Yeah, seeing them live made me appreciate them more. It probably also moved the disc from a top 20 to a top 10, easy.

I had another epiphany with this album last night. It moved from 3 back to 1.

Yeah, I feel like I need to buy some weed and listen to this album with headphones.

When I first bought Desperate Youths 2 years ago, I downright hated it. The noise and abrasion was just not something I was used to at all. But I kept hearing my friends rant and rave about the album, so I gave it chance after chance. After about ten listens, "Staring at the Sun" and "Dreams" finally hit me like a ton of bricks, and I started delving deeper into the album. It went from below average to above average. Then it became really good. Then exceptional. Gradually, I listened to it more and more until it became my favorite album of the year by a country mile.

Now they've done exactly the same thing again with me. I liked "Wolf Like Me" and "I Was a Lover" a ton, but I wasn't crazy about the rest of the album. But I kept listening. After about 50 listens or so, the rest of the album started to really sink in. Now the textural depth and sonic cacophony of it keep me coming back for more, and I always find something new in the mix I never heard before. I've grown used to their rough-hewn melody structure, to the point where it's become something I crave.

TV on the Radio has been perhaps the most rewarding band in my music listening history in terms of sticking with a pair of records I really wasn't sure about at all.

This one of the only albums I have from this year that continually gets better with each listen. There are at least four songs on it that I like far more now then I initially did. It will probably be in the top five for me.

I'm happy I'm not the only one who finds this record to be over-rated; it's got some really strong moments, all in the first half, but besides that it just kind of misses.

so, all of you TVOTR lovers who are placing this in your top 5: what stands out for you in the second half of the record? what are folks like me allegedly missing?

I think "Tonight" is a gorgeous ballad.

Man, I don't know what to tell you. I love "A Method", "Let the Devil In" and "Dirtywhirl" so much

i should probably give this a few more listens before the end of the year. it took me many listens on "desperate" for it to crack my top 20.

Dirtywhirl is a great song, it might be my favorite track off the album right now. Blues from Down Here and Wash the Day are good too.

This album never totally won me over. A few songs stood out at first ("A Method", "Dirtywhirl"), and the rest just sort of blended together. Then I started to get into "Wolf Like Me" while the previous two started to get a little tiresome. As the last few songs on the album finally started to grow on me, I started getting tired of the rest of it. At one time or another, I've liked pretty much every song on the album, but never the whole thing.

It's still hovering around my top 20, but I doubt my opinion of it will improve.

Nice post Spade, this is what I envisioned "Year In Review" to be.

Is anybody unsure about the fact that they're listening to an album called Return to Cookie Mountain?

So I've listened to this album a few more times since my last post, I seriously underrated this one.

What screwed me up is that I had it downloaded, and the tracklisting was messed up. It had Wolf Like Me #1 and I Was a Lover #2, so by the time those two songs were over, my interest wandered.

After listening to the CD, I was able to pay attention to the tracks inbetween and man are they good. I like this more than their first album.

The sequence of the leak and the retail version definitely makes a difference for me, though I did still like the leak a lot.

"Wolf Like Me" is among my top singles of the year, but this record has lost some luster for me. Still hanging in the top 20, but barely and there's still a lot of stuff I have to get to.

Was disappointed in this first listen... and it got worse. Barely in my top 50... Cluttered sound to no good purpose. I.e cluttered not dense.

But reading this thread will make me go back and listen in different ways amd give it another try.

Thanks BeeOK for these year end threads...

well now i like it
everything but the bonus tracks
plus
what the fuck is the point of bonus tracks these days?

The bonus tracks do kind of hurt this one. I never listened to it until I bought the US release, and it always felt like it was way too long.

I haven't listened to the bonus tracks, I always turn the album off after Wash the Day. I've kinda been saving them for '07 so they don't hurt the actual album.

damn...i love that one bonus track...the one that sounds heavily influenced by fela kuti with the horns....blanking on the name of it now.

the other 2 do suck though.

Bonus tracks are all about trying to get people to buy the album's domestic release because most people already either have the main album via download or as an import.

Some people just don't like good music.