HTDAAB: Greatest rock album by 40somethings ever?

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Layton

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Could it be? The greatest rock album ever made by an artist in its' 40's-----lol. Now, I know it may win this championship by default since most great bands havn't made it to their 40's and the ones who did havn't produced great works. Stones? Tatoo You and Steel Wheels are no 'Bomb'. Springsteen? His 40's were his worst decade. Bowie? Ok work, but nothing really stands out. Neil Young had a good decade in his 40's, but that "one" album is lacking. Aerosmith had alot of commercial success in their 40's, but not many are going to hold any of those albums on a high creative pedestal. I'm struggling. Help me out. I can't think of a rock artist who has produced a better album than 'Bomb' in their 40's. Maybe an obscure artist has. I just don't know them. I'm interested to know if I should place the rock's old man heavyweight championship belt around around 'Bomb's' waste.
 
:eyebrow: i doubt it very much, imho it was pretty morbid and am waiting for the next exciting new album... heaps of room for improvement i believe.. altho some might say they needed to go where they did with this album just like they did with the other albums... having said that, to be fair, i don't think it's all bad either... :ohmy: cheers
 
Layton said:
Stones? Tatoo You and Steel Wheels are no 'Bomb'.
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Tattoo You is highly regarded, perhaps the last great Rolling Stones album, and it was a massive commercial success as well. However, not all of the members were 40 yet when it came out (Mick Jagger, for example, was 38), so I guess it wouldn't qualify for what you are looking for.
 
Not a great accolade seen as how there ain't ever been a decent album by a group/solo artist in their 40's!
 
Steel Wheels was shite m8, The Rolling Stones were a band that should have quit 30 years ago!
 
rjhbonovox said:
Not a great accolade seen as how there ain't ever been a decent album by a group/solo artist in their 40's!
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Lol, that does seem to be the truth. It's sort of why I did this thread. I couldn't think of a great rock album made by anybody in their 40's.

Harry Vest: Neil Young is great, but I can't think of one album that really stands out from his 40's

Phanan: I really don't think Tatoo You is creatively as strong as 'Bomb'.

Winnie: I hadn't thought of Queen's Innuendo. That's an interesting pick. I guess I'm just not a big Queen fan from any of their decades. They're too theatrical for my tastes.

So far, I'm sticking with 'Bomb' for my fictitious title. I welcome more challenges, though. I'm not a rock historian so I could very well be missing something.
 
Aren't the Chilli Peppers all about 40 by now?? although By The Way came out a couple of years ago so they may have been late 30's at that time.

The Bomb is still better than that though:wink:
 
While it received a critical bashing because Roger Waters wasn't in the group, Pink Floyd's The Division Bell deserves a mention. It is very popular amongst Floyd fans, and it was a commercial success as well, hitting #1 on the Billboard album chart. All the members were in their late 40's at the time of its release.

On top of that, the tour was a massive money maker which spawned another #1 album, the live Pulse. So I'd give this one a nod.
 
blahblahblah said:
no i don't think the album is.
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What would you nominate then?

Somebody mentioned Paul Simon's Graceland to me at work as a possibility. I said I'm not sure if that's considered a rock album. Plus, I havn't spent alot of time listening to it. So to anybody who's spent time listening to Graceland, Is it a better album than 'Bomb' and can it be considered a rock album?
 
The only thing that is notable is that U2 are still a massive selling album act well into their 40's. Now THAT is some achievement, even though the quality of their material has diminished over the past 2 albums!
 
Layton said:


What would you nominate then?

Somebody mentioned Paul Simon's Graceland to me at work as a possibility. I said I'm not sure if that's considered a rock album. Plus, I havn't spent alot of time listening to it. So to anybody who's spent time listening to Graceland, Is it a better album than 'Bomb' and can it be considered a rock album?
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Greaseland is a borefest. Jesus I hate that song You can call me Al!
 
Graceland is a possibility. Considered by many to be one of the best albums of the 80's, and it was a good seller too.

Another one to consider is Metallica now. All of the band members were 40 when St. Anger was released, and they are still very popular, obviously.
 
1stepcloser said:
Aren't the Chilli Peppers all about 40 by now?? although By The Way came out a couple of years ago so they may have been late 30's at that time.

