When Is The Last Time...

[emtee]

...you blocked out a chunk of time solely for listening to an album?

Just posted in the QR thread about how differently we all connect to music and the thought occurred to me that most people simply don't have time to put their headphones on, grab an adult beverage and absorb an album in peace without interruption.

I have to say that I've made a commitment lately to doing this, especially with regards to new music and man oh man, it's made a huge difference for me. Seems like I end up really enjoying almost everything to a higher degree. I hope some people, despite life's demands, still get a chance to do this occasionally.

[Skeever]

I do this a few times per month, especially with vinyls. Just leave the phone in another room, make a cup of herbal tea, sit on the couch, relax, and listen to a record. I agree that it really goes a long way in making sure you really take something in and enjoy it.

[Shalev Amir]

I do it, sitting and listening definitely has it's portion in my free time pie chart. Often before sleep, though sometimes I'm just too tired for this and sometimes I get drowsy midway. Music really comes alive when I have this want to sit and listen.

[romdrums]

My listening time is in the car during my daily commute.  I do listen to music while at work as well, but it's mostly as background to stay motivated during the day.  My drive time is when I try to listen more actively, and really dive in to a record.

[WilliamMunny]

My listening time is in the car during my daily commute.  I do listen to music while at work as well, but it's mostly as background to stay motivated during the day.  My drive time is when I try to listen more actively, and really dive in to a record.

I was just going to say this.

If 'while driving' counts, then I would say daily.

About a year ago, fed up with my inability to find time to listen to music, decided to dedicate my driving time to music only.

Before this, I typically listened to a mix of sports-talk or podcasts, and forcing myself to consume an album each day (I have a half-hour commute) was a challenge at first—I missed my mindless yabbering.

The other angle I added was I wanted to listen through catalogs chronologically, just like I did when I was a teen.

My first run-through was Dream Theater, and after three weeks (leading up to the release of 'A View...'), I was hooked.

Now, a year later, I spend a few minutes each night setting up my morning drive, and I have listened to more music in the past year than in the previous decade!

[Stadler]

My listening time is in the car during my daily commute.  I do listen to music while at work as well, but it's mostly as background to stay motivated during the day.  My drive time is when I try to listen more actively, and really dive in to a record.

Yeah, me. 

I haven't sat down and expressly listened to an album like emtee describes in decades.  That's not to say I haven't hunkered down for a four hour drive with a box of CDs, or that I didn't program in my CD changer when going out to the garage to work on things (I have a stereo in the garage).  I do dedicate listening time, but it's almost 100% of the time when I'm doing something else.

[HOF]

I sat down and listened to an album last night. I also tend to listen to albums in the car to and from work.

[Lethean]

I do this when one of my favorite bands releases a new album.  I listen while reading the lyrics and looking at the artwork.

Aside from that, I listen to albums while walking a lot, and that seems like a pretty good way to absorb new albums as well.  I don't have a daily commute but listening in the car is another good way.

[cramx3]

My listening time is in the car during my daily commute.  I do listen to music while at work as well, but it's mostly as background to stay motivated during the day.  My drive time is when I try to listen more actively, and really dive in to a record.

Same here.  If this thread is dedicated to sitting home and solely focused on listening to an album, then I must say it's been quite awhile.  Usually I have background music on when doing things around the house, showering/getting ready, or cooking.  But It's probably been at least 5 years since I put an album on and did nothing but listen at home. 

[SoundscapeMN]

been sort of doing it over the last year with artist discography review listening for my YouTube channel.

Last year I did it with the Marillion catalog
This year: Kevin Gilbert, The Dear Hunter, Fates Warning, and the last few weeks, King's X.

I try and listen to 1 album every Monday and Tuesday and then film a review.

[Samsara]

...you blocked out a chunk of time solely for listening to an album?

Just posted in the QR thread about how differently we all connect to music and the thought occurred to me that most people simply don't have time to put their headphones on, grab an adult beverage and absorb an album in peace without interruption.

I have to say that I've made a commitment lately to doing this, especially with regards to new music and man oh man, it's made a huge difference for me. Seems like I end up really enjoying almost everything to a higher degree. I hope some people, despite life's demands, still get a chance to do this occasionally.

I try to do it a few times a month. I'll probably do it on this Friday for the new Alter Bridge record. I think the problem is, I have less time to do that these days. Busy career, busy home life, it's hard to continually devote hours to headphone listening to records. But I do try to make sure I do it as much as possible. My roundtrip commute is long enough to accommodate a full record, up to about 70 minutes or so, so I do tend to listen to new records in the car. I have a great sound system, so that's how I do a lot of deep listening.

[Revenge319]

I could probably do this a lot more often, but it is something I do from time to time. I think the last time I spent time only listening to an album was about a couple weeks ago.

[ProfessorPeart]

My listening time is in the car during my daily commute.  I do listen to music while at work as well, but it's mostly as background to stay motivated during the day.  My drive time is when I try to listen more actively, and really dive in to a record.

Sort of me. I don't have a commute anymore but I still break in most new albums in the car. My 6 disc changer usually has the latest purchases in it and I cycle through them. Occasionally, I will listen to an album while doing stuff on my PC late at night. I go out enough that I still get some good listens in. I have a close to 2 hour round trip today to go pick up some oxygen tanks for my wife so I will get some good listening in.

[Dublagent66]

I don't block out time.  I listen to albums while I'm working. 

[jammindude]

[sings] “And did you notice the moon…on the seventh daaaaaaaaaaaaay (the last time)”



NP: “What is the Last Time?” by Forbidden 

[hefdaddy42]

I do this for new Dream Theater releases, and have for years. 

