Anyone listen to entire albums?


I assume the answer is yes since many of you run vinyl rigs, but just wondering how many around here listen to entire albums at a sitting?  In the age of instant gratification and playlists I seem to be, recently, gravitating to listening through entire albums.  I don’t have vinyl and only stream or play from a network drive so it’s easy for me to bounce around from song to song, artist to artist.  Maybe it’s a nostalgia thing but I enjoy hearing a record in it’s entirely the way the artist recorded it.  I’ve flirted with the idea of vinyl for the very reason that it seems to be a format that lends itself to listening through an entire album in one sitting.  I seem to be less inclined to make that move though now that I’ve been doing the album thing via streaming. 

128x128jastralfu

Depends on the album, and the quality of the recording.

Current activity can be a factor with vinyl vs streaming.  Dismounting off the floaty thing at the deep end of the pool, finding someone to hold your drink, drying off completely, navigating guests and other objects to get into the house, and walking through several spaces in flip flops to get to the music room just to lift the tonearm at the end of the album is not convenient.

Only records and almost always completely through unless listening time is over or there is a song I can't stand -  luckily very few out of about 350 records. Double albums are the only potential exception. If I have had enough for a while, I will go through the other rotations and start back with the second record for that rotation. I try to listen to all equally to the degree I can - it's OCD trying not to waste any of them. I am not a collector.

Interestingly enough, once in a while I will hear a song I really like while driving listening to Sirius XM and I'll buy the record if it is available, just for the one song. Only once was I not happy with the entire record, but I liked the one song so much it's OK. Example - Paul Simon - One Trick Pony is a great song, but I only listen to the side that song is on - I think the other side stinks - no offense Paul. But One Trick Pony is a great song - not a great album. I think the song is about Art Garfunkel even though I think it is also a movie soundtrack.

 

Mostly, yes. Entire CDs all the way through. Though after long listening sessions I’ll usually finish up with a few single selections to end in the proper mood before heading to bed.

It really depends. First of all, I don’t listen to music as an ambient background noise while I am doing something else. Either I am listening to music or the hifi is shut off. When I do listen to music, I want to hear the whole piece, or a logical equence of pieces. Most classical and jazz albums are fairly well organized for a satisfying sequential listen through the whole thing. Pop albums, which to me includes just about everything else, can sometimes be brilliantly organized (Joni Mitchel "Blue", Ziggy Stardust, OK Computer) but many have no narrative sensibility and can contain "clunkers". I still tend to listen to the whole album, but I’ll get cranky if it starts to bore me or if I have to listen to a track that sucks. For that reason, I don’t listen to much pop music.