We all love making our lists of "Best ever" albums and whatnot.
But how often do you actually listen to the records that make your list?

We all own so many CDs and are perpetually looking for the next new musical thrill – face it we're aural sluts. (At least Tania can admit it). That, I'm guessing that most of us don't actually put on Pet Sounds, Pink Flag, London Calling, or (insert your favorite here) very much.

So, how about it?
How often do you listen to your "All-Time Top 10"?

np: Kinks - Something Else (a perpetual resident of my Top 5, first listen in months)

Lately there's been too much new stuff to wade through, but whenever there's a glut I fall back to the classics. I listen to In The Aeroplane Over The Sea at least once a week.

I probably listen to Exile once a week, but I agree the all-times get shorted sometimes in favour of properly taking in the new stuff. Only so many hours in a day.

Stone Roses - Stone Roses at least once a month.

This kind of sums it up.

I listen to my all-time favorite album, New Day Rising, multiple times per week, but I can also see where you're coming from. Many of my "favorite albums" have been kind of worn out from overlistening at some point in my life, so they don't get as much play as they used to. Still, I play them at least once every once and a while. A few of them in particular (The already-mentioned New Day Rising, London Calling, etc.) get frequent play.

I listened to Pink Flag on my birthday as well as a few other favorites. Most of that stuff I save for special occasions just so I don't get tired of it. There's nothing I would listen to even as often as once a month, but my "All Time" favorites do generally get more play than other stuff. I just know that when I do put them on, I remember why I love music.

edit: I'm the sort of person who doesn't even like to listen to the same song twice in one day. I like to vary things constantly, and I never put anything on "repeat".

i thought of this very subject as i put on "pet sounds" for the first time in a while.

a frew favorites i listen to the most:

YHF
Exile on Mainstreet
Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain
Teenager of the Year
Clouds Taste Metalic
Abbey Road
Otis Redding box set (does that count?)

Favorites i listen to the Least:

Bitches Brew
American Beauty
Houses of the Holly

I listen to Exile a good bit, but just cos I drive so much (back and forth to ATL every weekend) and it's such a great album to cruise to. My iPod crapped out again recently, so I am back to having shitty South Alabama Hate Radio, 1 mix tape of Band/Elvis/Bruce/Willie Nelson and one mix tape of Stones favorites and 3 Dead tapes, one of which is veddy boring.

i listen to 36 chambers a whole lot.

1. Dinosaur Jr. - Where You Been
I go through a phase yearly in which I listen to this CD several times in a one weeks span. Other than that, I pull it out here and there and listen to select tracks fairly frequently.

2. Radiohead - OK Computer
I don't listen to this as much now as I used to but still pull it out enough so I don't forget how brilliant it is.

3. Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
Go through phases where I listen to a lot of Wilco and this one gets played a lot.

4. U2 - Achtung Baby
Don't listen to this much at all anymore. Partly because I'm sick of U2 all together and partly because I've heard it so many times over the last 15 years.

5. Old 97s - Too Far To Care
Listen to select tracks with some frequency and will pull the album out several times a year overall.

My 6-10 change a lot and I don't really want to think of what they would be at the moment.

As a general rule, I don't listen to these albums all that much these days because I played them so much when I first got them. They are all ones I still go back to from time to time and still think are great. That's what makes them my top 5.

I've discussed this before and taken a few shots because I believe that there is a certain point that your music collection becomes so overwhelming that you can't enjoy it. A mad dash to obtain and listen to as much music as possible...moving from one CD to another in a flash is not my idea of being a music lover

And I'm guilty of this too, BUT I did something about it 2 years ago when I sold a huge amount of stuff. I find that I enjoy my music much more now and am able to listen to my favorites more often.

Steve

i really haven't listened to my all-time album hits in a while. i think i listened to "ok computer" and "kid a" to find soundtrack music for a play (that won't happen now until 2007). otherwise, i'll catch songs on random every-so-often, and if i'm in the mood, queue a few more from that same album.

plus, the paltry 20gig on my rio is just enough to hold one year's worth of music at a time, if that, and i like to keep one year's worth on for year-end retrospectives.

I can see myself doing this one day, but it'll be hard. I also doubt that I could narrow down my collection as much as you did.

Still, I think I'll have a much better collection to cull from in about 5 years or so after I've aquired everything I can get my hands on.

Oh, no doubt, Drinky, it was hard to do, but my listening experience is much more pleasant now. I think since I did it I've only felt to need to rebuy a handful of titles

Steve

I agree with you to some extent and I've changed my buying habits in the last two years. No matter how I think I might like a new Paul Westerberg, Van Morrison, Elvis Costello or David Byrne, I'm not going to buy it because I'd be much better off giving those spins to one of their older albums that I don't listen to that much. I also cut back my current year new release purchases by about 90% -- its hard to justify buying a lot of heaviliy hyped but just so-so releases when you can't find the time to listen to things you love.

Still, Its hard to picture my collection doing anything but growing. I tend to have a very broad tastes and enjoy exploring genres and artists that are relatively new to me. As much as I enjoy listen to old favorites, the joy of hearing something really great for the first time is too compelling not to keep buying. Every now and then my to buy list shrinks and I think I'll be a normal music fan and then I discover something new I love and start looking for other things similar to it.

