The proper amount of time - Music - Forums : Best Ever Albums

Romanelli

Bone Swah

Gender: Male

Location: Broomfield, Colorado

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It's different for everyone. And how different it is for everyone should be respected. If you want to be "that guy", fine. If you don't, that's fine, too. But respect it whether you agree with it or not. You may get it in one, four, twenty listens. For me, there's no set number. But it mostly takes years before I start charting an album, which is why my 2010's charts have so many vacancies. My way may not work for you, and I don't expect it to. And the other way around as well.

The only number that I can't be supportive of is zero. If you haven't heard it, you shouldn't rate it.
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Allabaster

Necharsian wrote:

There's a difference between deciding something is not worth more than one listen and being able to make a near absolute (or at least structured) judgment.

And you feel that the former is always possible?

Skinny

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Allabaster wrote:

And you feel that the former is always possible?

Nothing in that post implies this.
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JOSweetHeart

Gender: Female

Age: 41

Location: East Tennessee

RockyRaccoon wrote:

I don't know if there is a "proper" amount of time, but I would say at least a couple focused listens.

But even then, I've had times where I've listened to an album multiple times, didn't like it, then when I listened to it a year or two later, I loved it. Judgments often change.

I second this. One of my favorite albums from country trio SheDaisy didn't finally sink in until months later.

God bless you and them always!!! Smile

Holly

P.S. Sweet Right Here is the name of the album. Smile

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Muslim-Bigfoot

Gender: Male

Age: 33

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You see sieving is not meant to be an entirely rational action; it's a pragmatic decision informed by prejudices, past experiences, whim, limited resources etc.
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Allabaster

Romanelli wrote:

It's different for everyone. And how different it is for everyone should be respected. If you want to be "that guy", fine. If you don't, that's fine, too. But respect it whether you agree with it or not. You may get it in one, four, twenty listens. For me, there's no set number. But it mostly takes years before I start charting an album, which is why my 2010's charts have so many vacancies. My way may not work for you, and I don't expect it to. And the other way around as well..

Muslim-Bigfoot wrote:

You see sieving is not meant to be an entirely rational action; it's a pragmatic decision informed by prejudices, past experiences, whim, limited resources etc.

Could one then say that picking the amount of time to listen is an art, or some part of a larger artistic pursuit?

Romanelli

Bone Swah

Gender: Male

Location: Broomfield, Colorado

Moderator

Allabaster wrote:

Could one then say that picking the amount of time to listen is an art, or some part of a larger artistic pursuit?

I say it's whatever feels comfortable for you. And for me, it's album to album...it's never the same. Each album is different, and it could be that the number of times you hear albums before you're really sure about them can differ from one to another.

Ever notice that in publications like the RS Album Guide and MusicHound, that the albums that were new at the time of publication are almost always rated a bit too high? I believe it takes time, and that we sometimes get into an unneccesary hurry to get our opinions out there. And when something first comes out, we WANT it to be good...sometimes we want it to be better than it actually ends up being.

I say take your time. But that's just me...
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CA Dreamin

Gender: Male

Location: LA

RockyRaccoon wrote:

I don't know if there is a "proper" amount of time, but I would say at least a couple focused listens.

But even then, I've had times where I've listened to an album multiple times, didn't like it, then when I listened to it a year or two later, I loved it. Judgments often change.

Certainly true. I've had that happen to me too. And also the other way around, where I found an album enchanting at first but not so much several years later. With The Police, this happened to me in a cycle. I first got into The Police back in 2008; I loved listening to all their albums, and regularly revisited them for a couple years. But around 2011-2012ish, they stopped doing it for me. I don't know why I wasn't moved by their music anymore, but I didn't get rid of their CDs. How could I after I loved them so much? But then last fall, after not listening to any of their CDs in nearly three years, I randomly popped one in my stereo and it was amazing again, and so were all the others when I relistened to them shortly thereafter. How does one explain that?

I think albums should be judged based on how they make you feel. If an album makes you feel great after one listen, I wouldn't rate it right away. Same goes if an album does nothing for you. Listen to it three or four times to see if your reaction changes. But be aware that some albums and bands may turn a 180 on you over the course of time. Or in my case with The Police, a complete 360.

So to answer the question of this thread, you can tell if an album is good or bad after a few listens. But a "proper judgement" may be unattainable. RockyRacoon is right; Album judgements often change. And I would take it step further and say they're never carved in stone, which brings me to Romanelli's comment:

Romanelli wrote:

For me, it's album to album...it's never the same. Each album is different, and it could be that the number of times you hear albums before you're really sure about them can differ from one to another.

Ever notice that in publications like the RS Album Guide and MusicHound, that the albums that were new at the time of publication are almost always rated a bit too high? I believe it takes time, and that we sometimes get into an unnecessary hurry to get our opinions out there. And when something first comes out, we WANT it to be good...sometimes we want it to be better than it actually ends up being.

An unnecessary hurry indeed.

Right now, thousands of music fans are listening to A Moon-Shaped Pool on repeat, rating it extremely high, and writing glorious fan reviews of it. Now listening to an album on repeat and giving it a perfect rating are totally fine, but most initial fan reviews are bullshit. And that's not exclusive to A Moon-Shaped Pool but everything cultural with high anticipation from albums to movies to books to episodes of The Walking Dead. First off, many early fan reviews are selfish...They just want to have their opinion published as soon as possible to increase the chances of likes and comments. And they'll attract plenty of likes and comments if they give something either the best possible rating or the worst. Is that a fair and "proper" judgement? As for A Moon-Shaped Pool, it may be enchanting to listen to for many fans, but I think some of those fans are just as, if not more enchanted by the mere release of a new Radiohead album than they are by the album itself. There's no way anybody can know how the album will hold up in one month, one year, five years, ten years, etc. But we all want things with high anticipation to be great and hold up over time, so we glorify them when they're new and exciting. Yeah that really panned out well for The Phantom Menace (Some of you may be too young to remember, but that movie got plenty of love and praise when it was first released.).

The point is the proper amount of time to judge something is more than immediately after one listen, one read, or one watch. You'll know when it feels right to give something the "proper judgement." But even then, you may find yourself surprised years later.

Lowkey

Gender: Male

Age: 27

i usually don't listen to albums more than once or twice, like out of the ~4.5k that i've heard i've probably listened to ~1k more than twice and i feel like i have a satisfactory grasp on my opinion(s) on each album

AlexZangari

Gender: Male

Age: 30

Location: gone

This is a question that really has no purpose to me. No matter how many times I listen to an album, I can never say I have a solidified judgment. I suppose most people are like that to at least some extent. However, it's likely that this site and RYM are probably built heavily on the type of listener that are the least like that, since it must take some degree of certainty to regularly rank/rate music. For me, after so long on this site I kinda just realised that ranking my favourite albums really isn't something I can do with any degree of certainty, hence my departure from frequent visits (does anyone even remember me? Razz

).
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