Queen “The Miracle”
In the 1980s Queen frayed. Three of the four members released solo albums. Their chart positions, especially in America, had taken a precipitous downturn. For much of the decade, the band sounded like four polite gentlemen, contributing doll parts to albums which were sewn together by synthesizers. However, 1989s “The Miracle” was supposed to be different. It was the first album wherein all songs were credited simply to Queen, rather than to the individual players. What was not advertised in 1989, though widely rumored, was Freddie Mercury’s declining health. In retrospect, “The Miracle” is surprisingly enduring and entirely consumed with the optimism, loneliness and love that would define the lead singer’s final years.
Steve Miller Band “Italian X Rays”
By 1983, the Steve Miller Band was, perhaps unknowingly, a cynical Pop music algorithm. With each record they had become more refined in their cynicism and in the lack of struggle and humanity in their music. While it no doubt took a great deal of work and talent to make the music that Miller made then, none of the grit could be heard. “Abracadabra” was the Steve Miller Band at its most optimized and at its Waterloo. His follow-up to “Abracadabra” was 1984s “Italian X Rays,” an album that pushed the algorithm so far as to make one wonder if Miller was being ironic or experimental.
Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds “The Boatman’s Call”
“The Boatman’s Call” is the album wherein Nick Cave ascends from Art Punk poet, to spiritual Folk singer. “Murder Ballads,” considered a career apex at the time, came in 1996. Then, like a drenching storm, “The Boatman’s Call” arrived one year later and the band no longer sounded like it was playing in a back country Aussie church. No -- they sounded like they were playing in Nick Cave’s living room, on Persian rugs, watching the ocean, singing directly to you.
The Beach Boys “The Beach Boys Love You”
Promiscuity and excess have been the gold standard for rockers running in terror from the middle age slump. But there’s a less commonly utilized strategy that can be effective: regress farther. Past adult, past teenager, past kid. Go full baby. Wear only a bathrobe, write a song called “Ding Dang.” Build a sandbox in your bedroom and put your piano in the middle. Take one listen to “The Beach Boys Love You” and you will know that Brian Wilson alone conceived this deeply personal, bat-shit, Beach Boys in name only album.