The 411 Music Top Five 01.26.10: Top 5 Rebound Albums

Posted by Ben Czajkowski on 01.26.2010

From Radiohead's In Rainbows to U2's All You Can’t Leave Behind, Red Hot Chili Peppers's Californication to Johnny Cash's American Recordings, and Alice In Chains' Black Gives Way To Blue to Common's Be, the 411Music staff talks about their Top 5 favorite rebound albums! Stop in, read the lists, and leave your thoughts in the comment section!

Marshall Slayton

5. The Prodigy- Invaders Must Die.

There was a whole lot wrong with 2004's Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned from The Prodigy, the worst sin being that it took 7 years to release it. It was the electronica group's most uninspired work to date, and clearly lacking most of the band members. Keith and Maxim were nowhere to be found, leaving Liam to make a solo album without a voice. Good thing he brought his guys back for 2009's Invaders Must Die, seeing The Prodigy back to healthier form and back to where they belong. 

 

4. In Flames - Come Clarity. A disappointing In Flames album is like a burnt slice of pizza: you can still find a way to salvage it and consume the delicious parts. That's the way Soundtrack To Your Escape went, a rather slow album with some amazing fist-pumping tracks scattered about. Yet 2006's Come Clarity found In Flames at their most confident; it was a fully fleshed out album with no bad tracks, and turned out to be their first #1 album in Sweden. Even beautiful blue-eyed blondes know good music when they hear it.

 

3. Deftones  - Saturday Night Wrist.

The self-titled Deftones album was perhaps the biggest disappointment in recent memory. That's not the kind of album you release after a masterpiece like White Pony, you either keep it on the cutting room floor or don't release it at all. The Deftones learned this lesson for Saturday Night Wrist, offering up some cleaner production, catchier songs, and some of the band's best lyrics in years. And Chino Moreno sounded more beautiful than ever.

 

2. Collective Soul - Youth.

After a long hiatus following disappointing albums like Dosage and Blender, Collective Soul should have continued their downward spiral, but something unexpected happened – they released a fantastic album with Youth. The four year break was exactly what the band needed to get themselves together and release an album that was great, through and through. It was an album for longtime fans as well as people unfamiliar with Collective Soul, and that's no small feat. 

 

1. Radiohead - In Rainbows.

Radiohead was in question for a while after Amnesiac and Hail To The Thief, but the online-released In Rainbows laid all those concerns to rest. Radiohead was still capable of making a masterpiece of an album, even if it meant being liberated from their pesky record label. Songs like "Videotape," "All I Need," and "15 Step" show Radiohead at their best, which is a breath of fresh air since we hadn't seen them at their best in almost a decade.  

 

Michael James

Honorable Mentions:

Jay-Z- American Gangster; Green Day- American Idiot; Nas- Stillmatic

5. Our Lady Peace – Gravity.

These Canadian rockers hit a pretty solid stride with their first two albums, Naveed and Clumsy, which spawned several modern rock hits, including "Superman's Dead."  They lost their way a bit with albums three and four, before returning to form with 2002's Gravity.  They reached their highest spot on the US album charts and added a few more hits to their track record, most notably "Innocent".  Unfortunately the bounceback was short lived, as their next two albums have been terrible.

 

4. Raekwon – Only Built for Cuban Linx Part II.

Before 2009, most hip-hop fans had given up hope that Raekwon would ever release the long-promised sequel to his 1995 debut classic.  I for one, was no longer sure if I even cared after his follow-up non-starters Immobilarity and The Lex Diamond Story.  But release OBCL II Raekwon did, and he left his mark not only on hip-hop, but music in general.  Thanks to a heavy dose of his familiar criminology, Raekwon found himself on nearly every Best of 2009 list (including #10 on 411's list, which is mighty solid in these metal-loving parts).  While I actually don't consider OBCL II the artistic triumph of some of my peers (it was #26 on Best of list), there's no denying it re-launched Raekwon's career at a time when it seemed dormant.

