I am starting theme week a day early because Father Day is tomorrow and I won't be posting then. It's going to be Reunion Album week here at my blog from this Saturday until next Saturday. Today I just want to talk briefly about why it's probably difficult for a reunion album to succeed. Now it can depend on how long a band has been apart and what the members have been up to in the mean time. I think fans tend can have high expectation from a band yet reunion albums rarely seem to live up to expectations. Why? I think largely bands are either unsure of the direction to go or the label pushes them in a certain. Too many bands try to force their old sound into a reunion album and then get a watered down or forced sound. Even worse are the bands that try sound "modern" and they end up alienating their old fans and pleasing almost no one. My best advice for bands attempting a reunion album is follow your heart instead following trends or just trying to redo your back catalog. I think the best reunion albums have been from bands that knew where they had been and kept some of that sound, but they also moved ahead as well and took some chances. So here's what coming up this week.
-Ratt-s/t, 1999 review
-Lizzy Borden-Deal with the devil review
-Deep Purple-Perfect Strangers review
-Judas Priest-Angel of retribution review
-The top five hard rock/metal reunion albums
-On June 21st I will have a non-theme related topic
***Any thoughts on why reunion albums work or don't work?
I forgot a topic. There will be a reunion album version of Judge the album cover as well this week. Have a Happy Father's Day!
ReplyDeleteYou make good points on albums that work. I'd emphasize that the original members need to have some creative juice left in them--hopefully a synergy that the original band dynamics re-create--or else they just sound like they are going through the motions. That happens a lot.
ReplyDeleteHappy Dad's Day!
-- david
Great question. It seems that bands try too hard to prove their relevance by reinventing themselves to fit whatever the current "hot" style is(all the grunge style records of the mid-late 90's that felt flat). The only reunion albums that I can think of that I really liked have been Deep Purple's "Perfect Strangers" and Iron Maiden's "Brave New World".
ReplyDeleteHappy Heavy Metal Fathers Day!
Very seldom do reunion albums work beyond a sense of nostalgia. Certainly few to none achieve a blockbuster status. Some are just plain, noncommittal fun that's obviously there to keep the blood flowing, so to speak, and not much else.
ReplyDeleteHappy Father's Day! I happen to know what a wonderful dad you are because your darling wife talks about you on her blog :)
ReplyDeleteI'm glad I stopped by somehow your blog got taken off my links! Its back now, don't know how that happened!
I think it also comes down to how the band members feel about each other.
ReplyDelete