Rediscovering Albums: Does Some Music Gets Better Over Time?

[@Mikesmallfanclub]

Lone star debut and firing on all six not seen the light of day for years played them both recently excellent albums still sound as fresh as they did all those years ago.

[@nazaholicable]

In 1978, I bought Don't Look Back by Boston and recently started listening to it again. I now prefer it to the eponymous debut. And Don't Look Back is my most played album of 2024. It benefits from being short. 33 minutes. All killer. No filler. I cleaned the vinyl and the stylus yesterday and it sounded like a new record. Production wise, it's just right.

[@goncaloferreira2216]

Happens all the time!! Some examples: Never Say Die (Black Sabbath), Whoosh (Purple), Purpendicular (Purple), Genesis (Genesis), Everything You’ve Come to Expect (The Last Shadow Puppets), St. Anger (Metallica), The Ultimate Sin (Ozzy)

[@stanferraro4130]

It has happened to me many times, It is one of the great things about having a collection of music, you can always go back and appreciate what you may have missed in previous listens....

[@justinesorel6325]

I vaguely remember listening to Siamese Dream in the 90s, liking one song then thinking nothing more of it. Recently, I bought it on vinyl and was blown away by the quality of the pressing. Every song was perfection. I don't know how I failed to hear this the first time round.

[@Evan55914]

The album I just got used with original hype sticker was The Police's Synchronicity. Listening to it now gives me goosebumps. I love every track on it. Being much older I appreciate "Tea in the Sahara" and despite popular opinion I love the mental breakdown expressed in the song "Mother". It has become one of my favorite albums of all time.

[@darcyska]

I love to revisit music after years- it's always interesting to think how much we've changed and how the music makes an impact on us. One band, Less Than Jake, have been a band that have done this as well as continue to have a more matured lyrical style - I feel like I've grown up with the band and they've grown with me- it's always fascinating to reflect on changes, what the songs meant to you then, and what they mean now.

[@kenhudson379]

Inside Out by The Edgar Broughton Band. Loved it forgot it and loving it again.

[@AppleMan531]

I'm discovering Remember The Future by NEKTAR I saw them in concert on Sunday night at Mt Fathers Place in Long Island, New York. Great show!

[@polishplatini273]

Barclay James Harvest “Live”, Thin Lizzy “Live and Dangerous” ,Kansas “Two for a Show “,Genesis “Seconds Out “,Deep Purple “Come Taste the Band” ,Jethro Tull “Heavy Horses””

[@danielmcevoy976]

Yes... The Rolling Stones Steel Wheels. Now that I'm mid fifties I love it.

[@kenfrederick6223]

Deep Purple - "The Battle Rages On" and Blue Oyster Cult - "Heaven Forbid". 🎸

[@jonjackson5372]

@@kenfrederick6223 I love the “Heaven Forbid” album by BOC. It has become one of my favorites of theirs.🤘🏻

[@jimalaimo8467]

I recently rediscovered Cat Stevens "Tea for the Tillerman." It was a whole new listening experience for me. 😊

[@izitsomojo]

I think all avid music collectors experience this human phenomenon, and isn't it wonderful. I've enjoyed reading some of the comments here, such diversity. For me, recently, it was some older Steve Miller albums, " Brave New World"... a song called "Kow Kow", then "Going to Mexico". Also an album by Nick Heyward (ex H/cut 100 guy) called "North of a Miracle". Just briliant.

[@jegarajramoo3873]

Totally agreed. Try Tribute to Eddie by Heinz Burt. This 1964 album has been totally forgotten. But some people have rediscovered his music, thanks to You Tube. Excellent rock n roll. Heinz Burt was also a member of The Tornadoes who hit it big with Telstar. Mr Heinz also had a blonde peroxide bleached hairstyle, long before Sting or Billy Idol! Sadly he passed away in 2000. Very often he was backed by steve Marriot and Ritchie Blacmore.