 

3. Red Hot Chili Peppers- Californication.

By the summer of 1999, RHCP were in danger of becoming a modern rock footnote in the wake of the ill-conceived Dave Navarro experiment and the uneven album One Hot Minute.  After being reunited with guitarist John Frusciante, the group reignited their career in a huge way with Californication and the monster hits "Scar Tissue," "Californication," "The Other Side," and "Around the World."  Frusciante's guitar style remained a much better fit for the band than Navarro's darker stylings and the whole group sounded reinvigorated and in a happier place.  With the recent news that Frusciante had again departed, it remains to be seen what comes next for RHCP.

 

2. Common- Be.

Two words explain why Common was in dire need of a bounceback when he hooked up with Kanye West for 2001's Be:  Electric Circus.  Another acceptable answer would be Erykah Badu, given her penchant for turning out rappers.  Whether or not Badu is to blame for Electric Circus, Common really needed to get back in touch with his roots or risk possible irreversible damage to his credibility.  Thankfully he got back together with his Chi-town homie Kanye West, and put together what may be his strongest album to date.  Since then things have remained on an upwards trajectory, and the potential crisis seems to have been averted.

 

1. U2- All You Can't Leave Behind.

U2 spent most of the 1990s squandering the good will and star power they had amassed with The Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby on awkward explorations of electronica and dance music.  Just as people were starting to forget how unbelievably talented they were, U2 released this 2000 juggernaut.  The album was robbed of its rightful Album of the Year Grammy (Oh Brother Where Art Thou?  Seriously?), but it nonetheless served to make U2 the biggest band in the world once again.

 

Lucas Wesley

I'm kind of using rebound and comeback interchangeably here, for I can only hope that's the point. And what is a comeback if not a prolonged rebound?

5. R.E.M. - Accelerate.

R.E.M. more or less stopped being awesome around 1998 when, for the firs time since they're early 80s inception, they suffered a line up change: drummer Bill Berry quit. After a dynamic that had been working for fifteen plus years suddenly shifts, its understandable that a little bit of adjustment time is needed. Aside from one really good single, R.E.M.'s adjustment period appeared to be about three albums (ten years). Finally, they made Accelerate, a rocking album that utilized guitar more than any of their albums (save Monster), but at the same time managed to find the catchy hooks that made them so popular in the 80s. Like many others, my faith is not completely restored, but at least now I know they can still make good albums on occasion.

4. Johnny Cash - American Recordings.

It's hard to call any album by a country musician a rebound. I considered a few Willie Nelson releases, too, but I had the same problem I'm having while trying to justify Cash: country musicians just make too many goddamn albums. How can I call something a rebound when its an impossibility for me to hear all of the albums that came before it? I'm not sure. But it's more or less an accepted fact that by teaming up with Rick Rubin and stripping down his sound to guitar and voice, the way it was at the beginning, Cash revitalized his career. And with great songs by the likes of Tom Waits, Kris Kristofferson, Leonard Cohen, Tom Waits and Loudon Wainwright III, Cash revitalized his career in style.

3. David Bowie - Heathen.

I wonder if chameleons ever make a mistake and show the wrong color at the wrong time. Okay, I've never wondered that until now, but when you have a guy called "The Chameleon of Rock," you make bad chameleon jokes. Bowie's recent chameleonic turns came close to dance music, industrial music, electronic music, and then finally easy listening music. I won't argue the pros and cons of all of these albums, but I will note that it's generally accepted that at least about four of them are awful. hours... in particular, though not the one that gets the most flack, is probably my least favorite. However, it was but one album later with Heathen that Bowie was kicking my ass again. I don't know if it was his return to doing a few covers per album or an attempt at a more traditional (for him) style, but this is a damn fine album, and it beats the hell out of anything he'd done in about 20 years.

2. Public Enemy - How You Sell Soul To A Soulless People Who Sold Their Soul???.

The longest career in rap is bound to have its bouts of stagnancy. It's possible that even the most ardent Public Enemy fans couldn't name a single song between He Got Game and this album, which has a very long title. But when PE come back, they do so in style. Particularly, there's the song "Harder Than You Think," which is more or less a dirge about just what it means to be the longest running successful rap group. Every song hits in ways PE previously had been failing, and it brings them back to their glory in spades. Public Enemy number one indeed.

