Albums you really have to grow into liking...

Yeah. That old Gentle Giant was a tough listen at first.

Bought The Power And The Glory and couldn't quite deal with it at first. Then came In A Glass House and Freehand because I kept hearing stuff I liked on the local college radio station.

Somehow the latter two helped turn the key for the first and off I went, a new Giant freak in 1975.

My friends made fun of me. "What the hell is this stuff?!"

...until they came around on tour...

Anyone into Giant in that time can attest: they were a different animal live...

We caught them twice in half a year. No one made fun any longer.

Edited by Frankh - September 19 2017 at 11:10

It was a hard adjustment for me to be accepting of Hogarth's vocals in Marillion.  I'll never forget the first Hogarth album I heard (I didn't know Fish was no longer the singer).  It was 'Brave.'  I was dumbfounded and almost immediately rejected it.

Huge fan of Marillion,but for some odd reason all their releases take a while to grow on me

Marillion FEAR is those kind of albums.

If I don't get/feel an album from a band I usually enjoy after 4 or 5 serious listens I simply put it aside for a month or so. When I come back to it after some weeks I usually enjoy the work.

So the initial number of listens doesn't really matter, it's the break between those block of listens that does...whatever that means.

Still struggling with the last Peter Hammill - All that Might Have Been
Not the first time it happen with one of his albums, though.

OZRIC TENTACLES - Technicians of the Sacred
Quite a few listens to this, and I just can't get past how programmed much of it is. Still trying to crack it.........

Yes's Relayer went from being my least fave Yes album to my most favorite, (and perhaps my fave all-time).

VDGG's Godbluff took a while, really love it now.  Still not there with Still Life.

IQ's, Tales From The Lush Attic took a while, and Ever is now growing on me a bit (in contrast to Dark Matter, which I liked almost immediately)

More recently, I was unimpressed with The Flower Kings' Desolation Rose, but it has started growing on me.

Both those Pavlov's Dog albums from '74 & '75. Listen to them every few years. Bought them because BIll Bruford was on At The Sound Of The Bell. If you can wrap your head around David Surkamp's vocals they're really good albums. Have never heard anything beyond those two. There was a live album but I never got to it. I never had a problem getting into Gentle Giant. A friend loaned me Octopus around the time it came out and I was sold. The only Gentle Giant albums I had difficulty getting into were Civilian and Giant For A Day just because of high expectations. Nowadays I like them just as much as any GG album. Oddly In A Glass House is my favourite. Probably because they started to sound a bit tighter without Phil. No clue why it wasn't released in North America. Interview and The Power And The Glory were certainly the least commercial albums.

Manzanera's 801's Listen Now had that effect on me because at first I thought it was too poppy. I listen now often.

Pawn Hearts, for sure.