[Sparky14]

My long adventure has finally concluded.

The goal: To listen to every song of every album I (and my wife) have. A scary task, considering I have around 1350 records, somewhere around 15,000 songs. It took me about 18 months.

These were all loaded onto my ASUS notebook in mp3 format. Then, as I listened, if there was a track I didn’t like…DELETE. So now I have a drive full of just the music I like. And when I went back over the list of what was left, being an engineer, I had to crunch the numbers.

So, here are my self-indulgent thoughts on the music……….

Lifetime Achievement Awards (most MBs of music kept)
Toto – 787 (quite a surprise to me. I never pull out the Toto CDs to listen, but going through them here….they just do a lot of good music.
Tears For Fears – 640
Tori Amos – 441
Mannheim Steamroller – 435
Duncan Sheik – 420
Styx - 407

Best Complete Albums (no more than 1 track deleted)
Ben Folds Five – Whatever And Ever Amen
David Arkenstone – In The Wake Of The Wind
John Mayer – Heavier Things
John Tesh – Tour De France (what happened to this guy? TDF rocked!)
Mannheim Steamroller – The “Fresh Aire” series on HDCD (this set made me a music / stereo junkie)
Rebecca Pidgeon – Tough On Crime
Sundays – Static and Silence
Posies – Every Kind Of Light
Producers – You Make The Heat
Aimee Mann – Bachelor No. 2
Eliza Carthy – Red
Faith Hill – Cry
Ivan Lins – Love Dance
Jason Falkner – Presents Author Unknown
Jean-Michele Jarre – Rendezvous
Juliana Hatfield – Become What You Are
Lush – Split
Mr. Mister – Welcome To The Real World (my first CD, still a favorite)
Rooney - Rooney

Newer Albums on the verge of “best complete album” status
Chris Cornell – Scream
Fisher - Water
Rick Springfield – Venus In Overdrive
(yes, I am a Rick Springfield fan. Embarassing but true)

Artists that are better than I realized
Tori Amos
Depeche Mode
Fountains Of Wayne
Patrick O’Hearn
Plumb
Def Leppard
Joni Mitchell
Vertical Horizon

Unexpected Surprises (Good)
Plain White T’s, Kaiser Chiefs, Panic At The Disco – there’s hope for PowerPop
Paul McCartney – Chaos and Creation in the Backyard
Bette Midler – Rosemary Clooney Songbook
Guns N’ Roses – Chinese Democracy
Kate Rusby – Awkward Annie
Katy Perry – Overplayed, sure, but a very good and fun 1st album

Unexpected Surprises (Bad)
Jason Falkner – I’m OK, You’re OK
Fisher – The Wonder Years
Mannheim Steamroller – anything that’s not the “Fresh Aire” series
Eagles – Long Road Out Of Eden (we waited for this?)
Veruca Salt – Anything after Nina Gordon left (give it up already)

2009’s Most Promising Newcomers
Josh Wilson – Trying To Fit The Ocean In A Cup
Mieka Pauley – Elijah Get Your Gun
Tara Slone – Just Look Pretty and Sing (a rare good female rock album)
Matt Nathanson – Some Mad Hope

I Just Don’t Get It
Instrumental Jazz Music - zzzzzzzzzzzzz
Coldplay
Liz Phair – Exile In Guyville (Indie classic is just unlistenable)
Mariah Carey



Random Thoughts
Why do I like Julian Lennon’s music? It’s not great, he’s not a great singer. But I just enjoy it.

R.E.M. – I used to love this band. But listening to it all again, I’m not sure why.

Cowboy Junkies – 10% incredible and 90% sleeping aid.

I really wish The Sundays had put out more records.

Katie Noonan – Blackbird…..Jazz versions of Lennon/McCartney…..very odd.

Best Broadway musical album (from someone who doesn't see any) – Spring Awakening by a nose over Wicked

William Shatner – Has Been……hilarious, and in a good way.
Beatallica – Metallica meets the Beatles…hilarious, once.
Detatchable P***s still makes me laugh.

Thanks to American Idol for bringing us Carrie Underwood, Daughtry, David Cook. But you’re losing points for Ruben and Clay Aiken. I’d add Archuleta to the latter list, but my wife would slap me.

Nope, sorry, I still can’t stand to listen to Celine Dion or Mariah Carey. But I can now at least stomach Christina Aguilera.

