{"id":4244,"date":"2009-08-30T01:02:05","date_gmt":"2009-08-29T16:02:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=4244"},"modified":"2009-08-30T01:02:05","modified_gmt":"2009-08-29T16:02:05","slug":"sapporo-source-debito-column-sept-09-on-albums-vs-tracks-culture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=4244","title":{"rendered":"Sapporo Source DEBITO column Sept 09 on “albums” vs “tracks” culture"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Handbook<\/a>\"\\\"<\/a>\"Foreign<\/a>\"\\\"<\/a>\"\u300c\u30b8\u30e3\u30d1\u30cb\u30fc\u30ba\u30fb\u30aa\u30f3\u30ea\u30fc\u3000\u5c0f\u6a3d\u5165\u6d74\u62d2\u5426\u554f\u984c\u3068\u4eba\u7a2e\u5dee\u5225\u300d\uff08\u660e\u77f3\u66f8\u5e97\uff09\"<\/a>\"JAPANESE<\/a>\"sourstrawberriesavatar\"<\/a>UPDATES ON TWITTER: arudoudebito<\/p>\n

Hi Blog. \u00a0On this very important day of an election that might change everything, let me offer you this tangent:<\/p>\n

As I promised Sapporo’s monthly international magazine SAPPORO SOURCE<\/a><\/strong>, I would be creating columns off the beaten track and not human-rights related. \u00a0Take in September’s latest indulgence: \u00a0“Album” vs. “Tracks” culture, and how that has affected the way we listen to music.<\/p>\n

Next month: \u00a0Zombie Movies, and why they are the ultimate in terror and horror. \u00a0Arudou Debito in Sapporo<\/p>\n

The entire issue of SAPPORO SOURCE<\/strong><\/a> for September 2009 can be downloaded in pdf format here<\/a><\/em>. \u00a0Click on the images below to expand.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"sapporosourcesept09002\"<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\"sapporosourcesept09cover001\"<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

ENDS<\/em><\/p>\n

Text:<\/em><\/p>\n

DEBITO<\/p>\n

Keeping track of musical albums as an art form<\/p>\n

Column three for the SAPPORO SOURCE Debito Column<\/p>\n

Submitted August 1, 2009, to be published in September Issue<\/p>\n

DRAFT FIVE<\/p>\n

I turned 44 this year, but in terms of musical tastes I might as well be prehistoric.\u00a0 Music
\n“generations” (as in, the life cycle of a genre that people identify with, like “Psychedelic”, “Heavy Metal”, “Funk”, “Punk”, “Disco”, “New Wave”, “80s Music” etc.) seem to be getting shorter, lasting four years or so.<\/p>\n

When I was young and the earth’s crust was still forming, we’d listen to music that our parents couldn’t understand (Led Zeppelin or Black Sabbath usually did the trick).\u00a0 After all, it was “our” music, not theirs.\u00a0 The fogies would dismiss it as some kind of unsyncopated noise that we had better turn down before the Devil carried us off.<\/p>\n

Nowadays, however, I’m the fogy who doesn’t get it.\u00a0 I flip on MTV and see scantily-clad line dancers working out to “rap music” (to me, an oxymoron).\u00a0 Or I listen nonplussed to “hip hop” or “house”.\u00a0 Somehow I missed whole genres.\u00a0 “Grunge”? “Trance”? “Techno”?\u00a0 Meanwhile tunes familiar to me have either been relegated to “Classic Rock”, or else are getting recycled by American Idol as “remakes” and “updates”.\u00a0 Sometimes I wonder if we’ve run out of ways to manipulate the 120 notes audible to the human ear.<\/p>\n

Ah well.\u00a0 That’s the way generations of genres work.\u00a0 If kids they want to buy something new just because it’s new (and why wouldn’t they — we did), then fine.\u00a0 But I will harrumph that you whipper-snappers have lost something.\u00a0 Due to the way your music is packaged.<\/p>\n

Back in my day we reached a high water mark.\u00a0 I’m not talking about the technology — ours was lousy.\u00a0 Cassette tapes taping lo-fi from radios?\u00a0 Car stereos with crappy “8-track tapes”?\u00a0 You young punks get great sound effortlessly:\u00a0 CDs that take up less space and are indestructible compared to vinyl records.\u00a0 Or you just download “Tracks” from iTunes and put your entire collection in a palm-sized mp3 player.\u00a0 You win.<\/p>\n

What I’m talking about is what you lost by having a “Tracks”-based musical culture.\u00a0 By being able to cherry-pick a few tunes without having to listen to the whole record, you miss the culture that sprung up around the limitations of vinyl.\u00a0 With vinyl’s total playback time of around 45 minutes (that’s why the typical cassette tape is 90), some musicians who wanted to be taken seriously had to think about how to frame their music.\u00a0 They came up with the concept of an “Album”.<\/p>\n

