I put this in Other Bands even though the introduction is about how Lightning Bolt inspired the article. I figured people here could come up with much better (or at least more interesting) personal lists (also, I didn't want this to turn into an 87 page argument about whether or not LB belongs on it). I'll try to put a personal list together for myself later.

http://consequenceofsound.net/2013/11/top-10-albums-by-seasoned-veteran-acts/

Their list...

Spoiler: show

10. 50 Words for Snow - Kate Bush
9. Get a Grip - Aerosmith
8. Bad As Me - Tom Waits
7. The Rising - Bruce Springsteen
6. Murray Street - Sonic Youth
5. Time Out of Mind - Bob Dylan
4. m b v - My Bloody Valentine
3. Graceland - Paul Simon
2. Bad - Michael Jackson
1. Bitches' Brew - Miles Davis

Pretty predictable. And I have some issue with #2 being considered "deep" enough in his career, even if it technically may be.

Just commenting to express my love for 50 Words for Snow.

Yeah, if there was a pleasant surprise on the list, it was that.

It's pretty great.

Off the top of my head, artists who have recently put out great stuff (not just 'good') 20+ years into their career:

David Tibet/Current 93
Joe Henry
And Also The Trees
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
Bill Callahan
Immolation

yeah Bad is a weird choice.

David Bowie - The Next Day, really any of his last 6 albums
Steven Wilson - The Raven That Refused to Sing
Metallica - Death Magnetic

What's stupid about the Michael Jackson one is that it credits his career as starting in 1963 because that when the Jackson 5 formed, but they didn't release anything until 1969. I could maybe see him trying to include Dangerous (1991) by that logic, but even then it feels like a stretch. I mean, Bruce Springsteen started his first band in 1965; Does that mean 1987's Tunnel of Love is eligible?

20+ years? Mark Lanegan's Blues Funeral.

Bad is a weird choice. So is Bad as Me--admittedly, it's the only Tom Waits album that feels like it was made by a seasoned veteran act, but it's still probably the weakest album of his post-'70's career, with the possible exception of The Black Rider. Real Gone, Bone Machine, or Mule Variations (my favorite Waits album) would've been far better choices.

And off the top of my head, I'd add:

Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Ragged Glory
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Abbatoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus
R.E.M. - Accelerate
Elvis Costello - The Delivery Man
Leonard Cohen - I'm Your Man
Johnny Cash - American III
Solomon Burke - Don't Give Up on Me
Guy Clark - The Dark
Emmylou Harris - Red Dirt Girl

Great choices.

(And, apparently, welcome to the madness!)

Bob Dylan - Love & Theft

Lotta good records getting mentioned.

One other really good late era release that might not be likely to get mentioned:



Not competition for most of the other stuff listed here, but shockingly great for being over FORTY YEARS after their first record.

Dylan - "Love & Theft"
Roger Waters - Amused to Death
McCartney - Flaming Pie
Peter Gabriel - Us
Levon Helm - Dirt Farmer
King Crimson - Thrak

listening to Kate Bush's album at the moment - it's pretty fucking great up to now.

Is it wrong that I like Bridges to Babylon?

Thanks! It looks like a fun place.

I'm not crazy about most of the Stones' output post-Tattoo You (all of my opinions are this novel, I swear), but A Bigger Bang is pretty solid. I like how you can hear them borrowing reciprocally from a lot of those contemporary blues-rock bands they influenced, directly or otherwise--the grittier sonics really gave the material a much needed "oomph." I don't pull it out half as often as I do the classic stuff, but I definitely like it more than the dead zone of Undercover through Bridges to Babylon, much of which is just stagnant and lame to my ears.

I like The Delivery Man a lot, but if I was going to pick an Elvis Costello album for this list it would be "National Ransom"-- what a great collection of songs to produce 30+ years into one's career.

Anyone mentioning Nick Cave in this thread can sit at my table.

The Delivery Man was my first Costello album, so admittedly I'm biased--I picked it up after reading an article where Tom Waits (my favorite artist/prophet) highlighted it as one of his favorite albums, and it immediately made me want to track down everything he (Elvis) had ever done. That's not to take anything away from National Ransom, though. Or Secret, Profane & Sugarcane for that matter. Those are marvelous albums that anyone in any phase of their career would be overjoyed to be able to release. I'll just always have a soft spot for The Delivery Man.

I think Elvis is one of the ideal guys to bring up in this conversation, though--like Waits, Leonard Cohen, and Nick Cave, he just never got the memo that growing old means you grow weaker.

I'll bring the wine.

I can no longer argue with you