Sure, I’ll say it: Foo Fighters are better than Nirvana

 

[Mystere9]

I could never do this. Music tends to grow on me, and I often regret deleting music after the fact, especially if it's a record I resold or gave away.

 

[Ducks_own]

15 000, Yeowch. And I thought my 3244 would be a lofty goal :S

 

[Scriptor Carpe Diem]

Quote:

Sure, I’ll say it: Foo Fighters are better than Nirvana

I'm sorry, but no~ 10,000x no....


Have you listened to Bleach in whole, Nevermind, In Utero in whole? As one album vs another album meaning a nirvana album vs foo fighters, no way...
Bleach does not have one bad song for starters.

Foo Fighters do not have better albums than Nirvana.
And they defintally don't have better songs than Nirvana.
As well Foo Fighters late stuff sound generic and processed, not at all like their early stuff.
Nirvana's impact was bigger if you count that as points.
Nirvana was defintally more into the music than Foo Fighters.
Nirvana not only pioneered but they were incredibly unique, while also changing their unique sound from one to another, and their different sounds were equally but differently good. Foo Fighters, imo suck now, least compared to the 90s Foo.
Finally, Nirvana had 6 years at most with no foundation to start from and they did so much more (music) and also better (music). While Foo Fighters, started from super stardom foundation, and have had 14 years they have less or worse.


Foo Fighters are good, and their old stuff is even great, but in comparison to Nirvana they are not even close.

 

[SoupRKnowva]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scriptor Carpe Diem /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'm sorry, but no~ 10,000x no.... Have you listened to Bleach in whole, Nevermind, In Utero in whole? As one album vs another album meaning a nirvana album vs foo fighters, no way... Bleach does not have one bad song for starters. Foo Fighters do not have better albums than Nirvana. And they defintally don't have better songs than Nirvana. As well Foo Fighters late stuff sound generic and processed, not at all like their early stuff. Nirvana's impact was bigger if you count that as points. Nirvana was defintally more into the music than Foo Fighters. Nirvana not only pioneered but they were incredibly unique, while also changing their unique sound from one to another, and their different sounds were equally but differently good. Foo Fighters, imo suck now, least compared to the 90s Foo. Finally, Nirvana had 6 years at most with no foundation to start from and they did so much more (music) and also better (music). While Foo Fighters, started from super stardom foundation, and have had 14 years they have less or worse. Foo Fighters are good, and their old stuff is even great, but in comparison to Nirvana they are not even close.

Hence the reason they are called opinions, no matter what you give as a reason, if he enjoys the Foo Fighters more its not something you can tell him is wrong. I also happen to think the foo fighters are better than nirvana, and no, i dont care about their impact on music or how much they care about music, thats irrelevant information when what matters is how much I like it.

anywho, thats amazing what you did, when i finally get the speakers i want, a set of maggie 3.6s, and the amps i want, 2 emotiva XPA-1's, im going to do something similar though i hadnt thought to go write about it, you inspired me

 

[Ham Sandwich]

That's quite a goal. That's more albums than I have and I've resigned myself to the reality that I have music in my collection that is never going to get listened to again before I die and I'm certain there are tracks in there that I have never listened to. Still, I keep buying more.

Extrapolating based on my collection and mix of albums (rock, jazz, classical, etc.) 15000 files would come out to 52 days worth of listening. What's the total listening hours for your collection?

I have a friend who has a big CD collection. More CDs than I have and his collection is more thought out and directed than mine. He has a no crap policy. Any of his CDs that he rips he deletes the crap tracks. I can't do that. I keep everything and the thought of having an album that is missing a track is just wrong to me. I do have a special folder named "crap" where I drag albums to that really are crap. Only full albums go in there, no single tracks. Bad tracks in my listening library get rated with 1 star and then I know they're bad. They don't get deleted.

 

[Scriptor Carpe Diem]

I'm all for opinion and personal preference...

If he likes Foo Fighters better than Nirvana, then that's what he likes.

I'm just stating my opinion obvisouly-- that Nirvana is better than Foo Fighters and I try back it with reasons.

I'm just under the impression that most people that have listened to Nirvana and say something like Foo Fighters is better, or Nirvana is overatted have heard Teen Spirit, Lith, Come, Bloom, Usually Polly, and maybe a couple others...
They never listened really to Bleach, or Marigold, or Do Re Mi, the list goes on and on, and on...

