Re: How do you listen for the first time?

[barth@ihlpf.ATT.COM (Richards)]

>Really-From: "David K. Young" <wasatch!mailrus!BBN.COM!dyoung@cs.utexas.edu>
>
>This might sound a little strange, but I'm curious about how people listen
>to a record for the first time.
>
>Why?  Well, yesterday I bought the soundtrack to "Batman" by Prince.  For
>some reason I decided that for my first listening I would follow along with
>the enclosed lyrics.  But after I had finished listening I felt rather
>untouched by the music.  Later in the evening I listened to it again, this
>time without looking at the lyrics -- just listening without any
>distractions.  And guess what?  I really enjoyed the record a lot more than
>the first time.

Not such a strange question.  Various albums have hit me in different ways.
If I read the lyrics to an album and think they're good, then I usually enjoy
the album more, knowing what the lyrics are.  If read the lyrics and I don't
think they're good, finding out what they're really singing can ruin the
album for me, though if the music is still good, I can try to ignore the
lyrics.

A good case in point is the Sugarcubes album.  When I first got it, I
thought it was pretty cool.  Then I read the lyrics, and it seemed like the
lyricist was trying very hard to be "deep" in a language he (or she) couldn't
speak very well.  They came across as sophmoric and clumsy, which made it
difficult for me to listen to the album without smirking, but I've since
learned to listen to the music and ignore the lyrics (sort of).

A good example of the other sort is Marillion's first album.  I liked it a
lot when I first got it, but the US pressing didn't come with a lyric sheet,
so I didn't always know what Fish (the lead singer) was saying.  I later got
the UK pressing, which comes with the lyrics, and had a chance to read them.
As I really liked the lyrics, I enjoyed the album even more, knowing what
Fish was singing.


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  88  Language is a virus from outer space.          Barth Richards        88
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