Your First Time. - Music - Forums : Best Ever Albums

Hayden

Hey BEA, just some thoughts recently.

Does anyone regret not being able to 'discover' good music again? Or your favourite music in general? Like, that feeling when you found out about how many great undiscovered albums are out there?

I don't know if an older generation understand this, cause I wasn't there, but as a teenager in the late 2000's, I was bombarded with pop music, and Michael Jackson, and whatever my mothers cd collection consisted of (bee gees, supertramp, abba...). I'll always remember that feeling when I found 'good' music, actual albums being made now that weren't being publicized as much as they should. I remember looking at end-lists for 2009 on the internet, and I knew NONE of the albums. So I check some out. I think the xx & Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix were my first choices, and they just blew me away. The fact that it was an album, consistent songs that fit together, while being great by themselves. It was a euphoric moment to find out about how much music was out there, and how this generations music didn't 'suck'. Vampire Weekend, Arcade Fire & Fleet Foxes came next for me. But the fact was that they were all so different, they weren't produced crap. And they weren't Bon Jovi Vs. Triumph either. They had their own unique colours.

Does anyone else kinda feel saddened that you'll never have this experience again? You may never be 'blown away' from listening to an album on first listen?

I'm also hoping that some people here can still recommend me albums that WILL 'blow my mind away'. The last album to do so was the Red House Painter's self-titled, which was amazing. I think that's why I'm hesitant to check out Soundtrack For The Blind, for I'm in fear of disappointment Laughing

So. Yeah. Just wanting to bring this up.
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I always knew that good music was... out there. Just buried slightly deeper than the shitstorm on the surface. I simply hadn't started digging until several months ago. BEA and RYM have been a huge help to me and will do so for years into the future I hope.

The first album that ever "blew my mind away" was The Dark Side of the Moon, as it seems to for a lot of people. Other albums that have accomplished that feat since are Pop Tatari, Ys, and Ummagumma among others. Each in their own unique way. Pop Tatari for sheer creativity, Ys in sort of a lyrical sense, and Ummugamma in the way it made me feel. And personally, I have had little to no doubt about having that experience again, just that it won't happen very often. Maybe one in a hundred albums, but it happens. De Natura Sonorum did that for me a little over a month ago.

Polythene Pam

There isn't enough time to ever lose that feeling.

tbh I was hoping this was about sex.

Yourselfisntsteam

random thoughts:

--the "my mind is blown" feeling generally comes from hearing something completely unfamiliar and liking it right? Listen to music from completely different/unfamiliar genres and eventually you will stumble on to something. That said, is it really a bad thing that music doesn't always have that effect? Is it not more a statement on your familiarity with the sound/genre than the quality of the music itself?

--Listening to something expecting your mind to be blown is a sure fire way of ensuring it isnt. Expectations suck.

--The stuff that has really been affecting me recently has been some of the super detached experimental electronic music. Stuff like Autechre's spastic rhythmic deconstructions on Confield or whatever the fuck is going on in Ryoji Ikeda's Datamatrix is pretty intense. Not so much "mind blowing" as "what the hell is going on my brain is melting!"

Saoirse

Polythene Pam wrote:

tbh I was hoping this was about sex.

Ditto

But seriously, that's a kind of feeling that obviously doesn't come along often, and agreeing with Yourselfisntsteam that if you expect to have your mind blown it won't happen. For me, it was coming across some albums named Funeral, Another Green World and the Milk-eyed Meander, hearing some cover version of "Killing me Softly, and listening for the first time to some band named Joy Division is what did it for me, because at the time I just wasn't already overexposed to all the praise these bands/albums/songs we're getting, and each time it was kind of my first time being familiar with the genre or movement that each of these musicians we're a part (or leaders) of. And it's hard to imagine how I would be viewing music today if I didn't come across those mentioned bands/albums/songs quite the same unexpectated way that I did.

revolver94
professional dilettante

Gender: Male
Age: 29
Location: DC suburb

I still haven't gone through enough music to relate. Still definitely get that feeling a lot.
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gussteivi

Yourselfisntsteam wrote:

random thoughts:

--the "my mind is blown" feeling generally comes from hearing something completely unfamiliar and liking it right?

