Chronicles

One thing I really enjoy doing is listening to an artist's catalog in chronological order. That way I can hear how they've grown, what they've experimented with, and what's at the heart of their personal musicianship.

So far I've done it with the Strokes. I had a hard time sticking with it through the bulk of the second album, but their third album was well worth the wait. I've just been slow taking to Room on Fire.

I've also done it with Blood, Sweat and Tears, my favorite band. Except, I have a ridiculous amount of music from them: solo albums, side projects, live bootlegs, unreleased tracks. So, frankly, I've never done it in one sitting. I've done it over the course of a few days. It's especially interesting with them, because they always had about 8 or 9 members, and they always noted who arranged which songs. You can see how the line up changes affected their overall sound.

I've done it with a few other groups. I'm kinda doing it with the Beatles right now, except that I don't like the bulk of their songs - so I'm listening to my favorite ones, chronologically. This still leaves me with a good 30+ tunes. So prolific.

Anyhow, I'm leaving Sgt Pepper's and entering Magical Mystery Tour. I used to think MMT was my favorite album of theirs (double EP, actually). But now I know for sure it's Sgt Pepper's. How cliche. :D

This experiment has also convinced me that their later work is FAR superior to their early work. I'm hardly interested in hearing their Motown covers and early love songs. There are a couple I like, but ultimately, my listening started (small) with Help! and grew with their 67-69 releases.

If you wanna try this, heads up! Back in the 60s, releases weren't album oriented. There were plenty singles that weren't on albums -> Hey Jude, We Can Work it Out, Day Tripper, etc... None of them on any albums.

That's why if you buy something like the Zombies' Begin Here on CD, there's 30 tracks. They've included all the singles from the album period, too.

But yay for album-oriented music. Never been into the singles approach.