# What is your favorite posthumous music release **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 20, 2010, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-posthumous-music-release/536799 "2010-04-20T22:40:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ihatepants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/858c86/32.png) [@Ihatepants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ihatepants)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2010, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-posthumous-music-release/536799/1 "2010-04-20T22:40:14Z")
What do you think is the best album to come out from an artist that was 6 feet under? 😕😕😕 ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2010, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-posthumous-music-release/536799/2 "2010-04-21T01:33:21Z")
I recall Paul McCartney being quoted as saying - after John Lennon was already dead - something like, “I’m ready to have a Beatles reunion any time, any place. But how will you get John to appear? Without him, it isn’t The Beatles.” - Yet they did figure out how to revive him long enough to produce Free As A Bird. Hmmm… Come to think of it, I’d have to put Natalie Cole’s duet with her dead father (Unforgettable) on an equally high pedestal. (Mods! Send this to Cafe Society!) ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2010, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-posthumous-music-release/536799/3 "2010-04-21T01:43:07Z")
Moving to Cafe Society from GQ. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![Ian\_D.Bergkamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Ian\_D.Bergkamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ian_D.Bergkamp)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2010, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-posthumous-music-release/536799/4 "2010-04-21T01:51:03Z")
Mine is Elliott Smith’s [From a Basement on the Hill](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/From_a_Basement_on_the_Hill), which was released on October 19, 2004, almost a year to the day after Smith’s death from stab wounds to the chest (likely self-inflicted, though I don’t think that’s ever been officially determined). Here’s a YouTube link to the first track, [Coast to Coast](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAvqZsRhjwk). ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2010, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-posthumous-music-release/536799/5 "2010-04-21T02:13:28Z")
Frank Zappa: **Civilization Phaze III**. A work of incredible complexity and dark beauty, and in some ways the accomplishment Zappa’s entire career was leading up to. A crowning masterpiece completed by Zappa under the shadow of his own mortality and released one year after his passing. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2010, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-posthumous-music-release/536799/6 "2010-04-21T02:17:58Z")
Roy Orbison’s [Mystery Girl](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mystery_Girl). ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2010, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-posthumous-music-release/536799/7 "2010-04-21T02:19:28Z")
> [@Keeve](#): > > Yet they did figure out how to revive him long enough to produce Free As A Bird. And [Real Love](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_Love_(John_Lennon_song)), which I thought was a better song. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2010, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-posthumous-music-release/536799/8 "2010-04-21T03:05:26Z")
\*Pearl \* by Janis Joplin ---
**Author:** ![hellpaso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ecae2f/32.png) [@hellpaso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hellpaso)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2010, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-posthumous-music-release/536799/9 "2010-04-21T05:25:35Z")
_Dreaming of You_, _I Could Fall in Love_ by Selena.☚ ---
**Author:** ![Dahnlor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dahnlor/32/533_2.png) [@Dahnlor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dahnlor)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2010, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-posthumous-music-release/536799/10 "2010-04-21T06:10:29Z")
Voivod, “[Katorz](http://www.amazon.com/Katorz-Voivod/dp/B000G7PNY0/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1271828348&sr=1-5)” In 2005, guitarist Denis “Piggy” D’Amour passed away from cancer. His band had been experiencing a bit of a comeback and had just landed a multi-album deal. When he learned that he had terminal cancer, he knew he would not live long enough to be able to record another album. Within days of his death, Piggy told his life-long friend and drummer Michel “Away” Langevin that he had recorded several albums’ worth of guitar tracks using Pro Tools on his laptop. His last wish was to honor his band’s contract. Last year, Voivod released “[Infini](http://www.amazon.com/Infini-Voivod/dp/B0028ERC3O/ref=ntt_mus_ep_dpi_lnk)”, the second album to be made from those recordings, fulfilling the contract. ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2010, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-posthumous-music-release/536799/11 "2010-04-21T06:10:59Z")
Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 9 ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2010, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-posthumous-music-release/536799/12 "2010-04-21T06:25:14Z")
Sublime’s self-titled album. ---
**Author:** ![Rrose\_Selavy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bcef8e/32.png) [@Rrose\_Selavy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rrose_Selavy)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2010, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-posthumous-music-release/536799/13 "2010-04-21T08:53:46Z")
Joy Division’s Closer ## released two months after Ian Curits’ death. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2010, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-posthumous-music-release/536799/14 "2010-04-21T09:51:45Z")
_Main Offender_, by Keith Richards. Wait…What??..never mind. ---
**Author:** ![multimediac17](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/839c29/32.png) [@multimediac17](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/multimediac17)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2010, 10:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-posthumous-music-release/536799/15 "2010-04-21T10:20:26Z")
John Lennon (with Yoko Ono, not dead at time of release) - _Milk And Honey_ ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2010, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-posthumous-music-release/536799/16 "2010-04-21T10:31:28Z")
**An American Prayer** , released 7 years after Jim Morrison died. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2010, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-posthumous-music-release/536799/17 "2010-04-21T13:21:26Z")
_(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay_, by **Otis Redding** , the first posthumous number-one single in U.S. chart history. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2010, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-posthumous-music-release/536799/18 "2010-04-21T13:52:57Z")
> [@An\_Arky](#): > > _(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay_, by **Otis Redding** , the first posthumous number-one single in U.S. chart history. For the win, unfortunately. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2010, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-posthumous-music-release/536799/19 "2010-04-21T14:25:45Z")
I was going to say Warren Zevon’s “The Wind” but according to Wikipedia it was released about two weeks before he died, so never mind. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2010, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-posthumous-music-release/536799/20 "2010-04-21T14:30:03Z")
While it was never offically released, every musicals lover has a copy of Steve Barton’s recording of _Dance of the Vampire_. He was a star in the German production and should have gotten the English lead on Broadway. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-posthumous-music-release/536799.md?page=2)