Music That You'd Wanted To Hear For Ages And Then You Finally Did Hear And It Was Just As Good As You Thought It Was Going To Be YEAH

Disco Inferno. Just now. Happy, Ned?

Yes, my friend. If you were listening to the EPs, I should note, there's plenty of thump as well.

George Harrasment's _Masai Sleepwalking_, which I paid more for than I'd ever paid for a record before. It was worth it.

Marva Whitney's _Live and Lowdown at the Apollo_, which I paid more for than I've ever paid for a record before or since. It was also worth it.

The Shins - "Oh Inverted World." Got this last week - now one of my favourite albums of last year. Late again.

well, i was quite late in hearing The Streets, and i like that. been on audiogalaxy at parents so also, Bump'n'Flex's Promises is really good. but over a really long time? i'm not so sure

AR Kane - 69. Five years, but it was just as great as I'd imagined.

Magazine (beyond 'Shot by Both Sides'). I got a free copy of the box set and it is just fantastic, especially the third disc.

No, you're not mental after all.

Phew. Thinking about this question, it describes quite a rare phenomenon for me. I'm not sure if this is 'cause I don't buy records without having heard a bit of them first very often, or whether it's just that life is one big series of anticlimaxes.

Another answer - Timi Yuro. Actually she was much better than I'd even hoped.

Neutral Milk Hotel - In The Aeroplane Over The Sea. The debut was a major letdown.

Oh - Pigmeat Markham's "Here Comes The Judge" as I've just been reminded by FilePile.

The Millenium/Sagittarius, various Joe Meek productions, Neu.

rodney allen 'happysad'

I agree with RickyT. AR Kane's "69" is just as fantastic as I was led to believe.

the original version of the go go's 'our lips are sealed'.

and the full length version of flock of seagulls wishing (if i had a photograph of you). an eight minute orgasm of a song.

Another big shout for "69", as great as Simon R promised. Ditto for Millennium / Sagittarius LPs - and hurrah for Poptones for issuing the second Sagittarius LP - Moog goes country. I like it!

I had always pulled myself away from getting the later Talk Talk albums for some reason - thought they'd be too 'far out' but when I did finally purchase "Spirit of Eden" I was blown away by it - and realised how much of a debt Bark Psychosis owed them. And then when I picked up "Laughing stock" and "Mark Hollis" within a day of each other for £4 each I was in heaven.

Which brings me to another point, which may be worth starting another thread for. I picked up "LS" and "MH" at a point in my life when I'd gone effectively blind - congenital cataracts in my eyes got to the point where I could no longer see through them, so I had to stop working, sit in darkened rooms and listen to either music or talking books until I got the cataracts removed. And "LS" and "MH" fitted my circumstances perfectly. It was all I would listen to at the time and now whenever I listen to either I'm back in the darkness of my bedroom feeling very scared about my future, so I don't tend to listen to them as much as "SOE". I suppose 'first listens' of a record can really affect you - I'd say that half my collection is 'first memories'. My first listen to "LS" was walking down to the chip shop in the rain, playing that second song with all the noisy guitars on my walkman and everyone looking at me funny in the shop because I didn't want to stop it.

I only thought about this the other day as I picked up my second copy of Medicine's first LP - the first was destroyed by an irate girlfriend a few years back - and it took me straight back to buying it in '92 and all the emotions surrounding me then which I shan't go into. Sorry I've drifted but I just thought I'd say....

Beach Boys' "Smile" I thought it was touted simply for its "lost" status. But it really is impressive. "Heroes and Villians" still kills me.

SMiLE, and Liu Hongjun's Pipes of the Minority Peoples.

Hey, wow, I'm listening to John Fahey for the first time right now, and, well, hey, wow.

In a second I'm going to go home where someone left me Rolling Stones records. I have actually never actually listened to a Rolling Stones record. I'm a bit scared I might like it.

I have actually never actually listened to a Rolling Stones record. WHAT???
Nitsuh, surely you jest. And here you were my favorite rock critic. If it's one of their "classic" ones (there's a lot, you know their names), you're gonna love them. I mean, it's the Stones for crissakes.

Well, I've heard a number of their songs, but never a full album myself. One day I might listen to that copy of Exile on Main Street I have sitting around after...oh...seven years?

Hey, wow, I'm listening to John Fahey for the first time right now, and, well, hey, wow.

which one?

John Cage. I need to buy some of it. It's been taken me years to give in. I have read a lot about him but never really listened to his music. Until now.

Dream Syndicate: The Days of Wine and Roses
Bought it a couple of weeks ago. It is even better than I thought it would be. I love the guitar sound. A band who built something new from the hard heritage of the Velvets. The title alone is worth the purchase.

The Birthday Party. in college radio a while back I complained over the phone to the 4AD rep that you couldn't find their discs in the U.S., and he mailed me copies of all of them. Just as good as I'd imagined. Also: Big Black.

Handsome Boy Modeling School "So . . . How's Your Girl?" I'm several years behind.

Now, expressly to torture Ned, I will now disclose that I am saving my vinyl copy of "Loveless" for a rainy day. ;)