What are you listening to Today?

[Guisslapp]

One of the reasons Tool doesn't participate in iTunes is because they design their albums as a singe unit to be listened to from start to finish. Same thing with Coheed and Cambria. That is what is so good about "Progressive" style bands.

[inudesu]

So you are saying these albums will be universally accepted as classics in the way that Zep IV is?

I don't know. Probably going to depend on who is defining classic.

My point is not that the music is bad but that the format makes it difficult to make a classic piece of work. Also from my perspective I don't listen to as many CD's all the way through as I used to. If I like a cut I'll purchase the download but that's about as far as it goes. So maybe these Albums that have been mentioned will turn out to have that kind of wide spread acceptability. I doubt that when "Never Mind the Bullocks" came out everyone was on board but do to the revolutionary nature of the album it has grown in stature. I don't know I'm just questioning the very nature of the music biz at the moment.

But if you only download one song from the album how do you know the whole thing isn't good? Or isn't all of one piece? I just don't see how the financial incentive is any different now to create more than one good song per album than it used to be. I'd want you to download (and pay for) all 10 or 12, or whatever songs on my cd just as bad as I'd want you to buy the whole record vs. just the 45. To do that you've got to make enough good songs to make it worth the while.

If anything, I wonder if we won't see better quality (well, maybe I should say "effort" since "quality" is going to depend on taste) under this new system. In the old days, if I had 2 good songs on the same album - you'd probably go ahead and buy the whole thing instead of 2-3 singles.

Now if I put out 3 good songs you just buy those 3. So if I was an artist I'd make sure it was worth it to you to buy every song.

As far as the songs flowing together goes, I guess it just depends. The eponymous Boston cd is a classic in my book, but it isn't like the songs need to be together other than the fact that they are mostly just good songs. You risk losing your concept album if people can download the songs in the wrong order or only the ones they like, but you had that danger with radioplay back in the days (when only the single would be played), or people buying the single, or greatest hits collections, or just plain old fast-forwarding/skipping to their favorite songs.

[arkansasbob]

I doubt we will know they are classics until we are still listening to them in 30 years. All Eyez on Me and The Chronic are "classics" in their genre(granted, not really from "today" but after the period you are talking about). The first Coldplay cd is solid, the first Norah Jones might hold up, I personally think Ryan Adam's Gold is great from beginning to end, maybe Jennifer Knapp's Kansas or Caedmon's 40 Acres.

I wonder if part of the problem/solution is the wider accessibility of music. Most of us posting in this thread have at the very least fairly strong opinions about music (or are outright music snobs). I doubt many of us do much more than stop by a
"top 40" type station to see what is playing (if that). I certainly doubt many of us in this discussion would listen to that kind of station for more than a song or two. But we all still find stuff we like.

That used to be harder to do. Back in the day if only 10 out of 100 songs was good, and only 2 of those songs got played - those songs would become huge. Now it seems we are more likely to find those other 8 songs, which reduces the popularity of the 2. They're still good songs, but they aren't the islands in a sea of crap that they once were, so they won't draw the same devotion.

Maybe you can substitute "album" for "song."

Or I could be wrong. Kind of just throwing this out there, thinking through it as I go. I'm just skeptical that the format harms the quality of the music (musically anyway, obviously the sound is connected to the format).

i agree with most of this with the exception of the "classics" you mention.

i think caedmon's call's share the well is an instant classic, and a complete album in the traditional sense. of course being in the "chistian pop" genre will keep most from ever even hearing it, much less considering it classic.

i tend to agree with your comparison of the music landscape now to the "good old days." i would even go so far as to say that there is MORE financial motivation to put out a good album now vs. ten, twenty, or thirty years ago. i can buy 4 mp3s at walmart.com for less than $4. if you don't have a great album, people are going to cherry pick the songs they like.

[inudesu]

i think caedmon's call's share the well is an instant classic, and a complete album in the traditional sense. of course being in the "chistian pop" genre will keep most from ever even hearing it, much less considering it classic.

I thought about Share the Well instead of 40 Acres, I like it better I think, and it is definetly more of a total package. Just throwing out cds I thought people may still be into in 20-30 years. Car Wheels on a Gravel Road probably qualifies, too.

And those "classics" are considered such in their genre. Can you name a better rap album?

[Bigdog13]

No doubt BD13, that's pretty much what I was trying to say. Thanks for doing a better job of it than I did.

I don't know why this would make a difference but to me it seemed like it started happening when it went from vinyl to tapes and then even moreso when it went from tapes to CD's. The timing could just be coincidence.

I still think vinyl sounds cool.

[arkansasbob]

I thought about Share the Well instead of 40 Acres, I like it better I think, and it is definetly more of a total package. Just throwing out cds I thought people may still be into in 20-30 years. Car Wheels on a Gravel Road probably qualifies, too.

And those "classics" are considered such in their genre. Can you name a better rap album?

car wheels for sure.

and i can't even name 1 rap album. calling a rap album classic is like calling a fugees album a classic in the "cover genre". (you know i'm mostly just messin' with ya)

[arkansasbob]

back to the subject of the thread:

blue is the color of night
when the red sun disappears from the sky.
raven, feathers shiny and black,
with a touch of blue glistening down her back...

[Guisslapp]

APC - The Hollow
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lRkl...eature=related

I really like Billy Howerdel's style on lead. He has some serious spider fingers.

[Guisslapp]

For those of you who have lived a misfortunate life and never seen Tool live, that is a problem you should really try to remedy. Their shows are INCREDIBLE.

Here is the live version of Stinkfist.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmhlvJ2J9pY

[Guisslapp]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z04wU...eature=related

Tool - Lateralus (live)

[DogtorEvil]

metal.

Anyone interested in listening to my kids band? I'm looking for a "metal" persons view of their sound. I like their musi, but don't like the screaming. The lead "singer" is a cool kid, a drummer, sings at church on Sundays, but also does the scream thing

[arkansasbob]

metal.

Anyone interested in listening to my kids band? I'm looking for a "metal" persons view of their sound. I like their musi, but don't like the screaming. The lead "singer" is a cool kid, a drummer, sings at church on Sundays, but also does the scream thing

i used to like some metal, but the scream thing only works if it's done right (and most people don't do it right).

[DogtorEvil]

i used to like some metal, but the scream thing only works if it's done right (and most people don't do it right).

musically and technically they are actually very good (even after removing "Dad's" bias. I have given them copious amounts of crap that screaming sucks, but that is a part of their sound.

[Guisslapp]

I would be happy to listen to them.

[DogtorEvil]

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm...ndid=260830805