Does Anyone Listen To Albums Anymore?
OKRP’s Executive Producer considers the long-playing album in the age of selective streaming
by Scott Mitchell
Music is one of those areas where it’s to each his own, and forcing your listening habits on others is tantamount to talking religion and politics with mixed company. We like what we like, and we don’t like what we don’t like. But let’s talk about those listening habits.
The “single” in the form of music will always be with us. We’ve heard “singles” for a long time — in fact, on December 24, 1906, Reginald Fessenden from Brant Rock Station in Massachusetts transmitted the first radio broadcast of music, “O Holy Night,” which, 110 years later, is still a very popular song. Today, with streaming services, satellite/terrestrial radio, MP3 devices, LP’s, CD’s, 8-tracks, and cassettes — there’s always something to listen to that is only a push, swipe, shuffle, playlist or a couple of keystrokes away. We mostly listen to “singles” in whatever form we please.
So when was the last time you’ve listened, and I mean really listened, to an album from start to finish? It’s a tough question to answer — or maybe not — perhaps you, the reader, and I are thinking alike. Mixtapes, playlists and shuffle all have their place in our fast-paced world. Trust me, I have plenty of playlists of my own, based on events, places and sounds I’ve heard and experienced throughout my life. But to make the playlists, you have to know the artists, and the albums they’ve painstakingly produced, in the running order that the songs were intended to be heard. In the “single” world, you miss all the other songs any particular artist wanted you to hear.
If you haven’t listened to an album in its entirety, do yourself a favor and do so immediately. Take the time, plug in those headphones or turn on the hi-fi. If you are trying to figure what album to listen to, let me make a suggestion: go back to your past and put on that first album or CD you ever bought. Your musical tastes may have changed over the years, but I guarantee it will bring you back to place you will instantly recognize.
If you are still struggling with what to play, here are a few thought starters — no particular order or theme, just albums I like listening to start to finish.
Cheap Trick — At Budokan
The Cure — Head On The Door
Daft Punk — Random Access Memories
Electric Light Orchestra — Out Of The Blue
Grateful Dead — Workingman’s Dead
The Knack — Get The Knack
Spiritualized — Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space
Steely Dan — Aja
Sonic Youth — Sister
Chuck Mangione — Live at the Hollywood Bowl
Hoping the list above has rattled your brain and got you thinking about what to listen to — put whatever on and let it play.
