How do you choose what to listen to next?

I rely on iPod a great deal, but also the "what are you listening to now" thread lets me revisit certain parts of my collection. I only wish there were more contributors to the Music forum as at the end of the day surely that is why we invest in the hardware.

Huw

I have a "pipeline" with an empty space at one end. Whatever got played last goes into that space, whatever gets played next comes from the other end of the pipe, with the proviso that I reserve the right to reject one or two based on mood before picking from the front end of the pipe.
Used for both vinyl & CD.

Err...often break the rules when the need for one of the "greats" demands it.

regards
Geoff

For me it is not ususally a conscious decision at all! Obviously some music gets played more than other things. Sometimes a piece comes onto my head at work or whatever, and that will be the first thing I put on when I get home. It is a real nuisance at work if it happens at the start of a shift. If I could only relax (from the work for a few minutes) then I would soon get it out of the system! I reckon I really listen more without replay than with it., which may seem odd to some people!

Where there is a question of choice of performance I seem to choose the one most suited to my mood at the time. every performance has a different level of excitement or depth. I have never been able to explain quite how it works.

I find that if a recording has not come out for a couple of years I part with it!

All the best from Fredrik

I have a section of shelf called the Inbox - which basically contains all the stuff that required Listening Attention; I gradually work through it as time allows. I have a Usual Suspects section too, that contains a number of discs that I need to listen to on a regular basis, in order to survive - eg Winterreise, Das Lied, late Beethoven etc

An album mentioned in " What are you listening to right now?"thread,a request for info re an artist or radio track can prompt me to dig out a certain album. If that fails I open Music collector and close my eyes and spin the mouse thumb wheel and see where I end up.

Howard

Just trying a bit of Wagner's Ring on Radio 3.... wrong Thread sorry, from Fredrik

Now this may sound potentially crazy or at the very least anal but here goes anyway .....

I am fairly convinced that at any given time certain music (sound, vibration, whatever) is most appropriate and beneficial to your being and others will be out of harmony with you at that time. If I play the wrong music at the wrong time for my particular state then I have noticed that there is a very discernible (albeit minute) level of tension in me. And I do mean very small (I am not going bonkers at that stage or anything). I may like the music but it simply may not be right for me at the time.

For me I have to consciously control what is played next. Sometimes I may have some music in mind and that makes it all very easy. However, if I know I want to listen to music but had no preconceived idea as to what then I will peruse the whole CD collection. When I scan along I will be considering the feel of the music of each CD. I will know immediately when I have struck the right "vibe". Often when scanning I will quickly narrow down the type of music I should listen to at that time whether it be Italian Opera, medieval sacred, funk, soul, chamber etc. Once I have clicked to what I am leaning towards then I just start scanning through the CD's of that genre. Generally when I see the right one "I know I have hit gold". On it goes quick smart. On occasion I know in a matter of seconds if I have got the right music on. If it feels slightly off then I take that CD off and look again. Somehow the CD that does not past muster will normally help me understand what was missing and therefore what was needed. The next CD on will nearly always be the right one.

Once the right music is playing then all is sweet harmony.

Now it may be that sometimes I need medieval sacred music and sometimes I need The Sex Pistols. Some of the most seemingly innocuous or relaxing music can put me off my stride if that is not what I want at that time.

For me that is one of the beauties of having a CD/LP collection ..... I can feed the need when I choose. I spent all that cash on CD's/LP's and all the stereo kit because I love music and how it benefits me. I just reckon its worth making the conscious effort to maximise the benefit. Given the fact we are daily put under a barrage of vibrations and sounds that fatigue us I reckon it's a good thing to make the most of when we can contrrol the right vibe that nourishes us.

Well that went on a bit didn't it !

Norman

Norman,
that was the most comprehensive comment, here, and closest to my own listening habits. It's nicest, if the sequence of CDs "floats" smoothly, with an urge to continue to put things on, and on, and on. Also, I recognise when I feel the lust to listen to CDs "in a whole run" (ie. all the CD from the first to the last song) that I have chosen the right one. Letting myself influence by what I read or think when I listen to one CD is another great way. Music is SO mood dependent (same for day time, weather, health, season, humidity, temperature, state-of-mind, ....) that I could never use a "schema" for my listening. For example, it almost ALWAYS happens to me that when I open the CDP first thing in the morning, I almost feel disgusted by the last CD I had picked and would never listen to the last two songs that didn't make it the night before...

