Album as Art

What happened to the album? I recall a time when people actually purchased entire albums, be they record, tape, or CD, because they wanted to own the whole thing. Artists who put out singles were Top 40 (I realize that I am making sweeping generalizations, and in the interest of getting as many complaints as possible, I shall continue so to do) and not to be respected, or they were one-hit-wonders, or the singles were off an album which people would actually buy in total.

I'm not lamenting the past; the rise of Internet music isn't all that different, in principle, from the mix tape, or indeed the radio. It has never been the case that all musicians made albums, or that all albums were worth having for more than one song. I myself have purchased several albums for singles on them because at the time the songs weren't available as singles.

I also won't subject anyone to my version of musical history and The Rise of the Album. But they used to be much more important than they now are. I think that's something upon which most of us can agree.

This is a pretty short essay because we all know why albums aren't as big; they don't sell. Either you believe that it's because You (with a capital Y, as in the person of the year from Time Magazine, a conceit so hopelessly ridiculous I won't touch it, but point you to this gem) have thrown off the shackles of the recording industry's hegemony and blah blah populist blah, or you believe that it's because artistry and construction of albums has been sidelined because they don't mesh well with radio play requirements and the corporate automaton blah blah rage against the blah, or some facsimile thereof (write me and tell me about your personal opinion, why don't you, since I'm mocking it). Whatever the reason, people download songs to their iPods and burn mix CDs and no one seems to care.

I miss albums. I own music that doesn't belong outside of its album, that doesn't make it into the rotation of random MP3s (see previous article if you're wondering why I didn't use an apostrophe to pluralize MP3) because it doesn't sound as good without its surroundings. Maybe that's a sign that the music isn't as good, because it can't stand on its own. But I don't think so. Most of it is just as good on its own as the random rotation, but it's substantially better as an album.

And an album can improve lower-quality songs as well. A weak song outside can be just another link in the chain inside. A properly-constructed album doesn't need to include nothing but great music; it is greater than the sum of its parts, and it makes its parts greater by their inclusion. It tells a musical story, or is a musical artifice, or a tone poem, or whatever. A good album needs to be listened to from beginning to end. There aren't many great albums, and the number grows fewer and fewer.

I'm not going to wax rhapsodic; I'm just mourning the passing. Maybe we're better off. Maybe the idea that mix CDs and iPods allow you to make your own albums isn't totally wrong. Anyone who appreciates music does it; now maybe we have greater control. But I don't rerecord old songs I love; I listen to them just the way they are.

I like movie soundtrack compilations sometimes though. And sometimes, when I had to buy the album to get just one song, I wound up liking the whole album.