Albums or individual tracks?

The "10 favorite songs" thread got me thinking: Are you an album fan or do you do individual songs? I still follow the album concept. Moving Pictures, for example, has to start with Tom Sawyer. Even when doing iTunes, I always download the entire album. Call me a purist.

I prefer albums.. if you just buy the tracks you like from hearing them on the radio, you miss out on a -lot- of good music that was just not top forty material

Album!!!!!!! X10 Doubled!!!!!!

Okay, glad to see that I have company. I DJed while in school, and at noon we played side A of a new release. That bit was called Lunch Box. I usually did a midnight to 3am shift, which started with side B--Midnight Snack.

Albums. Anyone can make a song. It takes an artist to make a record.

Albums.

If I put the music player on scramble, when a song from an album I listen to frequently comes on, I'm anticipating the next song on the album to be next.

I'd have to say individual songs. I think it stems from getting burned buying too may albums for that one song, thinking the rest of the album is similar in sound, and finding out it isn't.

Low Fidelity All-Stars, I'm looking at you.

albums.. they tell the whole story that the band/artist is trying to tell and puts the song in it's proper context- even if it isn't a concept album...

i tried listening to "...And Justice For All" on shuffle once... made it thru 3 songs and vowed to never do that again- and i love every song on that album..

novaderrik wrote: i tried listening to "...And Justice For All" on shuffle once... made it thru 3 songs and vowed to never do that again- and i love every song on that album..

Never thought of trying that, but there's no way that album can end with anything other than Dyers Eve. And it's gotta start with Blackened.

David S. Wallens wrote:

novaderrik wrote: i tried listening to "...And Justice For All" on shuffle once... made it thru 3 songs and vowed to never do that again- and i love every song on that album..

Never thought of trying that, but there's no way that album can end with anything other than Dyers Eve. And it's gotta start with Blackened.

exactly... the songs just kind of flow into and out of each other organically... playing things in a different order kills the flow.

Totally. I also have very few "best of" albums. I want the whole experience.

For what it's worth, JG and I discuss the order of the stories in the mag. You don't have to read them in that order, but there is a bit of thought behind it all.

There was a time when the order of songs on an album was important. That was back in the days of LPs or cassettes, where you didn't have much choice in which order you listened to the songs in. The records that I listened to during that time seem more "right" when played in order.

Stuff since the CD and shuffle came out? I've listened to them in so many different orders that it doesn't matter.

Brett_Murphy wrote: There was a time when the order of songs on an album was important. That was back in the days of LPs or cassettes, where you didn't have much choice in which order you listened to the songs in. The records that I listened to during that time seem more "right" when played in order. Stuff since the CD and shuffle came out? I've listened to them in so many different orders that it doesn't matter.

some bands still put some thought into it.. Foo Fighters albums tend to have a pretty good "flow"..

i think the last new cd i bought was Death Magnetic, and that also has a pretty good flow to it.

I almost always buy whole albums. There are times when I'm dubious, or even almost certain that the one song I want is an anomaly, and I'll do that one, but it's rare.

I'm not as averse to "best of" albums; I don't think they're ideal, and so often once I find I like a band, my favorite stuff isn't their best known stuff. But sometimes I want to start with a collection stacked toward likely success...

I go both ways - musically...

My tendency is to buy an album because there is at least one tune that I want. The upside is that I usually find more that I like. The downside - the rest of the album sucks.

Lately, there' more benefit in going for the single tune.

The bands that I really like - full album or nothing at all. The other ones, I'm ok with a "greatest hits"…though I may still have one or two of their albums also, or "live" albums.

albums. always albums.

I always buy albums, but it doesn't mean I like every song on the album.

...And Justice For All is a great example. I start at the beginning and play the whole thing (so I've really got to be in the mood for it). But then I also have quite a few playlists setup where I've cherry picked my favorite songs from lots of different bands/albums.

So, just depends?

It depends on the album. Some of them have to be complete and in order. Exit Stage Left, is a good example. Playing it in shuffle drives me batty.

If it's a new to me artist and I only like a couple of songs on an album, then I won't buy the album and just get the songs I like. I just downloaded a bunch of Cliff Richard songs. I HATE his ballads so I didn't get any of them.

Usually album. I LOVE the concept of not having to buy an album to get 2 good songs played on the radio & 8 filler (commercial radio since the dawn of time). But the new iPod usually gets put into shuffle at work/driving.

But as mentioned, that doesn't work well with some albums. There's a few Joe Satriani tracks on Surfing w/ the Alien that have to be listened to in order.

Depends. There are some artists whom I love to berkeleying death, but can only handle in small doses.

Depends on the album. I listen to the whole album before buying and then either buy the track or tracks I like or the whole album if I like more then just a few tracks on it.

Whole albums please. I've been listening to vinyl lately too. I wasn't paying attention° and put a B side on first, once. I had to set down my Makers Mark° to fix it. I was upset.

°These two items may have been related.

iTunes forces you to buy the entire album to get the one good song often times, so the idea of individual songs is getting lost. Luckily, Amazon usually offers them and for less.

For me, I want the songs I want, and I don't want to waste time and money on the crap the artist spit out at the last minute to fill up a track list. Seriously, home many times have you listened to the rest of the Indigo Girls album? Too much good music out there, why not fill your playlist with nothing but the best?

I have 49GB of "depends". I have every Iron Maiden, Zeppelin, Pumpkins, Metallica, John Lee Hooker, ... etc albums. Guys from an era when that was how you produced/arranged your stuff.

But... I haven't bought a whole album from any artist since the late 90s. I have bought a couple soundtracks but primarily just hear something I like and go buy that one song. They all go in the player and I make my own arrangements. Now that I think of it - I can't recall the last time I listened to more than one or two cuts from the albums I do have in entirety before giving the shuffle button a whack.