Now he gets it!

[alan nagsworth]

I don't know if it's my refusal to accept hype or what, but sometimes I really do fail at realising greatness until it's much too late. There are so many 'classic' bands and artists who I've just point blank shunned in favour of more obscure stuff and it really makes me feel like a pretentious arse sometimes. For so many years I thought Kraftwerk were naff, favouring instead all the stuff that came as a result of their hard work. It was only about two years ago - long after digging into all the Warp and Planet Mu back catalogue - that I really acknowledged just how fucking amazing they are.

I don't even know why I act that way. Often I think I find myself perplexed by all the praise and my brain automatically tries to rebel against it. As I get a bit older, I'm becoming less like that and gradually accepting that some things are popular for a reason. As I said, the last two years have been very important in developing my tastes and appreciation.

Two recent examples would be Black Sabbath and Burial. I've never really given Sabbath any attention at all, despite being a fan of sludge and doom (speficially Eyehategod and Electric Wizard) from about age 17 onwards, and so with all this recent furore surrounding Bill Ward and the Sabbath reunion, I decided it was time to give them their dues. I can honestly say that I'm so underwhelmed by it! The music is obviously great but honestly, the lyrics are utter drivel and Ozzy's vocals leave a lot to be desired. I find it to be largely silly music. While I can totaly appreciate the impact it had, and I know for a fact that in about a year or so I will return to it and finally click with how awesome it is, right now it kind of just makes me laugh.

As for Burial, when it came about I loved Archangel but when I listened to the rest it was just more of the same and I found it really boring, completely ignoring the fact that it apes contemporary dance music in its repetition but completely branches out in a unique and beautiful style that in itself is hugely worthy of its merit. It's daft really because I'm still a massive fan of early dubstep before it completely lost all meaning in the space of about two years and has since become a dirge of shit, and the same applies to Night Slugs and future garage and all that... but I completely ignored Burial. It's only now that his Kindred EP is out and I decided to come back to it that I realise how fucking phenomenal his music is. Like, seriously. I'm sitting here listening to it now and getting chills up my spine. If I went up to any urban alternative afficionado in the street and told him I'd just discovered the greatness of Burial he would laugh in my face!

So, does anyone else feel the same? What music has it taken you way too long to appreciate the brilliance of?

[Too Many Cochranes]

I must've bought Kind of Blue by Miles Davis sometime in the late 90's because I was feeling pretentious and 'wanted to get into Jazz'. Hey, it worked with Lee Perry when I bought the Arkology compilation and loved it when it came out so why not with Miles Davis? I listened to it less than a handful of times, couldn't bear the squawkiness of it and chucked it in the cupboard with a lot of other unlistened to stuff.

Fast forward to 2011 and I download In a Silent Way and love it. Now when I listen to Kind of Blue I love it more and more with each listen.

You shouldn't throw great albums out, just chuck them in the back of your cupboard for 10/15 years.

[garbed_attic]

Definitely Davis and 'Kind of Blue' for me too - oddly, it was only after listening to and enjoying 'Bitches Brew' that I started enjoying Kind of Blue more and more every time I listened to it!

[Too Many Cochranes]

Further to my jazzing post up there: did anyone see the Sonny Rollins 80th Birthday concert that was on BBC 4 recently? I'd never heard of him before but fuck he was amazing! What's a good album to buy as an introduction?

[fat_abbott]

With me it was Tom Waits, and specifically Swordfishtrombones and Rain Dogs. First attempt all I could hear was noise, second and every subsequent attempt has revealed works of genius. All it took was a few years to mature, like a good cheese, made by that fella out of Blur, who just fucking loves cheese he does.

[phantom_power]

I brought Under The Bushes Under The Stars and Bee Thousand for a couple of dollars each in America ages ago and for a long time could barely get through a couple of tracks of either before putting something good on. At some point it just clicked and now Guided By Voices are one of my favourite bands and I can't work out how I ever didn't like them.

Similarly I had heard a few Decemberists songs and thought they were bland and that Colin Meloy sounded like Brian Molko. Again, they are now one of my favourite bands and I am left bemused by my own lack of taste

[Serge]

Further to my jazzing post up there: did anyone see the Sonny Rollins 80th Birthday concert that was on BBC 4 recently? I'd never heard of him before but fuck he was amazing! What's a good album to buy as an introduction?

