full-length albums vs. single downloads

[KarenZ]

Folks,

This article was published in Sunday's Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. The crux of the article is this:

For baby boomers, the record album is a cherished icon. Burrowing inside the grooves of "Blonde on Blonde" by Bob Dylan, "Born to Run" by Bruce Springsteen or "London Calling" by the Clash was akin to hearing a novel. But the ascent of iTunes, which allows users to cherry-pick individual songs from most artist's albums, has threatened the integrity of the record-album format.

Being a baby-boomer, I must admit that I don't own an iPod and have never downloaded a song. And if full-length albums eventually go away, I will miss the thrill and satisfaction of sitting down with a brand new album, listening to it repeatedly beginning to end, and finding those personal gems.

Here's a link to the full article:

Broken record: Does cherry-picking songs take them out of context? by William Loeffler

What say you all?

KarenZ

[paddyinthepub]

Can't even imagine just cherry picking songs. I am old school and need to crack the seal and let the new sound fill the room nice and slow. Are albums a lost art? Not really. It's just that it appears today's kids are oblivious to the fine art of saturating well to borrow from an old Jackson Browne debut album title.

Maybe someone should start a course for these kids.....

LP 101

[Richard + Jela]

I've got an i-pod, don't use it that much but also have a docking station so that when I'm doing the ironing (for example) I can plug it in, have it on and listen to music. I love the 'shuffle' facility as that way I don't know what's coming next.

I do however love to handle a 'proper' CD - I'm an anorak when it comes to reading liner notes.

I am always (bitterly) disappointed when a CD does not include a lyrics booklet. To me the lyrics are the most important thing about a song - that's why I love people whose words move me even thought their singing voice might be an acquired taste e.g. Sam Baker, Malcolm Holcombe, Iris DeMent, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Tom Waits, Townes van Zandt etc etc

Jela

[Patti]

I have to say I have an IPOD and I like the idea of picking a few songs from an artist that I am not the familiar with, other wise I might never invest in the entire CD. If I like what I hear I will most likely get the entire CD anyway. There are a number of artist I will always buy the CD.. regardless... Now if they could just put the linear notes on the IPOD... or have an option to download them... that would be the best of both worlds!!

[Mtn Gal]

I own an IPOD and use it mostly for air travel but I've never downloaded single songs, just complete CDs so I guess that puts me in the old-fashioned category too.

I think there's something very special about listening to a CD all the way through. I've always been intrigued by the way an artist lays the songs down in a particular order and love the predictability of knowing what's coming next.

To this day, I cannot hear the song Lights by Journey on the radio and not start singing City of Angels the moment it ends and I haven't listened to that album in probably 20 years.

[monicar]

I find this very interesting and I tend to see it both ways.

My son wanted to get me an I-Pod for my birthday a year or two ago and I told him no thank you. I wear headphones for hours on end for my work, I want my music coming out of speakers when I'm doing stuff around the house .... there's probably an element in there of wanting to torture my family with my music as well (HA).

I am with you, Jela. I always read the lyrics and liner notes before listening to a CD and get bummed out if there aren't any as well.

However, as far as downloading songs goes .... if it weren't for Napster, back when it was free and legal and all that good stuff, and a friend of mine saying, "hey, check out this guy named Jimmy LaFave," well, I probably wouldn't be sitting her posting this message because I'd probably have no clue who Ellis Paul is. Listening to that one song of Jimmy's (How it Must Remain), led me to buying one of his CDs, which after it's arrival, led me to buying, 2 more, and so on and so on. Jimmy's music led me to WUMB, which led to me to Ellis and so many other fabulous musicians, so through that one download, I found something that had been missing in my life .... music that spoke to me, moved me and enriched me in so many ways.

All in all though, I feel the same way about listening to something from beginning to end. I love how the artist decides to put the whole thing together and all that.

Mtn Gal, I can so relate to what you are saying about going right into the next song from an album 20 years ago. I do it all of the time when my son starts playing an oldie!

Let's hope our memories stay that good for a long, long time!

Monica R.

[monicar]

Please disregard all of my typos. I've been up since 2:30 a.m. when my cat awoke me chasing a mouse through my house. Bleahhhhh. I get so grossed out by that stuff and just want to finish working so I can tear apart my clean house and clean it again!

[Mtn Gal]

Monica,

What a great story about how you found Ellis! It sure lends itself to the value of downloading singles. I think this topic is very interesting and without having read the whole article, I'm guessing that there is a great age division. My kids (ages 7 & 9) asked me recently why I call CDs albums...

But I'm with you...I hope our memories serve us for ages to come. I can't imagine not remembering that "Those Shoes" follows "Heartache Tonight" on the Eagles' Long Run album!

[monicar]

My kids are 14 and very soon to be 18 and I still say album as well!

Play any Bob Seger song and I can start right into the next song on the album!

I even do it with Ellis, because I'm happy to report my son, the soon to be 18-year-old, loves Ellis, so when we are out and about and he does have his IPOD going, an Ellis song will come on and I immediately go into the next one from whatever album.

I'm a firm believer that if everything were put to music, we'd all have no trouble remembering things.

My mother used to always give me a hard time when I was a kid, because I could memorize all of the words to songs, but when it came to school work ...... well, let's just say I enjoyed music more than school.