Classic albums released after a 4 year break (or more)

Both six years after their previous albums:
Lucinda Williams, "Car Wheels on a Gravel Road"
The Feelies, "The Good Earth"

Am I allowed to say "The Second Coming" ?

Crazy Rhythms (1980)
The Good Earth (1986)

(xpost o yeah!)

The Wrens: Meadowlands (7 years)
New York Dolls: One Day It Will Please Us To Remember Even This (22 years)
Steely Dan: Two Against Nature (21 years)

(i've interpreted 'classic' on a personal level, mind you)

Every Scott Walker album since 1978.

Aerial (12 years)

Mission of Burma - ONoffON

I'll put Depeche's 'Playing the Angel' on that list (to my surprise)

warren zevon, sentimental hygiene

john & yoko, double fantasy

Brian Wilson, "Smile"

It was the album that had the break, not Brian.

XTC - Apple Venus Vol. 1 (7 years?)
Ian Dury & The Blockheads - Mr. Lovepants (15 years?)

Pere Ubu - The Tenement Year (6 years?)
Buzzcocks - Trade Test Transmissions (14 years?)

I'm a little surprised that Mr. Grout hasn't nominated Television (14 years?) by now

Captain Beefheart - Shiny Beast (just about 4 years, as long as you ignore Bongo Fury and Bat Chain Puller - 6 if you erase all reference to Unconditionally Guaranteed and Bluejeans and Moonbeams from your memory like Don evidently has)
The Damned - Grave Disorder (at least 6 years - more like 15 if you ignore Not of This Earth / I'm Alright Jack & the Beanstalk like the band themselves and any right-minded person would)

dylan - world gone wrong (1997) - time out of mind (2001) - love & theft (2001) - modern times (2006).

oops, typo on dates, sorry. world gone wrong (1993), time ('97), uh-duh me

Hats is The Blue Nile's "classic" LP, and it came five years after it's predecessor...

As said elsewhere, Sade's 'Love Deluxe' is my fave that fits the bill.

Stewart Osborne! Yer one helluva ignorerer! :)

The Godz - Godzundheit

Camper Van Beethoven - New Roman Times

Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 - Bob Dinners and Larry Noodles Present Tubby Turdner's Celebrity Avalanche 2001 (five year gap)

Bark Psychosis - Codename: Dustsucker (10 years)

Dinosaur Jr - Beyond (19 years past the original lineup, 10 years otherwise)

Peter Gabriel - Up (10 years)

Radiohead - their upcoming 2007/08 album?? hmmm

Shellac - Excellent Italian Greyhound (7 years)

and fwiw, i highly agree with Feelies and Burma, as posted above

"Stewart Osborne! Yer one helluva ignorerer! :)"

I am going to ignore that remark.

Townes Van Zandt- "At My Window" (9 years) and "No Deeper Blue" (7 years) [discounting live albums/comps in both cases]

The Pastels - "Mobile Safari" (6 years, including a lineup change)

Roddy Frame - "Surf" and "Western Skies" (both 4 years)

The American Music Club - "Love Songs For Patriots" (9 years, including a formal break-up and a gaggle of ho-hum Eitzel solo records)

Tango in the night.

My Bloody Valentine... err well, I can live in hope.

The Undertones "Get What You Need" breaks several "unbreakable" rules: long intermission, new lead singer. Still fantastic.

not many canonical actual considered-to-be-classics here though are there? it's very much personal faves by old bands getting back together and such. i may aswell nominate i dunno...whatever IT'S IMMATERIAL'S next one.

You want canon, go to Curry's.

Robert Wyatt - Schleep (1997)
Magma - KA (2004)

I'm a little surprised that Mr. Grout hasn't nominated Television (14 years?) by now

-- Stewart Osborne, Thursday, July 5, 2007 3:41 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Link

Well, it did occur to me, and perhaps I'm being unfair, but I still don't consider he result 'classic', in fact I'd go so far as say 'disappointing'. But, 'flashlight' was a wonderful 'imagine this was a television album' solowork that actually did evoke the TVs.

for against - coalesced (five years after its predecessor)

Peter Gabriel - Up (10 years)

'So' was released in 86', 6 years before 'Up', and his real classic 'Last Temptation of Christ' soundtrack came out in 89 iirc.

Speaking of So, that would qualify in my list of Albums I Keep For One Track Only, but I suspect a thread for that probably already exists.

bill dixon's vade mecum came six years after his previous record (1988's son of sysiphys. i'm sure he's got at least one other similar gap in his discography.

and yeah, i'll say it, the who's endless wire (24 years). classic, i tells ya!

for against - coalesced

Fucking OTM.

Clipse

Yeah, 'classic' is a bit of a stretch, but Wire's _The Ideal Copy_ is a classic to me after an 8 year hiatus.

<i>2001</i>

Curses! Foiled again.

Lookaftering by Vashti Bunyan (well over four years).

Tom Waits - Mule Variations

And I think there was some confusion above between Peter Gabriel's Us (1992) and Up (2002), and the answer is that Up is anything but classic.

D'Angelo Voodoo

'So' was released in 86', 6 years before 'Up', and his real classic 'Last Temptation of Christ' soundtrack came out in 89 iirc.

No, you're thinking of "Us." "Up" came out 10 years after "Us." Confusing, I know.

King Crimson Discipline (6 years)

Maybe not quite a classic, but...

Celtic Frost - Monotheist

I guess "Up" is more a should-have-been classic rather than a classic.

The recent Crowded House may seem like a contender. Surprisingly good, and way better than anything Neil Finn has done solo.

"Well, it did occur to me, and perhaps I'm being unfair, but I still don't consider he result 'classic', in fact I'd go so far as say 'disappointing'."

