rh@mit-eddie.UUCP (Randy Haskins) (12/07/84)
>I have been badly >burned by buying "New Wave" albums on the strength of one >cut I've heard on the radio. I would like recommendations >from people who have found good total albums. >I buy more 45s than I do albums. Unless you've heard the album >already you're taking a chance. So when I hear a song on the radio >I like I look for it on a 45. Besides I have a rule when I'm at >home playing records, I never play two songs in a row by the same >artist (both sides of an album at one sitting - GOD FORBID!). Fine. If that's the way you want to live. Personally, I think that the concept behind singles sucks. It caters to a world in which a group will only record one or two good songs and then a bunch of shitty ones to fill out an album that people will buy for some obscure reason. I don't listen to groups unless at least half of their albums are listenable. That's probably why I like Pink Floyd so much, the album plays as a unit. In fact, if you don't play the whole thing IN ORDER, then it loses a great deal of meaning. If you're not looking for meaning in music, i.e, you just want some background noise to stop you from thinking, then listening to singles is probably adequate. I was really disappointed with "Tonight" because except for the 3 or so cuts you've already heard on the radio, I found the rest of the album to be unexciting. Maybe he's getting old. BTW, I heard that someone heard on WBCN in Boston one of the DJ's say that there'd be a new Pink Floyd album in March (or was it May?). Anyone heard anything else? Who'll be playing? -- Randwulf (Randy Haskins); Path= genrad!mit-eddie!rh
strock@fortune.UUCP (Gregory Strockbine) (12/08/84)
>>I buy more 45s than I do albums. > >Personally, I think >that the concept behind singles sucks. > If you're not looking for meaning in music, i.e, >you just want some background noise to stop you from thinking, then >listening to singles is probably adequate. I don't see the correlation between a song's length and its value as "meaning something". Sometimes when I make a tape I'll lift just one line from a song, well aware of how it relates to the songs that precede and follow it on the tape, imposing my own meaning.
serge@rna.UUCP (12/17/84)
I agree that many bands, especially those that are New Wave/New Music, produce great singles and e.p.s but stuff thier albums with some very disappointing filler. As a result I tend to buy the e.p. (which usually has a really good danceable mix) rather than the album. But I don't think there is any thing wrong with a band putting out a good e.p.. Many of the 'concept' albums of the 70's were over blown boring trash with a few catchy ideas here and there. It all depends on what you are interested in. Most artists I find have at least one or two really good ideas to contribute while only a few have a seemingly inexaustable supply. I guess some of those less endowed like to milk thier initial success as much as possible. - this too shall pass Serge Sretschinsky
chris@pyuxc.UUCP (R. Hollenbeck) (12/17/84)
I'm new to this conversation, but I think Serge is right about EPs. If a band has five good songs together at a particular time, why should it rush to write five more or add long instrumentals to the first five just so they can fill up an album? Far better to get five good songs out and skip the filler.