I see what you mean Paul, but I feel if you love an album you want to hear it a lot. I remember when I moved to London 20ish years ago, I had very little money and no music beyond some cassettes full of music I taped off the radio which I played endlessly on my walkman. Once I had the wherewithal to buy a second hand turntable I could only stretch to buying 2 LPs which were "Astral Weeks" and "Led Zeppelin 2" I must have played them non-stop for months, I still love both of 'em. My point is this...I have acquired thousands of records of all sorts since then, some I've loved and fallen out of love with and others I continue to adore, the process is mysterious and unpredictable and I tend to listen to stuff while I still like it, however long (or short) this is. If it's quality it will abide, if not then off to record and tape exchange you trot. Life is too short!

When I didn't have too much disposable income, and getting new music meant a 40 minute bus trip to the nearest big town, each album was scrutinised to the nth degree... I could probably recite the sleeve notes for some of my old favourites. When I could only afford 2 albums a month, I'd get my money's worth out of those and listen to them constantly, and in most cases grow to love them. Notable exception; The Grateful Dead's "Terrapin Station" - bought on a whim, lasted as far as the godawful cover of "Dancing in the Streets" and it was gone, never to darken my turntable again. I have limits...

These days there's too much stuff to listen to, but not enough time to listen to it. If an album doesn't grab me after 1 or 2 plays, it's unlikely to get listened to very much again, and I often wonder if I'm missing out on some real growers as a result.

BF

The last band that really 'did it' for me was the Drive By Truckers (DBT's). I discovered this band quite late on, only about 18 months ago. Since then I have restricted myself to buying just a handful of their later albums, and I have played everyone of them to death. And the best part is that I still play them (last night was a good example - I played every one I have all the way through)and that I have about four more of their albums to explore. I don't think I have ever shown so much self control over a band's back catalogue before. The trouble with the modern world is that we have it far too easy and we no longer take our time over anything worthwhile. I don't know about you good people but I can't pass by a rose bush in summer without stopping to smell them. It's a good habit to develop and is sadly a social skill we have long since forgotten. While on the subject of the DBT's, I like them because I think that they are amazing songwriters. Principal songwriter is Patterson Hood whose father David Hood is one of the famous Muscle Shoals 'Swampers'. That's a pretty good pedigree for starters. Check out 'The Dirty South' and 'Decoration Day' for starters.