[@SpaceWreck]

So many albums fit this description for me. Two prominent examples from my prog rock collection are Close to the Edge by Yes and Stormwatch by Jethro Tull. I first heard both when I borrowed them from friends in 1984. These were a far cry from 90125 and Broadsword and the Beast (loved both of those from the first listen), and I gave them back soonafter. Now CttE is one of my all-time favorites albums by anyone and SW is one of my favorite Tull albums.

[@rogertemple7193]

This was another great episode of looking back the best music in rock and roll and the greatest albums in music history thank you Phil.🎶🎤🎸🎸🎹🥁🎶

[@TractorCountdown]

'...And Then There Were Three...' Genesis, in some ways this is down to the remix/remaster. I bought the record when it first came out in '78, liked some of it, but not enough to play it much. Now I really enjoy the whole thing.

[@stephenyoung5079]

Happens to me all the time Phil. The latest incarnation of this phenomenon relates to Jon Anderson, I bought his amazing new album last week and was filing it away after constant playing over a few days when I came across Olias of Sunhillow. Haven't played it for years, liked it but didn,t love it. Haven't stopped playing it over the last few days, I,m loving it now.

[@NowSpinningMagazine]

I haven’t heard Olias for ages. I’ll add that to my list.

[@robertbaker5156]

Yeah, I wasn’t impressed when I first brought “Brave New World,” by Iron Maiden but I listened to it in the car and it grew on me!!! The same with “A matter of life and death.”

[@jamesbonar5927]

Well i bought 'Talk' by Yes when it was released back in 1994 which was 30 years ago, played it, didn't think much of it and filed it away never to be played again, that was until just a few months ago when it had its 30th birthday release. What was i thinking of at the time, it's a brilliant album.

[@krisbritwres394]

Had this with Jethro Tulls Roots to Branches album , went from a non starter to a top 5 of their albums for me

[@garrystrudwick9400]

Had Similar experience with Milliontown by Frost Always remember The First track was amazing but recently bought it again and Discovered the Whole album is excellent Phil

[@griphfunk]

Related to this idea I think would be stuff that you didn't love upon first hearing, but you grew to love over time. For me that would be Frank Zappa and the Velvet Underground

[@nazaholicable]

I was thinking the same as you. In 2009, I bought the last Stackridge album, Victory for common sense. I found it over long and the songs didn't stick in my mind, whereas now I adore more than half of it, and there are three tracks that have become 'must plays: Waiting for you, 'Red Squirrel,' and 'North St Grande.'

[@jonjackson5372]

As a matter of fact I just had that happen with Lizzy Borden’s Terror Rising EP!

[@terrydaktyllus1320]

As a "rocker child" of the 1970's, like your good self, I ignored a lot of the "pop" and disco music that was around then, to the point where I used to pour scorn on a lot of it. "The Blues Brothers" movie really opened my eyes to great blues and soul music from the 1960's and 1970's, which in turn led me to start listening to Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, Booker T And The MG's and a lot of other artists of those genres. If anything, modern hard rock and metal is either far too "angry" for my tastes (though I accept it's not aimed at my "old bloke" demographic anyway) or it's just a "re-vamp" of stuff that was done earlier and better in the 1970's anyway (even though I have learned to have the utmost respect for any musician that performs live at any point, whether or not I like what they are playing) - so the "new" music I am discovering for me is still the stuff from the 1970's. Case in point is that the missus and I used to have Planet Rock on as the "standard" station in the cars but recently she tuned the radio into Heart 1970's and that's where we are now - and I find myself enjoying and appreciating music by Hot Chocolate, Earth Wind And Fire, Average White Band and others far more than a lot of the modern rock bands being played on Planet Rock. I even heard Abba's "The Name Of The Game" on the radio the other day and after several decades of taking the mickey out of the wife for liking Abba, I thought "That's a damn well-written song as it happens!" So I am now tempted just to get the Abba box set of all their albums and start digging through that, especially deeper cuts.

