The natural order of things.
For years it has never really bothered me, it was only recently that I started to get bugged by it. In the age of “shuffle” and mp3s, I find myself increasingly listening to whole albums in their intended order. It’s not that they sound “wrong”, but it’s not “right” either, the songs don’t seem fit and flow together as well as they should. I find myself purposely putting albums in the CD player as opposed to listening to them through iTunes or on my phone. It might sound silly but it seems far easier to skip a track on iTunes or my phone, usually because it’s in front of me, the CD player on the other hand is on the other side of the room.
Shuffling songs isn’t like making a mixtape in the days of old, when you’d carefully put together songs which flowed well, I learned much from this, I still have all my mixtapes, some just by one artist, I can pick some of the up and wonder what the hell was going on in my mind when I made certain selections, others I’ve actually dug out years later and stuck in the tape deck because those were the ones that work, they still fit together because I’d got it right. It may not be in context with the album it’s from but it mixes in well into a “new” album if you like.
Mixtapes are one thing but back in albumworld I think we’re in danger of losing the idea that context is important. Out there in Major Label land, I read an article about how the album is becoming less important, record labels are trying different deals like signing someone for so many songs instead of 3 or 4 albums, they see music as being a consumable item and that it seems to becoming disposable and throwaway because society seems to be moving that way. They want to get the big selling single. It’s rather tragic. While some of these will actually be good pieces of work, the will also be a lot chaff. I inhabit a completely different world from these people, I like digital music, but if I can get a physical CD, I’ll quite happily opt for that, most of the bands I listen to are either on their own or small labels, very few are on big labels any more. I prefer things this way, it’s nurturing talent and allowing for natural development so artists aren’t fast tracked and seem as commodity generating money for someone else.
The Cure’s “Friday I’m In Love” is a great pop tune, but listening to it alone, it’s out of context, you don’t have the 11 other songs on the album “Wish” which surround it. It’s not that the song doesn’t stand up on it’s own, it’s that the listener is missing out on a whole atmosphere/world that the song belongs to. I think it’s far too easy for people to pick and choose individual tracks from music websites to buy, as it means they could be missing out on some of the best (or worst) music. They could be potentially be missing out by not experiencing something and thus not expanding their horizons. How often have you listened to an album and perhaps not been that keen on a song, but it slowly that song grows on you because you listen to the whole album without skipping tracks, and find it has become one of your favourites? I feel most people in our modern world don’t have the patience or inclination to sit through a full experience of something, they want to pick and choose individual moments, that they know they will like and be worse off for the experience.
Anyone got any thoughts they’d like to share on this?
