Admit it - Sometimes, you just can't go back...

It must have happened to many of us out there who are at a certain age, that for no apparent reason, you remember an album which absolutely blew you away as a youth, but you realise you no longer own it...

...with all the certainty of rose coloured hindsight, you pop onto Amazon, find it there & without hesitation hit that 'buy with one click' button & wait with bated breath and anticipation of getting that buzz again all these years later.

The album arrives

You break several fingernails ripping off the cellophane then pull out the insert & go through the liner notes that a dim, dark & dusty part of your brain still vaguely remembers & memories of how great that album is come flooding back.

The day drags until you can get to a CD player (face it, we all get stuff delivered to work nowadays, don't we)

You get to the car, insert the CD, turn up the volume & drive off waiting for that goosebump moment.



Ah...

Eerrrm...



Actually, the album's a pile of st isn't it?

Hindsight lied to you, edited out the appalling vocals, out of tune guitar solos, drumwork like someone hitting a tin bucket with a couple of sausages and the ill-advised crowd singalong (yes, in my case, it's usually live albums ).

Back onto Amazon they go - usually at a loss & with a promise you'll not get hoaxed by your memory again.

Until next time.

++++++++++

So this thread is for all you oldies out there who went back to a previously loved album, only to find that 30 odd years later they not only don't cut the mustard, but barely get to the larder.

I'll start with my most recent (and to be honest, the inspiration for this thread):

Blackfoot's 1982 live opus 'Highway Song'

Guys - just say no.

Recently, I was stuck in traffic, with my friend driving, and he had the radio on (I always listen to a CD or mp3 player when I drive).   On comes a succession of "classic" 90s alternative hits.  Most of these I didn't like to begin with, or just hadn't heard before, but then a song by Nirvana comes on, "In Bloom".  I was never the biggest Nirvana fan, but I REALLY loved that song back in the day.   I probably hadn't heard it in a few years, and I was saddened to realize that on this particular occasion, I realized I hated the song and the band.   It just grated on my ears and I could hardly stand it.  Damn you, Kurt Cobain.  At that moment it seemed to drive home to me what a complete waste my life had been in the 1990s, and it depressed me greatly.  This is what I listened to?  Fk me.   Or maybe I was just in a bad mood because of the traffic.  In any event, I took my Nirvana CDs off my shelf to make more room for stuff I might actually listen to again.

HolyMoly wrote: Michael - I was considering mentioning Queen.  I was a huge fan of them in the 80s, but nowadays they just don't have the same "zing" for me as they used to.  I still like them in small doses, and the first album which you mentioned is actually one of the few I still like all the way through.

Although I own all their discs, it's more or less only the first 7 or 8 that I'd realy bother with these days, Steve. I'll probably quickly move on to `Queen 2' (THE album that got me into prog) and `Sheer Heart Attack' and see what happens.

However, I have a more worrying Queen confession to make. I looked at my CD of `Hot Space' a few days ago and thought `Hmmmm, wouldn't mind giving that one a listen again....'

What the HELL is wrong with me?! I must be coming down with a fever or something!

Revisited this recently on Spotify. suffice to say I liked it more when I was 16

Jim Garten wrote: Actually, Alan, I still quite like that...

It has happened, but it is not the norm for me. 

I have been revisiting a lot of the music of youth recently and I've been loving it.  Been buying lots of BOC, Judas Priest, Triumph, Dio, Moodies, some punk stuff, on and on and on.....and I'm having a blast.  Occasionally I come across one that doesn't do it for me but many of these purchases have been so much fun. 

One band that I've been unable to get back into in a big way is the Doors.  That ship has sailed for me.  I love select tracks like Crystal Ship, Love Street, Texas Radio....but much of the rest I can't be bothered to play. 

Good topic Jim

Saw him on the Scream Dream tour (1979?) - a real cult of personality



Damn this spell-check

I'm quite fortunate in that I've never suffered from "familiarity breeds contempt" overplaying of anything, so for example I don't understand people who say they cannot listen to Dark Side of the Moon any more because Money gets played so much on the radio (!) - if there is something I cannot stand to listen too and will throw a brick at the radio to silence them (Pimply Red, Dyer Straights, The Smiffs) it's because I never liked them anyway.

Switchfoot, Relient K, Hawk Nelson, Building 429, yada yada.

Edited by Polymorphia - March 28 2014 at 18:52

I like them