Musical Revelations

[Tom Tortoise]

Sorry if there's been another thread similar to this, but I couldn't find one. Maybe I wasn't looking hard enough. In any case, I was wondering if people had ever come to a point where they 'got' or understood a piece of music or an album which they'd previously been familiar with? I was listening to the KLF's Chill Out late last night and despite loving the album and having played it many times, something seemed to click and I now appreciate it on a different level. By which I mean I understood how they made and constructed it, the reasons for the sounds and melodies they were using, the live element to the album, and so forth. There was also one sample I seem to have picked up on which was tape being rewound and voices in the background (Drummond and Cauty's, I presume) which filled me with happiness for some reason.

It's hard to explain what I mean exactly; I don't think I've done that well and I must admit to being under the influence of certain things last night, but I still think the idea of 'musical revelations' applies. So...anyone?

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

I had the same thing with Orbital's Insides which I regarded for years as a reasonably good standard techno album. Until last year when listening to it all the way through realised there wasn't a bad second of music on the entire album. It's all been perfectly crafted and thought through, to the finest detail. Unlike other Orbital albums where certain tracks are pronounced, this one flows and ebbs from one to the other- introducing the same themes but essentially being part of the same mass. Some of the beats and sounds are deliberately provocative which is why I might have written it off a little, as some of it comes across as a little too industrial and obvious at first glance- it's only when listened to as a whole you understand why the moments are there. It's at the height of their powers- the melodies are perfect, the signature female choral vocal treatment is done sparingly rather than splashed over everything, and it really shows what they are about. You need to catch the album at the right moment, until then it might strike you as average and unremarkable as a whole, but at the right moment it becomes one of the best albums you'll ever listen too.

I hope I find that moment with Chill Out, I haven't yet. It still seems to me to be a really mean album- very unrewarding. There are some great moments really, really great life-affirming moments but other moments too where I was on the edge of boredom, and moments which are unimpressive to say the least. I will persevere- after all, you don't become a fan of ambient music unless you are extremely patient. I know there are certain payoffs- the classic moment in Madrugada Eterna being the most obvious, but I'll try and pay more attention to the less obvious tracks. Sometimes I like to have the tracklistings to hand in a quite neurotic fashion. Maybe I should let it trail away and merge into one piece instead.

(Good thread, by the way and good luck with it.)