10 Greatest Comeback Albums In Rock

Nothing is guaranteed in the world of rock and roll. Even if you’re looked at as one of the greatest songwriters to ever walk the Earth, it only takes a few years to find yourself back down at the bottom again wondering where it all went wrong. It might take a little luck to reach the big time the first time around, but it takes something stronger to reach the top of the mountain again.

Because for as good as some of these records are, all of them tended to come from a place of pain at first. During the production of every one of these records, you can tell that these guys have been around the block a couple of times, reaching their wit’s end working with each other or trying to recapture the spirit of what made them so exciting in the first place.

It might be years since your last great record, but these albums practically make the comeback look easy, taking the same tropes that these bands were known for back in the day and putting modern twists on them, whether that means taking a few more risks in the studio every now and again or going in the complete opposite direction of what they’re known for and actually getting away with it. Most rock careers tend to come with an expiration date, but if these bands were able to survive themselves and come out on the other side, anything was possible.

After all of the hits he had written back in his Beatle days, Paul McCartney was starting to become the laughing stock of the Fab Four in the '70s. Aside from having to sue his bandmates for the next few years after their breakup, the sounds of songs like My Love and the abysmal reception of his solo album RAM made him look like the one casualty of the Beatles story, forever to be resigned to making schmaltzy pop music. Macca needed something to put him back in the same league as his mates, and when he recorded Band on the Run...pretty much everything went wrong.

Looking to get a change of scenery by going to record in Nigeria, half of Wings quit before they could even board the plane, leaving Paul, Linda McCartney, and Denny Laine to perform on the album completely by themselves. Apart from a bronchial spasm and being mugged at knifepoint when they landed though, the songs ended up coming together seamlessly, taking in the air of their new surroundings and having a renewed energy that you can practically feel on every single track.

Going through every song, every aspect of Paul's songwriting genius is accounted for, from rockers like Jet and Helen Wheels to the laid back ballads like Bluebird, and even songs like the title track that manage to do all three at the exact same time. John Lennon may have been the working class hero and George Harrison may have had the chart success, but Paul always did what he did best: writing songs to make you happy.