Oh, I could reach into the Internet and kiss him! (Yuck! Says Sir! Lol.)
It really is just…amazing when he responds. He doesn’t have to. He could tell me to bugger off. He could ignore me outright…but he rarely does.

And of course he replies with aspects I did not consider (the timing of the release, and where one is in one’s life at the time to appreciate it or it to have an impact upon you).

The year of Heathen’s release was 2002. I’m not sure what was happening for Jim then…Cry was released, the Minds were touring, perhaps aside from that, there were personal issues he was going through? 

I can’t say that 2002 was a great year for me. We had it tough that year (no real change from any other year in retrospect…but 2002 was, perhaps…the catalyst)…so maybe Heathen was a solace for me? It certainly did have aspects of that. The album just…takes me on a journey. There are all the emotive and visceral elements I enjoy from an album. Joyous songs, sexy songs!, tender songs, yearning songs, melancholic songs.

Who knows? Maybe I’ll have him take another listen…and he’ll hear something else? But perhaps not. What he likes is his prerogative after all…

(As you can see from the bit I left in from screengrabbing his reply, my post to him was rather more “long-winded” than it was here on the blog! Patience of a saint, this man, I tell you!)