In actuality I consider it a curse for these kinds of bands, they get bad rep because of how big they are. To clarify their so big and mainstream that people usually only hear maybe 5 or so songs and hear them over and over and over again that they treat them as THAT kind of overatted band when in fact, their more underground less known, and usually better stuff is left unexamined by all casual listeners and many serious ones. The Chili Peppers is a perfect example, people know maybe 3-5, ten songs max, when imo of couse once again. By The Way, Cali, and Stadium do not have one bad song on them. As does most of BSSM.

It just irrates me so, and honestly that's prob a large part my fault. It's how many people think Lil Wayne, Reliant K, Britney, Lady Gaga, you know what I'm talking about is great and Pink Flyod, The Who, Jimi, Radiohead, whoever is not liked by them, or more likely never listend to. Then when I hear (keeping in mind my opinion is equal to theirs and I know this) Foo Fighters is better than Nirvana to me that is the same but at a bizilion times better level, still wrong but a wrong I can say hey that's cool, I can even respect that to a degree. I suppose it's more the Lil Waynes I really despise, or possibly the Lil Wayne likers, I don't know I'm lost in thought~


I guess when it comes down to it when I see I'll say it Foo Fighters is better than Nirvana. Seeing that makes me want to voice my opinion which opposes and ends up fighting his for my reason of most likely wanting what I consider good vs bad, (which then again is just one thought process for another), so that good may prevail, cause I feel the populus is leaning towards a distasteful exploration in music, my opinion once again. But I'm biased because I get lost in Nostalgia, and am an eternal melancholic.

 

[whaleyboy]

What a cool project - well done OP.

We have some overlap - it gave me a grin to see JMJ's Rendezvous on your good list

I don't think that this process could work for me - I tend to warm up (and warm down) to music so things get into heavier and lighter rotations. If I deleted something I would feel a loss. That said, there are probably a bunch of tracks that I nearly always skip - maybe I am just a packrat. Scratch that maybe...

 

[SoupRKnowva]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scriptor Carpe Diem /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'm all for opinion and personal preference... If he likes Foo Fighters better than Nirvana, then that's what he likes. I'm just stating my opinion obvisouly-- that Nirvana is better than Foo Fighters and I try back it with reasons. I'm just under the impression that most people that have listened to Nirvana and say something like Foo Fighters is better, or Nirvana is overatted have heard Teen Spirit, Lith, Come, Bloom, Usually Polly, and maybe a couple others... They never listened really to Bleach, or Marigold, or Do Re Mi, the list goes on and on, and on... In actuality I consider it a curse for these kinds of bands, they get bad rep because of how big they are. To clarify their so big and mainstream that people usually only hear maybe 5 or so songs and hear them over and over and over again that they treat them as THAT kind of overatted band when in fact, their more underground less known, and usually better stuff is left unexamined by all casual listeners and many serious ones. The Chili Peppers is a perfect example, people know maybe 3-5, ten songs max, when imo of couse once again. By The Way, Cali, and Stadium do not have one bad song on them. As does most of BSSM. It just irrates me so, and honestly that's prob a large part my fault. It's how many people think Lil Wayne, Reliant K, Britney, Lady Gaga, you know what I'm talking about is great and Pink Flyod, The Who, Jimi, Radiohead, whoever is not liked by them, or more likely never listend to. Then when I hear (keeping in mind my opinion is equal to theirs and I know this) Foo Fighters is better than Nirvana to me that is the same but at a bizilion times better level, still wrong but a wrong I can say hey that's cool, I can even respect that to a degree. I suppose it's more the Lil Waynes I really despise, or possibly the Lil Wayne likers, I don't know I'm lost in thought~ I guess when it comes down to it when I see I'll say it Foo Fighters is better than Nirvana. Seeing that makes me want to voice my opinion which opposes and ends up fighting his for my reason of most likely wanting what I consider good vs bad, (which then again is just one thought process for another), so that good may prevail, cause I feel the populus is leaning towards a distasteful exploration in music, my opinion once again. But I'm biased because I get lost in Nostalgia, and am an eternal melancholic.