[@NowSpinningMagazine]

Hi Terry, I feel your comment is very important in helping me decide the direction Now Spinning Magazine is going. I do enjoy the freedom here in covering a wide range of genres that other channels in this space perhaps do not. The downside of course is that reviewing Aretha Franklin, Deacon Blue, Sam Cooke, Black Sabbath, Cats In Space, Julian Cope etc is going to push away or confuse some potential subscribers who may just want prog or metal. However, my goal is to be like ‘Sounds’ where even back then you did not read everything but they covered everything. I am going to introduce Classical music into the mix soon where Sue will join me again. NB the ABBA box set is well worth it, something I would never have bought a few years ago! Thank you 🙏

[@terrydaktyllus1320]

@@NowSpinningMagazine Thanks, I appreciate your opening comment. Ultimately I treat every KZbinr channel with respect because the creator owns the channel and is entitled to put what they want in it and for whatever reason - whether it's because of their own passion, or they want to grow the channel, or both. I don't have to like everything that's in it and I can choose to watch some stuff and not other stuff. I am looking forward to classical stuff because I am very much a "newbie" in that genre and it is difficult to know where to start with it all anyway. I am very much a fan of Sea of Tranquility and Pete Pardo does a great job but there's a gap there that exists because of different tastes between US and European music fans that doesn't exist in a channel run by a fellow Brit. That is not a criticism of Pete in any way but of the two channels, this one feels slightly more like home! Keep up the great work you are doing, you are an inspiration.

[@terrydaktyllus1320]

@@NowSpinningMagazine PS. I just found out that new Nektar album is out tomorrow - "Mission To Mars"!!! Just heard a track on YT, sounds good! Such a shame they seem to be US only these days, I say them several times here in the UK between the 2004 reunion and Roye Albrighton's untimely passing.

[@stephenbarrow3352]

I find that Iron Maiden's, No Prayer for The Dying sounds better now than when it came out.

[@2010ditta]

The Moody Blues,...To Our Childrens Children....especially the track Watching and Waiting.

[@nilshenrikteigen9215]

Black Sabbath Never say Die. Bought it when it was brand new. Didn’t listen to it very much back then, but gradually it has grown on me. Today it is in my top 5 of Black Sabbath.

[@justinesorel6325]

I put off buying Never Say Die because it was supposed to be a dud. Then I picked up a poor quality CD version of it and listened to it regularly for two weeks, while driving home in rush hour traffic.. I grew to love it, too : )

[@daanthing6002]

Often it's about expectation. You're really looking forward to an album and wishing it to blow you away. With bands like Maiden, Mastodon and Megadeth i was a really big fan of the first run of albums. But somewhere along the line the albums weren't as good or the musical direction changed somewhat. Never played 'm much. And then all of a sudden they bring out an album that just clicks again ( Books of souls, Hushed & Grim, Dystopia) and it makes you re-evaluate the previous albums and see them for what they are and not what you wanted them to be. Nowadays a play late Maiden and Megadeth all the time. And of course you musical taste can change. During the 90's i never got into the slower dessert-rock or stoner stuff. I liked Type O and Sabbath and that was it. I liked my bands uptempo. Now i love me some stoner doom psych. It took me years before liking Sleep's Dopesmoker. Or on the other side of the spectrum Ayreon's Electric Castle. Cover was awesome but never liked the music. Tried it many times since it came out and it only just clicked with me a couple of years ago. I love to look through my collection and grab those "ok" records and give them a spin with fresh ears.

[@JohnSmith-x8s5g]

Yes.

[@calummcgregor3662]

Yup ... back in the day, when Boots the Chemist sold LPs !!, I bought the 2LP You Are What You Is album by Frank Zappa (liked the single but did not get into the album at the time) ... years later I made a cassette of the LP to play in the car (pre CD era) ... then came the "aha" moment with Mr Zappa ... "this is awesome ... how did I miss this?" ... and thus began my relationship with the full Zappa catalogue ... it's full of amazing material (and a few, for me, duds) ... but the vast majority of his catalogue is wonderful ..... similarly with Van Morrison ... when younger, his catalogue did not resonate ... but, as you get a wee bit older, one day it just "clicks" ... superb catalogue that acts as a soothing balm ("music is the doctor and the healer") in a chaotic world ... and, when he's in the groove, a mesmeric performer ... his Music Hall gig in Aberdeen about 8 years ago, or thereby, was easily "gig of the year" ... great performer, great band ... sure, he lost a few followers during the pandemic ... but he's now back on track again doing his thing .... have his full cataligue on CD ... and his music, like that of Zappa, is always on regular rotation ... essential listening for me .. CMcG, Aberdeen, Scotland

