Comeback Special: 2000-2002

Dictators Forever, Forever Dictators

After getting the idea to compile songs from reunion albums, I found two articles from Stereogum (here and here) and two lists from Rate Your Music (here and here) of individuals and bands who made musical comebacks. 

I excluded solo acts (it isn't a reunion if there's only one performer) and reunions that did not result in new original songs (so Big Star qualifies, but the Box Tops don't). 

For many bands, years may pass without new releases, so for the purpose of this series, a comeback is considered a gap of at least a decade between albums.  

Reunions that do not include all the original band members are not excluded. For example, Robert Forster and Grant McLennan released a Go-Betweens album in 2000 with Sam Coomes and Janet Weiss from Quasi. Stephen Burns was lured by Alex Chilton from Memphis to Glasgow, where Burns recruited a new lineup and dubbed them The Scruffs.

The year 2000 saw comebacks by 23 Skidoo and one of my favorite hardcore bands, Secret Hate. In 2001, The Blake Babies, The Chameleons, The Dictators, The Electric Prunes, The Free Design, and The Go-Go's made comeback albums. 

2002 was a banner year for reunions: The Band Of Holy Joy, The Breeders, The Carpettes, Crispy Ambulance, Dag Nasty, Discharge, The Flatlanders, Hanoi Rocks, The Remains, Sad Lovers & Giants, The Scruffs, The Soft Boys, Soft Cell, Suicide, and Wire. Hey, we featured The Flatlanders right here on this blog when Jimmie Dale, Joe, and Butch got together again 20 years later! 

35 years passed between albums for The Remains, 33 for The Electric Prunes, and almost 30 for The Flatlanders and The Free Design. Today's compilation contains no Flatlanders, Free Design, Hanoi Rocks or Soft Cell. But it does include 20 great songs that I hope you will enjoy.