On Steve Lamacq’s 6music show yesterday he posed a question that I had a big old think about on the commute this morning. I think that he had just played a track by The Prisoners and offered an opinion that their final record was their best and this led to the question “Can you think of any bands whose final album was their best record?” Basically, who saved the best to last, not including bands who only released one LP. Having spent a lot of time this morning thinking about this I have come up with what I think is the best last/final album by a band.
Third by Portishead
I know that they haven’t split up, but it’s been a long time since any new material and it is their best album.
Now, I don’t think there can be too many others, I’ve struggled to come up with some. Are there any others out there that you can think of?
The Go-Betweens’ tremendous “Oceans Apart” is a good shout here, I think. It was their final record due to Grant McLennan’s premature death a year later.
Good call, Duco, although I think ’16 Lovers Lane’ is a perfect pop album.
It is so good despite the recorded levels being truly awful
@bang-em-in-bingham
Do you think? I always loved the sound and production on that album, really bright and sparkly . And Max is right….a perfect pop album.
I wouldn’t be a huge fan but I reckon The Police were going in an interesting direction with their final album, ‘Synchronicity’
What came to my mind was another “Third” – Big Star’s last album (I know this is not a truth universally acknowledged and even the track listing for this record is open to debate).
Most days my favourite Smiths album is their last, but I would have to admit there are many when one of the others jostles to the front..
(*Mental note: keep meaning to devote proper time to that Third Portishead, must do that ASAP. Will also give that Go Betweens a spin on the off chance)
Bowie – Blackstar (maybe)
I would think “Dummy” is somewhat superior to “Third”
One of us knows it’s Abba.
You could be right, when all is said and done.
I’ve come to love and cherish Del Amitri’s final album “Can You Do Me Good”. I could make an argument for it being their best.
Anyone who says “Strangeways” as The Smiths best is just wrong….
Morrissey and Marr do, for two.
but … “Strangeways” is their best
Apart from all the others…
Particularly The Queen Is Dead.
Oh dear. I really don’t think it is…. Clunky, all the spirit has gone, no tunes. It sounds like a Smiths album made by someone else trying to make a Smiths album.
The thing I love about Strangeways is that there is less Morrissey and more Marr. It feels like a proper band. It’s the only The Smiths album I actually enjoy.
My favourite too. The two thing I love about it are the words and the music.
It’s the one album of theirs I don’t own
Tiggerlion. All the right records but not necessarily in the right order.
It’s the only Smiths’ album I never bought and have never listened to – I don’t really have an explanation to how/why that (never) happened. It feels too late now; I never listen to their other albums anymore, though I loved them at the time…
Re:’can you do me good’… Not for me. They (he?) peaked across Change Everything and Twisted and then went off the boil. Stayed at a low simmer in the solo work too. I think JC needs the collaborators to identify the quality stuff and edit the weaker stuff. OOAA.
having said that, I will conceed that ‘one more last hurrah’ and ‘last cheap shot at the dream’ are right up there with his best songs…
Perhaps not the very final album, but the collective American recordings by Johnny Cash would be in with a legitimate shout.
Yeah that was my first thought. But the last American album wasn’t the best one though….
A case could be made for Avalon being Roxy Music’s finest album.
Except it isn’t.
(Stranded is. Or to be more polite, I reckon Stranded is their masterpiece and one of the great records of the 70s).
I’m inclined to agree. However, Avalon has an entirely different quality to it, almost like comparing apples and pears. They are both fruits but…
Roxy vs Roxy 2.0
For Your Pleasure!
Bloody right. It blew my minnnd!
No it couldn’t.
The Orange Juice by Orange Juice
Still fresh at 35.
Bought Coals to Newcastle the complete Orange Juice for £7 as a download from Juno (thanks to whoever recommended them for the cheap Bowie). Boy is it good (if occasionally out of tune)
Great question! I have pondered and pondered….
Does Abbey Road by the B**tles count?
Well, technically…
Here we go again!
The obvs answer for me is Japan. ‘Tin Drum’ being both their last studio album and their masterpiece.
Dreadzone’s most recent album, ‘Dread Times’ is by far the best of their dozen or so albums.
Tin Drum is a great choice and one from the “did not see that coming” file..
Tin Drum is their worst album. Also void because Rain Tree Crow
Ich bin totes disaccord. Sylvian insisted on the new name (to their financial cost) specifically cos they were no longer Japan. And Tin Drum is their best and one of the best albums ever. Your honour.
Talk Talk with Laughing Stock?
The original Doors? Could be just me of course…
Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac – Then Play On is sublime. No argument brooked.
Yeah, but it’s Spirit of Eden, innit?
Yeah probly. Overfamiliarity can lead to LS being picked more often in these parts.
Oddly enough, I was in my local hi-fi shop on Tuesday lunchtime to pick up my Linn turntable after a service and to have a catch up.
There was a system set up in the demo room with big Spendor speakers playing hi-res albums off a NAS. Spirit of Eden randomly started up. We both sat down and listened. I was half an hour late back to work.
Wonderful. Love when music steals your day and Spirit definitely demands to be listened to.
Or Colour of Spring. The love child of Talk Talk and Talk Talk
Blooming right. Their best album. Accessible and weird.