[@jogischulz2576]

Hallo Phil, there are a few records, but one album that immediately came to mind was Talking Heads - More Songs About Buildings And Food, I bought it around 1980 and other albums by Talking H. , many years later I remembered to this band and this album surprised me, my favorite track is “Take me to the river” ! You know my Rock music background, but in the late 70s I was also interested in New Wave, Punk and Pub Rock and I'm glad discovered these genres, today I still enjoy listening to them, but I always go back to the golden 60s and 70s😊 great theme Phil, next could be, "albums that you play again and again over the decades", kind regards from Jogi.

[@backrowbrighton]

This is one of the great pleasures of having a large music collection. The other day I reacquainted myself with 'The Tain' by the great Irish band Horslips. It had possibly been twenty years since I last gave it a listen. Forgot how good it was.

[@LauraKnotek]

Yes, that's happened to me. I was almost ready to sell Three of a Perfect Pair by King Crimson, since I wasn't fond of Adrian Belew following Greg Lake and John Wetton. However, upon listening to it after having it on the shelf for five years, I've found a new appreciation for it.

[@billyfletcher9449]

Just did this yesterday with PInk Floyd Endless River.

[@andrewlongshaw2128]

So true! Happens frequently. Or, is that early onset forgetfulness???😂

[@griphfunk]

Jeff Beck Blow By Blow. I liked it when I heard it the first time about 15 years ago. About fours years ago I went back and it has remained in regular rotation ever since. King Crimson's Red is another example for me, along with Inner Mounting Flame from the Mahavishnu Orchestra

[@Arutha_Con_Doin]

Actually there are a lot of albums in my collection that go by unnoticed, only to be rediscovered a couple of years later. The last one that really hit me by surprise, as i was incidentally playing it at a party, was the title track from "Feel the Fire" by Overkill. I somehow put in the wrong cd, i think i wanted to play something from Queensryche. As the song started i wanted to quickly change it, but as i saw people going crazy over that song i let it run and was shocked how much i loved what i heard. I mean, i knew the album from back in the day, but almost completely forgot about it. Back home i immediately put on the album and listened to the whole thing twice. And mind you it was 4 am by the time. So for the last couple of days i was playing Feel the Fire non stop. Love when that happens.

[@dansmith3085]

I have piles of music that I've never listened closely to, just from buying up collections. I'm making a concerted effort to work through all of it eventually. It's a nice problem to have.

[@franciskocher200]

Saxon: innocence is no excuse Rainbow: bent out of shape Whitesnake: Slide it in (american version)

[@NowSpinningMagazine]

I think that Saxon album is very underrated

[@risingstar7161]

Thunderbox Humble Pie. Didn't like it when it first came out. Suppose because it followed Smokin' and didn't really come up to the same standard. Whenever I listen to it now I enjoy it. Conversely, Mad Dog John Entwistle couldn't stop playing it back in '76 then filed it away. Listened to it again in mid to late 80s and disliked it so much that I took it down the 2nd hand record store and sold it! Strange.

[@NowSpinningMagazine]

Great choices - I’m going to play those tomorrow- Phil

[@ianemery4355]

Hi Phil well I came across Grace Slick Welcome to the wrecking ball! I got it ages ago played a few tracks and put it away! Looking for something else found it thought I don't remember any tracks put it on and wow she kicks arse!! It's great! 😂

[@NowSpinningMagazine]

I’ll have to hear that I’m not familiar with it. Thank you

[@ianemery4355]

@@NowSpinningMagazine Well I bought it with Joe Walsh There goes the neighbourhood! Both albums I've strangley filed away! You've guessed it the Joe Walsh album on the playing for today! Great work Phil

[@AppleMan531]

My Fathers Place

[@anthonymcnamee6297]

I think so because so much is rubbish. Nowadays some of the bush albums