When My Bloody Valentine finally dropped m b v earlier this month, it came after years of frustrating delays and unfulfilled promises. Arriving 22 years after 1991's Loveless, it made even the 17-year wait for Guns N' Roses' Chinese Democracy seem almost modest in comparison.
Of course, this isn't the only endlessly delayed new LP that we've spent years waiting for. Here is our list of the music world's 10 greatest procrastinators, and the albums we wish they would hurry up and release.
Music's Top 10 Procrastinators:
10. Portishead - Title TBA
There was a decade-plus wait between 1997's Portishead and 2008's Third, and the wait for album No. 4 is shaping up to be similarly interminable. While the trip-hoppers have repeatedly promised that the disc is on the way, quotes indicate that the album may still only be in the planning stages. It may have only been five years since Portishead's latest album — much less than most artists on this list — but the persistent hints make the wait feel particularly painful.
9. The Jesus and Mary Chain - Title TBA
When Scottish fuzz icons the Jesus and Mary Chain reunited in 2007, they promised that their return was not intended as a nostalgia trip and that a new album would be on the way. They released a new song, "All Things Must Pass," in 2008, but since then have focused on compilations and reissues. The band have reportedly not been seeing eye-to-eye in regards to new material, and singer-guitarist Jim Reid told Drowned in Sound in 2011, "It might happen, it might not." Well, that's discouraging.
8. Missy Elliott - Block Party
Rumours have been swirling about Missy Elliott's new album since around 2007, and the rapper said back in 2008 that it would be called FANomenal. Thankfully, she later changed that cringe-worthy title to Block Party, but the album has yet to arrive. She released the Timbaland-featuring songs "Triple Threat" and "9th Inning" back in September, so perhaps the rest of the new songs won't be too far behind.
7. Doomstarks - Swift & Changeable
Ghostface Killah and DOOM have had their collaborative Doomstarks project brewing for years now, but they have yet to drop Swift & Changeable. They unveiled the track "Victory Laps" a couple of years ago, but Ghost later expressed frustration that the album wasn't finished. In 2011, he told Fast Forward Weekly, "I said, 'Yo, just send me more tracks. Get it to me so we can narrow it down. That don't mean whatever we got, we have to use. Yo, come on, let's just do it. I can't wait to do the DOOM album. Everybody looking for the DOOM album." Ghostface recently said that the joint album is still heading our way, but unfortunately, the wait continues.
6. Beck - Title TBA
It's not as if Beck hasn't been productive since the release of 2008's Modern Guilt — far from it. He's released hastily assembled cover albums, contributed songs to movies and videogames, recorded a 7-inch with Jack White, covered David Bowie with a massive orchestra, and even released a collection of songs on sheet music. Meanwhile, he's yet to drop an official new LP, although he apparently has a batch of studio tunes dating back several years. He has promised to finish and release the material soon.
5. Lauryn Hill - Title TBA
Music industry-hating former Fugee Lauryn Hill has reportedly been writing and recording steadily since 2002's MTV Unplugged No. 2.0. And while various cuts have emerged over the years, the troubled singer has yet to gather these songs on a proper album. Considering that she has allegedly spent millions of record company dollars on the sessions, we think that it's about time for us to hear what she's been working on.
4. Outkast - Title TBA
Reports suggested that 2009 would see the release of a new Outkast album, in addition to solo releases from both André 3000 and Big Boi. They subsequently said that "the album is fire," but have since denied that they have any plans for a new record, and Big Boi vowed to stop answering Outkast-related questions in interviews. Meanwhile, that supposed André 3000 disc is also up the air.
3. The Avalanches - Title TBA
A 2006 press release from sampling geniuses the Avalanches' record label, Modular Recordings, promised of the Australian band's sophomore album, "Word is it's not far off." Since then, we've seen a deluxe reissue of 2001's Since I Left You, a couple of mixtapes, a David Berman-featuring demo, and promises of collaborations with Danny Brown and Ariel Pink. Reports from 2011 suggested that the album was finished, but concrete information on any sort of due date has yet to arrive.
2. D'Angelo - James River
D'Angelo was poised to conquer the world of R&B following 2000's Voodoo, but the crooner's personal struggles, substance abuse problems and legal difficulties led to repeated delays of his new album, which has been given the working title of James River. A host of collaborators including Prince, Cee Lo Green and Mark Ronson have been attached to the album, and Questlove told Billboard in 2013 that it was 99 percent complete. We'll believe it when we see it.
1. Dr. Dre - Detox
Speaking with MTV about the long-delayed Detox, Dr. Dre said, "It's probably going to take me like a year to get it all the way together." That was in 2002. Since then, the rapper/producer has manned the boards behind genre-defining tracks, launched his Beats by Dre empire, and dropped a couple of singles. Detox, meanwhile, remains in limbo. Dre has promised that Detox will be his last album; at this rate, we'll be lucky if we ever get to hear it.
