Over the Hill

Sometimes a band releases a late-career album that is magnificent.
A strong coda featuring all the wisdom, technique and workings of the world they observe.

Much has been spoken of the freshness of a band's first album and the potential for a second album to be mediocre. Usually the third album is where a band gets their identity and morphs into whatever they are going to be for a long time.
Examples: Keane, Band of Horses, Arcade Fire, Radiohead
If the Arcade Fire never did another thing after "The Suburbs" they could go out into the world knowing that they had achieved a fantastic string of success, going out on a high note.

Recently the band James has released a fantastic double EP called The Night Before/The Morning After. The Night Before is mostly electric. Lush instrumentation with keyboards and much production. The Morning After is generally acoustic, featuring lots of acoustic guitars and slower songs.
This pair of records would serve as a perfect finale for one of the best bands of the 80s/90s to slam the door on their career. Remember "Laid"? a good song, a good album but nowhere near their best. (produced by Brian Eno though- that's pretty cool)

And then there's the bands that keep releasing albums when they are far beyond their creative peak: New Order, The Cure, U2 (yeah, I'm looking at you, Bono.)

I hope that every band can go out on as strong a note as James- The final song on their album is called 'All My Letters'
Slam the door, walk on with your heads held high. But not before you play Salt Lake City on October 5.