I suppose it was sparked by a desire to establish a defensive position; when yet another CD arrived in the mailbox to be added to the thousands already crowding the office-turned-music room, I felt compelled to justify the acquisition. Do I really listen to all of this stuff, or, as I feared, do I limit myself to a spin or two of a new disc before filing it (alphabetically, of course) on the shelf?

So, on Aug. 1, I decided to start keeping track of every full album I spun. Because this was my obsession, I made the rules: Only an album heard in its entirety, even if it is spread over several days, will count. Repeat spins, partial listens, EPs, singles and background music don't count. This had to be active listening of a full album. I could listen in the car, at home, at work or even on headphones while mowing the lawn. Every completed album was added to the list.

The result? I listened to 47 albums in their entirety during the month. With some, I listened to at least part of them more than once, and I certainly heard a handful of tracks from dozens more. Then there were the afternoons at work spent with the iPod on shuffle, or time spent in front of the computer listening to MP3s or YouTube clips, ensuring that I heard hundreds more songs over the course of the month.

What the list reveals is how streaky my interests are. I'm going to catch the Steve Wynn/Minus 5 tour in a couple of weeks, which accounts for the five Wynn-related discs I spun during the month (and the new Minus 5, as well). Hearing a Moby Grape song on shuffle led me to the Skip Spence album, Oar, while slowly paging through Rob Jovanovic's Big Star bio,Big Star: The Short Life, Painful Death, and Unexpected Resurrection of the Kings of Power Pop, led me to that band's catalog and the Alex Chilton disc, Set (which was surprisingly good, and reminded me, despite its being released 25 years later, of Big Star's ragged live recordings from the early 1970s).

I do listen to new things when I get them, as indicated by the many August releases on the list. Will I listen again soon? We'll see.

It's an eclectic set, I suppose, if one can look past the preponderance of white American men past the age of 30. OK, it's not eclectic at all, but it is a fairly accurate representation of what I like. Seeing the list is both interesting and instructive, and I think I'll do it again this month. September promises to be more varied already: I spent the morning listening to a leak of Jay-Z's imminent Blueprint III just to see what all the fuss is about.

How does this compare to your own habits? Do you have the patience for full albums? What sparks you to pick up a disc and give it a spin?

The list:

The Dream Syndicate - Days of Wine and Roses
Six Organs of Admittance - Luminous Night
Wye Oak - The Knot
Robert Pollard - Elephant Jokes
Brendan Benson - My Old Familiar Friend
Anders Parker - Crow
The Bats - The Guilty Office
Joe Pernice - It Feels So Good When I Stop
Steve Wynn - Live in Brussels
Stephen Duffy - Duffy
Woods - Songs of Shame
Japandroids - Post-Nothing
Emitt Rhodes - American Dream
Emitt Rhodes - s/t
White Rabbits - It's Frightening
Neil Young - Fork in the Road
Blitzen Trapper - Furr
Steve Wynn - Fluorescent
Cosmos - Jar of Jam Ton of Bricks
Skip Spence - 0ar
Robert Pollard - The Crawling Distance
Deer Tick - War Elephant
Dead Weather - Horehound
Deer Tick - Born on Flag Day
Lemonheads - Varshons
Scud Mountain Boys - Pine Box
John Cunningham - Happy Go Unlucky
Antlers - Hospice
Minus 5 - Killingsworth
Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - Beware
Jay Reatard - Watch Me Fall
Bap Kennedy - Domestic Blues
Pronto - The Cheetah
Avett Brothers - Emotionalism
Holsapple & Stamey - Here and Now
Big Star - No. 1 Record
Big Star - Radio City
Chris Bell - I Am the Cosmos
Big Star - Third/Sister Lovers
Paul Kelly - Words and Music
Grizzly Bear - Veckatemist
Alex Chilton - Set
The Church - Starfish
Steve Wynn - Dazzling Display
Steve Wynn - Steve Sings Bob
Joe Henry - Blood From Stars
Died Pretty - Using My Gills as a Roadmap

Labels: music