The whole album from start to finish. And approximately how many times have you listened to it?
It would have to be something from when I was a kid and put a record on the stereo.
My guess would be Tea for the Tillerman by Cat Stevens. At least 200 times. But I also listened to Simon and Garfunkel a lot, and Elton John’s Greatest Hits (1974). Generally then, and more so since, I don’t listen to a whole album, “start to finish.” Graceland is probably the closest since my teenage years…
In the very early 80’s I’d regularly rotate through my Pink Floyd vinyl collection. Later came The Police, on CD. Then, in university, it was The Smiths, especially Louder Than Bombs. That’s about the time I started burning my own “best of” compilations.
I’ve not listened to any one single album by an artist in its entirety in nearly 20 years. Seems to me, very few albums have more than 1 or 2 tracks worth hearing anymore.
Blonde on Blonde. Literally gazillions of times.
Ladies of the Canyon, by Joni Mitchell or maybe Hangman’s Beautiful Daughter, by The Incredible String Band.
More than a thousand times, less than a million times, enough times to make Mr. Ko run screaming into a set of noise cancelling headphones.
Classical Music fan here: there’s an album of four Vivaldi concerti that I have played scores of times.
Not this recording, but this concerto: my absolute favorite piece of music in all the world.
Abbey Road. Heard it all the way through when I was four, and many, many times since.
If I had to guesstimate - somewhere between 100 and 200 times.
Either Yes’s 90125, or Electric Light Orchestra’s Out of the Blue. Easily a couple of hundred times, each.
The soundtrack to Star Wars: A New Hope is probably close to the top of the list, as well.
Joni Mitchell’s Blue or Meet the Beatles.
I can’t say exactly, but I would venture to guess I have a hundred listens of each.
My guess would probably be Smashing Pumpkins’ Siamese Dream, since I would run to it a lot. A couple hundred times at least, I would guess.
The single artist I’ve listened to the most, though, is probably Sleater-Kinney, though spread out among their albums.
Brothers in Arms by Dire Straits. Listened to it dozens of times from start to finish back when cassette tapes were all the rage.
Kind of Blue, Miles Davis.
Never fails.
Probably Bob Dylan’s Time out of Mind.
I hadn’t listened much to Bob at the time, but lent it by chance at the library (this was during one of Wakinyan’s two poor periods) and played it over and over and over again, and then had my brother burn a copy for me when it was time to return it, and kept listening to the album. It is still one of my say top five desert island albums. Eventually I bought just about every Bob album on CD, but then Spotify came around so I’m not keeping track (-s ?) anymore. Anyhow, it’s Nobel Prize stuff.
Probably The Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus by Spirit. I get bored with the same music over and over; it’s rare for me to listen to anything twice in a row. But I come back to this every few weeks.
Actually, that might be a contender for me, too, although for slightly different reasons. While I do play it often enough at home (usually Saturday morning or Sunday morning music for me–don’t know why, I just find it nice weekend morning music), the coffeeshop I used to work for a couple years in college at had an “approved list” of music that could be played, and Kind of Blue was one of the albums. (It actually may have been the first place I heard it.) It would pretty much get played every single shift.
Coltrane’s Giant Steps is another one that got a lot of play, but there was this one old guy who would come in, and whenever anything beboppy was playing, he’d come up and ask us to put on “the nice jazz,” not the stuff “where everyone sounds like they’re on drugs.” So, of course, it became a bit of a ritual to put on the Coltrane after whatever album we were playing ended, just to needle the guy a bit. (He wasn’t a terribly good tipper.)
Then to chase the customers out at the end of the night, we’d play some Les Paul album that sounded like crazy cartoon circus music, or something. That would generally give everyone the hint to leave.
Their self-titled album is one of my albums for this list. I’ve listened to it, I don’t know, a hundred times over the years.
Probably the album I’ve listened to most is Terence Trent D’Arby’s Introducing the Hardline According to Terence Trent D’Arby. Beginning to end, the album just works.
Maybe “Miles Ahead” by Miles Davis.
Or maybe “Interviews of Our Times” by Lenny Bruce. I practically memorized all his stand-up routines.
Both of these would have been in the 1950s-60’s.
ProbablyWho’s Next, possibly Zappa’s Hot Rats.
Hmm, it’s probably Songs The Lord Taught Us by The Cramps. I bought my copy several decades ago, and listen to it around a dozen times a year. So, I’ve probably listened to it 400 times, at least.
Wow. “Shear Heart Attack” by Queen is in the running. So is “Abbey Road”. So is “The Wall” by Pink Floyd. I’ve listened to each of those at least a hundred times. Other albums by those three artists are not too far behind.