Albums that grew on you over time
 

What albums when you first listened you didn't really get and/or like? But after perceiving with a few more listens it turned out to be one of your favourite albums or at least you can appreciate the album and like it.

I have a couple

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My Bloody Valentine - Loveless.

I didn't understand the noises coming from my computer at first, now I love it.

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I'm almost ashamed to admit this one, I absolutely adore this album. When someone says what's your favourite album? This is one album that springs to mind.

What about fellow MBers? Any great albums that you so shamefully dismissed at first?

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at first I hated it, questioned if it was music...all of that.

Now, i realize how awesome it is

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This Nation's Saving Grace-The Fall
Did nothing whatsoever for me at first
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London Calling-The Clash
Seemed an awful load of nonsense on the first 2 listens.

^

I'd criticize for The Clash one, but I didn't get one of the great great albums at first.. so I'd be a massive hypocrite. :(

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the first of many posts i'm sure to make in this thread. Whereas the equally amazing, yet more overlooked Alien Lanes immediately appealed to me, Bee Thousand had me thinking GBV were a one trick pony. Luckily for me it opened up after a few listens, and now I see it in all it's glory.

Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest

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This album experienced immense growth for me. I hadn't heard their previous work, but heard the single 'Two Weeks' a few times on the local indie station before the album came out, and it caught my attention. Upon listening to the entire album, I was bored to tears. No improvement on second listen...nothing stood out to me except the previously heard single. It's like they were asleep for the rest of the album. On the third listen, something happened. It was slight, but it was something. On the fourth, it was a completely unrecognizable album...I actually started to love some of the songs. At this point I couldn't imagine how it sounded so boring and meaningless the first few times. Not that it was exciting and loud, mind you. The songs I love are subtle indeed...but incredible in their beauty. Sadly, a few of the songs still fail to rate any higher than 3/5 on my scale, but a good half of them are 5/5. The album basically became the soundtrack to my lonely summer 2009. Laying by the lake in the evenings watching the sun set, walking around the city, etc. It would have been easy to dismiss it after one listen but I'm glad I didn't.

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It was an album that I thought was "pretty decent" on first couple of listens, though the only songs that stuck out were the title track, "Things Don't Look Good", and "Endless Teeth". Now it's among my all time favorite albums. It really has to sink in to do its job.

Bitte Orca by The Dirty Projectors. I hated it at first and didn't really understand why it existed, now I love it.

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For some reason this didn't click with me at all the first couple times I listened to it, then I deleted it. I decided to give it another shot a while after that, and now it's a favorite post punk album of mine.

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I didn't get this album at all when I first heard it, back when I listened to a lot of metal and all. Then one day for some random reason I decided to give it a shot while I was high, and now I see it as one of the greatest trip hop albums.

Great thread idea. I often take a while to get into an album so I'll have plenty to list. These are the main ones that came to my head:

Fugazi - 13 Songs

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One of the first true "indie" albums I ever got into. 'Waiting Room' was love at first listen but it took me a while to get into the other 12 songs. Now I find myself struggling to get into any other Fugazi album, but this is one of my favorites.

Superchunk - Foolish

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Now it is my favorite Superchunk release, but upon first listen I was disappointed that I didn't hear any instantly golden singles like 'Slack Mother****er' or 'Hyper Enough'. But rest assured, after five to six listens the first half really started to open up. I think it is very consistent throughout.

Modest Mouse - Lonesome Crowded West

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I have always loved Good News, but this one took a little longer. One day in the car it just "clicked", and oh boy is it good. After listening to the rest of there catalog I can see why this is considered the defining album for this band...

The Thermals - The Body, The Blood, The Machine

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I listened to this album several times in my car and didn't think it was anything special. After enough listens though the hooks really got me and now I think they have a near-perfect sound for my tastes. They remind me a lot of a modern-day Superchunk.

The Black Keys - Rubber Factory

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Another band whose sound I was meant to love. Once again, though, this one just didn't click. Maybe the fourth time I heard it was when I had my library on shuffle in the middle of night working on some homework. I believe it was '10 A.M. Automatic' and 'Til I Get My Way' that really convinced me...

This was love at first listen for me. I heard The Moon & Antarctica first, which I liked but took a few spins to sink in. But when I got around to The Lonesome Crowded West it instantly blew me away.

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Didn't get it, don't think I'm the only one. But I kept listening to it and one day it was like.. I can't stop listening to this album. I think it's brilliant now.

YES!

I discovered Bee Thousand over a year ago, but only recently have I fallen in love with it. And it's not like there's a handful of hits and a bunch of duff tracks to it, it's probably one of the most consistent GBV albums out there. I absolutely adore the production on it as well.

As for me:

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It's a bit cryptic at first and kind of difficult to digest, but once you look past the strange instrumental noodlings and unusual vocal delivery, you notice what a fantastic script Tom Waits is able to craft with his words. Easily one of the greatest annals of lyrical prowess you're apt to find.

OK, the FIRST thing I think of:
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^^ went from a complete piece of crap to being awesome. biggest change through growth in my entire collection

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^^I remember first hearing it and liking it, but I didn't see the MASTERPIECE it was...

What production?The bit I loved was that it was clearly recorded in someone's toolshed.

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I was addicted to The Bends and OK Computer before getting this as a gift one year for Christmas. I was expecting something different, but not this. I guess I just didn't really let it soak in until a few more listens. It's one of my favorite albums now.