I'd say you can't go far wrong with 'Saxophone Colossus', which is the first thing I heard by him. Admittedly, I never explored his work as fully as I did with Miles Davis or John Coltrane, but 'Colossus' is definitely an album worth having anyway.

[Retinend]

Further to my jazzing post up there: did anyone see the Sonny Rollins 80th Birthday concert that was on BBC 4 recently? I'd never heard of him before but fuck he was amazing! What's a good album to buy as an introduction?

Personally I think "Newk's Time" is a more satisfying collection of tunes than "Saxophone Colossus". The electric guitar on it is especially good.

[The Plunger]

I think this thread may be ideal for me. I bought Trout Mask Replica about ten years ago. I gave it 4 or 5 go's, then decided enough was enough - unlistenable nonsense. And since then, whenever I'm having a charity shop cull of my cds I always see that one and think 'well, maybe I'll give it another go in a few years, it can't be that bad, it's a classic album after all'.

But my over-riding feeling is that it is pretentious, tuneless bollocks.

Prove me wrong kids, prove me wrong.

[Icehaven]

Hated The Smiths for years, mostly because I'd only heard Heaven Knows...and thought it was depressing, and because people kept telling me I should love them, and partly because I didn't like Morrissey, but in my late teens I heard Hatful of Hollow and began to see the light, then halfway through Uni I caved and bought Louder Than Bombs, admitted the errors of my ways, and have since even happily and knowingly attended Smiths/Morrissey nights in a local pub. And I even quite like Moz now too, even though the rest of the world seems to have decided he's a twat. 

[SteveDave]

I think this thread may be ideal for me. I bought Trout Mask Replica about ten years ago. I gave it 4 or 5 go's, then decided enough was enough - unlistenable nonsense. And since then, whenever I'm having a charity shop cull of my cds I always see that one and think 'well, maybe I'll give it another go in a few years, it can't be that bad, it's a classic album after all'.

But my over-riding feeling is that it is pretentious, tuneless bollocks.

Prove me wrong kids, prove me wrong.

The feelings above are my feelings for that LP too. I've bought it three times now & each time I've given it a fair go but no. I am also not believing every bit of it was rehearsed from instructions from the Captain.

My "Now I Get It" moment came with the Arctic Monkeys. I dismissed them as NME hype & a shitter Libertines for ages til I heard "Leave Before The Lights Come On" & then I understood. Love them now but wish they'd stop hanging round that ginger fellow & getting all rawk.

Good Lord I sound twee.

[Absorb the anus burn]

Frank Zappa.

Heard Freak Out when I was seventeen and loved it... Then followed it with 5-6 albums that I actively hated (especially Burnt Weenie Sandwich / Weasels Ripped My Flesh / The Grand Wazoo) These albums had such a negative effect that I ignored Zappa for years and convinced myself that Freak Out was the beginning and end of my Frank fandom.

Cut to seventeen years later and there's at least half a dozen Zappa / Mothers albums I play on heavy rotation (Joe's Garage / Apostrophe / Hot Rats / In It For The Money / Can't Do That On Stage Vol. 2) Not only that but Wazzo and Weenie finally revealed their manifold charms.... But Weasels is still a horrible listen despite the classic LP sleeve status.

[Retinend]

Frank Zappa.

Yeah for a long time I didn't understand him at all. I still don't like the (comedic) rock songs that most people recommend as an entry point, but you later learn that these are only one subset of his songwriting/compositions. Also, I still think that there's no single album that is THE perfect album. It's more appropriate to see his albums as a whole, rather than expect 10 crafted tunes in neat 3 minute blasts. Superb albums like Waka/Jawaka, Burnt Weeny Sandwich, Weasels Ripped My Flesh don't easily break down into "good tracks" and "bad tracks"; it's more of a single listening experience (speaking generally, that is - of course every album has tracks I play in isolation).

[Too Many Cochranes]

Cheers Serge and Retinend, I'm gonna check out Saxophone Colossus and Newk's Time.

Also, I still think that there's no single album that is THE perfect album.

Interestingly, I was just thinking about this to myself a couple of hours ago (whilst slightly drunk, I must add) and I was thinking The Ideal Crash by dEUS or In a Silent Way.

[Replies From View]

I have to confess to never actually being wrong in life ever at all, which is quite unusual for a human being really.  I am quite proud of myself and so I should be!  However my Dad recently finally fucking realised what was good about Philip Glass, and as such we will be seeing Einstein on the Beach together this year in London.