Although it’s virtually a relic of the past, I have always considered the album – or LP, for “long-player” – as they used to be called – as a collection of songs with an overarching theme and a certain stylistic unity. In the case of an artist with a long recording career like Bob Dylan, the Stones, U2, Tom Petty, Prince or Joni Mitchell, I tend to link the individual songs with the LP which it first appeared as sort of a guide to the artist’s development. In some cases, this includes the historical climate in which it was recorded.

Removing a song from its original context leads to the formlessness of a ‘Greatest Hits’ collection.

Streaming services, Spotify, YouTube and other digital audio platforms have clearly undermined the very concept of an ‘album.’

But historically pop music was – with very few exceptions – always about the singles. For a lot of pop artists, the only album you’d ever want to own was the Greatest Hits collection…

For truly great artists, though, the album can still be considered the ultimate form of artistic expression. There are, of course, great individual songs and great singles – but putting together a great album is a much different challenge that requires a singular vision. Think of the great albums you’ve heard – and though they’re obviously composed of good songs, they all add up to something that is consistently greater than the sum of its parts.

They don’t do albums anymore because today’s music is so disposable and forgettable, “flavor of the month” type stuff. It’s not the kind of music anyone will remember in two weeks, let alone twenty years. But you sure can dance to it!

A good album, however: that is something to be treasured and kept and re-listened to over the course of a lifetime.

Packaging and marketing had a lot to do with the experience, too. Back in the good old days you’d buy a 12-inch album, tear off the shrink-wrap and marvel at the inner sleeve, the liner notes, the larger-than-life pictures of the band…and the delicate vinyl record itself.

I grew up in the LA area, and I remember when they used to actually hand paint the billboards on the Sunset Strip – which of course they don’t do anymore. The last of the old school billboard sign painters just retired in 2018.

I used to drag my wife to monthly excursions into LA to TOWER RECORDS on Sunset Boulevard. We’d stop at the Olde World Café for a High-Pro Turkey sandwich and a smoothie, run over to BOOK SOUP across the street, and then I’d go hog wild searching for rarities and imports at that fabled, now sadly long-gone record shop.

But when songs are written by a committee – as they are now – and the “artist” has no artistic input whatsoever on what actually goes on the disc, what difference does it really make? The music is inconsequential. There is no consistent theme or mood to their work other than trying to replicate what SELLS. In America, unfortunately, we have reverted back to the pre-Beatles days of mindless, forgettable, danceable, crap.

Listening to an entire album takes patience, but to me it is one of life’s great pleasures. Few people nowadays can find the time to sit down, put on the headphones and digest an entire album in one sitting. But the reward is learning to love the whole piece of work with an overall theme and feel to it – because it was recorded in a certain studio or with a certain producer, or made during a particularly turbulent time in history. It takes perseverance, and sometimes it takes repeated listens before you finally “get it.”

The best thing about the old LPs was lining it up and placing it on the turntable; knowing that as time went on you’d become acquainted with it as an entire piece – including the parts you didn’t necessarily like at first. Those bits sometimes turned out to be the best; but only through the process of repeated listenings, and treating the album as a complete work as it was intended to be. It was a true musical discovery which literally opened new doors and led me down new musical avenues to explore.

I miss that.

Vinyl is finally making a comeback now, thank goddess…too bad I sold my turntable and all my albums years ago!