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Did not "get it" at first. It took me a while to warm up to their less melodic material.

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Found it kind of boring upon the first couple of listens. Ignored it for a very long time afterward. Upon hearing it again I think it's a really underrated album when compared to some of their other Warner releases.

Great album, first listen I liked it. The religious theme running through it was great as well as the hooks.

I think most would've gone through the not getting it with this album. I didn't initially get it either, then one day I found myself enjoying it. :D

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^ ^ ^

Why you didn't like it at first and why you now DO like it would be nice..

Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band - Trout Mask Replica
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^ Picked it up for about a fiver from the bargain bin in Virgin Megastore some time or other ago. I think I tried to listen to it that same day, didn't get past the first two or three tracks and abandoned it. Two or three years later, for whatever reason I thought I'd give it another go. Still wasn't so impressed by it, but something about the subtle intricacies and bizarre rhythms impressed me enough to give it another go, so I'd go back to it again, and then again, and then again and so on. Basically, if any of you know those optical illusion puzzles you'd have to stare at for a while to see the intended image, that's kinda how I see this album and how it grows on you over time. Some people just plain despise it, but I just see it as 28 tracks of beautiful madness now, as in one of my favourite albums.

I remember this taking a bit to sink in also. Which reminds me of another album that came out around the same time that also took a while to swallow...

Tool - Lateralus

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Have loved them both for years now though.

^

Tool are one band I just can't find the appeal. Am I missing something? They just seem a bit.. shit to me.

It took seeing Radiohead years after this albums release for me to get this one. I bought it the day it came out and was so disappointed. I didn't just not get it, I HATED it.

Pink Floyd - Piper At The Gates Of Dawn
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I think I was around 17/18 when I first heard this after getting into them through Meddle and Animals and it was just too odd and childlike for me. Now of course I love it. Bloody masterpiece.

a bit off topic but I saw this album in someone collection and they knew i was into floyd and said i could borrow it but i just thought it would be ****. When i actually listened to it about 10 yrs. later i loved it from the first hearing

Every album i've ever loved i've loved from the 3rd or 4th hearing. the ones i've tried to get into after the 4th hearing i haven't and just conclude are crap.
e.g's
Mercury REv-Snowflake midnight
Lambchop-Damaged

and i love other albums by those bands!!!

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I'd mentioned this one in my "Top 10 most important albums" list, and that's because this one really took some time to grow on me, but once it did it really stuck. I'd heard a few songs from them off different albums...a friend of mine was obsessed with these guys...and obsessed with making me like them (which might be another reason I rejected the thought at first). I never thought I would. I hated the singer's voice, I wasn't used to the flow of the music, it seemed a little more offbeat and just plain different from what I was used to listening to. It's going to sound crazy, but it was the song "Wild Packs of Family Dogs" that finally hooked me. No, it's not the best song on the album musically or lyrically, now it sounds like filler really, but the lyrics were oddly amusing and charming (to me anyway) and I just thought, why not try to be a little more open minded here? And it finally worked it's way to being a favorite. Personal stand out tracks are "3rd Planet", "Tiny Cities Made of Ashes", and "What People Are Made of".

I'm not sure which part of their package you dislike. It can't be the musicianship...

I still have yet to "get" this album. So far all it is to me is redundant hardcore with the inclusion of the great song 'Start Today'.

All I can say as far as "getting it" goes is that I've always loved it because of how relentlessly upbeat and positive it is. Never fails to put me in a good mood.

Exactly what I thought at first. Evey one would go crazy over stuff like "New Direction" and I thought it was all jaded along with the lyrical themes but I just recently got into it. Start Today is still probably my favorite next to the one of two songs on their newest "7.

This...

I second that.

That is production -- being able to control external factors which influence the music's overall sound. If Bee Thousand isn't exemplary of Matador's production style I don't know what is. It's the same unique lo-fi approach to recording that Mark Linkous took advantage of in his Sparklehorse albums.

I'm not a sucker for lo-fi crap in general, I think artists like Neutral Milk Hotel and Wavves are shit, but there's just some emotional appeal to hearing blaring guitars fuzzed into oblivion by the inadequacies of a four-track recorder.

I third that.

Except I still don't like it to this day..

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Initially, I was disappointed with this because it wasn't as hardcore as I was expecting it to be, and the musicianship seemed sloppy. Now I find the music extremely tight and energetic. I also think it's one of the better double albums.

Sonic Youth - Rather Ripped

It's quite strange, because their sound always had this magnetic drawing power for me. It was always easy to me to fully absorb their music even at its most experimental (especially then). This new tendency of being harder and harder for me to get into their albums started with Murray Street, ironically when they adopted more conventional and poppy sound. When I heard Rather Ripped it was just meh, heard it all before. But it gradually started growing on me to the point of it becoming my favorite SY's album of the 00's. I am now amazed how can that album after 25 years of band's career sound so fresh while bringing nothing new.

But, now I have a problem with "Eternal". I just can't get into it. I actually think it's not a very good SY album.

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Sonic Youth - Goo

I just didn't get it at first, especially the singing style.. then it just grew on me from nowhere and now I love it.

argh, TheCunningStunt, I love you. I came in here to post exactly that.

:thumb: I still have no idea how that's my favourite Sonic Youth album. I feel violated, in a good way. But it was like rape. I think I'm gonna listen to Goo now