Don't Call it a Comeback: 2014 Reunion Edition

2013 was the year of the reunion album from ones you though you would never see (Black Sabbath original line up, 35 years), bands you forgot about (Mazzy Star, 17 years), blink and you missed them reunions (The Postal Service, 10 years), reunions you did not think you wanted (Fall Out Boy, 5 years); Daft Punk even won Album of the Year after an eight year lay-off (if you do not count them scoring 2010’s Tron Soundtrack).

We are less than a week into the second month of 2014, but there have already been two high profile reunion announcements. OutKast, who have not put out an album together since 2006, will be basically headlining every festival this year. While Rumours-era Fleetwood Mac will be touring together for the first time since Christine McVie left the group in 1998. It is unclear if either will be releasing new music together this year (depending on if you believe Queen Latifah who says there is a new Outkast album coming; Fleetwood Mac just released a new EP last year) there are some long awaited albums from out in 2014. This does not even include rumoured comeback albums from of Jodeci (19 years), D12 (10 years), or if you are to be believed TMZ ambushed interviews, Gnarls Barkley (6 years).

Every once in a while I post something in my Don’t Call it a Comeback, where I highlight an artist I hope would come back into the public consciousness and here are three acts that have already announced that new music on the way.

The Afghan Whigs (16 years): The band got back together in 2011, but will not be releasing their first record since 1998 until April 15 with Do to the Beast. To be honest, I never got into the band back in the day and only have three of their songs in my library and they are all covers: Barry White’s Can’t Get Enough of Your Love, Babe for the criminally forgotten Beautiful Girls Soundtrack (I blame Michael Rappaport because everyone tries to scrub anything Rappaport from their brains; I fear for this season of Justified), TLC’s Creep, and most recently Frank Ocean’s Lovecrimes.



George Michael (10 years): It has been a decade since George Michael released an album an arguably almost two decades since he released any music anyone cared about. It probably does not help that whenever you bring up the singer, discussions of park bathrooms are sure to follow. That discussion probably will not change when Symphonica is released March 17, but I do like the first single Let Her Down Easy (a song written by another long forgotten artist Terrence Trent D'Arby though apparently he released a new album just last year now under the moniker Sananda Maitreya) which reminds me of a stripped down version of one of my favorite Michael’s song Mother’s Pride. But a warning before you click the play button below: it features a woman taking off her clothes. For a gay dude, George Michael sure likes to fill his music videos with hot naked chicks.



Nickel Creek (9 years): I got into Nickel Creek right around their third album. Of course they went on hiatus shortly after. But the individuals have been busy releasing sixteen albums between them in that time. The bluegrass trio got a big boost in the wake of O Brother, Where Art Thou? And this is the perfect time to come back as there is an even bigger folk boon going on today (who did not initially bring up Nickel Creek while trying to describe The Lumineers who kind of stole their career). There is no official street date for a new album or even name yet, but there is a new single Destination which stand up with their already stellar catalogue and will surely dominate public radio this year.



Lily Allen (5 years): Also no official album announcement yet, but over the past three months, Lily has released three new songs (a fourth on Girls Soundtrack Volume 2 coming next week), the latest is the super catchy Air Balloon which sounds like classic Lily. Hopefully a full length album release date will not be too far away.

Don't Call it a Comeback IX: Jodeci

It seems like once a week I am listening to my iTunes library and I hear a song that makes me go, this artist really needs a comeback. So I thought I would start a new feature here on the 9th Green highlighting an artist that really needs to reenter the public consciousness. The only criterion is that the artist hasn’t had a legitimate hit in over a decade.

Due for a Comeback: Jodeci

Biggest Hit: Freek’n You


Last Hit: Get On Up (1996)

Where Are They Now: In a story I broke earlier this week, K-Ci and JoJo just released a new video in advance up their upcoming album My Brother’s Keeper coming out September 24. It is their first in over a decade. Devante Swing’s Swing Mob dominated late nineties RnB but he and his brother Mr. Dalvin have been relative quiet this century. The group had a small resurgence earlier this year when Drake release his Jodeci Freestyle but most of the attention centered around J Cole’s line about autism that both rappers apologized for (as inappropriate as the line was, it is still depressing that we now live in a time where rappers are apologizing for their lyrics; remember in the good old days when Ice-T would sing about killing cops and not only would he not apologize, he would show up on the cover of the Rolling Stone in a cop uniform complete with a threatening face and a billie club).

