I enjoyed your comment about the mult-disc players and ipods, pEric. I know all to well the luxuries and evils of having every album you own at your finger tips (ipod). An annoying trend that has started to come about parties i've attended, is when everyone brings their iPods and are at constant battle on who will plug their's next into the stereo in order to control the musical atmosphere. An exercise that abandons the concept of the album completely. Has anyone else experienced this?? Whatever happened to the host being responsible for the tunes? I always saw that as one of the small perks of hosting a party to begin with. funny, who's sounding like the ol' fuddy-duddy now, eh?

But i feel that the question of whether it's ok to abandon the album and just give power to the concept of the individual song as a whole initself is a music lover faux-pa. Let me give you a true life example to expand on this...i had a friend, who when talking about albums thought that a person should consider it as a whole. He used the metaphor of the full album being a novel and the track listings as chapters, each song being put specifically there for a purpose. He thought that making mixes was blaspheme and should never be exercised!! I, on the other hand told him, to use his metaphor, that I viewed an album more as a collection of short stories that when done well, are connected through certain themes, sound aesthetics, etc. (ex. YANKEE HOTEL FOXTROT) but still had the power to venture out of it's original context and still contain the same verve and energy.

Which is why I absolutely love to make mixes. I use my own personal experiences with certain songs (almost as a record of moments in my life)to thread my own theme and interrelationships between them, that otherwise didn't exist. I know it sounds a bit hoakie, so you'll have to excuse me.

But don't get me wrong. I still honor and respect the sanity of "the album". I suppose I've just learned that a song on deserves just as much attention as well. Of course I give credit to my ipod for that epiphany...DAMN THEM!

Like mark f, I almost never actually skip tracks on albums, with the exception being "Best Of" compilations.

Occassionally, I play individual tracks from my MP3 library, but not all songs are appropriate for that sort of treatment.

So back to the idea of fillers, which I think we're all agreeing refers to tracks on an album that don't necessarily live up to the "quality" of the other songs or feels disconnected in some way to rest of the album (which i'm aware is completely subjective, so in essence can be a bit ambivalent in judgement). With that said, has anyone come across an album, who for some reason or another felt the band's b-sides which were recorded during the same session, were found to be superior to tracks that actually made the album?

You know, have you ever spoken the words when listening to b-sides, "wow, what a great song! why the hell isn't this on the album??"

I'll throw out my candidate which was Pavement's TERROR TWILIGHT. I found myself listening to their b-sides more than the actual album. And would anyone agree that a good number of b-sides to come from RADIOHEAD's KID A sessions, were superior to some of the filler tracks on AMNESIAC (which also were tracks taken from teh same recording session)?

Well because of the subjectivity of music appreciation, I'm not going to specifically answer that last question. In general, I'd say yes. When I bought the Smiths singles 20 years ago, I thought most of the B-sides were as good as the album cuts. Hell, "How Soon is Now?" was originally the B-side to "William, It Was Really Nothing"! I'll just leave that alone now. I'm one of the whacks who loved "Terror Twilight" and "Amnesiac".

I hosted a party yesterday and I've got another one today, and nobody gets anywhere near the stereo except for me. They know my pruning shears are handy if I need them. Needless to say, a splendid time is always guaranteed for all, at least if they like 2004/5 era rock and roll.

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Like mark f, I almost never actually skip tracks on albums, with the exception being "Best Of" compilations.

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Biggles it's funny you mention this, cause it seems the idea of a "Best Of" album is the biggest "eff you" that could be handed to the idea of this thread. If anything, it gives more emphasis on the idividual songs by a band than an album as it's own perfect entity.
But again, they're good devices to indroducing a person late in the game, into taking a chance at discovering a band with a large discography.

I shouldn't play the old fuddy-duddy card too hard. I also like making mix tapes. And I will skip tracks on CDs. But I always TRY to give every record a few complete spins before I switch to focusing on my fave cuts.

I think a record that is top notch from start to finish is rare. I don't hold it against an artist if they can't fill 45 minutes with great stuff...if some of it is just good, or decent, I can live with it, so long as the good is REALLY good.

Other great tip-to-tail records: World Party's Goodbye Jumbo, The Waterboys' Fisherman's Blues, and Matthew Sweet's Girlfriend!

For me, there's only two albums that immediately spring to mind when contemplating this subject. One, of course, would be Pavement's incredible work of bizarre genius Wowee Zowee, which I can not recommend to you enough, and the other would be Fugazi's nearly-as-amazing Red Medicine. I encourage everyone to purchase these albums.

Also, I don't think "Electioneering" is at all out-of-place. "Let Down" however, has never done much for me, which apparently is not common.

"Let Down" isn't one of my favourites from OK Computer either.

One album that can easily be run from start to finish without hitting any clunkers: the Notwist's Neon Golden.. Only when referring to the initial version, however; the bonus tracks tacked on to the US release are inessential.

