Was NMA an "immediate" band for you?

[Brian-DC]

That is........ did you like them the first time you heard 'em?

For me, it definitely took a few listens.  There's a few bands that hit me right away and I can remember the exact moment I first heard them, where I was, what I was doing, the time of day etc.  But with these guys, it was being exposed to T&C over and over in College and it took some time.  Slowly they got to me...... and then it was all over.  Even with a new album from them it takes about a week.  I mean, I always like what I'm hearing but it's not an immediate "this is the greatest new album I've ever heard!!" kinda thing.  It needs to sink in but after a few days, I can't stop listening to it.  But that's what happens with a lot of my favorite bands and albums, at least the ones that stay with you forever.  The more you listen, the more it touches you and that's the sign of a GREAT album (or band). 

I've made a few compilations for friends and it seems the ones that have played the CD's a number times always like the band more than the ones that have only heard it once or twice.

I'm curious to hear if it was that way with you?  Was it immediate or did it take a few listens?

[Ragamuffin]

a bit of both for me. first NMA i heard and actually knew it was them rather that a tune in a club or pub, was Stupid Questions on the radio at the time it was a single. i immediately liked it and a week or two later i picked up T&C.
the album, however, was a different kettle of fish. i was working away at the time and stopping in B&B's so i dropped the album on to tape and listened to it most nights before bedtime. it took a week, but i slowly tuned into NMA.

i then started collecting the albums that had already been released and took to them perhaps over three or four listens.

with albums since T&C the 'getting to know you' phase has varied in length with SB and Carnival taking several listens to 'tune in'. impurity, TLOAHC and high not so many listens and eight and TIAGD were love at first listen.
(it always amazes me that eight is regarded by many to be not up to NMA's usual standard but i can remember lying on my bed with some late evening sunshine coming through the window and loving every note).  

[Brian-DC]

Eight was the album that took me the longest to get into.  Now I LOVE it.  It was worth the wait.

[ian mc donnell]

from the day i heard Great Expectations i was hooked,was sitting at home when my brother brought it home and put it on,he gave up on them i think around Impurity,myself carried on listen to this day

same as your self Brian i have found eight the hardest album to get into  ,but it carries one of my all time fav songs ,Some one like Jesus

[archway]

I was hooked from the first play of Vengeance, going to the Marquee gigs in the early `80s just cemented it totally 

[Erekosë]

I heard T&C album and thought I'd go see them live, which must have been the Impurity Tour - Brixton Academy?  I enjoyed that evening even though I got some shitty attitudes from a couple of the fans, being that I was only 16-17.  Got knocked about a bit, and I don't mean the usual stuff down the front 

That said, although I liked it and then went and got all the albums to that point it wasn't until much later that I become a massive fan - I even stopped listening to them for a few years - just went through an entirely different musical phase.  Most albums have struck home from first play, except like above Eight, which although I now like is still the least-listened to for me.

[mgb]

in response to the question

NO

i was into all indy and goth stuff at the time, i walked into a small record shop (remember them!) and white coats 12" was in the pound bin. 5 for a quid. id heard of them but thought no more of it. couldnt afford anything else so bought the 5. thouhgt, well theyre good. they had vagabonds 12" in the same place soon after, and i was hooked. that record is the most scratched, warped and unplayable disc in my collection now that i cant lend it out like i used to.

[Pumpkin]

Pretty much the same experience as you, Brian-DC.

However, I find the newer albums are much more difficult to get into. For me, TIAGD still only has one absolutely stunning track (North Star). I don't quite know why. As for 8, funny enough, I think it's the last great studio album from start to finish...hopefully not the last though...   

[vulturesquad]

Yes i was hooked straight away.

The 1st time i saw them was on "The Tube" early 84 , i'm sure everbody has seen that footage by now , they blew me away even though they only played a few songs they were a breath of fresh air . So much so that a week or so later they were down to support The Poison Girls at a local venue which i was going to anyway.
Well seeing NMA playing live before my very eyes was unbelievable and from that day onwards they have a very special place in my heart and always will have .
"Vengenace" got released April 84 so from seeing them on tv , then live , then the 1st lp all in 4 months was so exciting for me   

Long live New Model Army 

[Jibberish]

I'd barely even heard of NMA when a mate's older brother had a spare ticket to a gig in Birmingham in 1985 and I decided to go because he said they were a brilliant live band - looking in the gig list in the box-set book I'm thinking it must have been the Powerhouse gig on November 24.  I was utterly transfixed at Frightened and Young, Gifted & Skint that night, I'd never seen anything quite so intense or anything that felt so right to me. I bought the No Rest album on cassette the next day and fell in love

[Belza]

Liked them alot on first hearing, fell in love with them the first time I saw them live.  Been my favourite band ever since (26 years ago)

[Barty]

First song I heard was Heroes - in about 87 during my first year of A-level art. A wild character brought TGOC into the class room and for some reason that was the first track he played (we had a cool teacher who let us play records!). I loved it from the off. I didn't really follow it up though until my bro' bought T&C on its release. It blew me away and that was the start of my (healthy!) obsession with them. DJs Shaw and Spivey used to play NMA regularly on their radio show so I had already become familiar before T&C but as I say, that was the true starting point for me. I bought the back catalogue over the weeks and everything else thereafter immediately it came out. First gig - Leicester De Montfort in Oct 1990 on the Impurity Tour reinforced my love of the band tenfold. They had Before I Get Old as a walk on backing track, then kicked off with Whirlwind and chaos like I'd never seen erupted...mind blowing gig.

So, in answer, I immediately loved their sound but it took a couple of years before I became completely hooked - don't know why!

[Jerry]

I remember I bought "Bittersweet" just because I liked the name New Model Army.At the time the e.p. did'nt do a lot for me.Along came "Vengeance",coupled with "The Tube" and seeing them live for the first time-I can't remember in which order-and that was it.Hooked,line and sinker.

[Barty]

Talking of liking the name, Jerry, I used to see a chap in the mid eighties walking round our estate wearing the classic white NMA t-shirt. It really caught my eye and stuck in my mind as a striking piece of imagery. I liked the name too but didn't even know it was a band back then (and I'd certainly not heard of the original New Model Army either!)

[Stoney]

The first time I heard them was problaby 85, wasn't overly impressed. I was uber Thrash metal, hardcore n vrossover kid at that point and Justin's guitar didn't nail me to the foor like I was used to..... By 87 my then girlfreinds sister was really into them and had seen em 4 times in Bradford. The more I heard the more I liked. finally went to Gearges Hall September 87 and was hooked pretty much...... I had a couple of the ep's and tapes of Ghost n No rest........ within months I'd bought everything posdible via record fairs and independant shops. Then set about the weird, wired n wondeful next few years of gigs as often as possible.....
Had a lean period after Strange Brotherhood, and as above found 8 VERY weird to get into...... Liked Carnival much more, High more still and Today was instant. Possibly the best thing since Impurity to me.
I know Brotherhood gets a mixed response, but I knew half the songs or more before hand and really loved them......
The next one will, as Justin says every time, be very interesting and maybe the best yet.......

I still think Ghost, Thunder and Impurity are 3 of the best albums by anyone ever! But they;re all brilliant, just those 3 have more memories attatched I suppose.