Pretty simple. Name an album you bought a while ago (NOT in 2008) and had cast it aside after a few listens without having much impact. Until...

you dug back into your collection this year and found that hidden gem (for you).

Coldplay - A Rush of Blood to the Head
Yeah, this one has gotten plenty of critical praise, but I had never noticed the beauty of this album, especially after the first five songs. Unequivocally my favorite Coldplay album now.

The Hold Steady - Boys and Girls in America
I didn't get the hype this band got. After sitting in my collection for two years I played it again and was reminded about what made the band good. Just in time for Stay Positive...

Pilate - Caught by the Window
Certainly a pretty album, but it seemed to lack heft. I went back and noticed how great the back half was, even compared to the stellar first half.

Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand
I always thought that this was the weaker of their two albums, "Take Me Out" and "Dark of the Matinee" notwithstanding. Got back into it this year. Here's hoping Tonight is just as good.

British Sea Power - The Decline of British Sea Power
Open Season seemed like the more well-rounded of their two albums (before Do You Like Rock Music? came out). This one had fantastic songs like "Carrion" and "Blackout" but I came to appreciate the whole album this year.

Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?
Wow, don't know what I was thinking when I first bought it. What amazing songs! The juxtaposition of the happy music with Kevin Barnes' anger and bitterness was a real draw. I got so into it I decided to delve into their back catalog and buy Coquelicot Asleep in the Poppies (at my friend's urging). I still haven't recovered from that mistake of a purchase.

The Strokes - First Impressions of Earth
Ha! Just kidding. I still don't get this one.

I really hate to do this, but this is really an identical thread to the "Best 'New to You' in 2008," so I'm gonna have to lock it. Feel free to copy and past your post and put it in that thread, Elitist.

EDIT: OK, I'm reopening the thread and moving it to the general music discussion forum.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: RavingLunatic,

I did recently rediscover and love even more some 2007 albums: namely, Lucky Soul's "The Great Unwanted" and Okkervil River's "The Stage Names." I thought both were good before, but now I'm inseparable from them.

Definitely Fleet Foxes. I had just moved to St. Louis, and that album will forever be associated with apartment shopping and my subsequent move into the historic Soulard neighborhood.

Hot Chip's album also has a special place. I bought it in New Mexico on vacation, which in hindsight seems fitting considering the turquoise infused album cover.

For some reason I missed Sufjan Stevens' Illinois in 2005 and failed to buy it until a few months ago. I ashamed that I haven't discovered it until 2008. This is one of the most captivating records I've ever experienced...and yes, it is an "experience." There are no standouts on this album, because every song is as epic and breathtaking as the last one. "John Wayne Gacy Jr." makes me weep uncontrollably.

I'm glad you love Illinois. I don't think that album could every be too popular. I recently introduced a young friend of mine to it, and he has gone a little Sufjan crazy now.

But I think the real topic of the thread is albums that didn't interest you at first, but a revisit sometime later showed them in a much different light. You know, I think we don't really do this often enough. At least I don't, I guess. I think we are so imbedded in the music world that we are always behind in listening to new albums, we can return often to the growing stack of albums we have found that we love and want to hear again, but I would rather find something new before I start digging for something I remember not really likeing.

However, I do have a few examples.

I love Cardigans, but I completely disregarded their early work assuming it was too pop. I own it, and I know I listened to it, but I only ever listen to their song from Gran Turismo on. But I was really craving new Cardigans the other day, and discovered their "Greatest Hits" album listed online. I noticed a few songs that I didn't recognize off their early albums, so I started them up, and I was shocked. They were amazing. "Been It" knocked me out of my chair. So I let the disk keep going and found the rest of the album to be equally amazing. It's like I never heard it before.

Also, I had lost Ted Leo's Biomusicology a few days after I bought it. I had maybe heard it all the way through once, and then just listened to the first song a few more times, then it disapeared. But I didn't care much, because it wasn't too interesting. So a few months ago I'm digging through my old CD cases and I find Ted Leo misplaced in a New Amsterdams case. I pop it in to my car stereo on the way the next day and I'm completely floored. Maybe I didn't have the volume up high enough the first time. It was on repeat for a long time after that.

In other news, I dug out a lot of my old CDs from high school and early college, and have been ripping them to MP3s and listening to them at work. I get way excited about them because I haven't heard them in years, and they "Rock Hard", and I find I've just been skipping through them rather disapointed. Jimmy Eats World isn't as good as I remember them being... I feel embarrassed about being so excited about some of these things in front of people.

Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
Wish I didn't wait for the U.S. release.