Do you spend more time with your favorites or with your lesser favorites?

[Entre_Perpetuo]

I usually find myself spinning albums which would fall somewhere in the upper mid range of any artists discography for me much more often than those which would sit squarely on top.  For instance, I find myself revisiting Selling England By The Pound much more often than Foxtrot, despite the latter being my very favorite Genesis album, and the former being more of a top 5 contender that I've historically found a bit inconsistent.  I'm not exactly sure why this is. Perhaps I'm afraid of overplaying my favorites?  Perhaps I'm subconsciously determined to find a way to love the records I have issues with? Maybe I'm totally wrong about what my favorites even are??? Who knows. Anyway, does anyone else behave similarly?

[Cyclonus X-1]

It's an interesting question.  I tend to save my absolute favorites for "special occasions," when the time feels just right for them.

[goose]

A good question.  Time has changed my listening habits, and these days I sometimes lean toward a least favorite album of a favored band.  The Police come to mind, where I now listen to Ghost In The Machine over Zenyatta or Synchronicity, just because it's fresher.  Or ACDC, where listening to Blow Up Your Video is more enjoyable than another spin of Back in Black or Highway to Hell.  But with most bands, what I consider their top album is the one I play because it is far and away the best listen.

[bluefox4000]

It depends.  My fav band is Steely Dan and they get spun every month on the regular (even if i don't post it here)

 

On the other hand another fav is the beatles.  and i will play an album here and there but i haven't MARATHON-ED them in well over a decade.

 

but i have the beatles music burned in me so i don't need them played, lol weird as that sounds. but they're still an all timer for me.

 

lesser favs i play more cause they favs but they're not as ingrained in me.

 

 

Mick

 

 

Edited May 14, 2023 by bluefox4000

[grep]

There can be a lot of treasure found in almost any band's less popular albums.  

I'll do something like line up the Kansas, Journey, and Styx catalogs - from the beginning and playlist them more or less sequentially by year of release.  As I listen I'll star off the songs that really appeal to me. Like I said, lots of gems... those make it to the never-ending playlist.  Every now and then I'll go back to the albums and still listen in order just for the time travel... but yeah. 

Currently getting ready to do this with Pallas, Asia, and The Outfield.  Maybe Marillion too.....

Edited May 14, 2023 by grep

[Entre_Perpetuo]

15 minutes ago, grep said:

There can be a lot of treasure found in almost any band's less popular albums.  

I'll do something like line up the Kansas, Journey, and Styx catalogs - from the beginning and playlist them more or less sequentially by year of release.  As I listen I'll star off the songs that really appeal to me. Like I said, lots of gems... those make it to the never-ending playlist.  Every now and then I'll go back to the albums and still listen in order just for the time travel... but yeah. 

Currently getting ready to do this with Pallas, Asia, and The Outfield.  Maybe Marillion too.....

Interesting approach!

[Krystal]

You have to mix it up.  If you listen to the same band over and over again,. you get tired of them even if it's Rush. 

[invisible airwave]

53 minutes ago, Krystal said:

You have to mix it up.  If you listen to the same band over and over again,. you get tired of them even if it's Rush. 

Same here, they're not even my favorite act from Canada anymore since I got into Leonard Cohen last year.  As much as I love  , I don't forget my 90s alt rock xennial teen year roots as well as the classic alt rock I got into in college.

[J2112YYZ]

In recent years I have spent more time listening to/discovering newer music. Whether it's a newer band or discovering a catalog from an established one that I never heard before I find this keeps music listening fun and exciting for me. That's not to say I still don't love my old favorites and won't revisit them from time to time. But like Mick said, some of that stuff is so ingrained in me that I don't need to revisit too often. It's always part of me no matter what. I could go the next 20 years without hearing the first five Metallica albums and then play them again and still know every word and note like I had never stopped listening to them at all.

