Rediscovering albums you didn't care about in the past (or initially)

I'm talking about albums that when you first heard them you were left cold. Albums that maybe others raved about as being classic that simply didn't do anything for you.

There are both bands and albums in my collection that I didn't care about initially. Stuff that was either a blind purchase or stuff that I bought because I was recommended the band.

Although I've had this experience many times with various bands, my most recent experience was rediscovering Megadeth's Endgame. I must admit I bought it at the time because it was the new Megadeth album. I didn't even care to listen to it - I bought it because I am a fan of Megadeth and on that faith that I would most likely enjoy it.

Well I played it a couple of times last year and it made no impact on me whatsoever. I didn't listen to it for nearly a whole year until yesterday when I put it on again. Suddenly the songs sounded a whole lot better than I remembered them , in fact I could hardly even remember what most of the songs sounded like (outside of maybe Headcrusher).

I too was happy to rediscover endgame lately.

Maybe i was always too attached to rust in peace, that i found it hard to enjoy any other megadeth album.

I was not particularly impressed when I first heard Narnia's Long Live the King as I was in a death metal phase at the time, but as my interest in power metal grew I found that I enjoyed it a lot more. Now they are one of my favorite bands along with most of the side projects that former members have done or guested on.

the first time i heard Celtic Frost's Cold Lake, i was immediately turned off. both by the change in image & by the lighter tone of the music. years later i was able to rip it to mp3 & have the player on random. a song would pop up & it would sound pretty good. later on, i was able to sit through the whole thing in one sitting & actually enjoy it (i think it really helped not to have that damn imagery in front of me too).

still to this day, i cannot play it along side the rest of their discography as it reminds me of their stumble. however, on it's own, it's a good solid rock album.

It would be any Overkill album for me. I was never really into these guys, but over the past year it finally started to "click" with me. IRONBOUND was a great release this year!

The only ablum that comes to mind is Wayne's Metal Church, love it now but realy disliked it at the begining

Anything with Jorn for a long time didn't resonate other then Allen/Lande for a long time. Then listening to Spirit Black I realized how much I was enjoying it and that opened up some of his other stuff.

Thanks to Spec, I started listening to The Black Crowes - War Paint again and find that I like it.... I still don't like "Daughters Of The Revolution" as an album opener, though. I'm going to have to change that.

Rage- Unity

Alice Cooper's Lace and Whiskey, I am a huge Alice fan, but this album just did not do it for me. It was not til Trog on FB posted a song that I went back and revisited the album, still my feel it is a weak album in his discography but not as horrid as I originally thought

Also Deep Purple's Stormbringer, thanks to this board and detuned urging me to go back and give it another listen did I learn to really like the disc.

The Doors-Full Circle-The fact that Jim Morrison was not on the album, immediately dismissed the album and this is before I heard it, then after I listened to it I thought it was shameful that even dared to have the name The Doors on the front cover. Needless to say my attitude toward the album has mellowed and I think it is very good album even if it is missing Jim Morrison and sounds very different the Doors.

Two I can think of off the top of my head...

Years ago I picked up TOO TOUGH TO DIE by the Ramones shortly before returning to college for the fall semester; I never had a chance to give it more than a quick listen before I had to pack up and leave so at the time was like "Ehhh, whatever." Several weeks (or perhaps months) later I found the tape in a drawer in my dorm room where it had been thrown during the unpacking process and said "Damn, I forgot I even had this." I put it on my Walkman the next day and it blew my doors off. Since then it's gone on to become one of my favorite Ramones records.

Similarly, when Dokken's DYSFUNCTIONAL first came out in '95, I bought it at a record/CD show with a whole stack of other stuff, so it got lost in the shuffle. I probably listened to it once or twice and it went back on the shelf without leaving much of an impression. A year or so later I picked up their ONE LIVE NIGHT unplugged CD and was very impressed with the live version of "The Maze" from the DYSFUNCTIONAL album on there, so I pulled out the disc and gave it another chance, and it really grabbed me. Nowadays I tend to reach for DYSFUNCTIONAL more often than most of my other Dokken albums.

I always liked the 'Dysfunctional' album and wished they had more albums of that quality, but then I am the only one (besides you FF) who liked their follow up album 'Shadowlife' and I always loved 'Too Tough to Die'

manny wrote:

I am the only one (besides you FF) who liked their follow up album 'Shadowlife'

Funny, but I avoided SHADOWLIFE like the plague when it first came out due to all the bad press it got at the time. I got it a year or so afterward when Columbia House was having a clearance sale for $3.99 or something ridiculously cheap like that. For that price, it was a decent album. If I'd paid $15 or so for it as a new release, I doubt I would've been as charitable about it.

The Last Vegas - Whatever Gets You Off

Didnt like it at all the first couple times and traded it. Only later did it sink in and now I love it.

Deuteronomium - Crosshope. This album really kicks.

Drop by Bride

Alice Cooper's DaDa is one that immediately springs to mind. I hated it except for maybe a couple of songs when it was released. I still disagree it's the best of his experimental 80's records, but I really like the record now.

