Nobody talks about albums anymore
I was sat with my Dad recently, rhyming nonsense over a pint or two, but I remember him saying “Nobody talks about albums anymore”.
I gave my usual, over hyped, over enthusiastic response to how digital downloads was a technology that leant itself to the track, and how much better we all are not having to spend our cash on fifteen tracks when all you want is two. The music industry recognise this, land the killer track Mr Cee Lo Green and you are at The Grammy’s and The Brits.
But what about the album? The technology that asked for a story. Two sides of musical escapism, where each track is carefully positioned before the next one. And when an album gets it right, they become (became) the must have item; the thing we all talk (talked) about. What’s The Story Morning Glory – Oasis, Smells Like Teen Spirit – Nirvana, Bad – Michael Jackson, The Freewheelin’ – Bob Dylan. I could go on and on, but the tough question is to name a great album from the last five years.
They could well be there, but they don’t roll off the tongue. The track is more prominent, although more transient. Here today, gone tomorrow. Its value has some how been lowered, but that may not necessarily be a bad thing. With lower value comes greater variety. The album was of a time and a technology, but to the artist there is real creative potential in telling a story, bringing music together to form a whole greater than the sum of its parts. To the listener, there is more to absorb, to take your time over.
To my Dad, I say pick up a copy of ‘The Defamation of Strickland Banks – Plan B‘. I’ve been listening to this album over the last couple of weeks. It is an album to talk about, composed as a whole, relaying a story, and until yesterday (The Brits 2011), I had thought this was the story of Plan B or Ben Drew. It isn’t. It is only his imagination and storytelling. That now said, it might even be worth buying on vinyl, just to hear the snap, crackle and pop and to really take the time to listen to this creative whole.
I agree with you there Martin. Perhaps Arcade Fire’s ‘The Suburbs’ will help restart a trend? Perhaps not quite as ‘concept driven’ as Genesis and ‘The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway’, Jeff Wayne’s ‘War of the Worlds’, or Pink Floyd’s ‘The Wall’, to name but three, but certainly more than two tracks here worth buying and it makes for a great ‘all in one’ listen; and of course there’s no need to get up & turn the record over half way through!
You nailed it Adrian – Jeff Wayne’s ‘War of the Worlds’.
One of my earliest childhood memories, quite possibly the earliest, was my Dad rolling the dust off an LP, placing it on the turntable and sitting a whopping set of cans on my then tiny head (no further comment required Ade). I sat there all evening entranced by the story and the sound. I honestly thought we were at war and probably didn’t sleep for three nights.
I downloaded the same album just before Christmas and plugged in my own cans and placed them on my now larger head (no further comment require Ade). Looking out of the window across London, I thought – “Are we at War?”
I must get a copy of Arcade Fire latest work, although the last album nearly blew my eardrums to oblivion when played to the max, in a convertible, and flying down the motorway at the national speed limit.