Yet, I do have piles with "things to listen to" (usually the new purchases that have only gotten one (half ?) spin, and there are CDs I keep in the "Favourite Picks" pile because I know I have to re-listen within - say - weeks. Hardly ever do I listen to the same CD more than twice within one week (unlike my dear wife...)

All this makes auditions (especially at dealers) SO difficult

Good thread
Stefan

The treads over moods are spot on, often I've put my favourite album on, then had to take it off after a couple of song, because it just does not feel right.

It is interesting to put my 20 GB MP3 player on random and see what comes up, but I do like the 13th album idea, and I may well have a go at this and see how I go on.

I find I have a recent aquisition stack on my coffee table with regular play for a month or so, then I'll clean them up and put them away and pretty soon another pile occurs. I'll have to try the every 5 or 7 option. My collection isn't big enough for 13. So why do we pick these primary numbers?

I just look through my CD racks or the record cabinet until one of them jumps out at me. I also have three collections that I keep distinct from my general collection: HMHB, Shirley Collins and the Beatles (including solo efforts). If I play an album then it is usually from track 1 unril the end - I don't tend to jump from one CD or record to another.

quote:

Originally posted by JeremyT2:
...I was reading a piece on Joe Boyd, the Fairport/Nick Drake producer, in this month's Word...
...Produced by same Joe Boyd!
Jeremy

Well, if you want to follow the Joe Boyd theme, why not listen to some Nick Drake?! Either CD (benefit of cheapness) or the superb Simply Vinyl 180g repressings - quite wonderful.

How do I choose what to listen to next - quite often I am prompted towards something when I have visited this Forum! So without further ado, off for some Nick Drake myself...

Good listening,
James

I really like Nick Drake, but find Pink Moon a bit depressing at times. His first two albums are uplifting and always a pleasure to hear.

ROTF wrote:
"I really like Nick Drake, but find Pink Moon a bit depressing at times. His first two albums are uplifting and always a pleasure to hear."

I don't know if it makes me a depressive (I'm not depressed after listening to it) but I do love Pink Moon (as well as the first two albums)- especially the incredible and precise guitar playing, such as Road, which I find fully involving and uplifting (even knowing his sad end).

I'm not into having albums to 'show off' the hi-fi - more having the hi-fi to enter into the music. But if I do ever feel I have to justify the amount I've spent - even s/h, which almost all of my equipment is - putting on one of those fantastic Simply Vinyl Nick Drakes does it for me!

(I only have Bryter Layter and Pink Moon on SV, I could have had had Five Leaves as well, but thought, 'oh no, I already have that', then found out what even a second pressing is worth on the open market...! But still I listen to it.)

James

Pretty well what I feel like, it's rarely a logical choice. I have a shelf of stuff I've bought that I haven't got round to listening to yet, so I'll often look at that first, but I haven't clearly anything off it for a week or so, having been enjoying rifling through my cd shelves instead.

That said, sometimes I'll deliberately put on a concert or other radio show (and often then put on a cd for comparison if it's not very good).

Sometimes I'll get stuck in a particular area (I've been listening to quite a lot of Mozart piano concertos lately and quite a lot of Brahms).

Fredrik - I know what you mean about picking a particular performance.

But, basically, it's whatever comes to mind and whatever I feel like right now.

regards, Tam

Well I must say the 13th album system certainly works for me - tonight I have -
John Prine - Diamonds in the dust
Procul Harum -Exotic birds and fruit ( must be five years since it saw light of day)
Lou Reed - Transformer
Does not stop me listening to mood inspired stuff or brand new either. For instance just got the Classic Records 45rpm Crosby Stills and Nash - awesome on the VPI Scoutmaster - Considering whether I can blow $699.99 on the Led Zep 45rpm box set - 44 single sided albums - http://www.elusivedisc.com/prodinfo.asp?number=RTH3001QP. Should not have ordered the Fraim!
Jeremy

[QUOTE]Originally posted by JWM:
]

Well, if you want to follow the Joe Boyd theme, why not listen to some Nick Drake?! Either CD (benefit of cheapness) or the superb Simply Vinyl 180g repressings - quite wonderful.

