Albums you still have to grow into
 

Peoples!

I'm sure we've all had these moments.
You go to a record store, have a quick listen at a record, like it, buy it, play it at home and then you think... "Yes, it's allright. But why exactly did I buy this? It doesn't seem like a thing I'll ever be playing again".

I've got a bunch of these records. I play them every now and then.
I don't mind listening to them, but I probably wouldn't buy them either, if I heard them for the first time.

In some cases, I'll just need to grow into these records, in some cases I'll never get why I ever bought them.

Who shares these experiences and with what record?

I'm playing one right now:

http://a2.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot...25703127_n.jpg
It's a good record. I hear influences from The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Smashing Pumpkins... But still, it doesn't really get to me.

i've had Gong's Camembert Electrique and people telling me how good it is

it's still "growing" on me, I guess

it's not that I'm averse to this kinda stuff, i dig Arzachel and most Fred Frith stuff just fine, heck i even love the Residents

I feel like if you have to grow into something it really isn't for you. I remember I used to force myself to listen to the bands my friends like over and over again and getting nothing out of them but eventually I would enjoy them a bit more because they were familiar to me. Anything you have to force yourself to listen to is not worth your time. Music should be enjoyable.

I do find myself abandoning something and then really enjoying it after a while. I went through a phase where all I ever felt like listening to was noise rock and hardcore punk and played the same albums again and again and again. Nothing wrong with that and those are my favorite genres to this day. They have been for years. I remember in the middle of this phase though, I downloaded a few different things and hated them then put on Songs About ****ing again.

Revisiting these albums confused me. I had no idea why I used to hate Weezer, Neutral Milk Hotel, and Pavement but I did and now I really enjoy listening to them.

I've been getting into Mother Love Bone's self-titled compilation record, which is all you need, really. Some songs really speak to me, and I'm loving them.

it's more to do with the idea that everybody else is getting it, but not me

Nostalgia thing, the classic

I think this pretty much sums up my experience as well, albeit with different artists/albums, of course.

I missed that. Really good post, Tumor.

I agree with this in part. I usually apply a 2-week rule of car listening on any new album meaning that I give it at least 2-weeks of rotation while driving, and if nothing sticks after 2-weeks, I figure it's never really going to.

I had to remind myself of this recently with the new Crimson ProjeKct,which I kept hoping something would come out of-- but it just never did, so to your point: why force yourself to listen to something that you just don't like.

While this may be the case at times, it might not be at others. I know of a handful of bands that I listened to and did not like at first, I even hated some. However, some of them are on my favorite band list. Some did remain on the most hated list though. All in all, I keep surprising myself every day with my musical tastes.

I totally agree with this. I see nothing wrong with putting in some effort to appreciate something, especially if its a style you're not used to listening to. Stepping outside your comfort zone, in music as well as a lot of other things in life, is how you grow as a person.

LOL. I used to do that all the time when I shopped at this store in the city. The guy there would get me all excited about a record by playing me the best track off it and I'd get home to severe buyer's remorse. Bathory was a good example. He played me a track in the store and it blew me away. When I got home and played the whole album it was a decidedly less rapturous experience. It was alright but never really got the mileage that it initially promised. Krisma was another band he put me onto that left me puzzled once I got home.

http://krisma.mayancaper.net/images3/cover_chinese.gif

^^i'd never let any shopkeeper recommend me anything

i buy on my own impulse and choice

I'm a little like that. People force albums upon me. However, sometimes it can be a good thing and a bad thing. Most of my favourite artists have been forced upon me. When I now try to search music for myself, I don't find the music material as enjoyable as the music that has been forced upon me.

It's not because I feel as though I have to enjoy it I think it's just a coincidence that the music that has been recommended to me 'I Feel' is better than the music I have come across myself.

Works both ways, it can be a good and a bad thing. :)

Oh I do, all the time. And most of the time he's right.
But I always listen by myself, I go to the entire album :0

What you listen to an entire album in the shop???

There's so much music out there it doesn't make much sense to me to waste time on albums I may or may not come to like. If I feel inclined to give an album another shot, or if someone convinces me to try again I will, but in the meantime, I'll continue to plow through them, and spend time with those albums I take an immediate liking to. Maybe I'm missing out on a couple of things, maybe I'm not. There are only so many hours in a day, and I don't really see why it matters if I'm still listening to music I like at the end of it.

I listen to every track. Not to entire tracks, unless it's really good :D.
I should probably add that I am at that shop from 1pm or something to an hour after closing time :D.

