Look, kid, you have to listen to the WHOLE ALBUM (1 Viewer)

[DadsDream]

Driving home Saturday with my band nerd, clarinet-playing Daughter #3 after freezing in the bleachers at the La. Tech vs Nevada slaughter (42 - 0, NEV).

Dad: "That was a kickin' version of 'Tusk' y'all did in the second half."

D#3: "'Tusk'? What's that? We didn't do that."

Dad: SIGH! "Fleetwood Mac? 'Tusk'? Duhhh? I know 'Tusk" when I hear 'Tusk' and I heard 'Tusk'!"

D#3: "Never heard of it. Oh, wait. You said 'second half.' That must've been the percussion section doing their thingy."

Dad: "Yeah and you and your little woodwind wimps were taking a break and ignoring them. Good grief! You've never heard of 'Tusk'?"

D#3: "Well, I've heard of Fleetwood Mac."

Dad: "Oh, you have, huh? What was their biggest selling album?"

D#3: "No fair! I only know singles, I don't know albums!"

Dad: (Hits the brakes and pulls over) "Do what?!"

D#3: "I'm sorry, I just never paid attention to albums. I mean, now you download a song. Nobody buys a whole album. What's the point?"

Dad: (Choking in frustration) "Aaagh...coff! The songs on Fleetwood Mac's 'Rumors' album cannot be appreciated fully without listening to the album, in sequence, start-to-finish, in the order in which they were arranged by the composers! Same with the 'Tapestry' album. Same with 'Sergeant Pepper's.' Same with "Dark Side of the Moon!"

D#3: "Fleetwood Mac did all those? I thought the Beatles did 'Sergeant Peppers' and didn't Pink Floyd do 'Dark Side of the Moon'?"

Dad: "Yes, but those are all albums and all you know is singles. It's like taking one song out of an opera instead of listening to the whole opera. It's like only listening to 'Circle of Life' without ever watching 'The Lion King.'"

D#3: "Oh, I get it. So, this 'Rumors' album by Fleetwood Mac was big?"

Dad: "No, huge. Enormous."

D#3: "And 'Tusk' was actually a song on that album?"

Dad: "No, 'Tusk' was on the following album. The 'Tusk' album."

D#3: "Oh. So, what were the other songs on the 'Tusk' album?"

Dad: "Who knows. The album stunk. 'Tusk' was the only song from that album that anybody liked."

D#3: "But, you said..."

Dad: "The 'Tusk' album was no 'Rumors.'"

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[antipop]

does the practice of listening to the songs in order apply to the new jay-z album???

 

[DadsDream]

Who's jay-z?

 

[antipop]

Who's jay-z?

apparently people are sick of him:

http://saintsreport.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4521

 

[Sandman]

Your daughter is correct with the music that is put out today. Nobody puts out a good album anymore. They do one or two good songs and the rest is junk. It is the reason Napster took off...people got sick of being ripped off on the albums they purchased. Unfortunately, the music industry decided it was easier to sue people that downloaded the songs than actually produce quality albums.

 

[DadsDream]

UPDATE:

Apparently, the Tech Band percussion section has appropritated a line or two from 'Tusk' and the kids in the stands all yell 'Tech' instead of 'Tusk' when they play it.

Ya learn something new every day. Makes me wonder how many of the percussionists know where that little cheer/cadence came from.

 

[johnnyd]

it is getting harder and harder to find a complete album that is coherent throughout, like a good novel. Sufjan Stevens Illinoise fits the bill, however and there are a few more out there and they are usually pretty obscure.

 

[daybreaker]

it is getting harder and harder to find a complete album that is coherent throughout, like a good novel. Sufjan Stevens Illinoise fits the bill, however and there are a few more out there and they are usually pretty obscure.

Agreed.

Also, I'm glad I decided not to go to any Tech games this year... That would have been a frustrating trip.

 

[Ted]

yeah, Tusk blew. I was about to say that even the song blew w/o the USC band (the only good thing USC has ever contributed to the world (I suppose other than Regiie Bush)) until they came on stage. Mick ruled.

While good, cohesive albums are few and far between, there have been a few out in recent years. Greed Day's "American Idiot", Arcade Fire's "Funderal", The Eels' "Electro-shock Blues", The Flaming Lips' "Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots", Troubled Hubble's "Penturbia" and the last few from The Mountain Goats all have themes and the sum of the parts is greater than the whole.

But anyway, kids these days.

 

[DadsDream]

D#3: "So, this 'Rumors' album was so big. What was it about?"

Dad: "Fleetwood Mac was two couples and a guy. Their relationships got...uh...complicated."

D#3: "Ohhhh. Did anybody ever top it? Albums have kinda died."

DAD: "Yeah, some guy topped it twice."

D#3: "Twice? Wow! Who coulda done that?"

DAD: "Can't remember his name. Some jerk. The albums were named 'Thriller' and 'Bad.'"

 

[Optimusaint]

yeah, Tusk blew. I was about to say that even the song blew w/o the USC band (the only good thing USC has ever contributed to the world (I suppose other than Regiie Bush)) until they came on stage. Mick ruled.

While good, cohesive albums are few and far between, there have been a few out in recent years. Greed Day's "American Idiot", Arcade Fire's "Funderal", The Eels' "Electro-shock Blues", The Flaming Lips' "Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots", Troubled Hubble's "Penturbia" and the last few from The Mountain Goats all have themes and the sum of the parts is greater than the whole.

But anyway, kids these days.

coheed and cambria have been putting out pretty solid albums. of course, all of their albums tell this crazy sci-fi story that the frontman Claudio wrote. but its definitely something worth checking out if you are into progressive rock. just hold back the thoughts of calling them "emo" or "rush wannabes" long enough to give the story and the guitars a chance.

 

[Saints#34]

There are plenty of great bands that put out cohesive albums today, they just don't get radio play and aren't on major labels.

I'll admit I used to be in the singles category back in the day of Napster as well, but once you really get into listening to good music you start to appreciate how an album as a whole is better than any one of its parts.

 

[Loose Cannon]

it is getting harder and harder to find a complete album that is coherent throughout, like a good novel. Sufjan Stevens Illinoise fits the bill, however and there are a few more out there and they are usually pretty obscure.

I agree.

Even the few newish albums that I really like (Wolfmother, Black Keys, Secret Machines) are just collections of good to great songs, really, not masterfully put-together art. The Raconteurs is the only exception that I can think of. Surfjan Stevens' album is definitely creative and it has flow... but I think Surfjan Stevens sucks, so that kinda kills it for me

 

[Brennan77]

I was thinking about album cohesion today while listening to Collective Soul's self titled album. It's just a good listen all the way through....but it doesn't do it for me unless it's all in order.

 

[BullDawg]

Green Day's American Idiot is a cohesive. Of course one would hope a "punk opera" album would have some sort of cohesion.

btw...Tusk (the song) rocks.