Comeback Special: 2012

It's been awhile since a Comeback Special appeared on this blog.  The idea is, I listen to the comeback albums from a given year by artists who released their first new original music in a decade or more.  I choose the best (or least terrible) song from each of these albums and assemble them into (you guessed it) a CD-length compilation.

It's interesting to hear what these artists have to say after an absence of ten or more years, and how they choose to say it.  The are older and (presumably) wiser.  Do they acknowledge their absence, and the changes in music that have happened while they were away?  Do they try to win over younger listeners?  Or do they ignore the passage of time, and party like it's still 1999?  

There was a long gap between the 2011 Comeback Special and this one. There were so many comebacks in 2012, and it took awhile to listen to all of them.  One of the biggest was David Lee Roth's return to Van Halen.  He left in 1985, and brothers Eddie and Alex hadn't made an album since 1998's disastrous Van Halen III.  DLR and EVH definitely try to turn the clock back to their glory days. Taking a different approach, The Nomads sing, "We can't go back to how it was before/ We can't go back, we're not the same anymore."

The award for longest absence goes to the Alabama hard rock band Felt (not the British band or the hip hop group of the same name).  Felt's self-titled debut was released in 1971, and the "difficult second album" appeared 41 years later.  In second place is Comus (with their first album since 1974), and the bronze medal goes to Afro-Jazz ensemble The Pyramids with their first new record since 1976.

Our runner ups are Class of 77 punk band London.  Hot on their heels are Hawklords with a belated followup to their 1978 debut.  Brownsville Station made their first record since 1978, but without their legendary frontman Cub Koda.  No prize for them!

The Rumour did it right by reuniting with Graham Parker for their first album together since 1980.  The Distractions released their first since 1980. Also back from the 80's: Angel Witch, Dalis Car, Dexys, New Age Steppers, Secret Affair, Ultravox, Wang Chung, and Chicago's own ONO (read more about ONO here.) 

Last heard in the 90's: Bailterspace, Ben Folds Five, Big Dipper, Cardinal, The dB's, Dead Can Dance, Latin Quarter, The Mad Scene, The Nomads, The Primitives, Redd Kross, Shoes, Soundgarden, The Wake, and Bobby Womack (with his final album, coproduced by Damon Albarn).

From the early Oughts: Beachwood Sparks, Deacon Blue, GYBE, No Doubt, Spain, Tom Tom Club, and ZZ Top (not quite ten years since their previous album, but "Chartreuse" is too good to exclude).

Were you listening to any of these when they came out in 2012?  I was into Researching The Blues, the dB's, Bailterspace and New Age Steppers.  I checked out GP and the Rumour, as well as DLR and Van Halen.

ELSEWHERE ON THE BLOG:  a Rumour album rerecorded.