Celtic Frost's Cold Lake is one I didn't like initally based on how they looked alone, once I heard the record I liked some of it, and it eventually grew on me to where I like it alot

Alice Cooper - along came a spider.


Never cared for it first, but i recently started to really enjoy it

Recently I put on Saxon - Metalhead and wow man, how had I ignored that album for so long? I'm sure Uncle Saxon might wanna have a few words with me.

I recently gave several albums a try that I had overlooked initially. I've been sort of bored/uninspired, music-wise.

Non-metal, I've rediscovered Curve and Psyclon-Nine, though with the latter, I find that Crwn Thy Frnictr is the only album I actually liked all of the way through.

Metal-wise, I've been on a HUGE Mercyful Fate binge. I have reaffirmed my love for In The Shadows, and find it to be massively underrated. Dare I say, I actually like it as much as the first two.

One record that always left me cold was Dead Again. I felt like it was aptly titled. It felt so much more like just another of King Diamond's poorly-produced concept albums of the late 90's--and indeed, by this point, MF was more or less just King Diamond's solo band with Hank Shermann. But I decided that if records like Time and Into The Unknown could grow on me once I learned to appreciate them for what they were, maybe it was time to give Dead Again another try. Time eventually became one of my favorite MF records, afterall.

Honestly? Dead Again is not terrible all the way through; "Torture (1629)," "The Night," "Since Forever," "Banshee," and "Crossroads" are all fine songs (even if the production is a little thin, and they all sound more like KD solo compositions). "The Lady Who Cries" grew on me. So...I like slightly more than half of it.
But "Sucking Your Blood" is unforgivable; "Mandrake" and "Fear" feel like filler; also, the title cut is long, boring, and silly.

The other record I decided to give a long-awaited fair shake to was Megadeth's Risk.

Yeah...I still hate it.


)+(

Iron Maiden 'The X Factor' used to hate this album and couldn't believe this was Iron Maiden, the bare bones production, the songs that IMO didn't match what they did in the past and felt that Blaze was the wrong man for the job.

Now I like the album and I like it because it is somewhat different then the other Iron Maiden albums, still not my favorite album from their discography but I have grown to like it.

Life Of Agony- River Runs Read

I never really cared for the album back when it came out. Watching the videos on Headbangers Ball would turn me off. I lumped them into the same category as Biohazard so when all my friends would tell me how great the album is I just denied it even after listening to it a couple times.

A few years ago a friend of mine bought me the cd for my birthday and I started to actually like it and felt stupid for not liking it back in high school. When I saw them perform this album last year (despite the annoying crowd) I really enjoyed the performance and the songs. Now I get it, all these years later haha

Saigon Kick

No particular album just the band as a whole. Always dismissed them in high school when all my friends were listening to them. About 2 years ago my friend showed me some songs and I was hooked.

The first few times I listened to Serenity-Fallen Sanctuary it sort of faded into the back ground but I listened to it a few days ago and absolutly LOVE it. Same thing with W.E.T.-s/t. These are just recent examples.

Lordi - Deadache. Same scenario. Bought it because it was the new Lordi album. I was disappointed. It wasn't until some time last year that I plugged it in again. This time I really enjoyed it. It's actually a great CD.

Mega-ultra-necro thread bump...

I've recently re-discovered Queensryche's Promised Land album.

When it was current, that album never clicked with me, even though I'd seen them live on that tour (and it was a faaaaan-tastic show!). I've owned the CD all this time, but rarely listened to it. I guess I just had it in my head that Promised Land was the "turning point" album where they went more "prog" and less "hard rock" and lost me ... until Todd L. joined the band and they got back in touch with their "metal" side.

...so anyway, I've been on a Queensryche bender this past week and after giving Empire (another QR that took some time to click with me back in the day) its first spin in a while, I figured maybe it was time to re-evaluate Promised Land too. I couldn't even tell you the last time I spun that album, it's been at least ten years, possibly more. (I used to joke that I kept the CD around just to have somewhere to keep my ticket stub from that tour. Haha)

...and damn, it's been like listening to a new album that I'd never heard before. I'm like "Holy shit! Why wasn't 24 year old me all over this thing in 1994? What a schmuck!"

I still think "I Am I" was a weak choice for an opening track (and first single), maybe that's why I never gave the rest of the album a fair shake. But there's some really strong stuff on here otherwise, like "Damaged," "Disconnected" and the title track. I even like the mellower stuff like "Bridge" (which is a heart breaker) and "Someone Else."

So hey, better late than never, right?

As an added bonus, I found a bootleg video of the show I saw on the P.L. tour in 1995 on YouTube. This was at the Garden State Arts Center (now known as the PNC Bank Arts Center), an open air venue in Holmdel, NJ.
The picture quality is shit but the sound is passable. And it even has the last couple of songs from Type O Negative (the opening act)'s set on it! Pure 90s goodness! This was probably the last tour where Queensryche had enough clout to do a big "theatrical" show like this. I remember "Silent Lucidity" being particularly awesome that night.