Music has a strange tendency to run in cycles with me. For instance, I've had entire months where the only thing I can bring myself to listen to is hip hop only to be followed by a more extended period where I have no interest in hip hop whatsoever. It's always most interesting when I find myself pursuing styles that I've had no real interest in prior. I've learned to honor this trait and not look at it as me being fickle, especially since the tangents often lead me to some interesting music that I wouldn't otherwise discover.

I guess what I'm getting at is sometimes I run into something that I know is good, but I know it's not where I'm at. It's not uncommon for me to run into it at a later point and wonder why it took me so long to catch on. It's usually after everyone else has had enough of it and moved on, but one thing I don't do is try to force something on myself that I don't immediately like. Like Pedestrian said, there's just too much great music out there to do that.

Couldnt agree more satchy!

I'm exactly the same way. I feel like there are artists that I don't really listen to, even though they are definitely something I like, but I was simply introduced to them during the wrong cycle.

I agree with the first part of this but you lose me in the second to last sentence. I've found over the years that, a lot of the time, albums that I immediately love on first listen don't end up having much staying power for me, while growers are often the albums I listen to for years to come. If I just dismissed anything that didn't blow my mind on first listen I'd actually be missing out on a lot of my favorite music.

I generally base my opinion on first listen. If I dislike the album, it will very rarely get a second listen unless I see that most people rate it highly. If I slightly enjoy it, and the music itself is "strange" by conventional reasoning, I will give it another listen.

For example...

I listened to a Shabazz Palaces album and didn't really get into it that much on first listen, but when I went back to the album, it grew on me massively. Now I listen to their work regularly.

On the other hand, I don't like the new Metallica album but I won't go back because there is nothing unconventional about it.

Most of My Morning Jacket's albums are tough for me. I love them, they're one of my fave bands, but I can't listen to any of their albums all the way through. That's mainly because they go off on so many tangents that it takes a while to get acclimatised to certain styles, or you have to hear a song live to "get" it.

I still have yet to see why The Velvet Underground's S/T is claimed as such a good album, Pale Blue Eyes is an amazing song, but I can't get into the rest of the album.

To be honest I even prefer it to & Nico :)

the live 1969 is my fave, actually

:afro:

What usually annoys me about this sort of phenomenon is that I sometimes have every reason to believe I'll enjoy a certain album, and then I'll only enjoy a few songs off it, and never bloody get into the whole album.
Belle And Sebastian are the epitome of this to me. They sound like something I'd usually listen to and enjoy quite a lot, but I can only really enjoy the first song out of every album I own. And I really do love those songs.
It's ridiculous. I feel like I'm keeping myself from enjoying something for no reason.

I know the feeling when it comes to Belle & Sebastian.
Had the same problem, then I grew into the Life Pursuit, then I grew into Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk like a peasant. I really love the latter. Still working on the rest of their repertoire.

I only have If You're Feeling Sinister, Tigermilk and The Boy With The Arab Strap, and I only really like the first tracks of each album: The Stars of Track and Field, The State That I Am In and It Could Have Been a Brilliant Career, respectively.

You may want to try Fold Your Hands Child, you walk like a Peasant.
Who knows :)

Well, I'll just take that recommendation then!

Worked for me :D

I do sometimes find that I purchase an album because I thought it was great upon first listen, and later I find myself wondering what it was I saw in it.

Ie: Asobi Seksu's Citrus right now.

Also, if I don't listen to an album as soon as I purchase it, it just sits around and collects dust, as I lose the inclination to listen to it.

Asobi Seksu are very odd that way...I got Citrus and I listened to about 3 songs off it quite a lot for a while, but I eventually couldn't really get into the rest of it.
Hush is even worse for me, it went completely over my head.

I think what it comes down to is I find her voice irritating in long doses.

All I need to get me interested is something small like a hook, or if it makes me wonder if I like it or not. I need just a little something to get me interested on first listen no matter how small it may be. Just so that I have something to return to at a later date.

If I listen to something first and just feel total disinterest then I don't bother with it.
I tend to find myself revisiting more albums I hated on first listen a lot more often than albums I found dull on first listen.

I'm exactly the same way.

To be honest I'd rather listen to an album that's spectacularly bad than something boring.

That's probably why I own a Pretty Boy Floyd album and nothing by Coldplay.

I like the idea of "hooks" for grabbing your attention. A good song/album will often able to click with you immediately.
I liked the idea so much I made a thread on it...

And I can't think of a single Coldplay record that does that, to be honest. And I own their entire discography (how I hate them).