Why the World Needs a Jodeci Comeback: Because as I was excited to hear K-Ci and JoJo were back, I would be screaming like the women in the Drake song is Jodeci came back. The group probably made the best RnB album of the nineties, Diary of a Mad Band, with possibly the best song from the genre in the time period Feenin’ which to this day is still an vital part of my Baby Makin’ Playlist. And it seems like every RnB song these days has to be infused with hip=-hop or dance beats, it would be nice to go back to the days of New Jack Swing.

Don't Call it a Comeback VIII: Hootie and the Blowfish

It seems like once a week I am listening to my iTunes library and I hear a song that makes me go, this artist really needs a comeback. So I thought I would start a new feature here on the 9th Green highlighting an artist that really needs to reenter the public consciousness. The only criterion is that the artist hasn’t had a legitimate hit in over a decade.

Due for a Comeback: Hootie & The Blowfish

Biggest Hit: Only Wanna Be with You


Last Hit: Get Out of My Mind (2006)

Where Are They Now: Hootie went on an extended hiatus back in 2008 but routinely reunite every year for their Day After the Masters charity and other various events. Since the hiatus, lead singer Darius Rucker went on to be the most successful black country singer since Charlie Pride with both of his albums chopping the Country Albums Chart and five number one singles (in comparison, Hootie only topped one singles chart in American when Time topped the Adult Top 40 chart). Guitarists Mark Bryan and drummer Jim Sonfeld continue to make music on their own while bassist Dean Felber has taken up winemaking in between Hootie gigs.

Why the World Needs a Hootie and the Blowfish Comeback: Because it certainly does not need another Darius Rucker country album. Sure he has racked up the number ones but is anyone actually clamoring for more country music (I would not mind another RnB album like he made in 2002 with Back to Then) from him? His third, True Believers, is set to be released in June but at this point I would much rather a Hootie reunion album (which supposedly in the works). Crackedrearview is the finest pop-rock album ever forged and though most people had Hootie fatigue by the follow-up, Fairweather Johnson and Musical Chairs were solid albums. I would certainly take a Hootie and the Blowfish reunion over a Fall Out Boy reunion.

Don't Call it a Comeback vol. VII: Eric B and Rakim

It seems like once a week I am listening to my iTunes library and I hear a song that makes me go, this artist really needs a comeback. So I thought I would start a new feature here on the 9th Green highlighting an artist that really needs to reenter the public consciousness. The only criterion is that the artist hasn’t had a legitimate hit in over a decade.

Due for a Comeback: Eric B. & Rakim

Biggest Hit: Paid In Full


Last Hit: Juice (Know the Ledge) (1992)

Where Are They Now: DJ Eric B. released a solo album shortly after the duo split but has been relatively quite ever since. Rakim has released three solo albums, none of which were released by Aftermath even though he was signed to the Dr. Dre record label for a couple years, the songs of which stay sealed in a vault somewhere. He has also been featured on tracks from Jay-Z, Alicia Keys, Kanye West, and, um, Shaquille O'Neal. Rakim (without Eric B.) was honored by VH1’s Hip Hop Honors in 2006 and the duo was a finalist for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last year but was ultimately not selected.

Why the World Needs am Eric B & Rakim Comeback: Rakim is widely viewed as the greatest lyricist of all time and even to this day can rap miles around hacks of today like Rick Ross and Lil Wayne. Their debut Paid in Full had its twenty-fifth anniversary last month and according to Rakim he is hoping to rerelease the album later this year which would include new tracks with Eric B by the end of the year. Hopefully that leads to a full album.

Don't Call it a Comeback vol. VI: A Tribe Called Quest

It seems like once a week I am listening to my iTunes library and I hear a song that makes me go, this artist really needs a comeback. So I thought I would start a new feature here on the 9th Green highlighting an artist that really needs to reenter the public consciousness. The only criterion is that the artist hasn’t had a legitimate hit in over a decade.

Due for a Comeback: A Tribe Called Quest

Biggest Hit: Award Tour



Last Hit: Find a Way (1998)

Where Are They Now: The group announced their breakup prior to the release of The Love Movement but continues to tour and perform together the past decade. Q-Tip released two critically acclaimed albums and is a successful producer, most recently on the Kanye West / Jay-Z Watch the Throne album. The most recent collaboration from the group was on the recently released documentary Beats, Rhymes and Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest.

