same here, lately I've been playing the hell out this, along with the new one.

Actually it would Ziggy Stardust & The Spiders from Mars and Pearl Jam's No Code, Binaural and Riot Act. It took a few listens before I really got into those albums. After that there are several that I probably listened to when I was in a shitty mood and therefore dismissed too early.

Hey andyfest, been lurking for sometime. Thought that showing my love for the Jews' "The Natural Bridge" was as good a way to start posting as any.

Television "Marquee Moon"
Walkmen "Everyone Who Pretended...."
Van Dyke Parks "Song Cycle"
Robert Wyatt "Rock Bottom"
Unwound "Leaves Turn You Inside"
Sonic Youth "Murray Street"

I see many mentions here of albums that some of us now call our favorites. This seems to be a regular occurrence with me, that if the thing's a grower, it's much better in the end. Of course we've said this in one way or another many times. Billyg's mention of The Walkmen-Everone Who Pretended... just brought it to mind again.

i'll agree in that i've given it 3 listens, seperated by years between 'em, and still wonder what the fuss is about. good, atmospheric album but nothing to sing home about...

for newer entries, i'd throw in tvotr - desperate youth...

Doves - Some Cities (I was so in love w/ Lost Souls, so I was aggravated when I didn't love SC on first few listens)

EDIT: Just re-read "ultimate" and don't think I'd file this one in that category but it was a "grower" as was Ivy's "Realistic" and well...I can't recall much anymore (I'm losing my recall abilities...wwwaaahhhh) but the Doves was the most recent grower.

Biggest grower for me so far in 2006 is probably the new DBT album. It has just skyrocketed into my Top 10, after a particularly satisfying listen on the drive home from work yesterday. I'm really digging "Space City" a lot these days.

np: Archer Prewitt - "The Day to Day"

i've had the opposite arc (though i can still stand it)

for me it's Teenager of the Year.
it took a really long time for it to sink in, and i keep finding more things to love about it.

also, pretty much every gang starr album.

Brainiac - Hissing Prigs, Smack Bunny Baby
Wire - Pink Flag

i think the peeping tom album is going to be a grower after listening to it once.

its a little too much for me...hard to describe what i am exactly trying to say - but it just seems all over the place, forced, etc

mojo and we're not alone are my fav tunes right now on that disc...

also when listening to it - parts of it - all i can think of is a bad korn record....yeah yeah i know patton is copied by tons....but i just cant get that out of my head -> the it sounds like korn bit (and i know its the other way around)

same here. i was jus thinking tonight that this last album makes me wish that i was 16 and high again and hearing it for the first time. also, there's some bonus tracks (the thrilling of claire, driver surprise me, Lit up (remix), secret meeting (remix) available on their website, if you have the UPC code from the album, or if you've gotten it from barnes and noble's website:
http://www.beggars.com/features/thenational/

Plus that page has a reference to Katie, a princess

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Thought "What the fuck is this?" at first and now I love it.

Pixies - Doolittle (But pretty much anything) A friend insisted I listened to them, and let me borrow their greatest hits. Just didn't get it, until about a year later. For some unknown reason, I decided to download a few of their tracks and fell in love with 'em.

Tool's new album seems like a big grower for me, as well. Two listens in and it is getting better.

took me quite awhile as well......

Archers of Loaf - Vs the Greatest of all time

I second MBV's Loveless.

The one that made the biggest quantum leap from "almost being chunked out of my car window" to "top 10 of all time" was Portishead's self titled. When I first bought it 8 years ago, I was borderline repulsed. Now, I can't live without it.

U2 - Achtung Baby

A more recent example would be NIN's With Teeth.

Pretty much all my favourite albums are growers, and a lot have been mentioned already like OK Computer and Kid A, TVOTR, Walkmen

Also Art of Fighting and the first 2 Augie March albums, and Sleater-Kinney - The Woods took ages to hit me after initially being a bit perplexed by the production

For me at least, if I like something straight off it has a harder time holding my attention 6 months down the track

same here.

and Heartless Bastards - Stairs and Elevators

yeah it does seem all over the place, not sure about forced though. maybe my expectations were just a tad too high for it.

same case with me.

The best example for me is probably Joy Division - Closer, which was a difficult nut to crack back when. Now it's Top 10.
Next up is Wire - 154, which was my intro to Wire back in '79 or '80, didn't really know what to make of it at first, in light of the other stuff I was into, but I persisted, and so did the album; into the deepest recesses of my brain to become perhaps the most important album of my youth.
P.J. Harvey - Dry, did not like it at all at first, now it's my favorite album by one of my favorite artists.
Grandaddy - The Sophtware Slump took some work
Portishead - Dummy
Dylan's - Time Out of Mind, sounded murky and boring at first.
Public Image Limited - Second Edition (Metal Box)
Pere Ubu - The Modern Dance

I still haven't been able to GET Loveless, guess I need to find a dealer with better stuff.