I don't own an ipod, and I now realize that this makes me a throwback, like a really bad throwback. I'm still hooked into album thinking, albeit mediated by the digital cd format.
Here are my reasons for why we should still listen to albums:
1. Layla and other love songs.
2. Abbey Road.
3. Kind of Blue.
4. The St. Matthew Passion (Bach).
5. Requiem, Durufle.
6. Pet Sounds.
7. Innervisions.
8. Vespertine (Bjork).
9. I (Magnetic Fields).
10. Mother and Child Reunion.
You can see I'm old from this list, sorry. However, I would like to point out that the inclusion of two major classical works implies a concept: the suite. That is, although there are great songs and themes contained in the Durufle Requiem, for instance, those songs and themes can feel sort of cut off when taken out of context. Sometimes that can be useful and refreshing--to insert something into a new context--but I think that that refreshment depends upon knowing its other context.
Having asserted this, I can think of a zillion other ways to complicate it, but I'm puttin' it out there anyway.
Ever done a sort of ultimate mixed CD? Mine keeps changing.
ReplyDeleteI used to make mix tapes galore with themes--I had two entitled "Black"--Black I and Black II. Paint it Black, Black by Pearl Jam, Sky Blue and Black by Jackson Browne, blah blah blah. You're talking about a kind of Platonic ideal, though, right? except its nature shifts.
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