Rocketdog2000

Ever had an album that you maybe forgot about, or never truly gave it's due when you originally got it? I was in a local music store today, and was digging what they had on the in-store play. It was vaguely familiar, yet I couldn't quite put my finger on who it was, so after three great tunes in a row, I went up and asked the guy at the counter who it was. Turns out it was Ween's White Pepper, an album I've owned since it came out in 2000 - yet for some reason lost to the ages, I guess I never gave it it's proper due. Anyway, I went home to spin it, and damn, what a great little album. I got me wondering if anybody else has had a similar experience recently? So, anyone...?

Falc04

REM - Monster. I got this when it first came out, and thought it was utter crap (besides Bang and Blame). I traded it back in within a week. Well, I was just in a used CD store, and saw it for a buck. Thought I'd give it another try, and what do you know, it's much better than I remember. I think at the time I was initially looking for another CD in the vein of Automatic For The People, and was really put off by the harder edge to this disc.

I'm glad I gave it another shot...

cdollaz

I think that White Pepper is, by far, the best Ween album. I love it.

tedmcardle

Kinks - Village Green. So mant great songs on this.

gmanca

I just got into Kenny Loggins - High Adventure; sure it's 80's cheese with the terrible Don't Fight It with Steve Perry, but there's Heart To Heart with Michael McDonald, If It's Not What Your Looking For's synth lead/distortion guitar, and "Swear Your Love" as a better-than-average love song. Plan on picking up "Keep The Fire" as a compliment to this cd.

Michael Corvin

Three albums for me this year:

Cake - Comfort Eagle :: For some reason I just never gave this album its due when it came out for whatever reason. Decided to give it a fair shake on a 10 hour road trip earlier in the year and man I'm glad I did. I've probably listened to this album more than any other this year and it's now my favorite Cake album.

Nightwish - Dark Passion Play :: I was never a HUGE fan of Nightwish, but I did dig their style and had a few of their albums. For some reason though when Tarja left I had it in my head that she was irreplaceable. Apparently that snap judgement was completely wrong. Like Cake's Comfort Eagle, DPP ended up being my favorite Nightwish album. Tarja who?

Medaeval Baebes - Mirabilis :: Talk about coming out of nowhere. I downloaded their free Christmas MP3 on Amazon and immediately proceeded to listen to every sample Amazon had available. Apparently they've had a few #1 albums in Britain, but they're new to me. Based on the samples I heard, I couldn't go wrong with any album so I just picked one.

So these are my 3 favorite CDs of 2009 and yet none were released in 2009.

milo bloom

I've loved that album ever since it came out, and it always breaks my heart to see so many copies in the bargain bin at the used CD/DVD stores.

AnonomusBob15

I've been listening to Bright Eye's Cassadaga a great deal, and though a huge fan, I didn't particularly care for it when it first came out. That and his 2008 s/t are my two most listened albums in Oberst's catalogue.

Dan1boy

I didn't care much for Bloc Party's 'Silent Alarm' at first since I was introduced to the band via their sophomore record...

Now, it's a bonafide classic and simply extraordinary...

House13

My favorite one is Down - NOLA. I bought that when I was 12 in 1995 and kind of forgot about it. I had a 200 disc cd player so it would come on sporadically when I had all disc shuffle on. However the first year I gave it an honest listen was almost 7 years later. Can't believe I missed out on such an amazing album for 7 years. Man I felt like an idiot once I actually listened to it.

asianxcore

Earthtone9- Arc'Tan'Gent

I remember buying this album around it's time of release while I was in Paris. Listened to it almost every day I was there. When I got back to the states I completely stopped listening to it.

Just recently, I popped it in to see if it still held up. Such a great band (R.I.P) and an amazing album. Easily their best. I am surprised that even though "Nu-Metal" was dominating their airwaves and the record stores, this band did what they did best and never altered their style.

al_bundy

Nine Inch Nails Broken and Pretty Hate Machine. had them for almost 20 years and haven't listened to them for years and years. imported them into itunes a week ago and listened to a few songs that came up in a playlist

Hiro11

New to me discoveries that I can't figure out how I missed:

Marshall Crenshaw I always liked what I heard from him, but I recently got a bunch of his stuff. Hugely underrated Buddy Holly-esque, new wave power pop.