Why the World Needs a Tribe Called Quest Comeback: Because rap crews are virtually extinct. Remember the good old days when the majority of rappers were in groups and the fun they had playing off each other? Now a day’s every rapper is solo and just has random people jump on ever track (there was a running gag in college of the resident hip-hop head who’s every song on every album he own had “featuring” next to every song). After seven years of reunion tours it is about time the boys get back in the studio and give us some new material. Just do not forget your backpacks when you get back into the studio.

Don't Call it a Comeback vol. V: The Cardigans

It seems like once a week I am listening to my iTunes library and I hear a song that makes me go, this artist really needs a comeback. So I thought I would start a new feature here on the 9th Green highlighting an artist that really needs to reenter the public consciousness. The only criterion is that the artist hasn’t had a legitimate hit in over a decade.

Due for a Comeback: The Cardigans

Biggest Hit: Lovefool



Last Hit: My Favorite Game (1996)

Where Are They Now: Though ignored stateside for most of the last decade, the band’s last three albums went to number one in their native Sweden as they have recorded off and on since breaking here. Lead singer Nina Persson has released two solo albums, the last in 2009. The band has been on a break since 2007.

Why the World Needs a The Cardigans Comeback: Because bubblegum pop has been unbearably bad for the past decade. Ironically I didn’t care for that fluffy sound for the first thirty seconds I heard Lovefool when it came on the work radio station. But that changed quickly when a moderately attracted co-worker of mine (that I would have a very short fling with later until she decided to become a hippy) shrieked with joy over how she loved the song. If Lovefool was you first experience with the band, I recommend you go and hunt down Carnival (it should be in the Key Tracks, but it is currently missing from Amazon MP3, but it is on iTunes). But The Cardigans were bubblegum pop with an extra bit of bite to it (they were heavy metal fans who covered Iron Man), just listen to the extra crunch in Been It. After their breakout album in America filled with sugary goodness, the band took a turn for the dark for their follow up which loss them there bubblegum fans ironically just at a time when bubblegum exploded on the radio with the Spice Girls and Britney Spears. It is a shame Gran Turismo lost the band some fans because it was still worth a listen and My Favorite Game deserved to be as big as Lovefool. And just in case their sound did not change drastic enough between those two albums, the next one, Long Gone Before Daylight, had a country tinge to it.

Don't Call it a Comeback vol. IV: The Pharcyde

It seems like once a week I am listening to my iTunes library and I hear a song that makes me go, this artist really needs a comeback. So I thought I would start a new feature here on the 9th Green highlighting an artist that really needs to reenter the public consciousness. The only criterion is that the artist hasn’t had a legitimate hit in over a decade.

Due for a Comeback: The Pharcyde

Biggest Hit: Passing Me By



Last Hit: Drop (1996)

Where Are They Now: After two critically acclaimed albums, Slimkid3 and Fatlip left the group for solo projects after a third and the two remaining member released just one album without them. The group has reunited for a few concerts and hopped on each other’s solo projects, but no new music from the four of them since 2000.

Why the World Needs a The Pharcyde Comeback: Because rap has gotten bland these days aside from backpack disciple Kanye West. Slimkid3 (who now records under his government name Tre Hardson) and Fatlip have recorded some decent tracks in the past decade, but nothing like the give and go stylings of The Pharcyde. Really except the once and a blue moon that the Beastie Boys (who made cameos in the drop video) release and album, the rap group has disappeared from the musical landscape.

And speaking of comeback, whatever happened to Delicious Vinyl? They were set to be the next Def Jam with artists like The Pharcyde, Tone-Loc, Young MC and The Brand New Heavies but did not add any notable artists after that. You would think after all the buzz those artists generated, they could have picked up some new artists.

Don't Call it a Comeback vol. III: Toad the Wet Sprocket

It seems like once a week I am listening to my iTunes library and I hear a song that makes me go, this artist really needs a comeback. So I thought I would start a new feature here on the 9th Green highlighting an artist that really needs to reenter the public consciousness. The only criterion is that the artist hasn’t had a legitimate hit in over a decade.

Due for a Comeback: Toad the Wet Sprocket

Biggest Hit: All I Want



Last Hit: Good Intentions (1996)

Where Are They Now: The group broke up in 1998 but regroups occasionally for shows. Lead singer Glen Phillips released three albums last decade. Last year the band released its first new studio track in over a decade, the Sam Phillips holiday tune It Doesn’t Feel Like Christmas. Word has it they currently writing songs for a new album which would be their first since 1997’s Coil.

