Late career bangers

• Regina Scime +2
• fionmul +1 — The Magdalen girl mentioned Love that this sounds like a 100 year old song
• SamRobertsND +1
• Edward James +1 — Banger. I’d see this musical.
• Claire +1 — Legend
• judd.baker +1 — This song is spellbinding. Casting the characters in the story of the Resurrection as, what, Scots Irish sailors? It’s mystical, the connections are inexplicable and murky, I loved every minute of it. Can’t believe I haven’t heard this before but my Sting knowledge is pretty shallow actually.

• Peter Seeley +2
• SamRobertsND +1
• ared56 +1
• shea nowicki +1
• Sam Ary +1
• Regina Scime +1
• fionmul 0 — it’s a repeat but it’s a banger, we know
• Edward James 0 — I just don’t think a cover captures the full essence of what the category is about (x2)
• judd.baker 0 — In some ways the quintessential submission, but beat by other more unexpected ones.

• fionmul +1 — Love William. I think about his and Gordon’s talent show in Indianapolis often.
• SamRobertsND +1
• Edward James +1 — This was wonderful. I expected it to be from the early 2000s and was surprised to see it was 2024. Perfect choice.
• Sam Ary +1
• Regina Scime +1
• Claire +1 — Billy ily. Maybe I’m biased bc i have seen him perform so late in his career and can confirm that he’s still got it
• judd.baker +1 — Loved this. Billy Joel is a definitive example to me of a career with a couple noteworthy late hits.
• Peter Seeley -1 — Weakest of the lot

• fionmul +1 — Clever
• ared56 +1
• shea nowicki +1
• judd.baker +1 — I didn’t know this was late career, this is neat
• Edward James 0 — Dying during the height of your career makes this fit the letter of the round, but not the spirit of the round.
• Claire 0 — This is a masterpiece, and late career, yes, and also I have that special fondness for it that one has for music one’s sung in the past. But I feel like it just doesn’t stand out *as a read of the category* the way the Bach did last round
• Regina Scime -1

• Edward James +2 — What’s crazy is that you could pick at least two songs off every album he’s released since 1997 that could qualify for this category. From this one, this is a good choice, although I like “I’ve made up my mind to give myself to you” and “Key West (philosopher pirate)” just as much. Giving 2 upvotes just because most others didn’t do it for me and I know people won’t appreciate this properly
• shea nowicki +1
• fionmul 0 — Not enough of a “banger” for me
• Claire 0 — Crazy that he continues to make music this late in the game. This song was just alright though

Edward James: Almost my submission for “Whalesong”

• fionmul +1 — This is fun
• shea nowicki +1
• Peter Seeley +1
• Claire 0 — Fun song but went on for too long

• ared56 +2
• Claire +1 — Particularly fitting bc it’s also about being at the end of life
• Edward James 0 — I just don’t think a cover captures the full essence of what the category is about (x3)
• fionmul -1 — My voting this round was heavy on the “is this a “banger”?” (Since I didn’t feel like researching the career of each artist so I mainly trusted) And I liked this song but it’s not giving “banger” and there are just so many possibilities out there so I think you could have picked better.

• SamRobertsND +1
• Sam Ary +1
• fionmul 0 — Fun Generic eagles vibes
• Edward James 0 — This just didn’t stand out to me despite sounding technically so proficient and nice. It’s like “Eagles do the Eagles” Which is true of the Billy Joel song too but that one actually felt like it had heart
• Claire 0 — I had no idea they were making new music this recently

• Claire +1 — Not a “superior cover” but this is fun
• judd.baker +1 — Spectacular
• Peter Seeley +1
• fionmul 0 — This is an absolute classic in the Mulholland house (in an ironic way but also not since it slaps and works all too well) but I get that for most of you it might be an unwelcome cover at first listen. This whole album is super fun though
• Edward James 0 — I just don’t think a cover captures the full essence of what the category is about (x2)
• ared56 -1
• Sam Ary -1

judd.baker: The Magic Whip is my personal favorite pick for a great late career entry in a band’s lifetime. Blur hadn’t put out an album since 2003 (hadn’t put out a good one since 1998), had broken up for several years prior to the tour that preceded this album, and never had any intentions of actually producing this one. They were set to play at a music festival in Japan that got mysteriously cancelled and the band were stranded for days in Hong Kong; they made this album on a lark while stranded, and it ended up being a surprise late career masterpiece.

• Sam Ary +1
• fionmul 0 — Unbelievably mid in a way that leads me to believe this was Judd?
• Edward James 0 — I feel like if Damon is still pumping out hits with Gorillaz, he should be able to do better than this with Blur
• Claire 0 — Pleasant enough but didn’t make top 4 for me

• fionmul 0 — Idk if this is late career enough but maybe I’m just ignorant? It’s a classic but I feel like their stuff was all released so close together anyway But some others impressed me more with their creativity
• SamRobertsND -1
• shea nowicki -1
• Edward James -1 — Don’t play cute with us
• Claire -1 — Late in the active career of the band, yes, but it doesn’t have that “late in life” vibe that I’m looking for
• judd.baker -1 — The peak of a band’s (already famously short) career cannot possibly count as late career.