Slow Burners?
One of my favourite albums of all time is 'I want to see the bright lights tonight' by Richard and Linda Thompson. 'Down where the drunkards roll', 'The calvary cross' and the title track are all masters of the folk genre. I was a bit wary then when I began to listen to their later 'Shoot out the lights'. Apart from the opening track 'don't renege on our love', which is immediately engaging, the rest of the album left me cold. Five listens in I felt the same. Ten listens in I felt the same. Fifteen listens in I began to change though. Suddenly this album sounded richer, darker and more mature than 'I want to see the bright lights tonight'. I now listen to this album more.
Is there an album you can think of that you didn't like at first but was a slow burner for you?
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Your far more patient than I am
If I don't get an album within 2 or 3 listens that's it for me. It shouldn't be that much work surely?
Not 15 listens no but...
......I have been known to buy albums listen to them a few times and not be engaged by them whatsoever. Then put them on the shelf for two or three years.
Lo and behold, as if by magic, the next time I hear them I love them.
Sometimes I don't though and out the window they go...wheee frisbeee.....
Two of my all time favourites...
"Aqualung" by the Tull and "The last record album" by Little Feat - totally different to my current listening at the time - didn't get it, stuck with it and have loved 'em ever since. Actually the music which has stayed with me longest is the stuff I didn't initially "get".
Oh, and actually i didn't see what all the fuss was about with Richard Thompson at first. Mind you I loved the Bonzos instantly.
(Natural order of posts restored...)
A little patience pays off.
Ordinarily I wouldn't keep persevering but Richard and Linda Thompson are something special and I ignored 'calvary cross' in 'I want to see the bright lights', because it didn't grab me as much as the other tracks and actually by devoting more time to this song, I realise it has more depth than most of the other tracks on that album.
I think too, I was so enamoured with this album and hungry for more of their stuff I ensured that I gave 'shoot out the lights' the attention it deserved. Sometimes you have to work at an album for it to work for you. In this case, I had a hunch I would need to give the album time, and it paid off.
Apple Venus by XTC
The first time I heard it, I was rather bemused. Tried again, once or twice, just couldn't get my head around it. Left it alone for six months, then thought it couldn't hurt to give it another experimental spin and.... wow. Now easily in my top five of all time.