Your opinion on albums.

[dynamism]

What do you guys think about albums in terms of collectiveness?

Personally, I think albums are similar to dvd's. You can't just have 1 or 2 good songs (scenes) in the work, the entire thing has to be overall good for me to consider it good.

Some of my companions think that each individual song is released as a seperate artistic entity, and the way the songs relate to eachother in an album means nothing.

HERESAY, I SAY. HERESAY.

What is your opinion, kind reader?

[loansindi]

I'm pretty sure the art of the album as a creative whole is dead.

[amaterasu]

At 11/23/09 12:57 AM, loansindi wrote: I'm pretty sure the art of the album as a creative whole is dead.

Maybe in the mainstream but I wouldn't say in general.

[CWN]

At 11/23/09 12:57 AM, loansindi wrote: I'm pretty sure the art of the album as a creative whole is dead.

Sadly, maybe.

An album should be an entity. The sound mixing on the songs should be similar (if you're doing the same genre), hell even lyricwise there should be some sort of connection between the songs.
I can't remember any recent albums that I could just hear over and over and over instead of listening to one or two songs...
(Except for metal albums haha)

[Chozz]

An album to me is a complete work of art. From the artwork, to the overall feel of the album, Especially concept albums.

It sucks a bit that it's all moving to MP3, but albums will still live on.

[CWN]

At 11/23/09 06:42 AM, Chozz wrote: An album to me is a complete work of art. From the artwork, to the overall feel of the album, Especially concept albums.

It sucks a bit that it's all moving to MP3, but albums will still live on.

One of the reasons I still buy CDs... Downloading them on iTunes etc. is just not the same thing...

[Chozz]

At 11/23/09 06:48 AM, CWN wrote:

One of the reasons I still buy CDs... Downloading them on iTunes etc. is just not the same thing...

Yeah, I like the material joy of having an artists full collection. You strive to keep albums in perfect condition too, keeping them from scratches and stuff.

It's like a hard copy really, something to fall back on.

[jarrydn]

At 11/23/09 06:48 AM, CWN wrote: One of the reasons I still buy CDs... Downloading them on iTunes etc. is just not the same thing...

This statement would have more integrity if you replaced "CD" with "vinyl"

[loansindi]

At 11/23/09 08:24 AM, jarrydn wrote:

At 11/23/09 06:48 AM, CWN wrote: One of the reasons I still buy CDs... Downloading them on iTunes etc. is just not the same thing...

This statement would have more integrity if you replaced "CD" with "vinyl"

Not really.

Vinyl is neat. I like vinyl. But as a format, for most people it ends up being inferior to CDs.

Not even as a matter of perceived quality of sound. Just because vinyl is big and fragile compared to the CD. It takes a much larger shelf to hold vinyl, and it's hard to store in such a way as to make it easy to flip through them.

CDs take up less space overall, have nice durable plastic outer shells, and I can play them in my car.

[Calamaistr]

an album, to me is a complete package of tracks that are made in the same light/story and with pretty much the same instrumentation, or sound.

:)

[Usernamemyarse]

well, personally, id rather by an album than downloading it, you get more... respect? from a large album collection, an it looks just awsome when around 100 albums on the wall than 3000 songs on your computer.

im a collector, and i fucking love it.

[Bad-Man-Incorporated]

I am currently working on an album.

I am creating each song to be drawn from specific things to theme the entire album.

I am shooting for a 13 song album. There will be no "filler" songs. Each song is related to another as best as I can. The importance of the songs on albums are a big part of the marketing in my mind.

That being said, commercialization THESE DAYS has ruined the concept, and "good albums" are hard to come by. 1 or 2 selling songs and 8 or 9 fillers.

I was going to shoot for a new tech, in Download purchasing ( I still might), but it seems that some people still like to have C.D.'s. So I guess I'll go that route as well. :D

[CWN]

At 11/23/09 11:44 AM, Bad-Man-Incorporated wrote: I am currently working on an album.

I am creating each song to be drawn from specific things to theme the entire album.

I am shooting for a 13 song album. There will be no "filler" songs. Each song is related to another as best as I can. The importance of the songs on albums are a big part of the marketing in my mind.

That being said, commercialization THESE DAYS has ruined the concept, and "good albums" are hard to come by. 1 or 2 selling songs and 8 or 9 fillers.

I was going to shoot for a new tech, in Download purchasing ( I still might), but it seems that some people still like to have C.D.'s. So I guess I'll go that route as well. :D

Definitely. I'm also making an album, and I'm currently just hammering out instrumentals until I can decide what the lyrical approach towards the album is. I want a theme, and the album should stand as one.
If I put it up for download, then only the entire album or nothing at all...

[EmperorCharlemagne]

When I make an album, I usually flip flop in terms of cohesiveness.

On one, there's a logical progression, almost like a story being played out.

While on my latest (lololol chekc profile pl0x), the sense of cohesion is not as strong in that sense, but rather, the songs are all under a similar thematic preference... They aren't supposed to sound similar as a genre, but meant to explore the different permutations of an idea.

Now, the question is, are both of these valid interpretations of what one can do with an 'album'?

However, all in all, I do like to keep things with similar themes in collections. Thus, the 'album'. Though I usually don't really call them albums as much I do 'albums', if you get my drift.
Because I'm just a fucking amateur.