Albums that changed your view about the band

Well going in the reverse.Early Journey before Steve Perry
Loved the early Journey as more progressive rock..
Santana has changed so many times so that has been a back and forth thing.
But a real change from when the original band broke up after Caravansari.
Chicago same thing as they morphed into balladry and soft rock

The only album that I can think of at the moment that changed my view of the band is Mirage (Camel). Prior to first hearing this album, descriptions and initial tastings of their music suggested to me that their music is too light for my tastes. But I found Mirage to rock. Although I haven't explored Camel further, I do like Mirage a lot.

 

 

 

^ I already loved so much Bowie stuff (my brother introduced me to Bowie when I was very small), but over the last decade my appreciation has grown much more still (the album that made me a really big fan was Hunky Dory).

I can get that, Blackstar is a very good album methinks, and what an amazing send-off for the man. I've heard it said here that people were overrating it because of the circumstances, but I don't buy that. That said, that does make it all the more poignant to me.   Robert Wyatt's Rock Bottom is more poignant still because of Wyatt's circumstances, but I loved the album before I even knew the story around it.

Blackstar was and remains my favourite album of 2016, and is one of my favourite modern albums period (I return to it often).

Edited by Logan - January 24 2019 at 17:13

^ I like all Cardiacs albums, but On Land and in the Sea is the most special to me now. I found it less accessible than some others, but when it clicked, wow! It was actually your first post that made me really obsess over it -- not sure if I should thank you, but I will. ;) I would have pegged it a little lower than some others before reading that, and I was going to say so in this topic, but thought, so as not to regret saying anything later, that I should put the album on again before posting, and was immediately blown away and kept on loving the whole thing (it is an album that I had been playing of late off-and-on, but I had over obsessions to contend with). I love it when a post makes me put on an album and I hear it in a fresh light (maybe I'm quite suggestible, but sometimes that forces me to really listen and take in the music, much as writing reviews would for many people). I have a very obsessive personality (that comes through in my posting too often). I can play the same album over and over and over again. Over the last few days I have listened to it so many times, and even when I'm listening to it it keeps playing over and over in my head (massive album earworm). Sometimes I listen to a band or album so much that unfortunately I burn out on it.

Can is another that I also should have mentioned. My experience was different, I started with Future Days, and while I din't dislike it, it left me cold. I then got Ege Bamyasi and liked that one. Then Tago Mago. I think Soundtracks made me a big fan, especially with the song "Mother Sky" which really hooked me. Often it's one track or one passage in a track -- it could even be a few notes or one sound -- that hooks me and opens up my appreciation for a band or artist. Unlike Moshkito, as I think I have understood it over the years (my memory is not what I was three years ago though it's improving somewhat), I can be a fan of tracks outside of the context of a greater work, and I don't necessarily need to listen to a whole album any more than I can't enjoy a particular episode of an anthology series (Twilight Zone for instance) without binging the whole thing. A piece of music/ song/ track/ can stand alone and be appreciated outside of the context of an album/ greater composition, and indeed the greater oeuvre of an artist. When I put on Beethoven's 7th, I will often only listen to the second movement. If I loved only that by Beethoven, it would be enough for me to say that I love Beethoven (the 9th is what turned me onto Beethoven, which has a little something to do with Clockwork Orange -- associations matter).

I do now love Future Days, but it just didn't suit me at the time (my tastes shifted and expanded a lot over a few years as I discovered more and different things -- this was not that long before joining PA). I'm sure at another time had I started with it, it would have hooked me immediately (I was furiously collecting and consuming music back then). I do try to be more careful about passing judgement on a band after only hearing a limited portion of the discography now, but Can was something that struck me as something worth pursuing from the beginning (as with Tangerine Dream). I got the sense from the beginning that I "should" like Can more than I did, and I was intrigued enough to want to delve into more material. I'm glad I did, but being a part of this forum, I was bound to get into Can since so many with similar tastes to mine love Can and would have played their part in turning me onto the music.

