The idea is to return to the time before playlists as it pertains to listening to music… first we had vinyl, play side one, then flip the record over and listen to side two… that was the sweet spot I think… cassettes dovetailed into vinyl with the same two-sided experience… then came CD’s where you would listen to an entire album in its entirety… all three of these mediums lent themselves to artists ‘sequencing’ albums in a start to finish manner that became the presentation for that collection of songs… but with the advent and now complete proliferation of streaming, playlists became the thing… the equivalent of what we used to call the ‘mixtape’… although mixtapes were much more labor intensive to put together, so there weren’t that many of them relatively speaking… but playlists, ultimately just collections of favorite songs… supplanted the act of listeners enjoying albums as a whole, in sequence, as the artist intended for them to be heard… so in my life, I’m making a concerted effort to listen to complete albums again… usually while I’m exercising, one or two a day… the following are the albums I’ve listened to this year, organized by decade so I can visually keep listens balanced.
Updated : 1/13/2026 @ 23:19
2026 Running Total : (20)
2020’s
- hexed! – aya (2025) ★★★
- The Vandalist – Noga Erez (2024) ★★★★
2010’s
- Royal Blood – Royal Blood (2014) ★★★
- Blackstar – David Bowie (2015) ★★★½
2000’s
- Introns – LCD Soundsystem (2006) ★★★
- Skittish – Mike Doughty (2004) ★★★½
1990’s
- Achtung Baby – U2 (1991) ★★★★
- Surrender – The Chemical Brothers (1999) ★★★½
- Violator – Depeche Mode (1990) ★★★★
- Blue Sky Mining – Midnight Oil (1990) ★★★★
- Geek The Girl – Lisa Germano (1994) ★★★½
- Empire – Queensrÿche (1990) ★★★½
1980’s
- Rio – Duran Duran (1982) ★★★★
- In Your Face – Fishbone (1986) ★★★
- Rattle & Hum – U2 (1988) ★★★★½
- Lovesexy – Prince (1988) ★★★½
1970’s
- London Calling – The Clash (1979) ★★★★
- Made in the Shade – the Rolling Stones (1975) ★★★½
- The Cars – The Cars (1978) ★★★½
1960’s & Earlier
- Strange Days – The Doors (1967) ★★★½
