Stop Skipping Tracks: 5 Reasons Why You Should Listen to Full Albums
When was the last time you listened to a full album, from the beginning to the end? Who still invests his/her own time to sit and listen for a full hour? The old-fashioned way?
These all seem like fair questions in an era where everybody seems to have forgotten why artists produce albums and why we should listen to them. Listening to albums might have become a lost art and the reasons why this has happened are various.
The tools and technology we use to listen to music have changed, from vinyl to CDs, to downloads, to the latest streaming services. The switches in the medium have subsequently modified the way the music business operates and the way users listen to music. Before the digitalization of music, the album was the main format used to distribute music. The album release of your favorite artist was an event that required you to go to the store, buy a physical copy, and play the entire album. You would lie on your bed, listen to the album 15 times in a row, learn the sequencing by heart and place it on your shelf among a selected collection of artists. Back in the day, when it was still a privilege to have music, the price paid for a single album, or the player itself, made it necessary to make a choice and select. There was a process of individual selection of artists and albums, which favored the development of a taste. As a consequence, music lovers were also more attentive and active listeners.
Now, music is everywhere and infinite. Our access to streaming platforms has very low barriers to entry and if you are not willing to actively pay, there is still YouTube (which is btw great to discover new music). Plus, the music industry has expanded by constantly launching new songs and albums every week, creating a relentless cycle of releases and making it difficult for listeners to pick and explore all the various productions. Playlists become key to facilitate users’ orientation into streaming services. With such a variety and constant productions, it seems fair that listeners can grasp only a small part of the vast ocean of music, focusing on the most advertised songs, the “hits”, and forgetting about the complexity and the depth of a single artist that is expressed into albums. Moreover, it seems like our attention span has dramatically lowered; we have become passive listeners, overwhelmed by infinite possibilities that make listening to a full album feel like a huge amount of time to spend alone and in full concentration.
The result is that only a small portion of users listen to full albums today, or have never listened to one in their entire life. Maybe because we do not want to invest that amount of time to just sit and actively listen. Because it sounds like homework at school. Even I, who has seen the rise and decay of CDs, lost the habit as I started using streaming platforms. Therefore we need to remind ourselves why it is worth it. Here are 5 reasons why you should take a free night, pick an artist you like (or look at the end of the article to find 3 great ones) and give it a shot:
1. Albums represent the artist’s music vision:
Today, we rip tracks from their natural habitat and put them into playlists. We pick the singles we hear on the radio and leave albums on the side. Don’t get me wrong, I am not suggesting to erase your playlist once you’re done reading this article (here you can find out our monthly playlists and they are GREAT). Still, I believe that before making one you should listen to some of the albums your favorite songs come from. In fact, when you listen to a full album, you realize that all the songs follow a script that guides you into the artist’s world and works. Musicians spend years to harmonize the songs into a cohesive production and the least we can do is to listen to their albums in their integrity and in the order they meant the songs to be listened to. Tracks are the product of a moment of the artist’s life that has elaborated his experience in the form of music in this particular time and space, hic et nunc. Whenever you extrapolate one song from the full album you might lose the full picture. And the full picture might be a story, a melodic voyage, or the discovery of new worlds and sonorities. All the songs are meant to be in that context, before the next one and after the previous one, because in that way all the tracks acquire a meaning. They hold up together and whenever you listen to just one song, you completely lose all this spectrum of reflection.
2. Discover the hidden gems:
Or “deep cuts”, the songs that appear deep within the record and that are not advertised as “hits”. These tracks would end up ignored by most of the users despite the fact that they might make the entire composition a masterpiece. You might find out they are the best songs of the record.
3. It’s a journey:
As already said, listening to a whole album is about listening to what an artist has to say. It’s like sitting in front of someone and saying “ok, here I am, tell me about yourself”. It’s about getting to know someone or a story. You dedicate one hour of your time and jump into someone else world, with respect and an open heart. And sometimes you might find out that that world is also your world and that somehow you understand it. Or you might discover that you can feel great empathy towards a certain kind of music or a story even though it’s not even close to yours. Albums can take you to different places, unknown territories, or familiar ones. You only need to give yourself the time for something good to happen. Or to declare you have wasted your time because you hated that album. As with people, the same goes for albums: you cannot judge them just from their hit song, otherwise, you won’t know them in-depth.
4. It’s the moment of the day to detach from everything and take some time for yourself:
2020 gave us the chance to slow down from the extreme routine of our frantic, fast-paced world and embrace all those activities that nourish us as human beings. Deep listening is one of them so program your “night with music”, dim the lights, lay on your couch, drink your wine, and don’t get distracted. Cultivate your creativity outside of the killer routine. Make it your “me-time”, a moment of the day to digital detox. It might become your boost of energy or a relaxing moment.
5. You develop your own taste:
Listening to albums means exploring music as an artistic creation, you also start to understand the differences between artists and their music. It is very different than listening to songs on a playlist because it is the process of discovery of an artist. It shapes your whole future listening experience and deepens your understanding. This does not mean that you will love necessarily all the tracks of the album you are listening to. But it’s about being attentive and being able to say what you like and what you don’t.
Pauline Oliveros used the term “deep listening” to describe this practice: “I differentiate to hear and to listen. To hear is the physical means that enables perception. To listen is to give attention to what is perceived both acoustically and psychologically.” So please, try to find 1 hour, select an album of your favorite musician, and listen deeply. Go from the beginning to the end, embrace a new way to listen to your music. Dedicated listening can be one of the greatest life’s pleasures. Like me, sooner than you think, you might find yourself not wanting to go out just to enjoy your favorite album.