Edited by Logan - January 24 2019 at 10:58

^^^ Please excuse any digressions. We’re changing constantly. We are literally not identical to the person we were a second ago even if it seems so. Even the seemingly most petty things affect us and create new neural pathways. Some experiences, though, are more transformative, and affect our psyches more obviously, than others. There is a relationship between the listener and the music of course, and each listener is important as every person filters the music differently. We all bring our own experiences and associations into the listening process. what the band has to offer is important in how it affects us as individuals, and the paths that lead from it. Will you choose Tangerine Dream’s Phaedra or Isao Tomita's The Bermuda Triangle. The choice is yours (not that I believe in free will/ agency . How much will it ultimately affect your Bandersnatch progress, well not much. I do think that one man’s treasure can be another man’s turd, and what resonates with an individual depends on a whole host of environmental and heredity factors) and what one appreciates at one time one might not appreciate at another time. Hermeneutics and audience reception aesthetics is an interesting topic. Each listener brings their own meaning to the music, and has a different experience, and that is important on the individual level. Change is inevitable where we like it or not, though some are more resistant to change than others. I believe in trying to keep an open mind, be ultimately agnostic on all things, and be open to new evidence. My perception has often perceptibly shifted when hearing new music by a band, and have gained a new appreciation. Do I feel empty inside, yes, so I do try to fill up that void with things such as music, films, novel, podcasts. I do wish that I were more creative and was making content that others would enjoy and would give me some more self-esteem. Hearing more material (be it new-to-you albums or songs)can perceptibly alter one’s life view, and give greater insight into the artistry, but ultimately there’s your peculiar perception of the artistry, and it’s not a global, absolute truth, but phenomenally subjective.

We may think about what the music, novel, whatever brings to us Id rather say bringing than offering) and whether we think about that or not, it is bringing us something, but we are also bringing something to the music on a personal level that is unique and special. The creators matter and the audience matters, it’s an interesting relationship.

Opeth Heritage

micky wrote: I must be a strange bird...  I thought about this for a bit and you know. I can't think of a single damn instance. Sure some bands went downhill.. some did sh*tty albums... some improved as they went.. some did great albums. Perhaps having an understanding that creativity is a very finite element and 99.9 of most bands will change styles and sounds as they go can keep one from thinking about how single albums might change an opinion of a band. It really is silly if one things about it to base an opinion, much less change one based on a single album.  It is whole of their output which should be the basis of one's opinion of a band.

I may well be talking at cross-purposes as I'm too tired to parse your post well.

I sometimes say that I'm not a fan of bands generally so much as releases/ music by certain bands. My opinion of a band has more to do with the music I love by the band than the whole output. Many bands which I would say that I love, I haven't even heard the whole output.

There have been various cases where I've first heard music that didn't resonate with me for whatever reason, and then I heard other music later that I did like, and my appreciation opened up. In various cases I grew to enjoy the music I had first heard -- sometimes an album that is accessible to you at a given time can help you to appreciate more material.

Its not about the inherent quality of the music for me commonly, it's just about taste and inclination (and my tastes can change somewhat on a daily basis). Sometimes I just heard music at the wrong time in my music journey, and had I heard it later or in a different mood I might have enjoyed it.

Getting back to my experience of Thinking Plague, my first TP album In Extremis is the highest rated album, but it just didn't click for me, but then when I got the earlier material I could say that I really did appreciate the band, and I could appreciate In Extremis more than I did.

For another one that I should have mentioned in my last post: Tangerine Dream's Phaedra was my first Tangerine Dream album and it didn't click, but then I got Electronic Meditation (years later) and I loved it immediately. I then got Alpha Centauri, Zeit, and Atem and loved those. I would say that I loved pre-Phaedra Tangerine Dream. I then got Ricochet and loved that, then other 70s albums, and then I found that I really liked Phaedra but thought I didn't like 80s Tangerine Dream. Then I found that I liked plenty of 80s Tangerine Dream. I still haven't heard most Tangerine Dream, but I feel like I love and know enough to call myself a fan, and getting into those other albums really did change my perspective on the band. That said, I never thought that TD was poor. Doesn't matter if I don't know or like everything that TD has done, my perception shifted as I explored more and more music. Overall it's been more of an evolution, but hearing Electronic Meditation was a revelation to me which opened up TD doors and opened up doors to more music period (I've long loved electronic music, but TD got me exploring more related music).

Talk Talk: Spirit of Eden.

Anyway, both brave, if only because it means selling less records and losing part of your audience.

Many changed my opinion for the worse, especially in the 80s when great bands were selling out faster than super bowl tickets.