One of the greatest pleasures I have in life, is putting on a new CD from an artist I've never heard before and having to play that CD over and over again because is so good. I first had that experience as a 15 year old with "Once Upon a Time" by Siouxsie and the Banshees. What hit me at the time was how good all the songs were. When I listen to the album today the songs still sound fresh and if anything, age has made them better. But this is not about discoveries, that will have to wait for another blog. This is about re-discoveries.
The first music rediscovery I had was REM. When REM burst onto the scene with their first album "Murmer", it wasn't an immediate leap into superstardom, but a direct leap into the critics good books and alternative and student radio. It rapidly became THE album and "Radio Free Europe" became a staple on our local student radio station Radio U. So it was with much excitement that I got the album but to my huge disappointment, I couldn't get past the first song. I ended up trading the album a few weeks later. For about two years I ignored REM until "Life's Rich Pageant" was released. When I put it on and heard the first chords of "Begin the Begin", I knew I was hooked. From there I was a faithful follower and would trot down to the record shop for REM's annual release and also I was able to go back to the previous albums. And I can genuinely say that I was a fan before they hit the big-time.
Sometimes a rediscovery can be a favourite that you have left behind. I had the early Pearl Jam albums but lost a bit of interest after Vitology. However, when it came time to go and see Pearl Jam play at AMI Stadium, I knew I had better get re-schooled fast. I got the last two albums and found I still liked this stuff. The rage was gone and they sounded more workmanlike, but I found I still liked it and those albums got a workout on my iPod for quite some time.
One kind of rediscovery can be when you're finally worn down by the positive press of an artist or by, God forbid, peer pressure, and you have to relent. I had a friend who was a disciple of Bruce Springsteen at the time when we were all into Joy Division, The Cure and punk in general. He just loved Bruce. Bruce could do no wrong and just as we couldn't understand his devotion, he couldn't understand our ignorance. When "Born in the USA" came out, despite knowing that it wasn't the jingoistic, flag waving statement that Ronald Reagan wanted it to be, I couldn't bring myself to commit to Bruce. What probably didn't help was my mother liked it and for a teenage boy that is not cool. It took until Bruce's September 11th album, "The Rising", before I relented. I really liked it and it wasn't too long before I was trawling the best of Bruce's back catalogue via Allmusic.com, to get the Best of Bruce. The line on "Thunder Road", "Like a vision she dances across porch as the radio plays" is a favourite line from any song. Don't know why, just sounds like something special ordinary people might notice about someone. I laugh when I think of a character on The Sopranos apologising for being late because "The highways clogged with broken heroes on a last chance power drive". More so, in two weeks, I look forward to "Born to Run" playing on the car stereo as we come down the road to the Kaikoura Coast.
My most recent rediscovery is similar to my rediscovery of Bruce except I never remember anyone when I was a teenager complaining about Neil Young. I liked what I had heard of Neil Young without the need to race out and get any of his albums, but it took another artists interpretation of "Cinnamon Girl" that turned my attention. I started to pick my way through selected albums in his back catalogue, again with the help of allmusic.com, and I found that I was back in this sweet spot of playing albums over and over again. I know four albums well now and have some more on order as we are a bit short of CD shops in Christchurch right now.
As with all rediscoveries, it's coupled with the realisation that the artist has quite an extensive back catalogue and even though Bruce Springsteen's back catalogue is pretty daunting, it's nothing compared to Neil Young's encyclopaedic back catalogue. Oh well, it will keep me busy for quite sometime.
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