When I first bought These Days back in 1995 I loved it, even to the point of having (It's Hard) Letting You Go playing when I broke up with my girlfriend of 2 years!! Anyway, over the years I played it less and less and in my mind I didn't like it as much as SWW, NJ and KTF - it got to the point that I have hardly played it all in the last few years.

I can't explain why really - probably had an early mid-life crisis and looked at everything from the 80s (not that KTF is 80s) with that nostalgic glow that one does! In recent years I would play Bounce (criminally under-rated), Have A Nice Day (massively over-rated by me in the past, probably because of Last Man Standing) and more recently Lost Highway, but still no These Days. It seemed like there was a mental block letting me enjoy it, or even wanting to enjoy it.

Anyway, on the way to work this morning the heavens opened and I was stuck in traffic with almost zero visibility so I decided to put These Days on. WOW, just bloody wow! How can I have been such a plank for so many years??? It was like listening to a new album, and a sensational one at that. All the love I had for These Days in 1995 came flooding back and I kicked myself for drepriving my ears of these phenomenal album.

I know this is nothing new to most in here but as I crept down the motorway I heard song after song of exceptional quality, and Jons' voice just blew me away - the power in Something To Believe In is amazing. Listening to the album made me remember how much I love the aforementioned (It's Hard) Letting You Go, These Days, Lie To Me and the fantastic My Guitar Lies Bleeding in My Arms. The stories being told, the emotion being shown and the scintillating sound - I was blown away, to put it mildly.

If That's What It Takes was playing when I parked up and I can't wait for the day to end so I can listen again on the way home.