Like film prequels and John Travolta movies, musical comeback albums are usually a massive disappointment. The motivation is either greed or nostalgia and the result is usually a watered-down, uninspired recreation of what made the band relevant in the first place. However every once in a while a band emerges from a break-up or hiatus armed with a collection of songs that are just as good—and sometimes better—than their most celebrated catalog material (a.k.a. their Pulp Fiction). Here we list five instances of the latter occurrence from bands who range from proto-punk to indie rock but all share one defining characteristic: They all managed to return to the spotlight armed with an album that proved why they were so widely embraced in the first place. Hopefully these acts will inspire their peers to follow in their sonic footsteps.
Sunny Day Real Estate’s How It Feels To Be Something On: When the proto-emo act Sunny Day Real Estate called it quits in 1995 shortly before the release of their self-titled sophomore release the indie rock world lost one of its most dynamic underground acts. However when the band announced that they would be getting back together two years later most people didn’t know exactly what to expect, especially after the release of frontman Jeremy Enigk’s orchestrally tinged solo debut Return Of The Frog Queen during the interim. Thankfully fans were treated to How It Feels To Be Something On, a comeback album that may not be as influential as their 1994 breakthrough Diary but is considered the band’s finest hour by many of the band’s followers courtesy of fan favorites like “Guitar And Video Games.”
Mission Of Burma’s ONoffON: The celebrated post-punk act Mission Of Burma took plenty of time off between release of their 1982 album Vs. and 2004 return to form ONoffON, however when you’re listening to it, it doesn’t seem like the band missed a beat. Recorded two years after the group reunited in 2002, the album shows that neither time nor technology had tempered the Mission Of Burma’s energy or inventiveness. While the album may not be as anthemic as some of the act’s earlier material it did display a newfound maturity that saw the group skillfully manipulating dynamics on genre-defying songs like “The Enthusiast.” Mission Of Burma have gone on to release two more albums since ONoffON, which are also both worth multiple listens, however for our money it’s difficult to top ONoffON if solely for the fact that it still sounds as vital as ever despite the fact that the band took nearly two decades off before recording it.
Weezer Weezer (The Green Album): Rock fans all over the world were shocked and disappointed when Weezer announced they were going on hiatus in 1997 shortly after the release of their then polarizing—and now widely celebrated—sophomore release Pinkerton. However in 2000 the band began once again performing under the name Goat Punishment and also played a series of high-profile gigs at festivals like the Vans Warped Tour. Correspondingly the band’s second self-titled album was a return to the band’s roots and contained instantly infectious singles such as “Hash Pipe” and “Island In The Sun,” which proved that frontman Rivers Cuomo hadn’t gotten so lost in his neurosis that he couldn’t still write a perfect pop hook. While the album was in many ways a replica of their debut (they band used the same title and producer, Ric Ocasek) it does see the band stretching out sonically and marked the start of what would turn out to be a long second life for the act.
VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ba_NNKyUwEE
Dinosaur Jr. Beyond: When frontman J Mascis retired the Dinosaur Jr. name in 1997, he closed the book on one of the most unique and celebrated acts in the nascent punk scene. While Dinosaur Jr.’s eighties peers and labelmates like Black Flag favored raw aggression and anger, Dinosaur Jr. were arguably more revolutionary in the sense that they managed to implement classic rock-influenced guitar solos and song structures effectively into the punk paradigm. Admittedly no one was surprised when the always volatile act called it quits in the late nine nineties, which made it an even bigger shock when the classic lineup of Mascis, bassist Lou Barlow and drummer Murph reunited in 2005 and released their first album with this lineup since 1988’s Bug two years later. While the album wasn’t a huge departure for the act, the disc ushered in a new era for this inventive proto-punk act that still shows no signs of dying out.
The Lemonheads The Lemonheads: Evan Dando has always had a reputation as a temperamental frontman and that volatility has been a large part of why his band the Lemonheads were so genre-defying. From the bands early high-octane recordings like 1987’s Hate Your Friends to their pop masterpiece (and major label breakthrough) It’s A Shame About Ray, Dando’s big personality helped make the band one of the most exciting acts of the nineties. After a series of solo releases, Dando reformed the band in 2005 and enlisted Bill Stevenson and Karl Alvarez of the Descendents to back him up. This lineup of the band released the Lemonheads’ self-titled album in 2006 (which ironically featured Dinosaur Jr. guitarist J Mascis on selected tracks), which resurrected the kinetic energy of the band’s early releases and showed that Dando may be older and wiser but he’s still capable of crafting the most relevant music of his career.