Just curious. Is there any pattern to the the quality of albums that have very extended gestation periods?
Well “Chinese Democracy” didn’t exactly turn out to be a masterpiece.
Has there ever been one that turned out to be a masterpiece?
Steely Dan’s recent comeback album? It had a 20 year hiatus.
But generally, yeah , it’s hard to think of too many other good ones. Usually a long hiatus = lousy record.
What qualifies as a “long hiatus”?
The gap between Dylan’s Blonde on Blonde and John Wesley Harding was May '66 to December '67. 18 months is nothing to us now, but for it was significant for an artist who had put out two albums a year prior.
Or the two years after Harding, when Dylan finally put out Nashville Skyline in '69?
From September 1962 to May 1966 Dylan issued seven albums, close to an album every six months. Harding took three times as long, and Skyline almost four times. One or both are classics depending upon who you ask (both, IMHO).
The interval between ‘Under the Red Sky’ and ‘Time Out of Mind’ was seven years. ‘Under the Red Sky’ is pretty fluffy–almost a testament to Dylan saying ‘the world has enough of my songs’ (which he said, paraphrased, in 1991). TOoM is an album any songwriter wishes s/he had written.
Portishead’s third album came out eleven years after their second one, and if it’s not a masterpiece, it’s at least as good as anything they’d done previously. However, it definitely seems like this is more the exception than not.
The Eagles’ “Long Road Out of Eden” came out in 2007, 28 years after their last studio album, “The Long Run” and 13 years after they reunited. It is a very strong album and one of my personal favorites.
Boston’s “Third Stage” came out eight years after their second album, “Don’t Look Back,” and also received positive reviews.
John Fogerty’s album “Centerfield” came out ten years after his last solo album and is considered one of his best.
The Beach Boys released “That’s Why God Made the Radio” 16 years after their last album and it has been called a return to form.
I don’t know if any of these albums would be called masterpieces, but they certainly hold up to the artists’ prior standard of work.
When Kate Bush released Aerial after twelve years of silence it received nearly universal critical adulation.
The Thread Title only says “after a long hiatus” but the OP says “albums that have very extended gestation periods”.
Two different questions in my mind. 10 Years between albums doesn’t necessarily mean a long gestation period. A band could break up, spend nine years apart, get back together and spend a year working on putting out a new album. I wouldn’t call that album an album that had a long gestation period.
For “albums that have very extended gestation periods” I think of DxZero’s example of Chinese Democracy. The other album that comes to mind is Brian Wilson’s Smile.
This stricter definition leaves far fewer examples, but counting every reuinion album from bands long broken up or artists who simply took a break kind of makes for an overly broad discussion.
Perhaps the OP could clarify.
I think Chinese Democracy was crap.
I think Smile was brilliant.
“The Long Road Out of Eden” would certainly qualify then. It was six years in the making.
Boston’s long stretch between albums is also due to the fact that Tom Scholz is a noted perfectionist in the studio, often discarding completed recordings as not being up to his standards.
Soundgarden’s new release is getting really good reviews, I haven’t heard all of it yet, but it could be a masterpiece…
Blondie went from 1982s The Hunter (ugh) to 1999s No Exit. No Exit did well, decent charting, esp. in their longtime fan bases like the UK. Not exactly a masterpiece but a good enough album that it was worth buying if you are a fan.
(And the less said about their next album after that, the better.)
Could “Chinese Democracy” even fairly be called a Guns N’ Roses album? It didn’t have the classic lineup that recorded “Appetite For Destruction” or “Use Your Illusion.” No Slash. No Duff. No Izzy. No Matt. The only original member remaining was Axl Rose. The rest of the band were all replacement members. It was a Guns N’ Roses album in name only.
Duran Duran’s Wedding Album - it was “only” a three year hiatus, but as I recall they were considered totally washed up by then. It turned out to have a very different sound from their previous work and had some of their biggest hits ever.
Its been ten years now since Shania Twain’s last album of nothing but new songs. Maybe if another one gets released it will be a master piece. 
God bless you and her always!!!
Holly
Even though I’m the one who brought it up, I wouldn’t count Chinese Democracy as a G&R album either. It was an Axl Rose album.
Springsteen’s Darkness on the Edge of Town wasn’t a stinker.
Here’s a case where I’d say no: The most recent album by Yes, Fly From Here. Released last year, ten years after their previous album. While the album itself wasn’t long in the making, the 25-minute title track was based on a song they wrote back in 1980.
The album isn’t bad - they’ve certainly done worse. But it isn’t great, either. Just middle of the road.
Van Der Graaf Generator split in 1971, reformed after 4 years and released Godbluff in 1975 - which I consider one of their best. They split again in 1978 and this time took a loooong break, until reforming with the classic line-up in 2005. The album they released then, Present, was pretty good, but not quite up to their earlier standard, although the live shows I’ve seen since have been excellent.
Actually, give it time; the songs on their recent cds are competing with stuff i’ve been listening to since the early 70s!
I don’t know, but I am hoping that when AFI decides to stop playing around with side projects and makes another album it will be worth it. Their last album was in 2009.