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Originally posted by slackerjacks:
An annoying trend that has started to come about parties i've attended, is when everyone brings their iPods and are at constant battle on who will plug their's next into the stereo in order to control the musical atmosphere. An exercise that abandons the concept of the album completely. Has anyone else experienced this??

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Although iPods aren't involved, when I hang out with my neighbors, they all try to put in their own burned mix CDs. Then someone else will walk over and skip through the tracks on someone else's mix to find something she likes. Everyone yells at the person to leave it on a certain song, and nobody ever seems to agree.

I tried inviting them to my apartment instead, where I don't actually have a CD player hooked up to my stereo, but do have my computer hooked to it. this would mean that I could just put ten albums into winamp and unhook the mouse until the party ends. Considering that they all have terrible taste (fact, not opinion) in music, I don't think they want me picking the music.

i'm surprised no one has mentiond neutral milk hotel's "in the aeroplane over the sea", because i don't think i've ever been able to start that album and not end up listening to the entire thing all the way through.

you just don't get full effect of it otherwise.

Another short one that only works from beginning to end: the Wives Tales ep (30 minutes long) from Joe Firstman. I can't listen to any one track...the ebb and flow is such that it requires a full listen.

NMH is an outstanding selection.

All of Spoon's albums would also fit. Whenever I'm having trouble picking something to listen to, I just put on a Spoon album because I know I'll enjoy it.

Weezer's Blue Album is also highly enjoyable from beginning to end.

something like 2 years and a half later, here are my personnal choices:

Wilco - a ghost is born
Nick Drake - pink moon
the strokes - is this it?
sigur ros -aegetis byrjun
whiskeytown - stranger's almanach

This is all subjective, I choose my favourite albums ever based on the this concept alone. The thing is for me the best albums transform tracks that appear to be unworthy, giving them purpose. The better the album the better this concept works.

I would say the arctic monkeys debut is a solid all the way through as you can get however I wouldn't consider it great because I don't feel it has an overall cohesiveness.

Ok computer and Kid a without hesitation no ifs or buts. Electioneering is essential listening and I would never skip it. Kid A (the track) and treefingers are heavenly slices of the same soundscape that the album is, the blood that runs through the album runs through all the tracks including those. Hence I like them more than anything on Pet sounds, Sgt peppers, Pet sounds.

The album for me that's easiest to listen from start to finish is Kind of Blue by Miles Davis. I don't know if it's becuase it's just fantastic or because I often play it when reading or writing, but I always seem to play the album the whole way through.

It's kind of ironic, but even though indie/rock is my favorite music, I'm less likely to listen to them all the way through. I'm so often playing them in a brief car ride, for friends, making mixes, or have limited time, that I don't always have the chance to play it all the way through. This being said, I still always listen to an album at least 3 times all the way through when I originally buy it.

More mellow albums that often work as background music while I'm doing something else seem to get played all the way through more often.

I'm not calling Kind of Blue background music because it's one of my favorite CD's ever, but it works perfectly while I'm reading or writing, so it has the advantage of not being interrupted.

I tend to not skip tracks when finishing an album, am I alone?

I may switch one album to another mid way through, but I rarely skip to a later song...

Still, some albums I put on just finish before I can even think about switching: The Meadowlands, Ziggy Stardust, OK Computer, all Yo La Tengo and Talking Heads records.

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Originally posted by besttasteinmusicever:
The album for me that's easiest to listen from start to finish is Kind of Blue by Miles Davis. I don't know if it's becuase it's just fantastic or because I often play it when reading or writing, but I always seem to play the album the whole way through.

It's kind of ironic, but even though indie/rock is my favorite music, I'm less likely to listen to them all the way through. I'm so often playing them in a brief car ride, for friends, making mixes, or have limited time, that I don't always have the chance to play it all the way through. This being said, I still always listen to an album at least 3 times all the way through when I originally buy it.

More mellow albums that often work as background music while I'm doing something else seem to get played all the way through more often.

I'm not calling Kind of Blue background music because it's one of my favorite CD's ever, but it works perfectly while I'm reading or writing, so it has the advantage of not being interrupted.

HA!!!!! Come to my house on Sunday morns. Almost every Sunday I'll put Kind Of Blue on the record player while making breakfast/reading the Sunday paper. That or Coltrane's Blue Train.

the moon and antartica - modest mouse
gza - liquid swords
aphex twin - richard d. james album
amon tobin - permutation
brian eno - another green world
my bloody valentine - loveless

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Almost every Sunday I'll put Kind Of Blue on the record player while making breakfast/reading the Sunday paper. That or Coltrane's Blue Train.

It is a truly great album. I'm not a jazz buff at all, but I still would have Kind of Blue in my top 10 albums ever.