Apparently the album is dead. Or it’s going that way. Its lungs are slowly filling with fluid, and we’re supposed to think back on the good times we’ve had with the format, and feel nostalgic for simpler times as it slowly dies in the corner.
“Remember when the album was still young, and it was basically just a couple of singles, surrounded by cover songs as filler?”
Oh yeah, I remember that, you say, hugging your copy of Please Please Me.
“Remember when the album was an unruly adolescent, testing boundaries, getting a little fat around the edges as the growing pains set in?”
You pull over the milk crate and take out your copy of Freak Out!, The Wall and Blonde on Blonde.
And just as you’re about to pull out Abbey Road, Kid A, Grace, Murder Ballads, Dark Side of the Moon, Illmatic, Low, Never Mind the Bollocks, The Chronic, Nevermind, The Downward Spiral, Led Zeppelin IV, 36 Chambers, Blood Sugar Sex Magick, London Calling, Stop Making Sense etc etc etc, and start really bawling your eyes out, there’s a knock at the door.
The door abruptly slams open, and in stumbles The Album; drunk, barely lucid, muttering to himself. He walks muddy footprints over your carpet, steps clumsily on the records scattered around the floor and slumps into a lounge chair.Drool dribbles from his lip, and he undoes his top button.
“The rumours of my death have been great exaggerated,” he says, smiling dumbly.
And it’s true, you think, if somewhat unfortunate in light of its recent performance; it’s not in the best shape, and it’s definitely seen better days, but the album isn’t dead.
Sure, the sprightly EP (which could be considered the Twitter of musical releases - everything a band is up to in under 160 characters) is a safer bet in these times when people’s attention spans shrink and shrink. It’s also always been the case that you’re going to need a good single or two to get your album off the ground, but the album is still a strong and worthy goal for any band, singer or pop star.
It’s a big ask to make a good album, and it’s a big cost for a record company to back an album, as opposed to a single – more recording costs, multiple singles, ongoing marketing etc etc. don’t get me wrong, I’m not apologising for them - hell, the record company is really the reason we’re hearing the “death of the album”, “online revolution”, “download generation”. Perfect cases for this are the constant re-issues of albums barely a year old – see Rihanna’s Good Girl Gone Bad: Reloaded, or the “Deluxe Edition” of Back to Black by Amy Winehouse.
The album has become fat and useless in many people’s hands.
“The Death of the Album” is the product of lazy, hyperbolic journalism. When Pitchfork claims that Kid A is the product of a bygone era when the album actually existed, it’s something they do with full knowledge that album reviews are their main trade. Imagine Pitchfork receiving an album for review in 3 years time, the reviewer flipping it open and thinking, “12 tracks in one release? What the hell is this?”
It’s not going to happen.
1/5
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