First hits in the early 70s, lost way in the early 80s, then in 93 released "I'm alive" which is a fantastic album, with no little irony in the title...back to gold.

One Kind Favour, released last year. Produced by T Bone Burnett. I might argue with the overdubbing of a second rhythm section but really it is a blistering set. Wasn't his fantastic Louis Jordan tribute Let The Good Times Roll in the noughties as well?

This lot have been going at least as long as, possibly longer, than the Boss. Everything Must Go 2003 I think. Great album.

Can you really count Smile as a noughties album?

Harps and Angels is pretty much his best record.

Red Dirt Girl. Where on earth did that suddenly come from? Self composed album for the first time.

for the Rain album.

The Plant/Kraus record was amazing and allowed him to redefine his career and feel confident enough to not have to cash in his chips on a Zep reunion tour.

Sorry, I will stop posting these in a minute.

Van Lear Rose

Can I have an assist there Mavis?

Loudon Wainwright III - High Wide and Handsome
Randy Newman - Harps and Angels
Ry Cooder - I, Flathead
Tom Waits - Orphans
Steve Earle - Jerusalem
John Hiatt - Same Old Man
Bob Dylan - Together Through Life

Levon Helm - Dirt Farmer and Electric Dirt

At My Age - a gem

We'll Never Turn Back

Boz Scaggs - Dig is the most recent I have (2001) but it's good. He has released other stuff since but I don't know what its like.

how about these...

SPARKS - Balls, L'il Beethoven, Hello Young Lovers, Exotic Creatures of The Deep. All excellent, original and sounding very much of the time (if not ahead). Must be the best "old" band producing "new" around.

JOHNNY CASH - American Recordings

IGGY POP solo and with the Stooges - Skull Ring, Weirdness etc

THE WHO - Endles Wire

RAY DAVIES - Other People's Lives

PATTI SMITH - Gung Ho, Trampin'

NEW YORK DOLLS - One Day It Will Please Us, Cause I Sez So

RADIO BIRDMAN - Zeno Beach

had two - Heathen and Reality

Also, the obligatory Dylan - Modern Times

Johnny Cash - American III and IV

Bryan Ferry - Frantic

His Hands

Never made a bad one, but the '00s have given us "Open", "One Soul Now", "Early 21st Century Blues" and "At The End Of Paths Taken", which well might be the best of their career.

No one's mentioned the Rolling Stones yet... ;-)

Al Green - Lay It Down. His best album in thirty five years if you believe some critics.

Sweet Warrior - Forty years behind the Strat and proud of it, sir.*

* I know, but I'm doing it in Eric Idle's voice.

He released Sweet Tea in 2001, in my opinion the only solo record up to that point that justified his reputation. Genuinely amazing. Parts of it sound like a lost Hendrix record. Releases since then have been patchy though.

probably 'getting on' rather than 'old', but a good 30+ years under their belts:

Chris Difford - Last Temptation of Chris
Robert Forster - The Evangelist.

2 of the best albums of last year.

Lay It Down was the best thing he's done for 35 years.

"Chaos and Creation" - Paul McCartney

"One Day It Will Please Us" and "Cause I Sez So" - New York Dolls - both better than their seventies albums

"Endless Wire" - The Who

I'd love to add a Stones album but I can't

"Magic" is far superior to the "Seegar Sessions"

Another vote for "Lay It Down", it is Al's best album in a long time

Another nod for Raising Sand" but don't leave out Percy's "Mighty Rearranger" which is a very fine thing indeed.

but Morrissey's three noughties albums have all been excellent.

Motörizer - a real RTF

James Ray - with his final (he's sadly retired due to failing health) incarnation of 25men and their splendid album The Dancing Wu Li Masters

Cake or death - 2006.

Absolutely bonkers... but great.

gb

Alice and Blood Money

apart from my beloved "Rain Dogs", these are my favourite two of his. So many good songs. So many. And released on the same day.

"Lullaby" is just beautiful.

The last two Elvis albums have been excellent and the previous two (one with Alan Toussaint) are not too shabby either.
Nobody has mentioned Madness yet either.
As well as the country stuff that others have already mentioned, this years Willie Nelson/Asleep at the Wheel collaboration is fine too.