The Bomb is still better than that though:wink:
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By the Way is one of my favourite non-U2 albums :)
 
rjhbonovox said:
The only thing that is notable is that U2 are still a massive selling album act well into their 40's. Now THAT is some achievement, even though the quality of their material has diminished over the past 2 albums!
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Aerosmith sold alot albums in their 40's and actually had hit singles during that time. I agree though, that U2's continuing commercial success is impressive. I disagree that ATYCLB and HTDAAB are subpar albums. They're great albums for men of U2's age, which as we've seen from this thread great albums from this age category are very hard to come by. So far only Innuendo, Tattoo You and Graceland have been mentioned as real contenders. Personally, I don't think any of those are better than 'Bomb', but even using worst case scenario and saying those records are better 'Bomb' would still be 4th best ever by 40somethings. Relatively speaking, U2 may be better than ever because the gap between U2's 40's work and everone else's 40's work is much greater than the gap between U2's 20's and 30's work and everyone else's 20's and 30's work.
 
After Everything Now This by The Church is an awesome album, possibly one of the very best of their career. All members were in their 40's when it was released (2002). It wasn't a massive seller by any stretch of the imagination, but it is gorgeous and received excellent critical reviews.

Their next album, Forget Yourself, released in 2003 (or 2004, depending on where you live) is also excellent (and a bit more rockish), and of course, the band members were well into their 40's (mid to upper 40's even :ohmy: ). I still like AENT a bit better though.
 
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One of the reviews for AENT. From Rolling Stone. (Hey, I'm bored, so I went a googling. :) ) And this review does very well sum up the album -- I like the term "stealth" to describe it.

Few rock bands have adored and explored the orchestral vocabulary and singing ring of the electric guitar with the commitment and distinguished touch of the Church. For founding members singer-bassist Steve Kilbey and guitarists Peter Koppes and Marty Willson-Piper, the art of jangle has been a life's work: After Everything Now This is the Australian group's twelfth studio album since 1981 and true to precedent in its rippling gleam. After Everything is also a masterpiece of stealth, a quiet killer in which subtle exquisite shocks of tonal theater -- the doomsday ticktock and gently abrasive fuzz in "Numbers"; the ice-water drip of the arpeggios in "Chromium" -- puncture the reverb without scarring it. The seamless-dream quality of After Everything is no small accomplishment; the Church, with drummer-producer Tim Powles, made the record in studios on three continents. But in these songs of dislocation and disconnection, intoned by Kilbey in a silken-lava baritone, Koppes' and Willson-Piper's guitars are a seductive counterweight, piercing the tension with an elegantly disruptive twang in "After Everything" and the interlocking dread of airplanelike hum, breathy strum and the insistent static of a guitar pick scraped against a string in "Invisible." In fact, After Everything is virtually free of classic-rock riff ego; the electricity in the Church's wraparound shimmer is in the accumulation of sculpted detail, like the trebly shiver and spritz of backward guitar framing the bullish distorted lead in "Reprieve." It is a sound, and grace, that the Church have pursued for more than two decades, and maybe you've heard it before. But you've rarely heard it better.
DAVID FRICKE
(February 4, 2002)
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indra said:
After Everything Now This by The Church is an awesome album, possibly one of the very best of their career. All members were in their 40's when it was released (2002). It wasn't a massive seller by any stretch of the imagination, but it is gorgeous and received excellent critical reviews.

Their next album, Forget Yourself, released in 2003 (or 2004, depending on where you live) is also excellent (and a bit more rockish), and of course, the band members were well into their 40's (mid to upper 40's even :ohmy: ). I still like AENT a bit better though.
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I'll have to check it this out. I used to listen to the Church back in the late '80's, early '90's. I kind of lost touch with their work since then. I really like their aesthetic style. They play to their strengths and keep it real in that way. They are what they are and that's a good thing in their case.
 
Layton said:


I'll have to check it this out. I used to listen to the Church back in the late '80's, early '90's. I kind of lost touch with their work since then. I really like their aesthetic style. They play to their strengths and keep it real in that way. They are what they are and that's a good thing in their case.
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Yeah, they play what makes them happy and figure someone out there will also like it.

If you're interested I can make a Church sampler cd for ya. Just send your addy to me at: hejstudio @ gmail . com (minus the spaces :D )

I get 1/32 of a cent for each new/retrieved fan I bring in. :yes:
 
Harry Vest said:
Neil Young!!
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"Freedom" or actually I like "Sleeps With Angels" better. He does dark brilliantly.

U2 's bigger, for sure, though.
 
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