Auditory Impressions
I am not a careful music listener. Instead, I listen to Cd’s over and over till they build an impression. Since my husband G. Grod got laid off from his job last fall, I have curtailed purchases of Cd’s and have instead been getting them from our library. While the wait for certain popular titles can be long, I have a few Cd’s at any given time, and can keep them for three weeks.
There are several benefits to the library option. I can try before I decide to buy. I have checked out several Cd’s that I am glad I didn’t spend money on, and a few that confirmed my desire to track them down. The downside to my listening plan is that pop music, which is engineered to be more immediately like-able, floats to the top of my list faster than do other, more carefully crafted Cd’s. A concentrated three-week span of listening, though, is usually enough for non-poppy music to make a favorable impression. Often, three weeks is sufficient to return something I like and not feel I need to own it. Here is a list of some of the recent things that have cycled through, and what impressions they left.
No impression after multiple listens:
Patty Griffin, 1000 Kisses and Impossible Dream
My Morning Jacket, At Dawn–like Neil Young playing in the room next door
Jayhawks, Tomorrow the Green Grass
Grew on me, but I don’t need to own
Interpol, Turn on the Bright Lights
Bright Eyes, Letting off the Happiness–uneven
Jeff Buckley, Sketches for my Sweetheart the Drunk
Just don’t get
Jeff Buckley, Mystery White Boy, Live–so much yowling
Jeff Buckley, Grace–less, but still too much, yowling
Not as good as their last one
Thrills, Let’s Bottle Bohemia
Fun
O.C. Mixes 1 and 2
For the Kids 1
Kings of Leon, Youth and Young Manhood
Bright Eyes, Lifted
Substantively good
Nick Drake, Five Leaves Left–Dreamy
Low, Great Destroyer
Madeleine Peyroux, Careless Love