My wife is doing her housecleaning and for whatever reason is cranking The Wild, The Innocent, And the E Street Shuffle. Back in college I was as big of a Springsteen fan as anyone, saw him live many a time, but lost interest after The River. I may not have listened to this entire album fo rmore than a decade.
Kitty’s Back is blasting away at the moment. Damn, what a tune! And what an orchestration and performance! Can’t wait for Rosalita to come up!
So what music favorites of yours have you revisited after a (too) long absence?
Curiously, walking the dog this morning, a neighbor had a bunch of vinyl on the curb. Rush, BoC… Brought back memories. I ALMOST brought home Montrose, to see if it holds up to my memories. Probably should have…
I never owned a copy but everyone else had it and I heard it a million times at parties and whatnot. That was in the '70s or early '80s. A few years ago Mrs. 74westy got a copy and man it holds up!
I periodically give a re-listen to Spirit’s “The Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus” after a long time has gone by, and I always enjoy it. I try not to re-listen too often on purpose, because listening reminds me of good times in my youth to the point it brings back sense-memories, so I don’t want to wear that out.
Apart from the nostalgia factor though, I think the album just really holds up well musically.
Man, back in college that was one of the 4-5 albums that EVERYONE who was into music had. I still think of it all the time when playing golf. One of our many wagers is “skins,” and I find myself thinking, “Mister Skin, I know where you’ve been”! Once in a while I end up playing air guitar on whatever club I’m holding… It’s OK - one of my regular playing partners is a huge Sammy Hagar fan…
A stone classic. I hear he still plays it in concert occasionally, and I have my fingers crossed for Aug. 11 in Chicago.
My nominee might be Physical Graffiti. All my records from E through L were stolen in the 80s, and I recalled this one as having a few great songs and a lot of filler. Then I splurged on a new vinyl edition (complete with the crazy windows packaging) and love just about every track. LZ’s filler was better than a lot of bands’ prime material.
Also, the first Procol Harum album. Lots of great tunes beyond the overplayed “Whiter Shade of Pale.”
I coulda picked that one up this morning as well. As well as 2112 (my fave!)
Supertramp Quietest Moments and Crime were also in the “owned by everyone with at least 10 albums” category. Also Traffic Low Spark. All 3 definitely got overplayed for me. I should give them a re-listen. I suspect I’d be quite pleased!
Revisiting after many years is great fun. I remember, though, with the advent of YouTube in the 1990s, it was common in my circles to suggest old favorites when getting together with friends at somebody’s house. Let’s just say that not everyone was amused. In fact, some of us used to take delight in laughing at a mortified friend’s reaction (and reminding him/her in the following weeks).
When I was a teen from 89 to 93 KISS was considered something of a joke among my peers.
I learned to appreciate them better this past decade after listening to them again.
I stopped caring what people think of the music when I hit my mid 30s and started listening to more of 80s rock and pop my classmates would make fun of you to listening too.
I also appreciate the music of Milli Vanilli. I wish I knew who the people were who actually sang and performed their songs so they could get the credit for them.
As a surf guitar nut I’ve bought every album by Los Straitjackets. Most are all instrumentals but two are collaborations with various singers; Sing Along with Los Straitjackets and Rock en Español, Vol. 1. I bought both when they came out 15 or 20 years ago, ripped them to my iTunes library and forgot all about them until the pandemic when I shuffled into a version of “I’ll Go Down Swinging” with the Straitjackets backing Exene Cervenka. Both albums (now frequently played) demonstrate them as a brilliant and generous backing band. They are currently the backing band for Nick Lowe.
Do you mean the UFO album? When I saw the thread title that’s the exact album I immediately thought of. That album and Strangers in the Night are my favourite UFO albums.
I think that there was a gap between the mid '80s and 2006 during which I was between cassette and CD of Wild, Willing and the Innocent.
When the CD was delivered and I played it a few minutes later I was immediately back in love with that album.
I saw UFO and Saxon a few years ago in a small club in Montreal - a fantastic concert.
How funny, in February or March or so, Grey Cell Green came up on some randomized playlist, and I thought, man, Ned’s Atomic Dustbin – I forgot about those guys. I don’t think I spun that album since the mid-90s, but it was fantastic to hear again (and again and again, as it turned out.)
For me, I have been obsessing a bit about pop basslines, so I’ve been playing Madonna’s “Like a Prayer” and Thelma Houston’s “Don’t Leave Me This Way” at least twice a day each for the past month. I just cannot get those out of my head. I’ve always liked both those songs, but now they’ve rocketed to the top tier after paying closer attention to their bass lines. What can I say? I’m a rhythm section kind of guy.
