Music Albums that are "better" now than when they were released??

Watching a bit of classic Pink Floyd on BBC4 just now, it just reminded me of “The Division Bell”, an album, which at the time of its release (1994) didn’t garner than much critical acclaim. However, listening to it now, some 20 years later, its sounding pretty cohesive to me!

So, what sounds better now than it ever did???

😉

‘Stupidity’ Dr Feelgood.
Great then, even more essential now.

How about ‘Give ’em Enough Rope’ The Clash. Thought it was a sell-out at the time, but has aged better than most of it’s contemporary punk LPs.

Funnily enough, I re-discovered The Division Bell a couple of months ago too and came to the same conclusion.

Also been listening to Seals eponymous album after a little discussion about Killer and there are some stonking tracks on there. The bass line on Future Love Paradise is amazing.

Tubular Bells.

Astonishing to think it was recorded in the way it was.

I’ve got some music that’s 50 years old but it features someone who was way ahead of his time.

scotroutes – Member

Also been listening to Seals eponymous album after a little discussion about Killer and there are some stonking tracks on there. The bass line on Future Love Paradise is amazing

ooh, Good call^^^ Scurries off to find CD in loft! Not listened to this in absolutely years.

I find i enjoy the Floyd stuff the most when you can play the whole album, start to finish, ideally during the hrs of darkness for some reason, and especially when driving?

Who dat, cg?

Roni size – new forms

Van Morrison, an acquired taste!

Let me know what you think.

The Second Coming is a great album, but at the time, after the wait and the hype it was a complete WTF moment.
I probably listen to it more than The Stone Roses these days.

Tin Machine by David Bowie.

Oh no, hang on….it’s still sh……

Kick. INXS. Then to me it was another pop-rock album – now seems like the best pop-rock album of the eighties…

Not an album but CG post reminded me of this

I have heard Cream destroy Skip James. Listen to the man himself. If you can get over the poor quality of the recording, this was made in 1931!

I’ve had Moondance stuck in my head on and off for a few weeks now! 😡 🙄

Second Coming is great, but I loved it at the time without realising why. Listening to it now I realise that it’s a classic rock album, which is the genre I discovered after listening to Second Coming as a 17yr old. I think The Stone Roses is still brilliant, but it’s a pop album, a very very good one (and pop’s not used a derogatory term like it is now!)

That Skip James track is superb!

Wow, enjoyed that Skip James track. 8)

Paul Simon- Graceland. ‘Boy in the Bubble’ sounds amazing!

How about ‘Give ’em Enough Rope’ The Clash. Thought it was a sell-out at the time, but has aged better than most of it’s contemporary punk LPs.

think thats my favourite start to any album, those first 3 tracks. soon as i hear safe european home kick in the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. then it just carries on with english civil war and tommy gun. doesnt get much better 🙂

scotroutes

maxtorque » ooh, Good call^^^ Scurries off to find CD in loft! Not listened to this in absolutely years.

Let me know what you think.[/quote]

Hmm, interesting. Couldn’t find the CD, so listened to SEAL on Spotify. Well, it’s ok. Then i though “AH I know why i can’t find the CD” and that’s because i’ve got it on 12″ vinyl! So, dug out the Pink triangle & preamp from it’s box in the spare room, and played the record.

WOW, what a difference, really bringing those Trevor Horn bass lines alive. And after a couple of listens, i’m quite liking a bit of Seal again 😉

Rage Against the Machine’s debut album 20 yrs old recently, still sounds fresh & relevant.

& a lot of Johnny Cash’s material.

Here’s a vid that’s 49 years old featuring the amazing Big Mama Thornton accompanied by some cool Blues dudes in suits including the inimitable Buddy Guy and John Lee Hooker.

If you think wimminz can’t play the harmonica then listen to the second track, bet you’ll soon be jumping around the room. 😀

I would have thought Cinnamon Girl was thinking of Musicology by Prince or Neil Young’s Everybody Knows this Is Nowhere 8)

I think Axis: Bold As Love sounds better than ever.

Townes Van Zandt @ the old quarter

I would have thought Cinnamon Girl was thinking of Musicology by Prince or Neil Young’s Everybody Knows this Is Nowhere

Youtube is brilliant for ‘discovering’ new/old music, particularly enjoy seeking out the old Bluesmen. 😀

Ahem. I’m old enough to remember the (possible) origins of your user name without “discovering” it, Cinnamon Girl – I can be happy the rest of my life 😉

Old Bluesmen? Mrs BigJohn and I met at a Climax Blues Band gig at our youth club in 1969.

Took me a while to figure out the gist of the question – then an album popped into my mind –

‘Destroyer’s Rubies’ by Destroyer.

