Yes, of course. And make no mistake - many LPs are better than compilations as listening experiences for that reason, but it's not a simple matter of "being an LP" being better than "being a compilation." I think far fewer LPs are artfully curated/arranged than people seem to think.
I couldn't agree more. Your comment made me think over how many of my fave albums do have a coherent, layed out, thematic flow - and it was a pretty small percentage. _________________ -Ryan
I see literally 0 connection between symphonies and Beatles albums besides that people who don't listen to many of the former really like to insist that the latter are identical to them. Show me a Beatles album with the qualities you listed there in that link. What Beatles album has a theme or suite of themes that it returns to continually and resolves at the end? No, writing a hokey reprise of the first track on your album to give a sense of thematic unity to people who have completely spaced out for half an hour does not count as holding and developing a theme.
From before:
Snobbery about the "flow" or "coherence" of the LP format has always baffled me, as advocates of this position tend to uphold classic rock as an if not THE cultural touchstone and reference for the value of the LP.
haha, touche to finding an obvious flow or structure to a Beatles album, however, I don't think a Beatles album follows a format/flow like a symphony because they aren't the same thing. The "connection" I was making is simply that the snobbery of music "flow" and "coherence" started way before "classic rock" or LP and is a respected art form (the symphony for example, and yes I've listened to countless symphonies).
I personally respect artists that make a holistic effort way more than an artist that puts together random songs and calls it a record. The definition of "holistic effort on an album" is obviously subjective.
Honestly, I am not a musicologist, but I feel that the songs at the end of Abbey Road "fit" together. Why this is or how or what musicologist terms can I make up to discuss why... not sure that'd convince you otherwise.
After all the existence of music always came first and the classification came later. I'm sure somebody has written about the end of Abbey Road, but I don't think you are that interested in learning about it, otherwise I'd do some more research and find it for you.
Anyway, I used to be a compilation naysayer because I always associated compilations with "20th CENTURY MASTERS: SCORPIONS", but these days I've got like a bajillion comps on my chart. I tend to keep compilations of older material off of my decade and year charts just because I'm a weird about having those be somewhat reflective of a certain zeitgeist, but otherwise I'm all about a truly well-crafted compilation.
Some of my favorites (and reason for them being so) include:
Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.
The Disintegration Loops by William Basinski
because I really believe these Loops were designed with each other in mind, and not only does the whole exceed the already immense value of the parts, but those two beautiful live renditions tacked onto the end are truly marvelous and are not available elsewhere to my knowledge
Hatful Of Hollow by The Smiths
this comp probably resembles an LP more than anything I know; it's not just a few singles/b-sides/BBC takes flung together, there's some real care put into its assembly
Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.
African Electronic Music 1975-1982 by Francis Bebey
Francis Bebey's electronic masterpieces tend to be scattered across a surprisingly broad body of work, and really this feels far more cohesive than any number of the albums on which some of these originally appeared (however Bebey also does have an LP masterwork in the form of Akwaaba)
Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.
New Music For Electronic And Recorded Media: Women In Electronic Music by Various Artists
The first track is one of the only known recordings of Johanna Beyer's Music of the Spheres, which is one of the earliest songs that I would call purely "electronic" in the modern sense, as well as one of my all-time favorites. Additionally several of the other tracks are unavailable on LP format elsewhere, and the ones that are are generally lesser known oddities chosen to aid with the consistency of flow and sonic likeness across a single listen. Really perfect listening experience rivaling that of any LP in its cohesion
I-Robots - Italo Electro Disco Underground Classics by Various Artists
Italo-Disco (or really most kinds of disco) is a heavily singles oriented genre, and this is the best compilation for single-sitting listening of it I've heard (and I've heard quite a few, most tend to just throw some of the more popular singles in a blender)
Honorable mentions to Hellhammer's Demon Entrails (it takes balls to reissue a bunch of shit recording quality proto-BM demos and insist that cleaning up the sound more than just a minuscule amount would be doing them a disservice. Preserves the rawness while boosting the consistency across a de facto triple LP), that Nile Rodgers/Chic box set, the giant Luc Ferrari thing (you know the one), Madonna's The Immaculate Colleciton, Goodbye Babylon, that Nonesuch Gamelan thing, ...and like a fuckton of others. Yeah comps are invaluable
oh and while we're on the subject and Satie while I have your attention, I think you (and anyone else who digs this kind of thing) should really listen to (if you haven't already) this
I mean the "definition" of a symphony A) isn't always followed obviously and 2) was developed to hopefully get a "flow", but some Symphonies flow better than others.
I guess what I'm getting at is flow/coherence is totally subjective... there's no obvious definition to it, more a feel, then it becomes something "canonized", like the Symphony.
So if someone says a Beatles album flows for them and for another they say a Smashing Pumpkins album flows really well together, it's simply a subjective opinion. There's no agreed upon structure of "flow"... except for maybe many musical structures like Symphony or 12 bar blues... but just because it doesn't fit those things, doesn't mean it can't flow for someone's subjective opinion.
