[Fergenaprido]

Since coming to BEA I've started to pay much more attention to my albums. I had them all in a database before, but I never really thought of ranking them or grading them, aside from the 5-star thing iTunes has for songs, except by the criterion that songs I played more often were better than songs I played less often, therefore albums with those "more often" songs where better. At first the database was just to keep track of the albums I owned or had borrowed from friends and added to my digital collection, but in the last month or so since I've really started exploring other music, I'm now keeping track of albums I do not own, but have listened to. This is allowing me to remember which music I've listened to (and did or did not like), but also allows me to better gauge whether or not I like a particular artist if I've only bought and love one of their seven albums.

For movies, I've been keeping track about as long as I have my albums, ever since a friend sent me her list of top 50 romantic comedies ever (at which point I doubt I had ever seen, or would see, that many). I've seen (and remembered) over 800 films on imdb, and keep track of those plus those I want to see in a database as well.

Which comes to my musing. I've seen 800+ films, but I've only listened to around 300+ albums. This baffles me, because movies are generally twice as long as albums. I also read a post a month or so ago that said people stop actively seeking out new music after age 27, but it seems people always see new movies.

My guess is it has to do with the way music and film are distributed. It is quite easy to see a movie in theatres, or rent a film on tape/dvd, or netflix nowadays in the U.S., so people can commit to watching a film without feeling the need that they will have to enjoy it enough to own it. With music, generally you only hear albums after you purchase them (though that seems to be swiftly changing as well), so it's more of a "commitment".

Those are my thoughts. What are yours? Alternatively, if you know a good place online where you can listen to full albums, especially those from lesser-known and/or non-American/non-English bands, I'd love to hear, because youtube doesn't seem to have everything I'm looking for.

Thanks for listening.

[Robert Anton Wilson]

While there are exceptions, a movie is usually about being told a story and once you heard the story there is not much point hearing it told again. So people tend to prefer to watch a new movie and be told a new story.

Music is about how it makes you feel and if an album makes you feel good or otherwise there is no limit to how often you are willing to feel good. Hence why instrumental music works much better than silent movies or why it sometimes does not matter even if you cannot comprehend the lyrics. Music appreciation is not about the content, the story, it is about the feeling.

From there is the time investment calculation made, even though a movie is longer, the memory of the story can stay with you forever after watching it only once. Most people get their satisfaction from movies by watching an unlimited amount of different movies only once whereas people get similat satisfaction from listening to a limited number of albums but each for an unlimited number of times.

Hence why I feel that the 'test of time' is so important about determining an album`s rating myself. I rate much higher an album that I have been listening to for 10 years and have not tired of yet compared to an album that kept me going for 2 years but now feels tamed even if the 10 years album never reached the same peak as the 2 years album. That is not as true when you are younger, let's say if you are 25 years old, because not as many albums have had the opportunity to be with you for 10 years as when you are older.

Same thing happens with friends. When you are young, particulalry if you go to shcool, you can have hundreds of friends you see daily. But with time there is something that develops for having been together for 10 years that can only be obtained after 10 years. Same thing as loving a toy dog or loving a puppy, we always want new, better, toys but we don't get a new puppy every christmas, we want OUR dog to live with us for as long as possible.

Movies are instant gratification.

[Jackwc]

I say combine the two. Use a film as a strong visual counterpart to an album - this hasn't really been executed THAT well yet, The Wall is probably the best example but it could probably have been done a lot better.
_________________
A dick that's bigger than the sun.

Music sucks. Check out my favourite movies, fam:
http://letterboxd.com/jackiegigantic/

[Robert Anton Wilson]

Actually it is becoming a nascent trend to create modern albums/musical pieces to accompany old movies.

You already had Girogio Moroder's Metropolis a few years back but more recently I can think of Philip Glass's score to accompany Jean Cocteau's Beauty and the Beast or Analog Missionary's album "The Voyage of the Demeter" which is music set to Murnau's Nosferatu.

Then you have the Dark Side of Oz which are performances of the Wizard of Oz timed to be synchronised with the playing of the Dark Side of the Moon.

I am sure there are more and more examples but here are the ones that come to the top of my mind.

[Jackwc]

Yeah, I like to do that sometimes.

If loveless is lurking about here, Tool's Aenima goes GREAT with a the 1950's Disney version of Alice in Wonderland on mute, supposing you start the album RIGHT at the second the opening credits end and the actual movie begins.
_________________
A dick that's bigger than the sun.

Music sucks. Check out my favourite movies, fam:
http://letterboxd.com/jackiegigantic/

[Robert Anton Wilson]

LOL I will try that during the holidays ... curious to imagine what is happening on the screen when the song Hooker with a Penis plays.

[19loveless91]

Yeah that should be interesting ... Haven't heard about this before

[monosyllables]

The odd thing is, I doubt I've seen nearly as many movies as I've listened to albums.
I agree, though, that it seems to take much longer for an album to sink in than a movie. I guess part of it is that a movie demands your attention both visually and aurally. Sometimes while I'm listening to an album (not usually on a first listen) I'll read or just dick around on the internet; even if I'm just sitting around, I'll drift into my own thoughts for a second and maybe miss a piece of a song. Hard to do that during movies.
I do agree, though, that it's hard to listen to an album (whatever it means to "really" listen to the point where you know some of the songs) without just buying or downloading it these days. I always feel woefully behind everyone else regarding how much music I'm familiar with, and I puzzle at how they could be familiar with so many different bands/albums when I have looked through these people's record collections and music libraries.
I'm the same way with movies. Maybe it's just me?