Agreed. I considered and rejected The Ideal Copy and The Man With The Horn on the same basis (in both cases, if the comeback album had actually been the one that followed the comeback album, i.e. A Bell Is A Cup... and We Want Miles / Star People then those would clearly have qualified but alas....)

I can't believe none of us have mentioned Andromeda Heights yet.

Surprisingly good, and way better than anything Neil Finn has done solo.

I'll take your word for it, but I found Neil's _Try Whistling This_ fantastically creative and rewarding as Neil added tribal rhythms and odd time signatures to his melodicism. I imagine this is what ruined it for you.

Nothing has ever managed to ruin Finn's songwriting talent, but I prefer it the classic Crowded House way.

And "Andromeda Heights" OTM.

Emperor "Anthems To The Welkin At Dusk" (released after a 4 year break) is considerd a classic by many, although I can't relly see why.

the new Orchids album is a pretty good return to form..

1992's self-titled album from Television -- 14 years after (but not nearly as impressive as the return from Vashti's 35-year hiatus).

I wasn't thinking of reunion albums initially, but rather of bands which, having reached a certain stage, can afford to only release albums every 4-5 years.

"Father of the Bride"?

Electric Café is a good example of both aspects of the thread's premise, since it bespeaks both a lack of ideas and perfectionism.

Bill Dixon's game-changing Vade Mecum came out four years after his previous record, Son of Sisyphus.

D'Angelo "Black Messiah"
Tribe Called Quest "Thank You For Service..."

going four years between albums isn't really that uncommon anymore

Grace Jones - Hurricane (19 years)

Neneh Cherry - (18 years. Or if you count "The Cherry Thing" as her album, 16 years.)

Alice Coltrane - Translinear Light (26 years between her previous jazz album and this one, though her previous Hare Krishna album was 9 years before.)

Sorry, the Neneh Cherry comeback album is Blank Project, obviously. IMO that one and Broken Politics are her two best albums, so she certainly came back stronger after an almost 20 year long break.

Portishead - Third

Gorguts - Obscura

Five years doesn't seem all that much, though.

Opinions may vary on whether it's a 'classic' (there is at least some affection for it around here) but I distinctly remember a lot of fuss about the long gestation period of Tears For Fears' The Seeds of Love when I were a lad. About 4.5 years.

Daft Punk - Random Access Memory. Twelve years after Human After All

Trumpeter-composer Jacques Coursil's brilliant Minimal Brass was released 34 years after his previous record, 1971's Black Suite. In the interim, he got his Ph.D. and taught linguistics at Cornell.

Erykah Badu - New Amerykah Part One (five years)
Scritti Politti - White Bread Black Beer (seven years)
Saint Etienne - Words & Music By Saint Etienne (seven years)
The Clientele - Music For The Age Of Miracles (seven years)
Robyn - Honey (eight years)
The last three Blue Nile albums (five, seven and eight years)

Five years between one of Radiohead's least-good albums and their most recent best album

The last three Blue Nile albums (five, seven and eight years)

Amusing to take this as meaning the first album came out hot on the heels of itself :)

Robyn - Honey (eight years)

it takes careful accounting to get that specific duration of layoff - it's either 13 years of sitting on her arse between wide-release studio albums, or 20 months between discrete longer-than-Ramones-album releases where she writes, produces, sings and has her name on the cover. Five years between the self-titled and Body Talk 01 works though!

(Robyn s/t: April 2005 - 38 mins
Body Talk pt 1: Jun 2010 - 30 mins
Body Talk pt 2: Sep 2010 - 37 mins [or 41 on digital!]
* Body Talk pt 3: Nov 2010 - 19 mins
Do It Again: May 2014 - 35 mins
* Love Is Free: Aug 2015 - 21 mins
Trust Me: Jan 2017 - 29 mins
Honey: Oct 2018 - 40 mins)

Jon Hassell - Listening to Pictures

Paramore - After Laughter

The last three Blue Nile albums (five, seven and eight years)

Amusing to take this as meaning the first album came out hot on the heels of itself :)

― quelle sprocket damage (sic)

Haha, yes.

I should have also added Paul Buchanan in general. After High it was another eight years until his first solo album which hopefully means we're due another one next year!

Portishead were the first ones I thought of for this thread who were already picked by pomenitul. It just hit me the other day that the long 11 year wait between the S/T and Third has now been matched. Obviously we had the weirdly ignored Chase The Tear single and the S.O.S cover, but still no sign of another album.

Carrie & Lowell - Sufjan Stevens

with Portishead, it's obvious that one half of the partnership has a slower creative schedule that accounts for the delays. but Barrow is so incredibly prolific and busy these days that even if Beth felt the muse alighting, it'd probably take 18 months just to schedule a cup of tea to see if he's interested

Human League: Secrets

I just clicked on the thread to make sure someone had posted Third and mbv

Third was covered but no one had gotten to mbv yet so I'm glad I did

Not covered but hope was expressed ;)

My Bloody Valentine... err well, I can live in hope.

― Trayce, Friday, July 6, 2007 4:45 AM (twelve years ago)

m b v is a good one. My favourite of their albums, incidentally.

lol willem, I saw that and chuckled

Maybe not quite a classic, but...

Celtic Frost - Monotheist

Great answer.

Lookaftering by Vashti Bunyan (well over four years).

DAF - Fünfzehn neue DAF-Lieder (17 years)

I think Shirley Collins' last LP with the Albion Band was about 1979 / 80, and then 36 years went by until "Lodestar".

I know I'm the only person here to care at all but my favourite LP this year has been "The New Industrial Ballads" by The Claim and that's something like 32 years from their last proper LP.

Bowie's Blackstar just barely does not qualify since The Next Day was 2013