The Return of the Album

[Shadowmancer]

This is coming from listening to some music on my way to an exam this morning. Mainly I was listening to some stuff off of Porcupine Trees latest album. But this is a broader topic of discussion than just one album.

I remember either reading in a classic rock magazine or seeing on Youtube an interview with Steven Wilson, he has an abject hatred for iPods because of what they represent, but he admits that they are a part of modern society. Another point that he raises about the iPod is that people are now getting full albums whether it is through legal or illegal channels. And he wants to use that in his work. He is in essence harking back to the late 60s and 70s where there were a raft of concept albums out there, from "In The Court of the Crimson King" by King Crimson, "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway" by Genesis, "Thick as a Brick" by Jethro Tull among other similar titles. This is when the album was considered the full stretch of music where the creativity exists.

Within the last couple of years it appears that there is a return to this sort of belief that is out there, for the album to be the full concept and singles to be the hooks to get people into the album, so the full musical journey is explored and experienced by the listeners. A number of cases such as, "Leviathan", "Blood Mountain" and "Crack the Skye" all by Mastodon, "The Incident", "Fear of a Blank Planet", "In Absentia", "Deadwing" and others by Porcupine Tree, "Watershed", "Ghost Reveries" pretty much the entirety of Opeth's catelogue. Even going into the more poppier albums like "The Black Parade" by My Chemical Romance, and "American Idiot" by Green Day. They seem to be where the idea of returning to the album as the optimal delivery of the music that they produce.

So my question to you is the Album making a true return as the true expression of an Artists creativity, and could it be a viable selling point?

 

[NSL]

YES! The album is definitely making a return, and I'm glad you pointed out Mastodon. Their albums are simply epic, and are among the best things going in music right now. Call me a die-hard, but I blame the decline in rock/metal fans for the "decline in the album". Pop stars and hip-hop stars never needed to write a full good album, so they wrote their hits, and "filled" the album with erroneous material. Metal bands however, have always relied on writing a full album, and marketing it. This is also due to metal and rock never getting the same radioplay that other genres get.

Now that rock and metal are making a bit of a comeback, people are buying full albums, because they don't hear anything on the radio from their favorite artists. The "other" songs are getting more love. If you (not Shadow) are a metalhead, go out and buy an album, and listen to something other than what you get on the radio. I'd bet you're new favorite song is one you'll never see as a single.

 

[X]

Yeah, as much as I'd like to agree with you guys, you're simply wrong here, atleast from a business perspective. Album sales continue to plummet each and every year, and they are 100% most certainly not about to go back up. Filesharing has become more and more prevalent to the point where literally everyone with a computer does it. Why go out and buy an album when you can get that album for free in about 10 minutes?

As far the album "returning" as a true medium of artistry...it never left guys. Great albums have been released every single year, people just don't look past the radio to look for them. The album is most certainly not dead in that sense, so I don't really think there's any return to be made.

 

[Shadowmancer]

I know that there have been great albums that come out, it just seems that the bands that are doing the great albums are coming into more prominence than they were. Albums that flow from one song to the next as a part of the Album. I would say that the entire album sales thing is going to be a question of quality and price over the proliferation of the internet. I would personally love to see the sales figures for when records were the main way of listening to music, because with CDs there was a huge raft of CDs bought to replace albums, and the question is how much have people finishing up replacing their records on CDs affected the sales of albums.

NSL I never listen to the radio and all I listen to are full albums but put on random with my iTunes.

 

[Barbedwire Ropes]

.A number of cases such as, "Leviathan", "Blood Mountain" and "Crack the Skye" all by Mastodon, "The Incident", "Fear of a Blank Planet", "In Absentia", "Deadwing" and others by Porcupine Tree, "Watershed", "Ghost Reveries" pretty much the entirety of Opeth's catelogue.

Wow, I am simply amazed by the mention of Porcupine Tree and Opeth in this forum, well more so of Porcupine Tree since they are extremely under-rated even to this day. So many years after their 1991 full-length debut.

Opeth are great to and im a big fan, but to me Watershed is just so stale and plain. Morningrise and Still Life though, are absolute must own classics! Mastodon are cool too, but the only album I find interesting is Crack the Skye, its just so much more diverse than their others.

