After a recent quest for new music, I ended up with an album I like quite a bit. Naturally, it wasn’t one of the albums people recommended (several of which I like quite a bit, and am listening to at home), instead, it was something recommended by Amazon, a “greatest hits” album by Bembeya Jazz National.
The good news is that I love this album. The bad news is that although the single best song is on the first disc, overall the second disc is better. This makes me realize that I feel an obligation not to show favoritism on double albums, but to listen to both discs equally. I was doing pretty well for a while, listening to the first disc on my way to work and the other on my way home – but the last couple of days, I’ve been listening to Disc Two exclusively.
Is anyone else reluctant to listen to one half of a double album more than the other?
Almost all the double albums I own are musicals, so listening to only one means hearing only half of the show–not usually my preference.
But I do have one album which is a double album which isn’t quite so chronological (if that’s the right word) as a musical, which I sometimes lose interest in before I listen to the whole CD–which if I"m driving isn’t a major problem, I just start skipping particular songs I don’t want to listen to.
Still, I’ve thought about this issue with respect to that album before.
If it’s a greatest hits or similar collection, then no, I don’t care. But if it’s an actual album, then it was meant to be listened to as such, and so I do.
I’m reluctant, but I never manage to listen to both equally. I listen to disc two of the Allman Brothers Band At Fillmore East more than disc one - although they now have it on one CD, which simplifies things and lets me just skip around.
The White Album is really such a buffet that I never listen to it all the way through, especially both discs. That’d be like overeating, to continue the food analogy. I don’t favor either disc, but I skip around a lot.
Hm, good point. This (the album that got me thinking about it) was compiled as a greatest hits album, but since I was unfamiliar with the group, I’m not sure whether it counts as one (for me) or not.
The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway gets a bit tedious on the second album. Let’s say that some of the Gabriel experimental stuff doesn’t age well. I usually listen to the first CD and then cherry pick on the second one.
The second CD of the Beatles 1962-1966 is from the Revolver/Rubber Soul period and gets more play than the earlier music.
That’s funny, because I came in here to say that I prefer the 2nd album of The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. Not that I don’t love the first album too. It’s a concept album (1 and 2) so in a way it’s like a musicial, to only listen to one or the other album is to only get half the story. I usually listen to the whole thing because it’s like a mini-movie in my mind’s eye (part Ken Russell, part Stanley Kubrick, part Martin Scorsese). However, most of my favorite songs are on the 2nd album, especially side 4 which I think is masterpiece upon masterpiece. Needless to say, I think that Gabriel’s experimental stuff (though the whole thing is experimental and he didn’t write the music anyway) ages very well. Ahead of its time, in fact.
I prefer the 2nd album of Kate Bush’s Aerial to the first album, though I love them both (except one song, which is one of the few Kate songs I absolutely cannot stand). The first album is just random songs, the 2nd album is a concept.