Quote:
Originally Posted by WaspStar
I know a lot of people who hate CDs if only for the reason that they make skipping songs so easy; it seems that there's a certain type of music fan who dismisses the shuffle function as pointless. They also tend to consider compilations not "true" albums, even when said comps include a wealth of non-album tracks.
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i've also found these are typically the kind of music fans that believe the only 'pure' music out there adhere to the styles they grew up with.
the only time the album format becomes 'sacred' if you will, is in the case of a concept record where the pieces flow into each other with cohesive intentions and recurring themes, where individual pieces just don't sound right when played randomly. as has been stated earlier in this thread it's a hit or miss prospect. then again i find you need to know more about the artist than just their music to fully grasp and enjoy their concept albums.
i don't want to start an analog vs. digital battle here but another big factor to me is the physical element of the album. it's something that's completely lost on people who've never listened to anything besides cds or mp3s, just the physical act of having to flip over the record to get hear the other side becomes part of the listening experience. it completely changes the flow of the album for the listener.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Piss Me Off
It's impractical because as far as i can see modern music works around the album format. It dictates how they tour, how they afford studio time and musically, for some, how they develop as artists (that could be argued against though). I know singles were a bigger format years ago and still with most pop artists but overall for most artists the album is where it's at.
Regarding albums being special, think of all the thousands of albums that are celebrated against the number of best-of's that are celebrated.
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gotta disagree with this. if anything the 'single' is getting stronger and more significant thanks to digital distribution where listeners pick and choose their songs. the individual songs don't need to be a commercial single but it's still single songs that make the sale now. i think the album format peaked in the 80s when AOR stood atop the mainstream heap.
it's not to say albums aren't significant anymore, but just like vinyl records, it's becoming a niche market.