I agree Colour of Spring is a fabulous album. It has ‘tunes’ and is their best.
With the sad passing of Mark Hollis I’ve been spinning Spirit of Eden, wishing myself to like it. I don’t dislike it but, still, years after it release, it just does not move me. It’s like looking at a piece of conceptual art without ever coming close to understanding the concept.
(I also now realise the repeat two chord guitar ‘riff’ and arpeggios in ‘The Rainbow’ is a dead copy of a riff I invented years ago. I feel cheated. Sniff).
Colour Of Spring just sounds like typical 80s popland to me. Whereas the last three (Eden, LS and solo) sound like nothing else ever.
To be really poncey about it, CoS sounds like any artist reaching out to the audience. Whereas the last three sound like Hollis reaching into his soul/psyche.
Wiv respect @gary I disagree.
I can’t see how the Colour of Spring just sounds like typical 80’s pop land. I thought it sounded like nothing else at the time and still do to some respect .
Agree with @attackdog about Spirit of Eden and Laughing Stock too . They don’t move me in the same way. I appreciate them rather than enjoy them.
I’d rather he didn’t. Reach in that is.
The original Doors…. So you mean L.A. Woman?
Hell, yeah!!!!!
Yes indeed. Not very even, but the highlights are glorious.
Absolutely. Easily their best.
Kirsty’s Tropical Brainstorm. Sadly no chance of a follow up.
Good call.
Good call, indeed.
I don’t think it would be unreasonable to nominate XTC’s Wasp Star. If it’s not their best, it’s pretty damn close.
Any takers for Apple Venus Volume 1? Wasp Star was a collection of material recorded much earlier.
Ha! I didn’t see this comment when I posted.
Nope. And I disagree with everyone saying that XTC’s later albums are better than their earlier. They’re good, but better? No way.
Skylarking!
Yep. Nonsuch pointed the direction, but the creative outpouring on Apple Venus after the self-enforced purdah made it a classic.
Jimi Hendrix Experience – Electric Ladyland
IMHO axis:bold of love gets it, but only by a rizla width.
Because I have strange ears, I contend the T.Rex’s final two albums (Futuristic Dragon and Dandy In The Underworld) were their best
(apart from Electric Warrior)
(apart from Electric Warrior) means T.Rex’s last album wasn’t their best.
Besides, what’s wrong with The Slider?
Damn, you noticed. And there’s me trying to bend the rules with caveats.
The Slider is indeed a great album – I just prefer Dragon and Dandy
Will anyone vote for The Clash’s Cut The Crap?
(No)
There was a suggestion by Steve Lamacq that a strong case could be made for The Jam’s The Gift.
No there isn’t
I think it is
Not even top 3!
Well, at risk of annoying Tiggers, Abbey Road!
Otherwise I couldn’t really think of anybody else, unless Gary Numan, James Blake, J. Cole or Brother Ali don’t make any more records.
How about Leonard Cohen? Anyone?
Fuckin A. That was his best album since Songs of Love and Hate.
Nearly posted that
Actually, Nick Cave’s last one is my favourite too (not including his soundtrack work), so if he announces a shock retirement…
Agreed
Obviously it’s Joy Division. They had a 50/50 chance and succeeded
Cardiacs – Sing to God
Mississippi John Hurt -Last Sessions
Slowdive with ‘Slowdive’ in 2017 ( assuming they will not record again)
Also ( a long shot this), Pulp’s ‘We Love Life’
I’m with you on Pulp. They got better with each album.
Nick Drake’s “Pink Moon” has to be close.
Clocks in at a trim 28:22! – brevity being a benefit to pop music, indeed any discipline, rather than a hindrance.
Yebbut Bryter Layter…
Yes, I’d say Bryter Layter is the best one too.
Michael Kiwanuka, tho’ with so far but two, surely another is due. Will that Danger Mouse be at the controls again, I wonder? Having invested in the Karen O album in conjunction with said rodent, Lux Prima, so full of the same sounds is it, I kept on expecting Michaels magisterial tones to come bursting forth.
Which made for a slightly disappointing listen, realising that the reason Love and Hate is so terrific might be more to do with mice than men.
I thought about Kiwanuka too. I hope he doesn’t fuck with the formula like James Vincent McMorrow and John Grant. One way ticket up my own arse please.
This thread could accelarate to escape velocity if we include people still working (and, even, seeming to be quite early in their careers).
Mind, Grace Jones’ Hurricane is over a decade old and she’s 70 now so maybe (despite rumours she’s been working on new material for years) that’s it..?
OK – here’s a good one:
Eric Dolphy – “Out to Lunch”
I know that since Dolphy’s death, his final recording sessions in Paris and Hilversum have been released, but the last proper album that he recorded and released in his lifetime was “Out to Lunch”. And it is, of course, magnificent.
Laura Marling. But she has to stop now of course
There’s loads in this category of last album (so far) is best
I wish she would. Nah, cheap jibe, enjoyed greatly the last one. Lump, mind, neon dance
Neon dance? Effing spell check, nein danke!!!
Neon Dance – I think I saw them supporting Spandau Ballet in 1981
Much more agreeable than that seen in Northern parts of Ireland up until a while ago – the knee off dance..
By way of an up, here’s ten billion quid.