Albums Of the Misty Mountain Tops

[Kiki]

Some are good, some are great and some are bad. But some albums garner an extra status on top of the music by what was happening to the artist when they were made, facts and down right myths and legends about them. This in turn has arguably added a much bigger dimension to the listening experience, opposed to being just 12 more songs from the artist. With the invention of the internet, these stories about the albums are easily passed in reviews and blogs.

I'm not talking the most popular albums here or the most influential. You can still make excellent pieces of work without filler and not have some insane story or myth to go with it.

First of all, that Bon Iver one comes to mind. I heard how he was in some wood cabin in the middle of nowhere and he had lost someone close to him (The story was some what like that). Now when I listened to that album, I couldn' help but image him huddled by the fire writing these songs, counting his toes and slowly going insane. It probably didn't happen like that. He may have only been there for one week and in a cozy recording studio the rest of the time. I'm not sure what is true. I wasn't there and only get to read about it.

Joy Division's second album 'Closer' needs no explanation. Unlike the above example, we know what happened to Ian Curtis. This hangs over the album solemnly and the listening experience can not be unaffected by this.
One song 'Decades' gives me images of young men going off to war. Or are they coming back? Either way they feel lost and hopeless. Ian's vocals convey the emotions perfectly. Knowing his fate only makes me feel he sees himself as one of these men and the battle is most certainly lost. Grace, The Holy Bible and In Utero are other albums in which future tragic events hang over. All have that eerie moment where you wonder if they predicted the future events themselves. Or is it smoke and mirrors? Did you only think it because you knew what happens next?

On the other hand you have albums like The Stone Roses and Never mind the Bollocks. I'm not sure what the American/Australian/French/Spanish/etc equivalents would be but in the UK these are two albums which you're given at a coming of age ceremony to show you have reached adulthood.

Well... they might as well be.

These are two mighty sacred cows, both getting a reputation that even Sgt Peppers can't quite reach (even though more people like that album...even in the UK, it's confusing). They have started to blend into clothes lines and merchandise, each regarded as a reason to be proud to be British. I can not recall a male family member below 60 who doesn't regard The Stone Roses debut as anything other than genius (Something about the drums apparently). It's regarded as what sowed the seeds of britpop. As a result it's been given one too many pints and is now drunk on it's own legacy. The La's could have easily been as highly regarded if only the band remembered to record the other tracks as good or half as good as 'There She Goes'. Come ten years you will have 'What's the Story(Morning Glory) living up there with it, mark my words.

Then there is that "definitive" 'definitive' punk album. The one that would be regarded as the pinnacle of "anti establishment" if it were used to design an up market clothes line, bomb an orphanage and performed in full on the X-factor. Hell, what could you do to that album to make it unfashionable? It has good songs, I'll give it that!

This is only the tip of the iceberg. The whole world of music is filled with its myths, legends and/or facts which can shape how you listen to an album. Some are small flakes in the air, others are ominous mountains. Most of which make the album sound better than if you hadn't heard about it.

[SquishypuffDave]

This is a topic that really interests me, and I don't want to limit it to just 'classics'.

Here are some examples of albums that I think are heightened by the story of how and why they came about:
Funeral - Arcade Fire
De-Loused in the Comatorium - The Mars Volta
Rumours - Fleetwood Mac

I also love it when a band creates their own mythology, it adds so much to the albums they produce. It is similar to how album artwork affects the way I visualize what I hear.

Groups/artists that have an especially strong sense of mythology:
Gorillaz (of course)
Boards of Canada
Fever Ray + The Knife
The Mars Volta

I'd also like to throw out a question to everyone - do you let these extra aspects (mythology, music videos, album artwork) affect how you judge albums or do you make a point to judge them based solely on what you hear?