As for the topic itself, I both agree and disagree with you at the same time. The "album" does seem to be making a comeback, in terms of how concept albums are becoming more accepted on the broader scale. But then again, the album never truly went away. Its sort of what another poster said above, pop music doesnt have to give a shit about an album as a whole since that genre, and mainstream rock as well, is entirely based on the notion of the "hit single". So, when bands/artists like those who get radio and MTV play make an album, the majority of it is total shit to begin with and that is what drove the populace into the MP3 age. Although, while this was going on there were still bands in the late 90's up until now who still made good, quality records that were based on merit and its contents as a whole, rather than 2 or 3 songs crafted for the radio. The bands you mentioned are great examples, and its great that now Mastodon and Opeth are getting more recognition for their talents each and ever year and its hasn't been at the expense of releasing a "hit single".

There has always been though, the subcluture of musicians and bands that have never strayed from the concept of an album. Granted, this movement has remained, for the most part, in the "underground". These are the artists who don't care about record sales, or media spotlight. They do it purely for the love of the music they are making. Some great examples of this are:

Agalloch - "The Mantle"
Grayceon - "This Grand Show"
Sculptured - "Embodiement"
Coheed and Cambria - their whole discography is one giant concept story
Winds - "The Imaginary Direction of Time"
Riverside - "Anno Domini High Definition"
Between the Buried and Me - "Colors"
Between the Buried and Me - "The Great Misdirect"
Cynic - "Traced In Air"
The Dear Hunter - "ActIII: Life and Death"
The Ocean Collective - "Precambrian"

The last suggestion is a great example of the question you brought up Shadow. When doing press for the "Precambrian" album, their main songwriter Robin Staps was quoted as saying, "Precambrian is our stance against MySpace-induced volatileness and transience...It is an album for people who still believe in the idea that an album can be more, and should be more, than the sum of its tracks" Not to mention that 23 seperate musicians make up the roster for that massive, 2-disc effort of an album. Its a true work of beauty.

On the other hand, I strongly disagree with XFearBefore. I have never downloaded a single music file my entire life, and I absolutely refuse to do it as well. Every Saturday I head down to my local independent record shop and buy a stack of albums. Its an amazing experience everytime. There is nothing like the smell of fresh CD insert ink right before you pop in an album and listen to it, from start to finish, for the first time. And Im not the only one. The genre of Metal has seen a dramatic increase in record sales over the last 10 years. Though, I do think it will eventually platuea at some point the proof is everywhere you look. Take Shadow's example of Mastodon. Where as their 2007 album "Blood Mountain" sold 23,000 copies first week. Thier latest, "Crack the Skye" sold around 45,000. So, not every area of the album is in a nose dive. I just think that the majority, the MTV-spoon fed majority, grew frustrated with the crappy music they listen to and decided to find away around paying for it. Where as bands that actually put an effort into it, were always apprecitated by their fans and peers equally, even through the general decline of record sales and they always will be.

So, I do firmly believe there is still a need and desire for good, quality records from bands that actually give a shit. Its just a matter of who cares about the bands to begin with. To many people are content with being told what to like.

 

[Shadowmancer]

I forgot about The Dear Hunter, all three of their albums so far have been aspects of the same concept and story and I know that it is supposed to last for six albums. Yeah it is a matter of people believing in the hype of a band and not really listening to what they are bing bombarded with.

I also don't know why you are surprised about PT and Opeth being mentioned on this site. There is a large group of people that know a lot about Music here and look for stuff that is beyond the general public awareness.

 

[Barbedwire Ropes]

I also don't know why you are surprised about PT and Opeth being mentioned on this site. There is a large group of people that know a lot about Music here and look for stuff that is beyond the general public awareness.

Well Opeth im not so shocked about, they sell out thier gigs everytime they are here. But its the mention of Porcupine Tree that really caught me off gaurd.

They are basically unknown where Im from and I've had to travel down to Seattle everytime to see them, which was very much worth it mind you especially for their setlist the second time around. But, alot of times when im listening to them, their shorter songs just scream "mainstream popularity" (I.E: Lazarus, Stranger By the Minute) yet they manage to maintain thier underground base. The same could be applied to the band 3 as well, maybe even more so. They could be huge. Yet, they are even far more unknown than PT. Though im not complaining. I support the bands I love, whether or not they are famous or "underground".

Also, when my band played our first gig and we did some PT covers to fill the gaps when we didnt have enough original tunes, people just looked around all confused when we said "This is a Porcupine Tree cover, and this song is called Russia on Ice"

I've yet to meet PT fans randomly though. People come up to me all the time when im wearing my Opeth or Dream Theater shirts but when im wearing my 'Fear of a Blank Planet' shirt I get nothing. One time, and this really pissed me off, a girl came upto to me read "Porcupine Tree" and giggled, followed by a "thats funny, did you get that at the mall?".