To Todd's question, it really depends on whether its been a really long-time love or a more recent addition to the all-time favs. Things I've loved and owned for 20+ years tend to get a bit neglected. Things I've discovered in the last five years tend to stay in rotation. My tastes have changed a lot so a majority of my top ten fits in the later category. I refuse to listen to anything new in the car (It bugs me too much if I load up ten discs in the changer and at some point have no idea what I'm listening to) so that tends to be where the all-time favs get their spins. Lately, I've been driving alot so I've been revisiting a lot of neglected cds.

Guilty! I go on these binges from time to time where I just HAVE TO have everything by some artist. I buy 'em all, listen to them a few times, and ultimately realize I really only needed, say, 3 of their 12 albums, but by then I'm attached to the other 9 - not that I listen to them much, but I'm attached nonetheless. Two years down the road, I'll finally reason with myself and trade them for whoever I'm currently bingeing on. Vicious circle.



I'm about to do this. I just bought a 250gb hard drive and an external case for it and will soon be forcing myself really evaluate what is important and why. I don't need a really strong reason to keep something, but I at least have to have a reason beyond "I have the complete collection now!" if I don't particularly care about the complete collection. As I stated in some other thread last week, I have a couple thousand albums I really do like, but a lot of those are albums I just don't listen to, and probably certainly don't need to keep hard copies of just for that once-a-year listen.


Out of curiosity, did you have any kind of criteria you applied as to what to keep and what to let go?

I've found that, at least for current interests, my audioscrobbler stats have been a great help in keeping me focused, so I don't wind up buying things that merely intrigue me, rather than things that I really want/"need."

Not really. It was more about being honest with myself about whether I was holding on to something for any reason other than really digging it. I didn't listen to anything, but I did look over the tracks and take the time to ask myself if I would miss a particular album.

Steve

I haven't listened to my favourite two in years (at least pre-9/11), but...I don't need to: I have them memorized. For instance, someone mentioned the last part of Pink Floyd's "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" in another thread, and mentioned how it was a slowed down version of "See Emily Play", and I could actually replay it in my head and confirm.

bands i listen to ALL the time who 10 years ago i considered disposible: Superchunk, Flaming Lips, Archers of Loaf, Frank Black

Bands who i assumed i would still listen to all the time, but i don't: Radiohead, Sebadoh, Sonic Youth

I listen to Soft Bulletin about once every 2 months.

my current solution was to limit the # of albums i can purchase/download in one (2 week) budget period. for about 2 years i was averaging 13 albums every 2 weeks, now i limit myself to 6 per budget period, 7 during an emusic refresh cycle. i've also cut back on music budget by 10%.

i've found that this helps. i'm a lot more familiar with those albums i've acquired since this new allocation strategy kicked in july 1st. i'm able to give more time to these albums and come up with a stronger opinion, sometimes extra listens allows me an enjoyment i wouldn't've otherwise had.

however, there's still not much time to listen to the "all-time" favs. i'm hoping as i continue my new strategy, that i'll eventually have more time for those. if it means enough to me, maybe i'll designate a couple all-time favs a month to slip onto my rio.

in the meantime, 3 is the magic number

it is hard - i wish i had more time but I really only get an hour or so of music listening time a day - almost always its Ipod on random.

i work alone all day, i listen to about 6 albums a day.

I've noticed this pattern over and over again. The things that last always feature emotional honesty, directness, and simplicity. And those are three elements that are never cool or trendy, but over time you realize they're the hardest things to pull off. That's why a guy like (for example) Nick Lowe will never again be a flavor of the week, but also why his entire catalogue never sounds dated.

As to Todd's original question - I think you gotta take into account the time of ownership. I may not play Exile On Main Street or Too Much Too Soon or The Basement Tapes for months on end, but over the 30-some years of ownership I've played those albums an inconceivable number of times. And they'll continue to get played sporadically over the next 30 years. I suspect playing an old classic with the same regularity as a new release wouldn't show a respect for that classic so much as an unhealthy obsession or a compulsive personality disorder.


I'm totally the opposite. I love throwing new albums in random so I don't know who's playing what - it allows a brief moment where everything is about the song, rather than preconceptions, reputations, expectations, or hype.

I have to admit that I haven't been giving new things the proper attention they deserve lately. It's just so easy to buy it, rip it, put it onto the Ipod and eventually get around to listening to it.

Reading your response brought up an interesting thought to me: a couple weeks back, I picked up both the new Death Cab and the new Opeth (yeah, an interesting combination) but didn't have or make time to rip them. I wound up just taking those two CDs with me everywhere I went and listened to only those two albums for pretty much an entire week. And now I feel so much more familiar and warm to those albums than I do anything else I've purchased recently. Since ripping and loading on the Ipod, I listen to them much less often. So, in some ways, I guess the Ipod's freedom of choice may actually hinder some enjoyment of a new album. Damn, that kind of sucks. Solution is pretty simple: buy a new album and don't touch the Ipod for a while. Of course, in my case, I buy a lot of new music, so I would need to limit purchases for this to make any real impact (and, of course, this is probably the best idea.)