Artists with Long Gaps Between Albums

On Tuesday (6/25) country trio the Dixie Chicks announced that they were in the studio working on a new album. The album, once released, will be their first in nearly 13 years, following 2006’s ‘Taking the Long Way.’

The Dixie Chicks join a recent influx of bands and artists that have returned with new music after more than a decade away, including My Bloody Valentine, Chic, Chuck Berry and more.

Inspired by the news of the Dixie Chicks’ as-yet untitled album, Vinyl Bay 777, Long Island’s music outlet, is taking a look at artists that took their time between albums. Here are six whose new albums were long-awaited.

1.       Pink Floyd: Pink Floyd had pretty much disbanded following touring for their 1994 album ‘The Division Bell.’ In 2012, however, frontman David Gilmour and drummer Nick Mason decided to take another look at some of the unreleased instrumentals left over from the ‘Division Bell’ sessions. What came of it was a nearly all-instrumental new album, ‘The Endless River,’ released in 2014, 20 years after their last.

2.       My Bloody Valentine: Things started to fall apart for My Bloody Valentine in the mid-1990s. Despite being signed to Island Records in 1992, the bands members started moving in their own separate directions in 1995, leaving their 1991 album, ‘Loveless,’ as their final album. Although the band reunited in 2007, it would be another nine years before they would release their third album, ‘m b v,’ in 2013. The band is supposedly writing two more albums, though there is no timeline yet for their release.

3.       Chic: Following the reunion that brought about their 1992 album ‘Chic-ism,’ Chic continued to tour for the next two decades as a nostalgia act. The band released four albums, but they were all either compilations or live recordings. Nile Rodgers announced in 2013 that he was working on a new Chic album, ‘It’s About Time,’ which came out six years later in 2018.

4.       The Who: The Who may be releasing a new album some time in 2019, closing a 13-year gap between albums, but it’s not the longest the band has taken. Following the release of ‘It’s Hard’ in 1982 and a farewell tour the same year, Pete Townshend decided to leave the band. The break-up didn’t last long though, as the band reunited at Live Aid in 1985 and toured together in various line-ups ever since. Despite John Entwistle’s passing in 2002, Townshend and Roger Daltrey decided to release a new album in 2006, ‘Endless Wire,’ 24 years after the last.

5.       Guns N’ Roses: One of the most storied waits in rock music, it took Guns N’ Roses 15 years to follow up their 1993 album ‘“The Spaghetti Incident?”,’ (17 years if you’re only counting original compositions, making the ‘Use Your Illusion’ albums their last). Slash and Duff McKagan left the band between 1996 and 1997, leaving Axl Rose as the only original member. Rose spent a lot of time recording and rerecording what would become ‘Chinese Democracy,’ delaying what was supposed to be a 2000 release into a 2008 release. With the band’s supposed upcoming album, they will be bridging another long gap, 11 years since an official album release and 26 years since their classic line-up released an album.

6.       Chuck Berry: Though he had not released an album since ‘Rockit’ in 1979, Chuck Berry continued to perform live for much of his career. That changed in 2017 with the release of ‘Chuck,’ his first studio album in 38 years. Berry had been working on the album for a long time and seemed to know that it would be his final, saying in a statement “This record is dedicated to my beloved [wife] Toddy. My darlin' I'm growing old! I've worked on this record for a long time. Now I can hang up my shoes!” The legendary musician passed away a couple of months prior to its release.

Whether it was because of a recent reunion or an artist taking their time, there have been several artists over the last few years who have released new albums after decades of radio silence. The Dixie Chicks join this growing list, hopefully recapturing what made their music great more than a decade later.

---

Find music new and old from these artists and more at Vinyl Bay 777! As Long Island’s top new independent record shop, we have thousands of titles to choose from in a variety of genres. Browse our wide selection of new and used vinyl records, CDs, cassettes, music DVDs, memorabilia and more in store at our Plainview location or online at vinylbay777.com. With more titles being added to our selection all the time, you never know what you might find at Vinyl Bay 777.