James

I bought "Five Leaves Left" in 1970 having heard "Time has told me" on the Island Nice Enough to Eat sampler - still have that too. Wish the girl who took my "Pink Moon" would send it back though - some hope after 30 years!

Jeremy

Jeremy,
I do like to hear of people who had the Nick Drake albums 'the first time round'.

I was a bit of a late starter myself - 1976 as a 12-year old (though probably quite 'advanced' for 12!), going round to a friend's and systematically going through his older sisters' record collections, which curiously they left at home whilst at university. (Perhaps they didn't want them wrecked ... and they left that vinyl within the grasp of two 12-year olds...??!!)

James

It is my moods ( and I havea lot of those, more than my wife seems to have) that determine my choices of music and the volume I play it. Unless I make a wrong choice, I always play the music from start to finish or as Stefan says: 'in a whole run'.

I have also activities that I tend to do with a particular type of sound . I clean the house with music with tempo, cook mostly with world music, drive the car with jazz and read with some minimalist stuff.

Though I love music dearly, I very rarely find music that changes my mood. It is usually the the other way around, the music re-enforces my mood, and that is perhaps because I am able to find a good match to where I am at that particular moment.

Well, I am in a mood for an ice cream now, so I better go and put on some cool Italian music on the way to the fridge.

Haim

I find it's music that fits my mood that I enjoy the most. I usually listen to something all the way thru, but once in a while I just don't have the patience and whip it off and start something else that does fit.

tho I seem to have sessions in one genre, like classical, rock or jazz, but don't mix. My drinks are either hard liquor like whiskey or Vodka, or wine for more refined times. Beer is good too, tho I don't do as much of that nowadays, i would if I had more access to your excellent brews in England. I was a big beer drinker years ago and have the belly to prove it.

On to a rampage of music now, Clapton's Mr Johnson and Me and a whiskey and water.

Dear Glenn,

Absolutely the same random approach with me!

Sometimes I go through a phase lasting weeks on one genre, which will account for a large proportion of my listening, and then it goes random again...

On the matter of drinks with music, it is funny how types follow. Beer goes well with lighter listening, and best of all with humour, like Lehrer, Hoffnung (The Bricklayers sketch is always funny if you are no longer quite sober!), or Joyce Grenfell. ('George, don't do that.' Those who know me well will understand the resonance of that!).

Beethoven and most orchestral music is good with a nice Bordeaux, and Bach is usually proper coffe, or sometimes towards the end, a Vodka or Scotch! As soon as you start on the hard stuff, though, I find it gives maybe twenty minutes of real fine concentration followed by lossing the ability to keep a grip at all! Then I might as well just put the World Service News on and swear at the state of things!

All the best from Fredrik

quote:

Originally posted by Fredrik_Fiske:
I find it gives maybe twenty minutes of real fine concentration followed by lossing the ability to keep a grip at all!

hehehehehehe
Dear good 'ol Fred!

Dear Gianluigi,

I think I have lost it already today! I went down to town and had my (joke) hair cut, and went in to the record shop and layed asisde the Beethoven First and Second Piano Concertos played by Solomon, as I did not have the cash in my pocket to bring it home. Then I went to the Fish and Chip shop and collected supper, to eat over some lovely Teme Valley Ale. It has gone straight to my head, so I might as well call quits and take an hour or two as sleep! I am supposed to be going out later. Perhaps not?

Hell Freezes Over is my fairly low key listening at this moment!

Fredrik

Ciao Fred!
Friday i had one of those days you have recently experienced.
So get home at 10 in the morning and listened to music all day long without gettin' a note.
Spent saturday morning in the record shop and spent some money as well!
Now my good friend call me and tell me to reach him.
I'm sliping from the sofa and i think i few minutes i'll be on the floor.

I had a beer with dad and talk about things to do tomorrow.
Anxiolitytics and beer are dancing the rumba in my head and my hears sound like buckets!
heehhehe
Good luck, then and god bless us all for our die hard good spirit!
Cheers and love!
Gianluigi

I find the 'What are you listening to...' thread inspiring for those moments when you want to listen to something but don't know what. My iPod was a godsend when I was between homes and dug out tracks I forgot I had, sending me digging around in boxes. Recently, the same issue of Word magazine got me listening to all my old Cocteau Twins stuff last friday !!

I shall try the 13 from the left option this very minute !

Good listening,

Alan