I was already happily spinning Dan Bejar’s earlier stuff, and when ‘Rubies’ was announced in 2005 I was anxious to hear it. And hear it I did, over and over. Fell in love with it, perfect except for the very last song. But that one duff ‘un tacked on the end couldn’t spoil the riotous, poetic, bravely conceptual totality of this sonic rumpus! Now there was a LOT of good stuff coming out in the early noughties, which makes me think that now, ten years after, I revisit ‘Rubies’ and it occurs to me that were it released this coming year it would shine so brightly not only on it’s own merit but on account of a current dearth of creativity in today’s songwriting and production. We need brave souls amid all the cynical hypermarketed fake-lashed designer divas and the designer depression-era flat-caps of today’s folk-less folk, soul-less soul and rock-less roll! I want to hear and feel bone-sharp stuff that I haven’t heard before. And ‘Rubies’ feels to me even greener today than it first did.

Dan Bejar’s lyrics seemingly hint at his (charming) drunken optimism holding him up against a wry self-awareness of Destroyer’s limited commercial appeal.

“On tall ships made of snow, invading – the Sun!”

Life and art (and their likeness to doomed relationships) all conspire here in irresistibly repetitive waltzing metaphors. It’s a beautiful flawed indulgence shot through with sparkling, startlingly unique musical devices built around lilting refrains that stay in your brain forever – latently awaiting to delightfully ambush you on that lonely drunken walk or last bus home.

Ah, meant to post this one. Give it a listen if you haven’t – the lyrics alone (included at youtube link) will shave yr face 🙂

About the only album I can think of that’s never been given the attention and acclaim that it deserves, (in my very humble opinion, of course), is Paul Simon’s Hearts and Bones. I honestly think this is his finest album, better than Graceland, which got all the media attention, due to its contentious nature, having been recorded in Sun City, SA, against the anti-apartheid movements advice.
It’s a stunning album, beautifully recorded, with some of his finest lyrics and songwriting.
I’ve never tired of listening to it, or any songs from it.

Townes Van Zandt @ the old quarter

Ha. I’ve just been listening to Dead Flowers.

Music isn’t like wine , it doesn’t improve with age it stays the same . Personal circumstances , taste and the relevance that certain pieces of music have to your life change but the actual music is the only constant thing in the relationship . That said , I like Paul Simon’s Graceland much more now than I did when it was released but Dare by The Human League which was a favourite of mine when it was released in the early 80s I now regard as crap and of little musical or cultural value .

Ramsey Neil – Member
Music isn’t like wine , it doesn’t improve with age it stays the same . Personal circumstances , taste and the relevance that certain pieces of music have to your life change but the actual music is the only constant thing in the relationship . That said , I like Paul Simon’s Graceland much more now than I did when it was released but Dare by The Human League which was a favourite of mine when it was released in the early 80s I now regard as crap and of little musical or cultural value .

And you could spend thousands on a vintage bottle of wine only to find it’s turned to vinegar.
Not a particularly good analogy.

Music isn’t like wine , it doesn’t improve with age it stays the same

Things age. Nay, everything ages. Some things suffer, some things age well, and some rare things improve.

Personal appreciation is a different question. There are many things that I appreciate now that were wasted on me in my youth. But that’s my issue / improvement rather than anything to do with the source. A number of the albums listed here I always thought were classics.

I love The Division Bell and always have. For a long time that statement was akin to saying “The Black Album is way better than Master of Puppets.”

Astral Weeks and Veedon Fleece, Beggar’s Banquest and Sticky Fingers plus Exile ofcourse.

Van Morrison, you say, CG? Material up to Avalon Sunset couldn’t get “better”. As good as it gets then & now. Sad decline tho’. Couple of the finest concerts ever, but now wouldn’t cross the road to see, never mind pay money, after 3 successive sulk-a-thons.

Endtroducing.. is nearly 20 years old yet if it were released today it would be ahead of its time. It was critically lauded at the time, so doesn’t entirely fit the OP, but still one of the best albums ever made.

Van Morrison, you say, CG? Material up to Avalon Sunset couldn’t get “better”. As good as it gets then & now. Sad decline tho’. Couple of the finest concerts ever, but now wouldn’t cross the road to see, never mind pay money, after 3 successive sulk-a-thons.

onlysteel – um, he’s evolved and would suggest that he’s now found peace with himself. When did you see him live? He’s a curmudgeon etc etc but so are a lot of people, don’t actually reckon he’s being disrespectful to his audience though.

I’m currently listening to The Story of Them, amazing stuff. 8)

CG –
Best? Bristol, with Georgie Fame, Kate St John in band – late eighties, early nineties? Sublime.
Worst? Oxford, sometime around 2007-8?
As a long time fan, I accepted his tortured genius status, but that performance was beyond the pale. Disrespectful doesn’t cover it.
Sorry to disagree.
Off to find ‘Into The Music’ to remind myself what was.