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Don't Call It A Comeback

Posted at 10:06 AM on May 6, 2009 by Steve Seel

So, is the economy bouncing back? Are we actually seeing the beginning of ... a recovery?

It's hard to be sure at this point, but with some slight changes in the housing market pointing to a turnaround, some economists are wondering aloud if we may have actually seen the worst of the economic nightmare. So today, for the 9:30 Coffee Break, things "turning around" was the topic - or, as we call it in rock n' roll, a comeback. What's a record that represents a comeback for an artist who might have been in a slump, or had a bomb with their previous release?

With the answers drawn in fairly broad strokes, here was the set:

1) Johnny Cash, "Personal Jesus"
2) Bob Dylan, "Cold Irons Bound"
3) Loretta Lynn, "Portland Oregon"

Johnny's series of "American Recordings," produced by Rick Rubin, represented a clean refocusing after several years of middling releases - and they also contained some purifying, bracing choices of covers, like this one. Dylan had been in a slump for some time, but his re-teaming with producer Daniel Lanois made for an incredible reaffirmation of his artistic abilities, and it was just a damn great record. And was Van Lear Rose a "comeback" for Lorretta Lynn? Debatable, but it most certainly was an introduction of sorts to a new audience - thanks to the production and co-songwriting of Jack White.

Come to think of it, this set could also be titled, "Things that can happen when the right (and eager) producer comes along and shakes up an old and tired career."

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