I still think Lil Beethoven by Sparks is an outstanding record and easily the best if their career. Hello Young Lovers us mighty, mighty fine too. I never got into Exotic Creatures... And I never enjoyed Balls, but that came out in '99 anyway, pre LB.

The Who's Endless Wire is looney but enjoyable.

Nick Lowe, obviously.

Really liked Ray Davies' Working Man's Café.

Some people rate the Neil Diamond/Rick Rubin records but I never loved them.

Fair and Square may not be John Prine's finest work, but it's a record many a younger whippersnapper would be proud to match for overall quality.
John Hiatt started his career about 5 years after Mr Prine, but he's produced three fine albums since the turn of the century of which I think Master Of Disaster is the best.

but I'd nominate Peter Christopherson (career going back since the mid-70s, with Throbbing Gristle, Psychic TV then Coil).

His "Form Grows Rampant" album (under the name of Threshold Houseboys Choir) seems more beautiful and luxuriant every time I listen to it. Don't worry if TG, Coil etc aren't your bag - this is absolutely nothing like them, and possibly all the better for it!

Not certain if she's ancient enough, but it's nice to mention her in any case.

aged 52. Dig Lazarus Dig!!!! among others.

A corker from the big man, and all we have until "willing to work" gets out...

by The Waterboys.

I didn't really rate the other albums by the re-born noughties Waterboys but this was great, and deserved all the rave reviews it got.

And Mike Scott is now in his 50s, so should just about qualify for this thread!

Martin Simpson - Prodigal Son (2007)
Vashti Bunyan - Lookaftering (2005)
Ali Farka Toure - Savane (2006)
Orchestra Baobab - Specialist in all Styles (2002), Made in Dakar (2007)
Neil Diamond - 12 Songs (2005)
Dr John - Sippiana Hericane (2005)
Jerry Lee Lewis - Last Man Standing (2006)
Paul Weller - 22 Dreams (2008)
Terry Hall (with Mushtaq) - The Hour of Two Lights (2003)

Dave Gilmour's "On An Island" was a pretty good album and Mark Knophler has released some really quite decent albums in the noughties. Both in their sixties now as is of course Bob Dylan, but I guess his recent albums have been mentioned.

Morph The Cat was a cracker, and I think it was even better than the 2 recent Steely Dan albums

Fashionably Late (2002).

17 years of silence broken by a very lovely record.

album with the Guilty Women of this year is really excellent and the JJ Cale release this year is among his best.
Also the last Dr John cd is very good indeed - cant remember the title as my cds are all over the place and are in desperate need of some filing but it is the New Orleans one with the lower 911.

Costello - Secret, Profane and Sugarcane, Momofuku, The River in Reverse, The Delivery Man, North and When I Was Cruel are all cracking albums.

Lucinda Williams - Essence, West and World Without Tears

Nick Lowe - The Convincer and At My Age

John Prine - Fair & Square

Bob Dylan - Together Through Life, Modern Life, Love & Theft

I know I'm the only one that thinks this - but I reckon Shine by Joni Mitchell is a fine work. Particularly, the title track.

The thing is that - overall - it's got the sort of sound only she makes and that sound is better than the sound that almost anyone else makes. Ever.

if it is a 'great' album but it certainly posesses greatness. In Space by Big Star.

Rick Rubin album wasn't bad at all (and the version of Delirious Love with Brian Wilson was a corker)

Mulatu Astatke
Born 1943 and in 2009 brings out 'Inspiration Information Vol 3' one of the best albums of 2009.

Terry Callier
First album released in 1965,wonderful releases on Cadet in 70's,still touring and just released 'Hidden Conversations'.

Robert Wyatt
Word cover star brings out 'Comicopera' and gets one of the albums of the year acclaim in 2007.

... I really do rate Yoko Ono's new album. It just works!

Particular the very touching, "Won't Give In".

'Spirit Of The Century'
featuring Word/Wire favourite "Down In The Hole" and released in 2001. Not sure how many of the original group sang on this one but it came out 50+ years after they first went into the recording studio.

The Man Comes Around.

Matthew Sweet's Living Things is a snorter and he's been knocking around for a bit.

have released seven 'proper' albums in the noughties, six of which are superb.

I think The Old Kit Bag was in the Noughties wasn't it? Terrific collection of songs.