An Album is not a collection of “Tracks”.\u00a0 An Album contains an opening song, a series of passable tunes you get into later, a mini-climax by the end of “Side One”, something that pulls you into “Side Two”, takes you to a secret sublime place, then finishes with such an incredible conclusion that you want to hear the whole Album all over again.\u00a0 It’s a perpetual motion sound machine.<\/p>\n

In other words, be it vinyl or cassette, good Albums are something you “get into”.\u00a0 Meaning it becomes a leitmotif, the “soundtrack” of this stage in your life, a time capsule for the future.\u00a0 For example, I “got into” ASIA’s first album right out of high school, and no matter how many years it’s been, one listen and I’m eighteen and it’s summer.<\/p>\n

Sure, the single Track might do that, but an Album sustains that feeling for close to an hour.\u00a0 Because any song is not only enjoyable in itself, but also there’s the anticipation of the next song.\u00a0 Which means the songs are not interchangeable (records or tapes had no “shuffle” button, after all!) — they were deliberately put in that order by the artist.<\/p>\n

The point is, you can’t just cut the Album into Tracks, because tunes without context weakens them.\u00a0 The whole is greater than the sum of the parts, and close to the middle of Side Two you get transported to a zone that you could not have gotten to otherwise.\u00a0 The Album might have a concept; it might not.\u00a0 But it is unified by a mood that there are no shortcuts to.<\/p>\n

Now, if you don’t think this old coot is out of his mind, and you’re willing to give The Album phenomenon a try, here’s your starter kit.\u00a0 Arranged not by musical taste (I make no claims to be comprehensive), but rather by how easy these Albums are to “get into”:<\/p>\n

============================<\/p>\n

BEGINNER:\u00a0 BEATLES<\/strong> “Sgt. Pepper” (arguably the first real Album) and “Abbey Road”.\u00a0 SADE<\/strong> “Stronger Than Pride”.\u00a0 PET SHOP BOYS<\/strong> “Behaviour”.\u00a0 PINK FLOYD<\/strong>:\u00a0 “Dark Side of the Moon” and “Wish You Were Here”.\u00a0 U2<\/strong> “Joshua Tree” and “Unforgettable Fire”.\u00a0 ASIA<\/strong> eponymous first album.\u00a0 SEAL<\/strong> “Seal”.<\/p>\n

INTERMEDIATE:\u00a0 GENESIS<\/strong> “Trick of the Tail” and “Wind and Wuthering” (recommend back to back).\u00a0 Korean group ROLLER COASTER<\/strong> “Absolute”.\u00a0 GEORGE MICHAEL<\/strong> “Faith”.\u00a0 MOBY<\/strong> “18”.\u00a0 PORTISHEAD<\/strong> “Dummy”.\u00a0 MOODY BLUES<\/strong> “Days of Future Passed”.\u00a0 FLEETWOOD MAC<\/strong> “Rumours”.\u00a0 DEPECHE MODE<\/strong> “Ultra”.\u00a0 TALKING HEADS <\/strong>“More Songs about Buildings and Food”.<\/p>\n

ADVANCED:\u00a0 BLUR<\/strong> “13”.\u00a0 THE WHO<\/strong> “Tommy” and “Quadrophenia”.\u00a0 THE FIXX<\/strong> “Phantoms”.\u00a0 DAVID BOWIE<\/strong> “1. Outside”.\u00a0 DJIVAN GASPARYAN AND MICHAEL BROOK<\/strong> “Black Rock”.\u00a0 ABDELLI<\/strong> “New Moon”.\u00a0 PINK FLOYD<\/strong> “The Wall”. \u00a0And my favorite Album of all time:\u00a0 GENESIS<\/strong> “The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway”.<\/p>\n

============================<\/p>\n

Final word:\u00a0 If you chase these Albums down, beware the gimmicky reissues with “bonus tracks”.\u00a0 They generally throw off the whole Album, so separate them into your playlist of CD-single remixes (for when you want to “get into” Tracks instead).\u00a0 Also, take your time “getting into” these Albums.\u00a0 I recommend one per week.<\/p>\n

Tally ho.\u00a0 Happy hunting in your local used-CD store.\u00a0 Tell them your crotchety but avuncular Uncle Debito sent you.<\/p>\n

930 WORDS<\/p>\n

ENDS<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As I promised Sapporo’s monthly international magazine SAPPORO SOURCE, I would be creating columns off the beaten track and not human-rights related. Take in September’s latest indulgence: “Album” vs. “Tracks” culture, and how that has affected the way we listen to music. We’ve lost the “album” as a concept, trading it in for a cherry-picked “tracks” media that has a very different way for us to “get into” music. I offer a shopping list for the best “albums” for those who want to rediscover this lost art.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,22,46,31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-academia","category-cultural-issue","category-practical-advice","category-tangents"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4244"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4244\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}