16-05-2018, 01:13 AM
2391
Re: Floydy's All-Time Top 1000 Favourite Albums
Originally Posted by
Ffosse
->
Any room for
Blue by Joni Mitchell? Or have I missed it? A top 1000 by me would include a few Joni albums.
Then again, if I did a top 1000 it would probably be skewed more towards folk and alternative country. As well as Led Zep, the Who (Who's Next?) and more singer songwriters like Townes Van Zandt and Josh Ritter.
It must have been an incredible amount of work you've put into this. First, separating the 1000 from the other 7 or 8000 albums you own, then deciding which order to place the rest. And you've admitted that you've made mistakes (Ryan Adams). Still, a top 1000 can never really be definitive as you remember old records and perhaps find some new ones.
I tend to listen to 4 hours of music a day (not including music in the background) and I split this up into two 2 hour sessions in the morning and the evening. I listen with really good headphones via my Google Music app and I listen intently and critically - especially the new songs. I perhaps listen to 15 new (to me) songs every day, and the other 45 are older favourites. That's how I discover new music - some of it will be forgotten as I don't like it, but others will and have gone on to become favourites with me. I then add these songs to a playlist and, when I've got the time, I'll look up the album(s) and give them a listen.
Of course you can never listen to everything - there simply isn't the time. Have you worked out how long it would take to listen to your top 1000 non-stop? I have playlists that are 80 hours long (I never get through them all, just put them on shuffle). Say an average album is 40 minutes long, times 1000 is a long time. I'd bet that you don't spend much time with the 7000 albums you discarded.
Hi Ffosse.
Great post bud, lots to go at...
Joni Michell I'm okay with to a point. I understand she is worshipped the world over for her songwriting and I agree she has written some great songs, but it's her voice that I'm not keen on. That high-pitched 'warbling' irritates me, which is a shame because her lyrics are amazing. I have three or four albums of hers though and "Blue" is in my list somewhere (though I'm not sure whereabouts as I'm at work atm). I much prefer Carole King from the same era as her voice is more 'natural'.
I mentioned a while ago about the compiling methods of this list, but it was one post in now thousands and I think it's time for another explanation:
I started all this just before Christmas. My collection is all on a 2TB external hard drive, most of the albums run A-Z but some are in specific 'genre' folders, so I had to go through the whole collection at least four times. I think that's where acts such as Ryan Adams (of whom I have eight albums) got mislaid somehow. Same with the Small Faces, Jimmy Buffett and Harry Chapin and probably some others too - but by then it was too late. I did make some last minute adjustments and even some as we were posting the albums in the early weeks, but the list what you see here is virtually as it was completed.
Anyway, from the 8000+ albums, plus some I don't own but have compilations of singles (so I added that band's parent album), I whittled it down to about 2000 before I then opened a Word document and typed them all out from scratch, which was a hell of a ballache! I would then give each album a rating A-F, then start at all the "A" albums and give a further "A1". "A2" etc etc, until the last ones had an "F5"...you get my drift?
Then it was a matter of looking at say, all the top A1 albums and putting that section into some kind of order, best to least favourite. The A2 etc. and I arrived at my main list.
Looking at it completed, I then picked out all of the acts who had several albums and assembled their albums too. If I decided that I liked one more than another that was positioned lower down, I juggled them around to put them in order too, eg. with Van Morrison, David Bowie etc, and especially Pink Floyd - I didn't want to bugger them up!
I started the list when I opened the thread on New Year's Day. Through five months almost, we are now on the verge of the final 20 albums. It's been a hell of a task as you know from my frequent rants, but it has been enjoyable too digging out videos and other information. The part I do enjoy most though is replying to your posts, which is why I have the bugbear of people who just 'view' but don't get involved...I never know if they are there or even interested. It's nice to talk!
It's down to people like yourself, Ffosse, Longdogs, PSmith, Moscow, Surfermom and many others contributing that I haven't ended the list and gone off in a huff! You've been great with your replies and I'll be adding the more information like as before to the rest of the albums now that we're on the home run.
As for pausing the list at the end of this month, well I'm hoping to complete it before my holiday, and it looks like a big probability that I can manage that.
I like your breakdown of how much you listen to your music too. Four hours is a lot of good songs in a day and I used to do the same. Now it's just when I get time.
And finally, if we listened to all 1000 in a row, how long would it take. Well, if we think of an album as being roughly 45 minutes long (give or take double albums or shorter records), that's 45,000 minutes which would equate roughly to 750 hours or 31 days. So about one month solidly, day and night!! Don't try this at home
Take care buddy