RIP: Good Music Albums

Whizbang Dustyboots · Mar 22, 2007

The Arctic Monkeys' "Whatever People Say, That's What I'm Not"

Sons & Daughters' "The Repulsion Box"

Most albums by Sonic Distortion

That said, the music industry has moved away from an album model to a singles model. I'd get an iPod (or comparable) and a tape deck adapter (they sell these as portable CD player adapters) and discover the joys of podcasts. Coverville and Post Modern Rock Show are both full of great tunes.

ShadowX · Mar 22, 2007

You are looking in the wrong places, bud. What do you expect from a popular music industry structured exactly how you depicted it? Not that most recent bands have any creative qualities to speak of anyway, but the big labels drain the little they harbored.

Hit the more esoteric genres. I will use metal because that is the genre I am most familiar with. The popularity of metal, while waxing, still doesn't attain the levels where it can garner any radio play. Combined with the tight and critical community, bands must nurture and polish their albums to garner any success. Of course, many downsides to such a situation also exist and not every band is very good (in fact, most completely blow, but that is the case in most things). I discover a few no-skippers from among new releases (though the amount pales in comparison to 80s stuff), but those excepted, the good stuff still only has a couple fillers. Because let's be honest, album lengths increased with the CD format and it is hard to write consistently top quality material for 45 minutes or more.

Then again, part of this is the music audience's fault. Take a look at Darth Shoju's list. Not to offend Darth, but his list enunciates the lassitude of most people towards music. The band's album with the most popular singles translates into their best with no effort to discover the rest of the catalogue. I know for most people Rush begins and ends with Moving Pictures and Permanent Waves, this even goes for self-proclaimed Rush fans. God forbid the band's singles stop receiving airplay; then they drop right off the face of the Earth.

I don't know if this is your problem, but I suggest you stop relying on highly-processed mainstream music to supply you with new material. If you are serious, go conduct an extensive search on music that appeals to your tastes. The internet allows people with eclectic hobbies to establish connections and help each other. Something is out there for you.

GoodKingJayIII · Mar 22, 2007

Muse's Black Holes and Revelations is one of the best albums I've heard in a very long time.

Thrice frontman Dustin Krensue has a solo album full of acoustic/country rock spirituals that are really cool. Especially coming from a band like Thrice, who play a style of music I dislike.

If you like concept albums, Dreamtheater rarely disappoints.

The Mars Volta - Francis the Mute

I actually listen to John Mayer's Continuum quite a bit; it's a fantastic blues-rock album. I never liked his earlier stuff, but this one grabbed me.

That said, the music industry has moved away from an album model to a singles model.

I agree with your point, but I don't think that's anything new. Hell, selling a record with 2 or 3 or 4 songs used to be a necessity because that was the maxium length of a 2-sided record. Singles are probably cheaper to produce and easier to sell, so in many ways it's a no-brainer.

bento · Mar 22, 2007

ShadowX said:
You are looking in the wrong places, bud. What do you expect from a popular music industry structured exactly how you depicted it? Not that most recent bands have any creative qualities to speak of anyway, but the big labels drain the little they harbored.

Hit the more esoteric genres. I will use metal because that is the genre I am most familiar with. The popularity of metal, while waxing, still doesn't attain the levels where it can garner any radio play. Combined with the tight and critical community, bands must nurture and polish their albums to garner any success. Of course, many downsides to such a situation also exist and not every band is very good (in fact, most completely blow, but that is the case in most things). I discover a few no-skippers from among new releases (though the amount pales in comparison to 80s stuff), but those excepted, the good stuff still only has a couple fillers. Because let's be honest, album lengths increased with the CD format and it is hard to write consistently top quality material for 45 minutes or more.

Then again, part of this is the music audience's fault. Take a look at Darth Shoju's list. Not to offend Darth, but his list enunciates the lassitude of most people towards music. The band's album with the most popular singles translates into their best with no effort to discover the rest of the catalogue. I know for most people Rush begins and ends with Moving Pictures and Permanent Waves, this even goes for self-proclaimed Rush fans. God forbid the band's singles stop receiving airplay; then they drop right off the face of the Earth.

I don't know if this is your problem, but I suggest you stop relying on highly-processed mainstream music to supply you with new material. If you are serious, go conduct an extensive search on music that appeals to your tastes. The internet allows people with eclectic hobbies to establish connections and help each other. Something is out there for you.

Trust me, I have some very esoteric tastes when it comes to music and I certainly understand that one size does not fit all. The examples I provided before were to reach a common "middle ground" with others on this thread.

