Do you listen by album or by song?

[Priest of Syrinx]

I apologize if something like this has been posted already, perhaps my search-fu is coming up short.

I tend to listen to music album-by-album... maybe a behavioral legacy from growing up listening to albums, 8-tracks and cassettes, rather than CD's or digital downloads?

Anyway, because of how I generally listen to music, the overall flow of an album is important to me.  Songs that I might not care for independently, like ADTOE's "Far From Heaven", I enjoy within the context and texture of the entire album.  For me, it's the deep breath before the plunge into BAI.  Taken this way, an album such as ADTOE is a macrocosm of a single DT song.

Thoughts? 

[BlobVanDam]

SFAM - always whole album no exceptions.
SDOIT - usually the entire album, especially lately.

With the rest I'll usually listen to a few off the album, but not the whole album. I do generally like to listen to at least a couple of songs from an album, rather than just a song here and there. ADTOE is still in the "pretty much the whole album beginning to end" phase.

[Jaffa]

Well, both, for me.

I can listen to Learning to Live by itself and it will be awesome.  I can listen to Wait for Sleep and then Learning to Live and it will be awesome.  Or I can just listen to Images and Words and it will be awesome.

I guess in general I tend to listen more 'by song' than 'by album', but I do both frequently.  Especially with Scenes From a Memory, an album which will always be greater than the sum of its parts.   I've probably listened to that album start-to-finish more times than I have any other album -- but I also listen to Strange Deja Vu and Home by themselves sometimes, and still enjoy them just fine. 

I can put in a CD, but I can just as easily put everything on an MP3 player and shuffle it all.

[IronEarthTheater]

I tend to listen to songs, unless the album is greater than the sum of its parts.  SFAM is a perfect example of this.  In fact, I actually "Joined Tracks" on ITunes when I ripped my SFAM CD, so that it only is one song for me.  Listening to one section, even a song I love like Home or Finally Free, just seems weird (like listening to one movement from SDOIT, or only half of ITPOE).

[krands85]

Normally albums, but then I'll also listen to a lot of my favourite tracks individually. I do this with other bands as well, but probably more often whole albums if it's not DT.

Also have a few DT playlists that I like to listen to as well.

I agree with what others have said about SFAM, I don't listen to individual songs from it very often, usually the whole thing.

With the new album, obviously I'm listening to it as a whole a lot. Though I am playing BAI and BITS quite a lot individually when I don't have the time to listen to the whole album 

[3xodus]

With DT I can do either but in general if I sit down and say, "Hey I think I want to listen to 8VM." I will end up skipping around and usually listening to every song anyway. Really I tend to do this with all bands that I listen to. If I get in the mood to hear one song from them I usually end up in a mood to listen to the whole album it came off of. Except RHCP (and a couple others) for some reason, I have a few songs (Under The Bridge) that I absolutely love and can listen to at any time. The rest of their stuff is utter crap to me and I will just stop right after the songs I like. Muse is sometimes like this, I generally do NOT like all of their music and I get very bored listening to a whole album of theirs. But throw on some Knights of Cydonia and I can enjoy that while it lasts.

[scoutmasterdave]

I'd say 95% of the time I listen to albums from start to finish.  Only very occasionally will I listen to a specific song out of the context of the rest of its album, and I basically never use 'shuffle'.

[?]

I usually listen to separate songs. The exceptions are car trips, sometimes the anniversaries of records and obviously the first time I listen to any album.

[darkshot]

I have a pretty big collection of music on my computer and phone and I normally just put the entire thing on shuffle and wont hear the same song twice for days (even weeks depending on how long i listen).

Occasionally I will get the urge to listen to a specific song or album and I will play that all the way through, especially when a new album is released.  But its usually just random songs out of context.

[pogoowner]

I almost always listen to entire albums.

[Elite]

I almost always listen to entire albums.

Exceptions only when time is too short to finish an album or when I put them in a playlist with different songs.

[tri.ad]

Recently, I tried out listening to albums as a whole and not separate songs. I don't regret it at all and I couldn't imagine going back. That applies for DT as for any album I own.

[Zydar]

I'm more of a song-by-song listener.

[Priest of Syrinx]

With DT I can do either but in general if I sit down and say, "Hey I think I want to listen to 8VM." I will end up skipping around and usually listening to every song anyway. Really I tend to do this with all bands that I listen to. If I get in the mood to hear one song from them I usually end up in a mood to listen to the whole album it came off of. Except RHCP (and a couple others) for some reason, I have a few songs (Under The Bridge) that I absolutely love and can listen to at any time. The rest of their stuff is utter crap to me and I will just stop right after the songs I like. Muse is sometimes like this, I generally do NOT like all of their music and I get very bored listening to a whole album of theirs. But throw on some Knights of Cydonia and I can enjoy that while it lasts.

Funny, I feel similarly about RHCP and Muse.

[OsMosis2259]

With SFAM and SDOIT it tends to be the whole thing.

It really depends though on my mood.

[Orthogonal]

I'm an Album listener the vast majority of the time. It may be "elitist", but if a group isn't capable of putting out an entire disc of quality material, they aren't worth my time. I don't usually listen to mainstream radio so I don't have the inkling to cherry pick popular songs. Fortunately, a sub-par song is quite rare for DT.

Typically if a group can sale me on one album, I quickly go out and buy their entire catalog.

[The Letter M]

I'm a firm believer and follower and listener of full albums. I figure - I bought the whole thing, why wouldn't I listen to the whole thing? It's a entire work of art, front to back, like a book or a film. I know I have favorite chapters or scenes, but I don't pop a DVD in and search for my favorite scene and then pop it out... I'll take the time to watch the whole thing.

