Break in period for albums.?

I have that experience often. A "so-so" reaction to the mood of the music, what it is trying to "be" or convey to the listener, etc. is either because I don't understand it (or "feel" it) at first and may take some repeated listening for me to appreciate its own (>possible<) special qualities. Some of my favorite recordings were one's that grew on me I think. It's exciting to me when I find something that I feel compelled to give a chance and then be rewarded later on.

I had that experience with Opeth's album Damnation. Somehow it flew right by head and I didn't give it a big chance the first time. Then I read some glowing reviews and tried it again. They are now one of my favorite bands.

I have noted that the particular mood that I am in significantly effects how and what I hear in music, however, other factors like ambient temperature, humidity, barometric pressure and air ionisation can have profound effects on one's involvement and how well a recording sounds. Even the time of day will make a difference in how a recording sounds. For myself, I find that listening to music early in the morning or late in the evening is best.

This assumes that one listens to music when sober. Alcohol and other drugs will dramatically change how and what we perceive music to be. At my age, a couple of glasses of wine can take the harshness out of a lot of recordings and move one to a mellower genre of music.

For background music, I normally resort to FM radio or digital TV radio if I want something just to raise the noise level in the house and keep me company. I tend not to play any of the recordings that I truly enjoy while doing household chores as I feel compelled to continually sit down and listen. I can get easily distracted .

As far as how much I will play a recording, well some recordings are timeless and I have no problem listening to them over and over again without tiring. That's why they are my favourites.

I don't buy software, whether digital or analogue just to fill up shelves. Space here is already at a premium. I buy music to listen to. So my collection might not be as extensive as others but what I have I truly enjoy.

These days I am more concerned about lifeless recordings that are engineered to sound good on low-end systems. Springsteen's 2007 Grammy winner comes to mind. A terribly hollow and compressed recording that music enthusiasts do not deserve.

Well, that's my 2c worth.

Rgds,

Jan

Great post topic. I am aligned with most of you here and thus break music appreciation into two camps: (1) People who are only interested in music (but profess to like music) as a background soundtrack to their lives. These are those for whom CDs and FM stations are overly compressed-- they get a nice, even sound level from their car radio or portable CD player; (2) People who love listening to music. I fall into this hole-- I will usually play any new or unfamiliar piece as background, often on used CD or 50-cent thrift store LP. If it draws me in, I will progress through more involved sittings with more resolving systems (I have a few systems in different rooms with different purposes). When I get to Jan's stage, with a good glass of cab or zin or merlot in hand, sitting in my one-listener-only chair, I will have bought an original pressing (mono if it came out this way) as well as a MoFi or 180g or 200g, and given the CD version away to friends for their own discovery journeys.