I'd say the opposite actually. For me, that appears when you listen to the right album at the right time.

I listened to Master of Reality by Black Sabbath for the first time a few days ago and was blown away, something that most likely wouldn't have happened a year or even six months ago, because I wouldn't have been open for the experience it offers.

But I very rarely get blown away on first listen, it's usually the third or fourth or so, the only other occasion I can remember was Odessey and Oracle (which also probably wouldn't have had such an impact on me had I heard it a year earlier than I did).

And for Hayden: maybe it's time to listen to some classical music?

revolver94
professional dilettante

Gender: Male
Age: 29
Location: DC suburb

gussteivi wrote:

I'd say the opposite actually. For me, that appears when you listen to the right album at the right time.

I listened to Master of Reality by Black Sabbath for the first time a few days ago and was blown away, something that most likely wouldn't have happened a year or even six months ago, because I wouldn't have been open for the experience it offers.

But I very rarely get blown away on first listen, it's usually the third or fourth or so, the only other occasion I can remember was Odessey and Oracle (which also probably wouldn't have had such an impact on me had I heard it a year earlier than I did).

Exact same for me, it takes a while for good music to hit me (in most cases, there are exceptions. Notably "Funeral" and "The Joshua Tree").
_________________
My top songs of the 2010s
and
Spotify link

Last.fm

Yourselfisntsteam

gussteivi wrote:

I'd say the opposite actually. For me, that appears when you listen to the right album at the right time.

I listened to Master of Reality by Black Sabbath for the first time a few days ago and was blown away, something that most likely wouldn't have happened a year or even six months ago, because I wouldn't have been open for the experience it offers.

But I very rarely get blown away on first listen, it's usually the third or fourth or so, the only other occasion I can remember was Odessey and Oracle (which also probably wouldn't have had such an impact on me had I heard it a year earlier than I did).

And for Hayden: maybe it's time to listen to some classical music?

Funny, I've been listening to master of reality a lot lately as well, and recently added it to my chart Laughing

Good point, that is all agreeable, its just hayden did say:

Quote:

You may never be 'blown away' from listening to an album on first listen?

So I was thinking specifically of those first time listen "this is amazing" experiences and what causes them...at least with that first point.

Though it is probably true returning to something with a different perspective, more knowledge, or just taking time to absorb an album often leeds to revelatory experiences.

Puncture Repair

I remember I had listened to Funeral by Arcade Fire a couple times before but it just kinda sinked in the background, I was more fussed over The Beatles at the time.

I walk to my Saturday job and it takes about 22 minutes either way, so I'll usually listen to the majority of an album in that time. I'm always reluctant to go to work, but the music often keeps my mind of it, and I sometimes look forward to hearing the rest of the album on my way home.

Couple months went by and I thought I should give Funeral another try because I knew this time I would be focusing on just the music - so I could hear why people were fussing over it. It was a cold, frosty morning but the sun was out in full shine, and I remember putting on my earphones and hearing the very beginning of Tunnels for what really was the first time, smiling when I heard the subtle strings come in. I could hardly conceal my happiness when the song builds to the giant climax when Butler sings "spread the ashes of the colors over this heart of mine" and the wooing of the beginning riff begins - magical hearing that for the first time. Then hearing the drums and the muffled guitar at the beginning of Laika after Tunnels had finished, great moment. But most importantly I remember in Une Année Sans Lumière when they all sing "Hey" just the once, a dove flew from out a tree across the sky in the park. Small and a bit stupid, I know, but just for those few minutes it felt almost as though the album was a soundtrack to my life, and that everything was going to be better from then on.

I wish there was a service that could erase your memory of an album completely, but remember that it was one of your favourite albums to listen to - that way you could discover it again.
Shame it probably won't happen, but instead we rely on new music from new artists to do the same I suppose.