape" came out.
-daniel lanois "shine" ... although, all his producing years were earlier... lot's of big work there. perhaps those truly count as his best work.

― msp, Wednesday, 24 March 2004 05:12 (twenty-two years ago)

Not the best of his career, but it is a "truly great record": http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000002LGA.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

― subgenius (subgenius), Wednesday, 24 March 2004 05:30 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm glad you added the quote marks.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 24 March 2004 06:18 (twenty-two years ago)

David Axelrod's latest album is pretty great and he must be in his 60s

― JaXoN (JasonD), Wednesday, 24 March 2004 07:27 (twenty-two years ago)

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