I agree about Patti Smith's Trampin'.

Then there's Stackridge - I've never even heard any of their earlier stuff, but A Victory For Common Sense is very good.

and then he was gone - like The Wind

Jack Bruce - Shadows in the Air - excellent

on the ones I agree with ie Randy, Levon, Donald Fagen.

Also the Beatles released - oh never mind

Kevin Ayers and 'The Unfairground'. It's a wonderful record. Great songs, slightly world weary but uplifting none the less. A genuine suprise and pleasure all these years of silence.

but I thought Cat Stevens's album Roadsinger (sorry..I mean Yusuf) was an excellent listen and could easily have slotted into his classic early 70s output.

Thanks a bunch guys, they are not much older than me!

Pipe and slippers beckon...

Mary Weiss was the lead singer of the Shangri-Las : after a 30 year hiatus, she released this storming album with support from The Reigning Sound :

http://www.amazon.com/Dangerous-Game-Mary-Weiss/dp/B000N3SSQC

A great garage rock album. I don't know if she's really old enough for what you're after here but I'm sure she's got a few years on several of the others who have been nominated.

Global A Go Go from 2001. Joe was only 49 when it came out, so not really 'old' but one of my favourite albums by the dear old fella.

Johnny Appleseed is one of my favourite Strummer tunes from any period. Lovely. I spent the New Years Eve after his death dancing to this album with several other fans of the man raising several glasses. Whenever I hear this song I'm taken straight back to that winter.

'Memory Almost Full' is his best since 'Ram'.

Agree with previous posters regarding the continuing wonders of the New York Dolls,Moz and Nick Lowe.

Oh, and Stackridge dammit.

John Fogerty - Revival (2007) and his new one The Blue Ridge Rangers Ride Again is getting good reviews too.

I know I live in a very different place musically to most of the Massive.

Anyway, I think Sonic Boom is a remarkable effort given the original band members are now in their 60's, started releasing albums back in the mid 70's, and have a back catalouge of studio stuff which is noteable only for its averageness.

Also - UFO's "Monkey Puzzle" released back in 2006 - their first album came out c.1970

All The Road Running

(and friends)

Black Swan from a couple of years back was fabulous

Their recent Pour l'amour Des Chiens was fab and used new associate Bonzos Stephen Fry and Ade Edmundson particularly well. I was a bit hesitant about the idea when I first heard about it but it won me over.

And another nod of approval for the mentions of Sparks.

Siouxsie - 'Mantaray'
Christy Moore - 'Burning Times'

I think the album Steve Cropper recently made with Felix Cavaliere had great bits...

And does anyone else in the world like Elton John's 'Songs from the West Coast'...?

The Canadian one that is, known to their taxman as Mr Cockburn.
He began his recording career in 1970, a couple of years before Bruce S, and has produced two albums in this decade, You've Never Seen Everything and (the not as good) Life Short Call Now as well as a splendid, career retrospective live album earlier this year, Slice O' Life.

While most other artists have gone from 60's cutting edge to - let's be polite - mainstream, Scott's taken the opposite journey: 60's pop to the sophisticated solo albums to the ground-breaking work of today. "The Drift" remains an astonishing piece of work.

Only discovered the real brilliance of Mr. Toussaint in last 2 years.
- River in Reverse with the other Elvis and his brilliant solo album:
"The Bright Mississippi".

Slightly outside of scope but must mention the live comeback of Laughing Lenny.

By the Dan must be there, didn't get the Grammy'TM' like TAN, but superior to me. Red rag time, do people on this board take Madness seriously? Chancers surely.

Apple Venus and Wasp Star are their best ever for my money.

Meet Glen Campbell. Apart from the Travis song, which he does well it's a very good covers album.

RL Burnside - Burnside on Burnside
Wanda Jackson - Heart Trouble
Kraftwerk - Tour de France
Tony Allen - Secret Agent
Lee Scratch Perry - Jamaican ET
Leonard Cohen - Dear Heather

I was recalling this thread last night at the Word Awards. But my memory was that it was a request for nominations for artists, not in the mainstream, who have been around for a long, long time, but are still producing the goods, because Word was going to select some for an article.
I managed to confuse Fraser among others. Sorry about that.