RoundTheBendI miss the comfort in being sadProfile Ground Control
Anyway, I used to be a compilation naysayer because I always associated compilations with "20th CENTURY MASTERS: SCORPIONS", but these days I've got like a bajillion comps on my chart. I tend to keep compilations of older material off of my decade and year charts just because I'm a weird about having those be somewhat reflective of a certain zeitgeist, but otherwise I'm all about a truly well-crafted compilation.
Some of my favorites (and reason for them being so) include:
Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.
The Disintegration Loops by William Basinski
because I really believe these Loops were designed with each other in mind, and not only does the whole exceed the already immense value of the parts, but those two beautiful live renditions tacked onto the end are truly marvelous and are not available elsewhere to my knowledge
Hatful Of Hollow by The Smiths
this comp probably resembles an LP more than anything I know; it's not just a few singles/b-sides/BBC takes flung together, there's some real care put into its assembly
Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.
African Electronic Music 1975-1982 by Francis Bebey
Francis Bebey's electronic masterpieces tend to be scattered across a surprisingly broad body of work, and really this feels far more cohesive than any number of the albums on which some of these originally appeared (however Bebey also does have an LP masterwork in the form of Akwaaba)
Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.
New Music For Electronic And Recorded Media: Women In Electronic Music by Various Artists
The first track is one of the only known recordings of Johanna Beyer's Music of the Spheres, which is one of the earliest songs that I would call purely "electronic" in the modern sense, as well as one of my all-time favorites. Additionally several of the other tracks are unavailable on LP format elsewhere, and the ones that are are generally lesser known oddities chosen to aid with the consistency of flow and sonic likeness across a single listen. Really perfect listening experience rivaling that of any LP in its cohesion
I-Robots - Italo Electro Disco Underground Classics by Various Artists
Italo-Disco (or really most kinds of disco) is a heavily singles oriented genre, and this is the best compilation for single-sitting listening of it I've heard (and I've heard quite a few, most tend to just throw some of the more popular singles in a blender)
Honorable mentions to Hellhammer's Demon Entrails (it takes balls to reissue a bunch of shit recording quality proto-BM demos and insist that cleaning up the sound more than just a minuscule amount would be doing them a disservice. Preserves the rawness while boosting the consistency across a de facto triple LP), that Nile Rodgers/Chic box set, the giant Luc Ferrari thing (you know the one), Madonna's The Immaculate Colleciton, Goodbye Babylon, that Nonesuch Gamelan thing, ...and like a fuckton of others. Yeah comps are invaluable
oh and while we're on the subject and Satie while I have your attention, I think you (and anyone else who digs this kind of thing) should really listen to (if you haven't already) this
The Oram Tapes Vol. 1 by Daphne Oram
because Daphne Oram's contributions to the world of minimal electronics, drone, and general sinewave fuckery are indispensable and practically nonexistent in LP format
Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.
Crossing Into The Electric Magnetic by Halim El-Dabh
because Halim El-Dabh is one of the unsung heroes of early electronic music and his work is largely scattered across decades of disparate releases. This comp gathers all of his major electroacoustic/proto-electronica tidbits into a comp that really mimics all that is supposed to be (and sometimes is) great about the cohesion of the LP
edit: oh and of course the MBV EP's and Else Marie Pade's Et Glasperlespil
edit 2: haha also I found this in the dollar bin at a record store and it's legitimately great
Both stand out to this day as really cool collections of music that were really important to my development as a person. Introduced me to everything from Public Enemy, XTC, Pere Ubu, Oingo Boingo, Gary Numan, X, Gang of 4, etc., but also to really obscure stuff I still listen to today like Dalek I.
I guess while compilations can have value for discovering artists like that, or even just for me as something to look back on as an introduction, they're not necessarily as cohesive as a studio release just about ever. The tracks just usually end and the next starts - no overarching story or similar ideas to connect songs.
Anywho, here are some other really incredible ones:
You name the folk-ish band from the mid 2000s, they're probably here. Lots of others too, though - David Byrne appears, The Books do a Nick Drake cover with Jose Gonzales, Spoon's here, My Morning Jacket, etc. Also definitely the strangest moment on the album, Buck 65 feat. Sufjan and Serengeti.
OK actually this brings up an interesting other point. Does a compilation have more value when it's a soundtrack? Cuz like the next thing I was going to put was
which is a slightly cringe worth introduction to early 2000s third wave ska and pop punk, but it got me thinking about other soundtracks that I don't even think of as compilations, in my head they're just kind of their own thing. Thoughts? _________________
but it got me thinking about other soundtracks that I don't even think of as compilations, in my head they're just kind of their own thing. Thoughts?
Yeah... I think soundtracks are a really cool compilation. Often the soundtrack captures a certain feel that creates a holistic album better than a single artist can do...
I remember when I was a kid I really got into swing music due to the movie Swing Kids and the sound track that came with it... it led me to buying the Glenn Miller box set at 13 years old... hehehe.
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
Mercury
RoundTheBend
benpaco
Skinny