Why the World Needs a Toad the Wet Sprocket Comeback: Because modern rock has all but disappeared. Maybe it was my formative year, but I remember the mid nineties music very fondly with so called modern rock from Toad and similar bands like Hootie and the Blowfish, Counting Crows, Better than Ezra, and Blues Traveler. Only Dave Matthews Band seemed to transition well into the new millennium, but maybe a reunited group that started the trend (unless you consider R.E.M. part of the genre) can kick start the modern rock movement. Even if it isn’t very modern anymore.

Don't Call it a Comeback vol. II: Hall and Oates

It seems like once a week I am listening to my iTunes library and I hear a song that makes me go, this artist really needs a comeback. So I thought I would start a new feature here on the 9th Green highlighting an artist that really needs to reenter the public consciousness. The only criterion is that the artist hasn’t had a legitimate hit in over a decade.

Due for a Comeback: Hall & Oates

Biggest Hit: I Can’t Go for That (No Can Do) (#1 on the Top 40, RnB and Dance charts)



Last Hit: So Close (1990)

Where Are They Now: They still seem to be everywhere despite not having a hit song on twenty years. They are still a go to for fun movie soundtracks (see last year’s (500) Days of Summer not at all ironic dance sequence featuring You Make My Dreams), they have been sampled by De la Soul, Wu-Tang Clan, and Young Jezzy, Gym Class Heroes created a Hall and Oates mash-up album, The Bird and the Bee recently released an all Hall and Oates covers album, and who can forget Vinnie Van Lowe’s serenading Veronica Mars with Private Eyes? As for the greatest duo in rock and roll history, they are still trucking, releasing a Christmas album four years ago, continue to travel, and Daryl became an internet phenomenon last decade with Live From Daryl’s House where Hall would sing with this generation’s artists including Rob Thomas, Train and Diane Birch while giving everyone a cooking lesson.

Why the World Needs a Hall and Oates Comeback: Because Daryl Hall is still the best Blue Eyed Soul singer out there (and who wouldn’t be against more of their awesomely bad music videos).

If there is one thing that Live From Daryl’s House shows is that Daryl still has it whether it is dusting off his old stuff, be it the hits or deeper cuts, reinventing the songs of that show’s guest or just a random cover. Don’t tell me you didn’t get chills when Smokey Robinson showed up. It is really a crime that these songs are no available to buy on iTunes because I would have bought at least ten of the shows in full and would have cherry picked from the rest of the episode.

Since Christmas is around the corner, here is their most awesomely cheesy video they ever made for Jingle Bell Rock.

Don't Call it a Comeback vol. I: Boyz II Men

It seems like one a week I am listening to my iTunes library and I hear a song that makes me go, this artist really needs a comeback. So I thought I would start a new feature here on the 9th Green highlighting an artist that really needs to reenter the public consciousness. The only criterion is that the artist hasn’t had a legitimate hit in over a decade. Without further ado, here is the inaugural Don’t Call it a comeback artist:

Boyz II Men

Biggest Hit: I’ll Make Love to You



Last Hit: A Song for Mama (1997)

Where Are They Now: Michael McCary, the bass singer in the group, left Boyz II Men in 2003 due to Scoliosis (the cane he sported in videos were not for show) and since then, the remaining members have released three cover albums, none of which cracked the top twenty-five, the most recent, Love, peaked at 114 on the Billboard 200.

Why the World Needs a Boyz II Men Comeback: Because RnB is dead and babies need to be made.

The nineties were a boon time for RnB and there was no bigger group than Boyz II Men that sold over twenty million albums during that decade (of which three were bought by me) and broke records held by The Beatles and Elvis. By the end of the decade, record companies realized that they could sell more records to teen girls by grouping together five cute boys even if they could not carried a tune like Boyz II Men and by the 00’s RnB had been auto-tuned to death by the like of T-Pain leaving no room for artists who do not need electronic help.

Now we are in a new decade and hopefully are primed for a Boyz II Men revival which could come as soon as next year which marks the twentieth anniversary of the group. After spending a decade singing other people songs, it is time for the group to pump out some originals, preferable with the help of Babyface (who is also due for a comeback) who wrote the group’s biggest hit including End of the Road, I’ll Make Love to You, Water Runs Dry, and A Song for Mama. And for all the high school students out there that want to dismiss the group as from another generation, keep in mind many of you may not exist if Boyz II Men didn’t aid in your conception.