Is the album as an art form lost?

susnfx · Post by **susnfx** » Tue Aug 16, 2005 2:03 pm

There is an article in today's Salt Lake Tribune about the changes in music recording: albums to CDs to iPods... and what the writer thinks we've lost in that transition. (Note: he's not talking about album covers as art, rather the way the music is put together on albums vs. the way it's put together on CDs and single song downloads.)

http://www.sltrib.com/healthscience/ci_2945300

Any thoughts?

Susan

emmline · Post by **emmline** » Tue Aug 16, 2005 2:24 pm

You just felt left out that everyone else was getting to delete threads.

bradhurley · Post by **bradhurley** » Tue Aug 16, 2005 2:36 pm

I think it depends on the album.

Some albums really have a theme running through them and the order of songs was carefully chosen, either to build on that theme or to create an emotional impact. But other albums are little more than a collection of individual tracks with not much common thread between 'em.

Apple's iTunes Music Store sells some music as album-only; you can't download individual tracks, and I think that's a good thing in cases where the sequence of tracks is part of the artist's musical statement.

emmline · Post by **emmline** » Tue Aug 16, 2005 2:40 pm

It doesn't really make me sorry. I never bought an album and kept wanting to play every track. Skipping around was a nuisance in the LP days, but I did it anyway.
The idea of being able to compile a cd of favorites appealed to me long before it was a reality, so I'm happy that technology has caught up with what I always wanted to do anyway.

TomB · Post by **TomB** » Tue Aug 16, 2005 2:47 pm

emmline wrote:It doesn't really make me sorry. I never bought an album and kept wanting to play every track. Skipping around was a nuisance in the LP days, but I did it anyway.
The idea of being able to compile a cd of favorites appealed to me long before it was a reality, so I'm happy that technology has caught up with what I always wanted to do anyway.

That Emm, always ahead of her time, a real trailblazer she is.

Tom

djm · Post by **djm** » Tue Aug 16, 2005 3:12 pm

You must have had a tough time with Thick as a Brick.

I loved LP album covers. The artwork was tremendously varied (when there was artwork, not just photos). Where would Sydney be without the vision of Roger Dean? I still love his work on Jon Anderson's Olias of Sunhillow.

djm

Unseen122 · Post by **Unseen122** » Tue Aug 16, 2005 3:15 pm

I listen to albums eventhough I have an iPod that was a big fear of mine that I would not be able to but it was wrong now I carry around about 70 albums all the time in my pocket you could never do that with your analog music sources. Of course for the car stereo or at the house I usually pull out the CD.

Scott McCallister · Post by **Scott McCallister** » Tue Aug 16, 2005 3:32 pm

No... I don't really get the sense that it is lost on a standard artist release. It was only occasionally that an artist would write thematically with common threads through every cut it seems to me. That can still be done and rendered to CD.

More often I saw it as a collection of songs from the writer's perspective as it related to their life at the time and they would have more of a temporal continuity of the artists growth and evolution rather than thematic continuity.

Madonna's Like a Virgin vs Erotica vs Music.

I am reminded of Marillion's Misplaced Childhood album where the entire album seamlessly segues from one song to the next. The only break in the music is where the LP or Tape would have to be flipped over. They mastered the CD to be faithful to those original formats with the break in tact.

Releasing an album on vinyl vs CD doesn't seem to have much bearing on the content or the artistic cohesiveness of a group of songs. Simply the method in which they will be played.

As for the iPod thing. I think it is equally rare for an artist to release a single now-a-days. But if you wanted to make a fair comparison it would be a lot like the old 45s. You don't have to buy the whole album... just the song you want to hear, and then play it in any order you want against other 45s.

susnfx · Post by **susnfx** » Tue Aug 16, 2005 3:33 pm

The earliest albums I can recall belonged to my parents and they were as widely varied as Roger Williams (piano) Sunset Serenade (I think was the name of it) and Marty Robbins (Gunfighter Ballads). The next to arrive were those that belonged to my brother and me - starting with the first Beatles albums. It never entered my mind that the songs might have been in a particular order...of course somebody had to sit down and make a choice about what went where, but it wasn't obvious to me and still isn't.

Do you think it's true that the quality of the songs was higher then because there were fewer songs on each album and no "fillers?"

Susan

Wombat · Post by **Wombat** » Tue Aug 16, 2005 8:04 pm

Interesting thought. Quite a bit has changed with the move to CDs.

