By the time 2008 is through, we will have undergone a steady barrage of comeback albums from R.E.M., Portishead, the Eagles, Robert Plant and plenty more, all to varying degrees of tolerability. Meanwhile, potential albums from My Bloody Valentine and Guns N' Roses, perhaps the two most anticipated comebacks of the last several years, still don't show any signs of being close to complete. For more than a decade, that hasn't stopped Kevin Shields or Axl Rose, respectively, from promising that a new album is ever-closer to release, even as audiences increasingly have reason to call their bluff.
The aims of those two comebacks, if they ever actually surface, would naturally be as different as the pressures motivating each of those artists, since one album would be a follow-up to a dismal commercial flop, while the other would be a follow-up to shimmering platinum success.
So what are the criteria for a true comeback album? There are no rules about how long an artist has to be absent to qualify or what form their revival has to take. Here's a look back at some notable comeback albums that illustrate the variety of ways an artist can stage a rebirth, with different results:
<*>Boston,</*> Corporate America (2002)
This totally ignored album, released to lackluster reviews after bandleader Tom Scholz had completed eight solid years of grueling work on it, exemplifies what is most important to the success of a comeback album: Don't over-think it. When a band is way over the hill, as in Boston's case, usually no amount of tinkering or fine-tuning will make their music palatable. Instead, it likely ends up even more overwrought and unlistenable than it otherwise would have been. At this point it looks like Axl Rose runs the risk of falling into this trap with Chinese Democracy.
<*>Santana</*>, Supernatural (1999)
I could be wrong - and I don't really feel like checking into it - but my hunch is that this Santana album is responsible for establishing a most unsettling trend in comeback albums: old dinosaur acts enlisting young pop stars to make guest appearances in an attempt to revitalize themselves to a cross-section of different audiences. Since Supernatural, a bunch of artists have done something like it, but no one has been more aggravating than Santana himself, who has now released three of these comeback"" albums in a row.
<*>Johnny Cash</*>, American Recordings (1994)
Surely one of the greatest comeback albums ever, American Recordings also marked the birth of one of the most bizarre and enduring partnerships in music - Johnny Cash with legendary hip-hop producer Rick Rubin - which went on to bear four more incredible albums of covers and original material.
Cash exuded remarkable grace and raw passion in his aged voice, majestically establishing himself in the minds of a whole new generation via the simplicity and sheer force of his craft. Rubin's positive input showed that, unlike Santana's partnerships, old and young pairings have the potential to be interesting comeback fodder if done for the right reasons - the recent Loretta Lynn/Jack White and Robert Plant/Alison Krauss collaborations are ample evidence of this.
<*>U2</*>, All That You Can't Leave Behind (2000)
How U2 managed to win over so many with this mediocre modern rock album is beyond me. However, the album ushered in a monumental second wave of commercial and critical acclaim for the band after nearly a decade of floundering, so they must have done something right. R.E.M., the other big stalwart of 1980s modern rock, has for some reason failed with this year's comeback to make nearly the splash U2 did back in 2002. This is strange because they essentially did the same thing: emerge from a numbing stupor of bland albums by taking the aesthetic that made them famous, and giving it a modernized sheen to reach the largest audience possible.
When older artists try to bring themselves into the modern age with a comeback album, the primary motivator seems to be a desire to reawaken dormant commercial potential, and in doing so, recapture old fans and win prospective new listeners. This seems to be easy enough for many, and totally out of the question for others. Among other things, it depends on what state their career was in when they originally left it, and the degree to which their ""classic"" material is appreciated by modern listeners.
Don't think you could bear a terrible Guns N' Roses revival? Ask Ben to let you how it turns out by e-mailing him at bpeterson1@wisc.edu.