Of course, this isn't the only endlessly delayed new LP that we've spent years waiting for. Here is our list of the music world's 10 greatest procrastinators, and the albums we wish they would hurry up and release.
Music's Top 10 Procrastinators:
10. Portishead - Title TBA
There was a decade-plus wait between 1997's Portishead and 2008's Third, and the wait for album No. 4 is shaping up to be similarly interminable. While the trip-hoppers have repeatedly promised that the disc is on the way, quotes indicate that the album may still only be in the planning stages. It may have only been five years since Portishead's latest album — much less than most artists on this list — but the persistent hints make the wait feel particularly painful.
9. The Jesus and Mary Chain - Title TBA
When Scottish fuzz icons the Jesus and Mary Chain reunited in 2007, they promised that their return was not intended as a nostalgia trip and that a new album would be on the way. They released a new song, "All Things Must Pass," in 2008, but since then have focused on compilations and reissues. The band have reportedly not been seeing eye-to-eye in regards to new material, and singer-guitarist Jim Reid told Drowned in Sound in 2011, "It might happen, it might not." Well, that's discouraging.
8. Missy Elliott - Block Party
Rumours have been swirling about Missy Elliott's new album since around 2007, and the rapper said back in 2008 that it would be called FANomenal. Thankfully, she later changed that cringe-worthy title to Block Party, but the album has yet to arrive. She released the Timbaland-featuring songs "Triple Threat" and "9th Inning" back in September, so perhaps the rest of the new songs won't be too far behind.
7. Doomstarks - Swift & Changeable
Ghostface Killah and DOOM have had their collaborative Doomstarks project brewing for years now, but they have yet to drop Swift & Changeable. They unveiled the track "Victory Laps" a couple of years ago, but Ghost later expressed frustration that the album wasn't finished. In 2011, he told Fast Forward Weekly, "I said, 'Yo, just send me more tracks. Get it to me so we can narrow it down. That don't mean whatever we got, we have to use. Yo, come on, let's just do it. I can't wait to do the DOOM album. Everybody looking for the DOOM album." Ghostface recently said that the joint album is still heading our way, but unfortunately, the wait continues.
6. Beck - Title TBA
It's not as if Beck hasn't been productive since the release of 2008's Modern Guilt — far from it. He's released hastily assembled cover albums, contributed songs to movies and videogames, recorded a 7-inch with Jack White, covered David Bowie with a massive orchestra, and even released a collection of songs on sheet music. Meanwhile, he's yet to drop an official new LP, although he apparently has a batch of studio tunes dating back several years. He has promised to finish and release the material soon.
5. Lauryn Hill - Title TBA
Music industry-hating former Fugee Lauryn Hill has reportedly been writing and recording steadily since 2002's MTV Unplugged No. 2.0. And while various cuts have emerged over the years, the troubled singer has yet to gather these songs on a proper album. Considering that she has allegedly spent millions of record company dollars on the sessions, we think that it's about time for us to hear what she's been working on.
4. Outkast - Title TBA
Reports suggested that 2009 would see the release of a new Outkast album, in addition to solo releases from both André 3000 and Big Boi. They subsequently said that "the album is fire," but have since denied that they have any plans for a new record, and Big Boi vowed to stop answering Outkast-related questions in interviews. Meanwhile, that supposed André 3000 disc is also up the air.
3. The Avalanches - Title TBA
A 2006 press release from sampling geniuses the Avalanches' record label, Modular Recordings, promised of the Australian band's sophomore album, "Word is it's not far off." Since then, we've seen a deluxe reissue of 2001's Since I Left You, a couple of mixtapes, a David Berman-featuring demo, and promises of collaborations with Danny Brown and Ariel Pink. Reports from 2011 suggested that the album was finished, but concrete information on any sort of due date has yet to arrive.
2. D'Angelo - James River
D'Angelo was poised to conquer the world of R&B following 2000's Voodoo, but the crooner's personal struggles, substance abuse problems and legal difficulties led to repeated delays of his new album, which has been given the working title of James River. A host of collaborators including Prince, Cee Lo Green and Mark Ronson have been attached to the album, and Questlove told Billboard in 2013 that it was 99 percent complete. We'll believe it when we see it.
1. Dr. Dre - Detox
Speaking with MTV about the long-delayed Detox, Dr. Dre said, "It's probably going to take me like a year to get it all the way together." That was in 2002. Since then, the rapper/producer has manned the boards behind genre-defining tracks, launched his Beats by Dre empire, and dropped a couple of singles. Detox, meanwhile, remains in limbo. Dre has promised that Detox will be his last album; at this rate, we'll be lucky if we ever get to hear it.
