I do that sometimes. My meager setup here is a Bose wave radio and iTunes that runs all day so I have a lot of long playlists or sometimes just start a band at the beginning of their discography and let it run. It’s fun.
I realized recently that the whole playlist/shuffle habit had taken me out of listening to full albums and I am working to remedy that.
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The Cure’s “Trilogy” concert film is them performing three albums in track order spanning nearly two decades. That must’ve been an epic event to attend. The albums in question are “Pornography”, “Disintegration” and “Bloodflowers”. You can definitely see the transition over time from being angry about how fucked everything is to being reflective about how fucked everything is.
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That’s one of the benefits of vinyl. It’s cathartic that way.
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I can’t shuffle when I’m listening to just one band, like I wouldn’t shuffle Rush or the Beatles, but if I have a prog playlist or something and Rush is on it I can shuffle. I overall prefer to listen to albums when actively listening (like on headphones doing yardwork) but I don’t mind a general playlist on shuffle if I’m working, it’s more like listening to the radio (I’m particularly fond of my yacht rock playlist while working)…
I’ve never understood why digital music doesn’t have an “album mode”, where it plays the album not only in the same order as if it was following a groove, but also with the same gaps (or lack thereof) between tracks. With some albums, this was a deliberate part of the experience, with some tracks flowing directly into the next of some with intentionally set gaps.
Bonus: add the noise of the needle lifting and retracting at the end of a side.
You could always burn digital recordings of your records playing, complete with all of the comforting sounds you describe.
Apple Music/iTunes is like that, pauses between songs, plays them in the correct order, etc, unless I’m misunderstanding what you mean
Needledrops are a big deal in some circles (the Steve Hoffman music forums in particular).
I left all my vinyl behind in England 30 years ago.
Oh, I know it does that. But, from my recollection of when I used to listen to music that way (which is a long time ago now), when you played the whole album unshuffled, it would play them as a series of distinct tracks. 99% of the time, that’s not a problem.
Some of the time though, like Ziggy Stardust into Suffragette City or most of the tracks on ELO’s Out of the Blue, there’s no gap between tracks but one appears on digital playback. Basically, I’ saying there should be an album setting where the side of the album is played as one long track as it would be heard if played on a turntable.
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Ah, got it, thanks.
I like both. My favorite band, Cafe Tacuba, their records are all quite different, and they always have surprising musical moments, and they always include songs that I don’t get at first. Sometimes I never do, and that’s ok. I know they come into recording a 12 or 15 song album with 30+ songs, so I know that each song has a specific purpose, and it’s my job to figure out what that might be. A lot of the time I come around to some of these songs, sometimes I never do. But they are very adventurous musically, they grow and change and mutate in some fairly fundamental ways, and I like it.
I also appreciate what I’ll call consistency. Another of my favorite bands, coincidentally also a group of Latinos, the Argentinian El Mato a un Polizia Motorizado, well, they basically keep making the same record again and again, and that’s fine with me. They definitely get better musically and sonically, but it’s basically just the same general idea. It’s better, usually, but it’s the same. Which works for me because I like it.
I saw those guys ten years ago in someone’s back yard in Austin with about 30 other idiots. Now they sell out arenas all over Latin America.
I’m listening to Monster right now, by the way. It’s not as bad as I remember it being. I used to think I hated it, now I think it’s just sort of homogeneous and not very dynamic. I have Accelerate cued up next. We’ll see how that goes.
Hearing Bungalow Bill end without getting While My Guitar Gently Weeps starting immediately after it’s always disappointing.
Songs from The Medley being broken up are also weird. Particularly Mean Mr Mustard without Polythene Pam.
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El Mato a un Polizia Motorizado is playing with Interpol at Bayou City Music Center in May.
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Nice. I had no idea. No way, they’re playing here, too, holy shit. Nice one, thanks.
My boys the Tacubos are touring this summer with Caifanes, a hugely popular Mexican band that I hate. I think they represent about 80% of what is usually terrible about Spanish language rock. CT is opening for these no talent ass clowns, so I’ll probably just try to snag a low cost ticket day of show see my guys and get the hell out of there as soon as possible. Otherwise I’ll just have to miss it. Lastima, pues, pero bueno.
So if you want to see CT and don’t mind Caifanes or if for some reason you’re a weirdo and like Caifanes, that package is coming to a neckoplex near you soon.
Cafe Tacubos (with Caifanes, who I agree are crap) are at the Woodlands Pavilion in June. I believe I’ll wait for an indoor venue.
When they play here I’m going to see if I can buy a ticket super cheap the day of the show. I paid $20 to see Beck a few months ago and was on the floor. I could have paid $4 to sit up in the rafters. But I’m not about to pay $200 to see my guys play for 45 minutes in a seated venue. If I were in Houston I might buy a lawn ticket, I don’t know. I hate Caifanes so much and resent this tour so much that it clouds my judgement.
But when tickets go on sale tomorrow I am 100% going to buy tickets to this Interpol / El Mato show. Hell, I’m half a mind to drive down to Phoenix, too. It’s closer than Buenos Aires. Or Madrid, where I last saw them. Maybe Interpol will be worthwhile, who knows.
Thanks again for the heads up. In true Latino fashion the El Mato boys haven’t said anything about these shows they’re playing on any of their networks. I guess they like to sneak up on people.
Trilogy - Disintegration is my favorite Cure. And the Cure is my favorite group.
Homesick arrests me.
Some people would say that’s a character flaw. But one that can be corrected.
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