New Radiant Storm King This band gets no press, but they've got a terrific and extremely consistant back catalog. Sort of a combination of Sebadoh and Television. Their 2008 release "Drinking in the Moonlight" was packed with great songs, how did I miss it?

The Mountain Goats I'd heard a few songs from them, but never really dug in. Another band with a huge and consistantly good catalog. They've got a unique world vewi and and interestingly twisted way of writing songs. Their 2000 release "Sweden" is particulalry good, IMO.

Stuff I hadn't listened to in a while and forgot how much I liked:

Crystal CastlesThe album has a bunch of great tracks that I've been listening to a lot recently. I found their debut single "Alice Practice" to be a screachy Alec Empire rip off, but I really like the rest of the album.

David Bowie's "Low" An obvious classic, but I can't stop listening to it. It's amazing that this was released in the late seventies...

Porcupine Tree's "Fear of a Blank Planet" What a great album. Long form songs that never get boring with funny and insightful lyrics. A concept album that doesn't seem pretentious and actually makes sense.

The Streets "A Grand Don't Come for Free" Hadn't listened to it for years. It's just as good as it was when it first came out. One of the best albums of the past decade, IMO.

Dr_Evil

Van Morrison - Astral Weeks This is one of those albums I had always heard was great, but never got around to really checking out. Started listening to it a couple weeks ago and have been playing it a lot since. Great stuff.

LiquidSky

Smashing Pumpkins Gish

I pulled this CD outta my collection and it's been a constant for about three weeks now. I love it!

LiquidSky

Hokeyboy

Nick Drake's Pink Moon -- I wasn't even aware of this album until about 6 or 7 months ago. Now I can't remember life without it. It's some of the most beautiful music I've ever heard, period.

Black Sabbath's Sabotage -- I've always been a Sabbath fan; they're my favorite metal band after Iron Maiden. But that really only included everything from the S/T album through Sabbath Bloody Sabbath and then skipping ahead to the Dio albums. That album cover on Sabotage is enough to make you run screaming into a wall. About a year and a half ago, I downloaded SABOTAGE and gave it a proper listen. I now switch between it and Master of Reality as my favorite Sabbath album of all time. Only one song on the album is meh ("Am I Going Insane? (Radio)"), the rest ranges from real good to bloody fucking phenomenal. It has all the crunch and power of the earlier material combined with the more dynamic production values of their later era. If you're a metal fan, you can't hear the opening bombast of the opening number ("Hole In The Sky") and not be hooked. And if you can, you can eat it, Harvey.

Two off the top of my head, anyhow.

cdollaz

A couple I've been playing recently:

Saga - World's Apart
Adam Ant - Friend Or Foe

Red Medicine

Until last summer I'd actually been dismissing Ween for no good reason at all (okay, it probably had to with the fact that 1) they're a major label band 2) they're known for dealing with genres that major label bands tend to play), but then I downloaded The Mollusk and was shocked at how good it was. Chocolate and Cheese is also a truly awesome album, and White Pepper isn't too shoddy either.

Quake1028

Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea

First listen - OMFG, what the hell is this crap?
Second listen - OMFG, why didn't I listen to this 12 years ago?

Both listens were on the same day. The time between and after plays was spent thinking about the album. Incredible. Giving it another few listens today.

al_bundy

we had someone at work bring in a PC that needed to have Windows reinstalled. it was for a friend. the computer had something like 50GB of music on there that we "backed up" first. Had to be ripped. all kinds of stuff I never got around to listening to for one reason or another. Velvet Underground, Dream Theater, Rage Against the Machine, NOFX, Smashing Pumkins, Weezer, Ramones and I can't remember what else.

Hiro11

What I love about that album is that the lyrics are incredibly bizarre and nonsensical, but Mangum sings them with such commitment and conviction that you really want to know what the hell he's so worked up about.

If you like it, check out Olivia Tremor Control's "Dusk at Cubist Castle" which, IMO, is the second best Elephant 6 release.

islandclaws

Dublin Death Patrol - I never knew that two of thrash metal's best lead singers, Chuck Billy (of Testament) and Zetro (of Exodus) shared vocal duties in this thrash metal supergroup. It's not a flawless album, but the metal is heavy and it hits hard. I wish I'd known about this earlier.

auto

I still can't get into Cassadega but I love the two albums he's released under his own name.