The point of my post is that there are some artists that try to put their best efforts out there, while others only come up with two or three good songs and fill up the rest of an LP with crap. Maybe it comes down to artistic vision, or in connection with the zeigeit of the times.

This thread was to acknowledge those that strive to be the best of their craft, whether it is the Swans, Throbbing Gristle and Dead Can Danse or its the Beatles, AC/DC and Fleetwood Mac.

Bayushi Seikuro · Mar 22, 2007

I'm going to go with Richard Cheese's 'Lounge Against the Machine' - however, it is all singles by other artists (I admit, I prefer his version of 'I'm Only Happy When it Rains' by Garbage to the original). However, every song is performed in a different style than his other lounge-versions on the cd.

Of course, I just woke up from a nap - why do you ask?

Whizbang Dustyboots · Mar 22, 2007

GoodKingJayIII said:
I agree with your point, but I don't think that's anything new. Hell, selling a record with 2 or 3 or 4 songs used to be a necessity because that was the maxium length of a 2-sided record. Singles are probably cheaper to produce and easier to sell, so in many ways it's a no-brainer.

It's not new, but it's a model that has been increasingly dormant since Sgt. Pepper first hit like an a-bomb. Everything HAD to be an album for decades, whether or not the artist had it in them or whether anyone really needed, say, 25 Weird Al tunes at a go. (And yes, I know here at ENWorld, there will people who will say that yes, yes, they do need 25+ Weird Al songs at a time.

)

Nowadays, though, many of the albums that will be popular in two years are EPs or singles today. If you use iTunes, watch their free singles of the week -- it's often six months or more before any of those songs show up in any compiled form, and often they just show up on an EP and THEN eventually that EP forms the core of a later album for folks wedded to the album system.

And, frankly, it's OK by me. I'd rather pay 99 cents for a song that I like than $9+ on an album that will have two or three songs, at most, that I like. If I find myself buying more than one or two songs off an album, I preview all the tracks online in iTunes or on the artist's Web site and buy it then, but most of the time, it's just a track or two here, a track or two there, and that's it.

Unlike the OP, I don't see this as a bad thing.

Wayside · Mar 22, 2007

GoodKingJayIII said:
Muse's Black Holes and Revelations is one of the best albums I've heard in a very long time.

Thrice frontman Dustin Krensue has a solo album full of acoustic/country rock spirituals that are really cool. Especially coming from a band like Thrice, who play a style of music I dislike.

Pretty much everything Muse puts out is worth a listen. Kensrue's Please Come Home is great; so is Frank Turner's acoustic album, Sleep Is for the Week. Some other favorites from the past few years:

Million Dead - Harmony No Harmony (Frank Turner's old band)
Dredg - Catch Without Arms
Cat Power - Your Are Free (The Greatest is also quite good)
Ulver - Blood Inside
Lou Rhodes - Beloved One
VAST - Turquoise & Crimson

I think Cat Power is the oldest of these, with You Are Free dating to 2003.

Pseudonym · Mar 22, 2007

Beastie Boy's Paul's Boutique.

bento · Mar 22, 2007

Whizbang Dustyboots said:
And, frankly, it's OK by me. I'd rather pay 99 cents for a song that I like than $9+ on an album that will have two or three songs, at most, that I like. If I find myself buying more than one or two songs off an album, I preview all the tracks online in iTunes or on the artist's Web site and buy it then, but most of the time, it's just a track or two here, a track or two there, and that's it.

Unlike the OP, I don't see this as a bad thing.

But at the same time, if everyone only purchased the "hot hit single" they would never really find some real gems that an AR person didn't feel had enough hooks.

Think about those obscure songs you would have never heard if you hadn't purchased the album. Example: I've had XTC's "Pink Thing" stuck in my head for a few days. It was never a single because it deals with, erm, manly things. If I hadn't picked up their LP "Oranges and Lemons" I would be living a poorer human experience.

Same with the B side of David Bowie's Heroes album, which is mostly insturmental. Those songs lead me to albums by Brian Eno (he produced the LP), then to Kraftwerk (they inspired some of the songs) and Roxy Music (Eno's former group).

The album concept opens you up to deeper music that while it may be more challenging, can be infinitely more rewarding that sampling the one or two songs that were hits.

Richards · Mar 23, 2007

I'll add the following:

Supertramp, "Breakfast in America"

Tom Petty, "Full Moon Fever"

Jill Tracy, "Diabolical Streak"

ELO, "Discovery"

Johnathan

RIP: Good Music Albums

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