The Circle (New Album)

Yes, problem with that? I've been listening to lots of other music ... the whole of this year I've set myself a project where I listen to every album I own from this decade (reading along with the lyrics at the same time), and adding as many ones I haven't heard as I can fit without going crazy, to a total of what will probably be around 240 albums. Then I'm making a list of my top 200 albums of the decade. It hasn't left me as much time as I'd like for listening to other music.

Plus, I'm not one of those people who likes to listen to an album on infinite repeat when it's released anyway. If I did, I'd burn out on it and get bored. I prefer to let my relationship with it unfold slowly. By not forcing myself to listen to it, it makes for better memories in my head of actually listening to it for a reason

That makes perfect sense to me and is pretty much my own approach as well. While I'll play the album (or any album) while driving to work in the truck, that is extremely casual and far from having the same effect as sitting down at home with the lyrics in front of me where it become intensive and focused. It's a routine I established while very young and one that I have neglected in recent years.

I have far too many new albums, such as most of Rush's catalog, where I know the lyrics only passingly in the last one or two years. That is quite unlike me and I've grown to miss those sessions of sitting down with no distraction with just the music and the lyrics.

I've only done this twice now with The Circle, both memorable and emotional times. I, too, intend to make sure I form a long-lasting and rewarding relationship with it. I've learned the hard way that playing an album or song that you love to death, just as with any relationship, will kill it no matter how good it is.