Entertainment For Lively Minds
What Did I Ever See In You?
Have you ever listened to an album and loved it right away? Or possibly fallen after a few listens? Maybe it took slightly longer, say 4 or 5 plays to really get under your skin?
But then something strange happened - you play it again and wonder ~
‘What did I ever see in you?’
The thing sounds lame, flat, dull, boring, predictable or just meh.
Well, I’m having one of those moments with the new John Grant album ‘Queen of Denmark’ Having played it again after a break, I found myself lost as to why I ever thought it was so good, to the point where I don’t think I could bear to hear him crowbar another too-long-line-of lyric-into-a-musically-shorter-space again! [I'm not saying it's all bad and I'm sure I'll dip my toe into a few select tracks - 'Chicken Bones' is still f*cking superb - but the thought of playing the whole thing makes me shudder]
Gah!
This isn’t the first time this has happened so I’m sure you’ve had a similar experience.
The question then, is what are the albums that you have fallen out of love with?
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Ragged Glory
Neil Young really used to do it for me. Then I noticed, he really can't sing. This album was the clincher.
Oh sure...
but then months or years will lapse & then all of a sudden!!!
Glory to thine ears & soul...
Confusion?
Are you sure you weren't listening to 'The Holy Bible'?
The oeuvre of Messers Emerson, Lake and Palmer...
with the sole exception of Fanfare for the Common Man. That one's great because not even they could screw up a tune as wonderful as that.
However I still love them for being so utterly ridiculous even if I think their music is somwhat poor.
Dare I?
Dare by t'Uman League adored it till listen no.5, too instant, so that particular piece of musical chewing gum lost its flava on the bedpost (almost) overnight
All them Simple Minds
Lps from the 80s lost their lustre bout 5 days after I bought them
I'm having a really hard time
with the John Grant album. There's something about it that is irritating.
That's what makes Spotify so good. You don't have to buy it until you've tried it.
his fame round here
still baffles me, and I have tried people
It is, no doubt...
....that most dangerous of things, an "immediate" album. I can see why it could wear off pretty easily, but I have to say I am still loving it.
JOHN GRANT 'Queen of Denmark'
Wow, no way. John Grant's album is certainly not one i could ever fall out of love with. I think it is heartbreaking and smart too. It is one of my albums of the year without a doubt. I could listen to John sing all day. He has so much 'living' in his voice.
i feel that let down with the XX record. all the fuss about it, catapulted me into purchasing and i enjoyed it initially but then it just hit me that it is just a mish mash of the cure, cocteaus etc and pretty uninspiring. the piece they used on the election adverts BECAME iconic but then if you play any vaguely interesting piece of music 100 times a day as a bed for something serious, it takes on a new context. it doesnt make the album any good though.
good comment thread but nah not 'aving the john grant theory! ; )
Well,
for me the XX album went the other way to John Grant, each time I hear it I love it more - Humans, eh! What are we like?!
Genesis
My first love. I fell head over heels for Seconds Out. I can't really explain why - I loved it even before I heard it. And once I did hear it, I felt it was like nothing else I've ever heard - fantastic, mysterious and thrilling. Plus, as everyone else was into punk at the time, it was like being a member of a secret club.
That was the start of an intense passion for all things Genesis that lasted for the next 4 years or so. Literally every piece of music I heard was judged through the prism of Genesis - and, needless to say, found wanting.
Then, one day, it happened - they released Abacab and I stopped loving them.
Actually, the last one I bought was Three Sides live. I think I listened to it once. I bought it the same day as Richard Thompson's Hand of Kindness album, with which it did not bear comparison. And since then, the sound of Genesis - any Genesis at all - produces much the same effect on me as the Eastenders theme tune; an urge to leave the room.
What I previously saw as the very pinnacle of musical and intellectual achievement now strikes me as ridiculous, overblown and false. Worse, I feel the colour rising to my cheeks when I am reminded of my previous infatuation.
I know that this is, to some extent, an over-reaction and that there must be some pleasure to be had in revisiting that part of my musical life. However, the aversion has lasted 27 years and shows no signs of slackening yet.
Antony and the Johnsons
Possibly in the grip of an extended hangover, I thought the AatJ album was a heart-breaking, beautiful and life-affirming work.
Now I can't hear it without feeling physically sick.
I've had that
since it came out, but would struggle to name more than one song on it now. That said, the one I do remember, 'You Are My Sister', is beautiful.
This is true
but a whole album is like being force-fed little spoonfuls of honey, one by one.
Pink Floyd - The Wall
Used to love it, now I can't listen to it. Maybe because it reminds me of teen angst that I'd rather forget...
Beck - Odelay. Just annoys me these days.
I still think Them Crooked Vultures made one of the best albums of last year, but I find myself incapable to listen to it in one go. One track at a time is great, but the whole album from start to finish is too much. Wich is strange since I have no problem listening to all of QOTSA's albums back to back in one sitting! Maybe it's just a phase...
The Gorillaz Plastic Beach is another tricky one. Some great tracks on it ( and, to be fair; some awful ones as well ) but I can't see a time when listening to that album from A to Z would be a good idea.
I'm still on the fence when it comes to John Grant...I love his voice and some of those songs are amazing, but as a whole there's something about it that is - dare I say it ? - quite dull and depressing...
But I'm still listening to it, so it might turn yet ( in either direction ).