If a CD is only 40 minutes long then it's about the length of a well-filled album. That should be as easy (or hard) to fill with a good concept as it ever was but you'll feel cheated that there are 30 unused minutes of potential playing time. A CD is about the length of a double album. How many great double albums were there? Sure a lot of great music was released eventually on double albums but how many works were conceived as double albums and were successful? My guess is probably none outside the jazz and classical worlds. One exception might be Captain Beefheart's Trout Mask Replica. There might be another 3 or 4 at most. The White Album and Electric Ladyland are not exceptions IMO.

Some bands or artists really only have one good song. Singles were perfect for them. Others had about an EP of good material—remember the EP?

One source of irritation now is the boosting of CDs with alternative ('alternate' to you Americans) takes or with rejected tracks. This happens a lot with jazz. You also get diminished works when a great session is paired with a so-so session. You might actually want to listen to the so-so session occasionally but not in that context. Of course, you can just cue in what you want but this defeats the purpose of having all that time available on CD.

chas · Post by **chas** » Tue Aug 16, 2005 8:23 pm

Wombat wrote:Sure a lot of great music was released eventually on double albums but how many works were conceived as double albums and were successful? My guess is probably none outside the jazz and classical worlds. One exception might be Captain Beefheart's Trout Mask Replica. There might be another 3 or 4 at most. The White Album and Electric Ladyland are not exceptions IMO.

If you're citing Trout Mask Replica, then Zappa/Mothers Freak Out oughta be included. One that definitely should is Derek and the Dominoes Layla and. . . I was gonna call up the names of quite a few, but they're mostly live albums, sort of proxy greatest hits -- Procol Harum, Gentle Giant, Renaissance, Steppenwolf.

On a language usage note, I kind of get a kick out of the distinction between "albums" and CD's. The CD is an album (collection of stuff), just as the LP is (unless those collections of photos, and 78's for that matter, aren't anymore).

cowtime · Post by **cowtime** » Tue Aug 16, 2005 9:00 pm

chas wrote:
Wombat wrote:Sure a lot of great music was released eventually on double albums but how many works were conceived as double albums and were successful? My guess is probably none outside the jazz and classical worlds. One exception might be Captain Beefheart's Trout Mask Replica. There might be another 3 or 4 at most. The White Album and Electric Ladyland are not exceptions IMO.
If you're citing Trout Mask Replica, then Zappa/Mothers Freak Out oughta be included. One that definitely should is Derek and the Dominoes Layla and. . . I was gonna call up the names of quite a few, but they're mostly live albums, sort of proxy greatest hits -- Procol Harum, Gentle Giant, Renaissance, Steppenwolf.

On a language usage note, I kind of get a kick out of the distinction between "albums" and CD's. The CD is an album (collection of stuff), just as the LP is (unless those collections of photos, and 78's for that matter, aren't anymore).

Yeah, Freak Out should definately be there.Susie, Susie Creamcheese........ But then I think so should the White Album(for it's diversity if anything) I'm iffy on Electric Ladyland, some good, some bad there. Oh and you gotta add Cream's Wheels of Fire- talk about an album.....

Wombat · Post by **Wombat** » Tue Aug 16, 2005 9:36 pm

OK, Freak Out I agree with. Uncle Meat too come to think of it. But I don't think I agree with any of the other suggestions although each could well have been edited down to 'one and bit' albums. All of them have parts I like but not quite enough for a double, IMO. With Cream, I used to like their extended jams but went off them. Just a bit too much of one scale after a while.

Not that I expect you to agree with me. I guess I'm setting a challenge and giving an explanation in one: name the genuinely good albums conceived as doubles and if you find it hard then that should explain why it is hard for a pop act to produce a good full length CD.

Post by **Dale** » Tue Aug 16, 2005 9:44 pm

One of the few things about adolescence I actually miss is the experience of buying a new album on vinyl and listening to it for the first time while combing over the album art.

I used to really love those Roger Dean covers. The best known were the ones for Yes but the BEST ones were for a band called "Osibisa" which was an African Band with a bad-ass horn section. Those album covers by Roger Dean featured these gorgeous winged elephants.

http://rateyourmusic.com/album_images/o6067.jpg

Wormdiet · Post by **Wormdiet** » Tue Aug 16, 2005 9:49 pm

I am a firm believer in listening to entire albums. This is because I often appreciate the best songs only upon repeated listenings, whereas the "singles" or catchy tunes start off great but wear thin quickly.

XTC's Skylarking is one of the best "theme" albums ever. NOt just in my opinion, but as a scientifically proven fact