beantownbubba wrote:JJAllin wrote:I'll check the album out on Youtube for now and see what I think. I don't have Spotify (honestly? Since I don't own a smart phone? There's little to no need for me to bother with it as far as I am aware).
Thanks for the responses. Seem somewhat split down the middle. I'll give it 5 to 10 spins and formulate my own opinion....thanks again to those that took the time to respond...
Not sure what Spotify has to do w/ having a smartphone. I only listen on my computer. It's simply a great way to listen to music that you might not have access to otherwise.
Well, it may not have anything much to do with/without a "smart phone" . I said what I said concerning the issue because most of my friends use Spotify via their smart phones while driving or when in the home, they have external speakers they hook up and play it via that way. Only about 10% of my friends even have an actual computer these days. Smart Phone(s)/tablets only and that's just how they do everything.
I have it on my laptop (Spotify) and i have used it, but it just doesn't do much for me. I can see why people like it (especially IF you DID have a s.phone and took it with you on the go), but while sitting here in front of my laptop, I can just check out whatever on Youtube or if I really want to, I can download just about ANYTHING I could think of from Soulseek (though I don't even find myself doing THAT anymore). If I actually wanna LISTEN to music while I'm doing stuff around the house, it's gonna come from my record player/stereo, NOT my computer or a phone or anything else.
So anyways, THAT is what made me correlate it with the smart phone. No ONE that I know that DOES still have a PC or a laptop has (nor cares) anything about Spotify, but, most of those that have tablets or S.phones DO have it. Maybe in your neck of the woods and among your friends and family, the correlation is entirely different? I just don't know. I just know that Youtube is where I sample either songs OR full albums from and have for a LONG time now. Guess I just got used to it and since I never got used to setting up "Playlists" (minus, say, a Windows Media Player playlist or something of that effect), I don't really have the urge to do so now. I guess "playlists" like you can set up on Spotify would be convenient if you were gonna be listening after laying down to go to bed, etc. seeing as you certainly wouldn't want to get up and continually have to flip records from side to side, etc. But, you can do the same via Youtube....set it up to play "Y" band/artists "x album" and after that album finishes, immediately have it launch into "x" band/artists "Y" album. (or, if you're prone to do so, you can do it with individual songs as well....Lately, my "lay down to go to bed and listen to music while falling asleep" playlist has consisted of the first 4 Blue Oyster Cult albums - GREAT albums - they DID release quite a bit of crap throughout their long career, but it's hard to beat their first 4 or 5 albums IMO).
Coming up in the vinyl/8-track/early cassette era and into the cassette/vinyl era, I guess I just grew up listening to albums vs. songs. Occasionally, I would make a mix tape, but not very often. It was too damned annoying (cassette wise) to rewind/fast forward all the time, so usually, I'd just let the entire thing play through. And it was annoying on vinyl, propping the stylus/needle up and re-inserting it into a different "clear" groove if you really wanted to skip ahead by a track or two. So, again, you just let the entire albums play through, which often times would pay off in the long run as you'd (often) begin enjoying the "deep cuts" even more so than the "select cuts".
It's an art that seems to largely be gone these days. Began with CDs and the ease of skipping around and continued on from there. Damn I feel old and I'm not even 40 yet....
.........to rant and ramble just a bit further, I guess I AM fairly prejudiced against smart phones as it's getting to where it feels as though EVERY SINGLE PERSON I KNOW has their phone up to their face 24/7. Many of them literally fall asleep still clutching their damned smart phones. "Wanna come over and hang out? It's me and [lists 7 or 8 other folks that I know]"....."yeah, sure". Get there and the entire night, you're in a room filled with your friends that are MAYBE HALF paying ANY attention to you or to anyone else all night long because why? They can't put down their fucking smart phones long enough to actually enjoy the fucking inter-relations between friends for a few hours of one fucking night. Go to a show? Same damn thing. No one just gets into the MOMENT anymore. 75% or more of the people there these days just seem to have their smart phones out. It drives me out of my fucking mind. There will come a day in which, if I want to continue to have a cell phone - even if just for emergencies - it will likely HAVE to be some form of a "smart phone" - as a very basic phone like mine that you just add min. to as you need them (which for myself is very non-often)? They'll eventually stop producing them altogether. I sincerely HOPE that I NEVER become like so many others that I see.
I have a cousin SO FUCKING HOOKED on his smart phone - he had smoked some STRONG pot one night - stronger than he expected and he had picked ME UP, as I was gonna have some beers and I didn't want to drive, obviously. Well, I had to get back home around midnight or so and he was still high as hell. I said "just take it real damn easy man and you should be alright by now" which he WAS! EXCEPT - guess what? I live about 2 maybe 3 miles from him and on that short of a trip, he HAD to pull that smart phone out and look at it at least 4 times - just on the way to drop me off! And EVERY DAMN TIME, he'd end up in the opposite lane of traffic, etc. His job IS driving and I said to him "cousin, is it REALLY THAT worth it to take the chance of being pulled over because you swerve badly every time you start looking at that damned piece of crap and if they pull you over tonight? Who KNOWS? They might detect you have been smoking and you end up with a DUI and no job.....seriously, are those things SO damned addicting that you literally can't shut the damn thing off and make a personal rule for yourself that you will ONLY TALK at MOST on the damn thing while you're driving?" - I even went on and on about it a few nights later, how everyone, when we hang out are like the damn walking dead with their phones whipped out and constantly in hand and up to face.
If you can't tell, it drives me f'n MAD!!!
(no worries, different strokes and all that). It was my go to record for long drives or working around the house. If you're looking for intellectual stimulation, it ain't it. It's a hugely polarizing record so you're either in one camp or the other. The only way to decide is to listen. I do have to say this I haven't listened to it in some time so it may not have much staying power even if you do dig it. It's not that I've stopped liking it's just not I reach for and trying to keep up with new music is challenging enough as it is.