Edited May 15, 2023 by J2112YYZ

[Timbale]

I go through phases of different listening approaches...there are certainly albums by some bands that I have worn out - I will very seldom spin Who's Next, and I cannot remember the last time I listened to Moving Pictures.  But sometimes I deep dive into a band, and then I tend to listen to the whole discography.

 

I recently have been on a big Genesis kick - they are totally matching my internal emotional temperature...and a lesser loved record (for me), their self titled record from '83 revealed some hidden gems (not like I didn't know those songs....). Because I almost never listen to it ( I can go the rest of my life without hearing Illegal Alien ever again, thank you very much) I forget about some of the other stuff on side 2 - Silver Rainbow and particularly It's Gonna Get Better, which I think is one of their truly underrated songs.  My lord, I might even have to spin Invisible Touch soon!

[Maverick]

If I've been listening to The Yes Album or Close to the Edge a lot, I'll force myself to revisit Tales from Topographic Oceans, Relayer, or Going For The One because they are all great, but I don't gravitate towards them as much as the other two.

[Segue Myles]

My favourite bands are Rush, Lacuna Coil, Nightwish, In Flames and Iron Maiden.

 

I play IF and Rush a lot, the other three not so much.

 

So you could say these days i spend more time with other bands/artists. Doesn't bother me though.

[Entre_Perpetuo]

I did mean this more on an album scale if anyone who has answered more about artists than albums wants to add to their answer, but so far this is all very interesting!

[Segue Myles]

36 minutes ago, Entre_Perpetuo said:

I did mean this more on an album scale if anyone who has answered more about artists than albums wants to add to their answer, but so far this is all very interesting!

Oh I got that, I didn't explain myself: I tend to be a discography listener more than just random albums. Until lately that is.

[Alex’s Amazing Arpeggios]

🤔 For me EP, it’s currently a case of your sentence whereby you quoted

“ Perhaps I'm subconsciously determined to find a way to love the records I have issues with “

.. For example with regards our beloved

I literally almost force myself 🤣 to try & appreciate what I consider to be their

‘ weaker’  (  ) albums 

So therefore for example I spin 

  70s : 

Caress of Steel ( more than 2112, Hemispheres, F2K ) 

  80s : 

HYF & Presto ( more than my preferred 

 Signals, P/G, PoW ) 

I purchased HYF on cassette on the day of its release back in ‘87 and I only just a few short months ago in 2023 made it all the way through Tai Shan for the 1st time ever without turning it off ! 🙃🤣

  Post 2000s

S&L ( more than CA ) 

 

[Mithrandir]

equally.

[Entre_Perpetuo]

2 hours ago, Alex’s Amazing Arpeggios said:

🤔 For me EP, it’s currently a case of your sentence whereby you quoted

“ Perhaps I'm subconsciously determined to find a way to love the records I have issues with “

.. For example with regards our beloved

I literally almost force myself 🤣 to try & appreciate what I consider to be their

‘ weaker’  (  ) albums 

So therefore for example I spin 

  70s : 

Caress of Steel ( more than 2112, Hemispheres, F2K ) 

  80s : 

HYF & Presto ( more than my preferred 

 Signals, P/G, PoW ) 

I purchased HYF on cassette on the day of its release back in ‘87 and I only just a few short months ago in 2023 made it all the way through Tai Shan for the 1st time ever without turning it off ! 🙃🤣

  Post 2000s

S&L ( more than CA ) 

 

Rush is interesting for me, because I’ll routinely go back to PeW and MP, which are only beat out by AFTK in terms of my favorites, but I lately I won’t touch much else unless I’m doing a bit of a Rush marathon. I will play CoS from time to time as well, which is further down my list but not by much. My least favorite stuff I really d almost never pull up days. RTB, CP, T4E, S&A. Just never in the mood it seems.

[Rick N. Backer]

It depends on how much of a particular artist I'm planning on listening to.  If I'm going to binge, I'm more likely to start with lesser albums and work my way up to the best stuff.  So, I wouldn't start a Rush binge with PeW.  If, however, I just feel like listening to a little Rush one day, I'm most likely going to listen to MP.