A long time ago, I saw the Toadies open up for White Zombie. I hadn't heard them before, and they impressed the shit out of me with their strange rhythm songs. I bought Rubberneck and rocked out to “Possum Kingdom” and “I Come From The Water”. At some point, I sold the CD, and haven't thought much about since other than when I hear Possum Kingdom occasionally in a bar.
A week or so ago, Ben & I were trying to come up with songs for Jabberwocky to cover, and suggested this song, “Tyler”. I didn't recognize the name, and upon listening to it, I thought it was kind of a generic rock song (I had been expecting some kind of cool time signature, it being the Toadies and all), and I didn't remember ever hearing the song at all, even though it was on Rubberneck, which I once owned.
After listening to this song a dozen times or so, to familiarize myself with it, I've realized that is fully RAWKS. Quite possibly a better song that 'Possum Kingdom' (most certainly a better song that 'I Come From The Water').
This made me realize that I never really gave the album the thorough honest listen it deserved, and I fully intend on purchasing another copy at some point.
The system of albums is an interesting one, because you can listen to an album entirely 10 times, and still not be all that familiar with a lot of songs, because, invariably, you will end up being distracted at some point in the middle of the album, and the music will become background. No doubt this is part of the whole TV-stole-my-attention-span syndrome.
I've made a couple of interesting compilations lately that have made me appreciate songs on their own. I didn't really put a lot of thought into any of the songs I was picking, other than to pick songs by artists I like, but whose albums I don't own, and whose songs I haven't heard in a long time. It's really fun to listen to these compilations in my car and think to myself, “Damn! The Replicants' version of “Destination Unknown” is AWESOME!”