I guess i did kinda jump down your throat, sorry bout that. And while i will agree that there is good and bad music. It has to be pretty freakin bad for me to think that no one could like it. For the most part music is a thing of taste, while i can listen to bands like the black dahlia murder and say that i love them, one of the my favorite bands, i realize that there are people who cant handle death metal but then i love the red hot chili pepeprs and i think to myself how could anyone not like this??? but then my dad pops up saying he hates it. So really, music is almost entirely up to taste, and to be frank, who knows where that comes from haha

 

[TJ Elite]

According to iTunes I currently have over 15,500 songs in my iTunes Library. My never ending project has been for sometime to rate all the songs I have so I can find tracks that really stand out. I have deleted some tracks that are duplicates or not that interesting bonus tracks, so my library no longer contains every track I have on my CDs, like it used to a few years back.

One of my goals is to create playlist which only contains really really good tracks. I have a 160GB iPod classic which contains all my music and a 16GB iPod nano. Currently my nano contain albums I want to rate song by song while I'm on the go, but once I have completed the playlist with only really good songs on it, I'm going to use it as a list of songs I'm going to sync to my nano. 16GB might not be enough for me, though, so in the future I'm probably going to buy a bigger nano (maybe 32GB when available), or a large iPod touch (perhaps 32GB, but likely something like 64GB when available).

I might be getting a MacBook Pro next year, so I plan to rip only my favorite CDs on it (in Apple Lossless, my PC's external HDD contain 256kbps VBR AAC files and some really great albums in Apple Lossless). Some songs on those good albums are still going to be deleted if they aren't good enough. The end result should be a library with only my favorite songs on it. It'll be fast and easy to browse, but going through my 1000+ CDs (I don't actually know how many I have, but there should be over 1000 by now...) will take a while...


To comment on what Sparky14 wrote about his findings:

Toto is the only name in the Lifetime Achievement Awards that I've heard of.

I haven't heard of any of the artists in the Best Complete Albums section.

I'm happy that you like Chris Cornell's Scream. I really adore that album. Not so many others seem to like it.

Sorry that you don't get Coldplay.

 

[iriverdude]

I went through every single album in my collection, it's easily possible. Rather than playing same album again and again, or playing tracks/albums randomly just work way alphabetically through your library.

 

[GreatDane]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sparky14 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I really wish The Sundays had put out more records.

Do you have the other 2 releases? ("Reading Writing and Arithmetic" & "Blind")

Blind is my favorite.

 

[tako_tsubo]

Well done Sparky

Although for all its poor vocal performance...Liz Phair's Exiles In Guyville, just does it for me and is a definite

when I exercise.

REM...Monster is one of my all time favorites, especially on a vigorous hike.

 

[Sparky14]

Scriptor....I certainly can't argue with your opinions. Certainly Nirvana was more original and more influentual. But once I went back and listened to all of it, I have lots of Foo Fighters that I still like, and not much from Nirvana outside of Nevermind. So that's why Foo are "better" to me.

Ham.....Yeah, I couldn't delete things completely. I have one hard drive that I backup all my music, so I still have everything. Not to mention the 8-10 storage boxes of CDs in my garage.

TJ.....how can you have 15,000 songs and NOT heard of Tears for Fears, Tori Amos, John Mayer, Faith Hill.

You'd probably have as many on your list that I've never heard of.

GreatDane.....Yes I have the other two as well. All 3 are great.

Tako.....It must just be me, because I do like the panned "Liz Phair" record. And despite my R.E.M statement, "Losing My Religion" is probably my favorite all time song.

 

[Mystere9]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SoupRKnowva /img/forum/go_quote.gif I guess i did kinda jump down your throat, sorry bout that. And while i will agree that there is good and bad music. It has to be pretty freakin bad for me to think that no one could like it. For the most part music is a thing of taste, while i can listen to bands like the black dahlia murder and say that i love them, one of the my favorite bands, i realize that there are people who cant handle death metal but then i love the red hot chili pepeprs and i think to myself how could anyone not like this??? but then my dad pops up saying he hates it. So really, music is almost entirely up to taste, and to be frank, who knows where that comes from haha

I've thought about this a lot lately. Almost everyone likes to label music as 'good' or 'bad', instead of just admitting that music is music, as long as somebody likes it.

I have yet to see someone who openly states that they hate Daft Punk though

Back on topic, I once tried to narrow down my favorites songs from my entire music collection(Probably only 3 gigs mostly in mp3 at the time) to 200mb so it would fit in my Sony W600i phone. Needless to say, that ended in failure.