With music, is much more accessible to do so, since the invention of portable listening devices, so I almost always listen to full albums, no matter the artist or genre. With DT, I always listen to the full album, unless I am REALLY hooked on a song. With ADTOE, I'll spin the whole thing, but I've been hooked on the last 3 tracks, so I'll listen to those a lot.

I just think I get the full experience of the artist's intent by listening to a full album. If the song was released as a single and was meant to be apart from an album, then I'll treat it as such, but if a song from an album is released as a single, I'll just listen to it when it's on the album. When OTBOA came out, I listened to it 4 or 5 times, but after that, I waited til the album came out. It's just better that way.

Every DT album from SFAM onward is just so easy to listen to straight-through, and they're each rewarding experiences by doing so.

-Marc.

[Priest of Syrinx]

It's weird (for me) to listen to songs from a concept album (like SFAM or SDOIT #2) out of sequence.  Sometimes it works (Comfortably Numb), but usually no.

A song that is long and verbose and a complete story - like 2112 or 8VM - I can listen to and then move on to a different album.  A shorter, less conclusive epic like Metropolis Pt.1 doesn't give me that "full" feeling so I can't move on from it.

[VioletS16]

Songs. I just shuffle all my artists and listen to whatever comes up. Nothing like some Dream Theater followed by some Cradle of Filth! 

[Lowdz]

I'm an album man usually. Unless the album has songs I don't like much, then I'll skip my way through.

[Sketchy]

Album... For all music

If time is short, I'll either listen to a short album or not listen to anything. It's probably a result of the first album I truly got into (as in the one which got me into music as art rather than very interesting entertainment) was Dark Side Of The Moon.

[Liberation]

Generally I like to listen to CDs or vinyls pretty late at night on headphones... it's like "that time of the day". When I first get into an album, my first few (or sometimes much more than a few if the album is incredibly awesome...) listens are then, every day. When I decide I know it really well and would rather try something new now, I rip it onto my PC and then listen however I feel, sometimes whole albums, sometimes separate songs, sometimes combining songs from different albums etc.

Of course even much later sometimes I feel like listening to an album I know on CD/vinyl again, but more often it's for albums I don't yet know much.

[TimmyHiggy]

albums, like I do with nearly everything I deem worthy of listening to at all

[jsem]

I'm an album listener. When I wanna listen to good DT stuff, I always put on I&W or SFAM... but sometimes I just want to listen to tracks from albums that don't necessarily require my full listen - I just need a few tracks here and there.

Octavarium is a great example, it's pretty much the only amazing song on that record - and I don't need the rest of the album to accompany it.

[sagar_k]

SFAM - always whole album no exceptions.
SDOIT - usually the entire album, especially lately.

With the rest I'll usually listen to a few off the album, but not the whole album. I do generally like to listen to at least a couple of songs from an album, rather than just a song here and there. ADTOE is still in the "pretty much the whole album beginning to end" phase.

Pretty much the same for me. I have the Twelve-Step Suite as a playlist as well, sometimes like to listen to it in sequence. But generally, I don't really go album-by-album apart from SFAM/SDOIT.

[Jaq]

I generally listen to albums when I'm doing on of three things: messing around on the computer, driving somewhere, or reading. As a result, I almost always listen to every band's entire album at a time, but Dream Theater is a band that I'd listen to the entire album all the time anyway. Their albums generally work better as complete listens, even if they're not a concept album like SFAM.

[Ħ]

I usually will listen to an album a lot for first impressions, and I'll learn the songs I like that way.

Examples: for Dream Theater, which I know really well, I'll listen by songs.  But with Porcupine Tree, I'm still in the album stage for the most part.

[theseoafs]

With album-based rock like DT's, I only refrain from listening to the entire album when either A) I've had the album for several years and have listened to it in its entirety enough times for me not to get anything out of the consecutive listen, or B) the album is so inconsistent that I couldn't possibly take a listen all the way through seriously. Falling Into Infinity is a prime example of the latter - though I've tried, I just can't make it all the way through that thing.

[energythief]

In fact, I actually "Joined Tracks" on ITunes when I ripped my SFAM CD, so that it only is one song for me.

/head asplode


I had no idea you could do this...

[The Letter M]

In fact, I actually "Joined Tracks" on ITunes when I ripped my SFAM CD, so that it only is one song for me.

/head asplode


I had no idea you could do this...

Oh yeah, it works great for "Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence" and "A Mind Beside Itself", or if you want, tracks like "Wait For Sleep"/"Learning To Live" and "Vacant"/"Stream Of Consciousness".

-Marc.

[hefdaddy42]

Depends on the song, depends on the album.

[j]

Depends on the song, depends on the album.

As is often the case, I find myself following these three steps:

1. Enter thread.
2. Quote hef.
3. Leave thread.

Also profit, etc.

-J

[senecadawg2]

If its a new album or something I will normally listen all the way through
If its a concept album I will almost always listen all the way through
If its FII, BC&SL, TOT, or any other album which I consider to have a few really great tracks and a few weak tracks, I listen to individual songs (Trial of Tears, TCOT, ITNOG)

[clinks63]

by album..for the bands that i follow..

[dongringo]

If its a new album or something I will normally listen all the way through
If its a concept album I will almost always listen all the way through
If its FII, BC&SL, TOT, or any other album which I consider to have a few really great tracks and a few weak tracks, I listen to individual songs (Trial of Tears, TCOT, ITNOG)

This