I will occasionally do it for other albums, but it's pretty rare.

[Nachtmerrie]

I do this a few times per month, especially with vinyls. Just leave the phone in another room, make a cup of herbal tea, sit on the couch, relax, and listen to a record. I agree that it really goes a long way in making sure you really take something in and enjoy it.

I do that a few times per year. Craft beer instead of herbal tea, I admit.

If driving counts I have a few hours per week exclusively for albums and podcast.

[Phoenix87x]

Music is on most of the time I'm awake as I am doing other things.

But when I bust out the weed, I will pick a specific album or playlist to listen and soley focus on.

[KevShmev]

I don't set time aside ahead of time, but I can usually find the time at least once or twice a week to give an album the full listen on my super duper stereo.  I kicked back in the lazy boy and just enjoy. 

[nick_z]

I don't do it often enough anymore, where I actually get a CD out an listen to the whole thing, with no distractions...

I have a long commute, though, and a lot of it is spent on a train, so that's an excellent time for me to listen to music.

[EPICVIEW]

I do a lot driving between houses and use that time to listen to new music or old music that I have wanted to enjoy.

[bobzor]

I have actually thought about this quite a lot for the last couple of years, and now I'm in a phase where I try to move away from background music completely.

I noticed that background music, while working for instance, doesn't really do anything else for me but create a sort of bubble where I feel isolated and somewhat concentrated at my work. Which is of course great, but do I get out anything from the music? No. This way, music feels just like some random commodity for me, and not like art. So I avoid this nowadays.

Music is great while commuting, walking, or driving. But I'm actually noticing that for commuting or walking I've moved to listening to podcasts much more. I don't know why but I guess I'm thinking that the commute or walk is enough to not give music the full attention I want to give it. Acutally, I think it would be even more beneficial for the mind to just walk without any sounds from headphones, to get a pause from the otherwise hectic life filled with information overload.

Therefore, I try to only listen to music as described in the OP nowadays, because I get so much more out of it that way. I'll certainly listen to a lot less music, perhaps something like 4-5 albums a week, but for me it's a quality before quantity thing.

[cramx3]

I noticed that background music, while working for instance, doesn't really do anything else for me but create a sort of bubble where I feel isolated and somewhat concentrated at my work. Which is of course great, but do I get out anything from the music? No. This way, music feels just like some random commodity for me, and not like art. So I avoid this nowadays.

Might depend on what kind of work you are doing.  When doing desk work, where I'm mentally concentrating on something, you may be right.  But some of my work is physical.  When I listen to music doing that type of work, it has a much greater impact on my enjoyment of the music.  Either way, I generally don't enjoy complete silence unless I'm reading something long like a book or studying.

[Lethean]

See, for me, creating an isolating bubble for me to concentrate is definitely doing something for me.  It's not a random commodity, it's music that I like accompanying me through my life.  I suppose if I remembered nothing about what I heard and could play just whatever, it would be more like a commodity.  But that's not at all the case.  If music that I dislike is playing, it affects my mood, makes it hard to concentrate, etc. I remember having to listen to country music while I was trying to work and I just wanted stand up and tell everyone to shut up and/or throw myself from a cliff.  On the other hand, recently I was working on something and the coworkers that sent it to me did a crap job and I was getting a headache trying to get it all sorted.
I put on a Katatonia album, and by the time the album was over, I knew exactly how to fix everything and was well on my way to doing so, headache gone.  It was the farthest thing from a random commodity.

[Stadler]

Everything that everyone is writing about music being distracting is how I feel about podcasts.  I should LOVE podcasts, but I find myself having to rewind to re-hear something or something like that.  I've been restoring a Jeep in my garage, and I had the entire manifold system in pieces on my floor, and the wife (I love you honey!) was like "you need to start reassembling!".  So I filled the six-disk changer with some Johnny Cash, Glen Campbell and Willie Nelson and hit "Play".  It was perfect.  Relaxing, focusing, and I got the entire job done in two days.  Jeep running, registered and back on the road! 

[ReaperKK]

A few times a month, usually when I get a new vinyl I'll put it on and just listen while having a drink.

[LithoJazzoSphere]

Not all that often, I hate to say.  I did it somewhat more when I was younger.  I think working small business management and customer service destroyed my attention span.  I had a fair amount of time accumulated to listen to music at work, but rarely more than 10 minutes at a time before something would require my attention.  And then after work my time was limited enough that as much as I love music, regularly spending a whole hour on an album while accomplishing nothing else was difficult to justify.  So for more repetitive and thoughtless chores and activities I've listened to podcasts, and for everything else I have music going, and my concentration ebbs and flows depending upon how much I'm focusing on whatever else I'm doing and how into the artist/album/song currently playing I am.  But I quite regularly still listen to particular tracks while doing nothing else, analyzing them for some purpose or another. 

[dparrott]

Just after Astonishing came out, my wife actually left the house for the afternoon with friends and I got to sit down and listen to the whole thing! It was a miracle.  I think that was the last time at home.  I usually listen to music in my car.

[DoctorAction]

Not for a long time. I should.

On a barely related note, I've been exploring a bit of modern grindcore of late and managed to listen to a whole new-to-me album in the time it took to drive and collect my son from an evening thing - (12 tracks, 22 minutes). 

[LithoJazzoSphere]

Listen to Nails' Unsilent Death.  Less than 14 minutes. 

[DoctorAction]

Listen to Nails' Unsilent Death.  Less than 14 minutes. 

Ooo, thanks. I will. 

EDIT: Enjoyed it. Thanks!