How To Listen To A CD

That's right. Your ol' uncle Olaf is here to tell you what's what in the ways of CD listening techniques. OK, you got me. It's just me spouting off on what I think. I'm a sham...this blog is merely opinionated non-factual gobbledeygook.
Anyway
Music is something I enjoy. I mean really enjoy. I love to listen. Something that irks me are people who only listen for one song...one hit...one person..with no intention of hearing the rest. They leave a whole CD/Tape/Album languishing in silence while the hit song gets played out.
I understand we're in the 21st Century and iTunes can allow us to choose only the songs that we love (uns, dos, tres, catorce...Bono!), but I really want to speak to those of you who have a record that you haven't listened to fully.
(Oh, by the way, record/LP/Album/CD/Tape....it all means the same thing in this post.)
Let me start off by saying that as often as not, the "hit" song release from an album is not necessarily the best song on the album. You've got a 50-50 chance of missing an amazing song or songs by not listening to the entire thing. Trust me...it's happened many times.
Also, it just doesn't make fiscal sanity to purchase a CD for $17 (or more) only to listen to "Smells Like Teen Spirit" over and over again. Please, you might be missing out on your own musical revolution!
OK OK...maybe I've convinced to you take a gander at tracks 2-12 instead of playing 1 on repeat. So how do you do it? Well, ideally it takes 2-3 complete listens. You've heard to not judge a book by its cover or don't count your chickens before they're hatched? Maybe look before you leap? Somewhere in that combination is what I'm trying to get at. Listen and you might learn. Listen before you leap (to the next song). Listen to love...or hate! You may find out the album is crap. That's the chance you take in our one-hit-wonder society.
But back to listening

1. Play the album through in its entirety. Preferably alone or in a room without distraction. Someplace where you can hear it all clearly. A car will work, but only ideally on a trip long enough to sustain one entire run-through. Some caveats: do NOT skip any songs, do NOT repeat any songs, do NOT read the lyrics yet, do NOT do anything else but listen. No TV, no talking, no video games, no phone, no reading (well...maybe reading). The goal is to get acquainted with each song and how it sounds.
2. Now it's time to get out the lyrics. If you don't have them with you, try and find them online. If you are driving, I cannot recommend reading the lyrics. The best you can do without the lyric sheets is to try and hear the lyrics. Listen to the entire album again while reading the lyrics to each song as it goes along. I've found that songs I love have lyrics I love even more. They redefine a song for me and it sounds forever different. Even how a word is said can change the entire emotion of the song (and therefore me as the listener). To me, if they lyrics are completely meaningless, it's almost as if the album is meaningless. If you've got something to say, say it. If you've got nothing to say, well, find someone who can! (This is not a slam on classical music, soundtracks, and the like. There is even some popular music I like that have ridiculous lyrics. Remember "When the dogs do find her, got time, time to wait for tomorrow to find it"? What the crap?)
3. Third time through is the charm. By now you've hopefully made mental notes of where the songs that caught your ear are. This is the time to go through and listen to the songs that, to you, earned another listen. You can really listen to each song you like and maybe even figure out why you like it! It's also a good time to read the liner notes. Who wrote the songs? Who played the instruments? Who was thanked? This stuff is important to the band/artist and shaped their album...it might be good to know!

Have you wasted 3 hours? Man, I hope not. Hopefully you now have an album that you know you like/love and you know why. Maybe you learned a little bit more about what you bought. My hope is that you have a greater appreciation for what went into what's in your cd player....