1. Yoko Ono - Rising.

The most vilified woman in the history of music. Not really relevant, but something I always need to throw out there when I mention Yoko, as a preemptive strike against all the angry comments I'm bound to receive. Even as a fan of Yoko's music, I must acknowledge that shortly after John's death, she lost whatever good thing she had. It's understandable; her mind was elsewhere. But very little can explain Starpeace to me. Perhaps the cheesiest album of the 80s (what a feat!), Starpeace is the kind of album that creates the kind of reputation that Yoko has. After that disaster, she gave herself a ten year rest from the music industry. But when she came back, with the help of Sean Lennon's band, IMA, she was ready to rock out. Rising is perhaps Yoko's most accessible solo album, and I recommend it to everyone who hates her. You'll just hate her more, I'm sure, for that is your way, but at least now you have a reference point. Or maybe, just maybe, you'll see what I see in her and forgive all her imagined sins and let her into your heart. Peace and love, everybody.

Paul Hollingsworth

Honorable Mentions:

Neil Diamond - 12 Songs, Metallica - Death Magnetic, Kiss- Revenge, AC/DC - Back In Black

5. Tina Turner - Private Dancer.

After years away from the spotlight (and Ike), no one was really sure what to expect from Turner's 1984 release. As it turned out, it was one of the best albums of her career (with or without Ike) and a fitting showcase of one of the most powerful voices in rock and roll. Everybody knows the hits like the title track and "What's Love Got To Do With It", but there is no filler on the album. It's a complete work, and arguably the best thing Turner has ever done.

 

4. Loretta Lynn - Van Lear Rose.

Somehow in 2004, Jack White found time to rescue Lynn from oblivion and return her to her rightful place as the queen of country music. Lynn and White knocked this one out of the park. There aren't many records of any genre that are as personal, heartfelt and real as this one. Even people who don't like country can get into this album. If you can't, then I have to assume you just don't like good music.

 

3. U2 - All That You Can't Leave Behind.

Most of the things U2 did in the 90's were interesting, I suppose, but bore little resemblance to the band who released Under A Blood Red Sky and Boy back in the early 80's. This album brought back the notion of U2 as a group who loved to play their music together. The experimental stage of their career was over, it seemed, and although subsequent albums have been hit and miss, they got this one right.

 

2. Johnny Cash - American Recordings.

In the 80's, lots of big stars had problems keeping up with the times. Drum machines, keyboards and synthesizers became the rage and suddenly a man with a acoustic guitar was reduced to being a relic. The country stars of the 60's and 70's fared even worse than the pop stars. Country radio was overtaken by pop-country, and legends like Cash were left behind. Then, this record happened, which featured Cash's voice and guitar and little in the way of studio trickery, and all at once, everybody realized that 'old style' country was a hundred times better than anything that had been on the radio in the last twenty years.

 

1. Alice In Chains - Black Gives Way To Blue.

I didn't expect to ever hear a new AiC song in my lifetime, much less a good one. So when an album full of good ones, with a new lead singer, no less, appears out of the blue (so to speak) its cause for celebration. AiC was my favorite of the grunge bands back in college, but when Layne Staley died, I figured, like 99.9 percent of the population, that the band was done. Somehow, Jerry Cantrell found another singer who could not embarrass himself singing the classic AiC stuff and add another layer to the new stuff. The music world is a better place for having a vibrant and relevant AiC.

 

The Final Word

As always, the last thoughts come from you, the reader. We're merely unpaid monkeys with typewriters and Wikipedia. Here's what you need to do: List your Top Five for this week's topic on the comment section using the following format: 5. Artist - Album: Why you picked it. 4. Artist - Album: Why you picked it. 3. Artis - Albumt: Why you picked it. 2. Artist - Album: Why you picked it. 1. Artis - Albumt: Why you picked it.