I do believe that visitors to this site have one thing in common – we all love music. In particular, my merry band of regulars (you know who you are) display a passion for music that is sometimes quite overwhelming. You guys know your stuff, you know what you like, but you are also so open to the suggestions of others, because. I feel, you love music and want to hear and discover.
I therefore have a question for you – What Makes a Good Album Great?
I’ve been thinking about this for a while, especially now as I’m fasting (NO NEW MUSIC TIL AUG 1st) and I wonder what makes an album that you buy, listen to, listen to again and again suddenly go from great to good?
I did a bit of research and The Guardian reckons it’s the history, the theme, the cover and how it all hangs together. Me, I think this is a load of tosh. For me the history, or where the album comes from has little influence on whether I like it or whether it’s a good album. The theme (or concept) don’t mean much, the cover or art work – not a major factor after I’ve bought although I think we all can admire a good album cover.
Now how it all hangs together is a different kettle of fish – this is where, I think, we start to get to what makes a good album great. The flow, the feel, how it all hangs together – this, for me is one factor in the making of a great album. Take for example Lauryn Hill and her album ‘The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill’ – I did not like this sort of music before I bought, but this album and the way it hangs together, the feel of it, make this for me a great album
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The history is important, but not how The Guardian defines it, to me history is personal, history is hearing a certain album at a certain time of your life that cements it into a special place in your life, so that whenever you hear a song from the album, you will always remember this special time and place. For me one example has to be Deep Purple ‘In Rock’:
which simply conjures up memories of a fantastic childhood, great family, great friends, great times and more great times.
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Have you noticed nobody has mentioned the music yet? Well this may seem too simple to some, but for me, one of the main things that make a great album is the songs and preferably 12 or more of them. For example Shea Seger ‘ The May Street Project’ has 12 great songs – nothing more nothing less
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a truly great album full of good songs… simple…
Or is it?
What do you think makes a good album great?
Image by myspace.com
LD, I’ll immediately agree with you that it’s about “…hearing a certain album at a certain time of your life that cements it into a special place in your life, so that whenever you hear a song from the album, you will always remember this special time and place”. For you, Deep Purple “In Rock”. For me, Madness “One Step Beyond”. It’s the album that turned me on to whole new “style” (ha ha) of dancing, of dressing, of hanging out in cheap, skanky clubs and dancing non-stop till the wee hours. And it was – and still is – just so much FUN ! When I left my home country to become an expat, I begrudgingly gave away all my vinyls, 33′s, 45′s, the lot, but I hung on to just this one album. I have nothing to play it on, but I still take it out every now and again to let it transport me back to the days of being spotty and not giving too much of a toss about What People Think. And I still think it’s a better collection of songs than any of their compilation albums. So there you have it. Chipmunks are go !
I don’t think this can be easily defined. The notion that an album is great is very subjective to the listener. Regardless of genre etc, a great album to me consists of a collection of songs that seem to follow a natural progression, sit well with one another and most importantly are all worth listening to. A great album shouldn’t have you reaching for the skip >> button. I totally agree with other comments here, in that an album will become great to a particular listener because of the memories it evokes…. I’ll give two brief examples:
Pink Floyd – Dark Side Of The Moon – widely recognised as being one of the greatest albums of all time. (In my opinion) the songs sit perfectly next to each other, every one is a masterpiece and the album was designed to listen to as a whole (as the tracks segue into one another). I adore this album, but know plenty of people who hate it because it’s mainstream.
Primal Scream – Screamadelica: Not necessarily the best album ever made, but it really captured a fun time in my life – I was mid-teens, having a whale of a time, discovering girls, booze, teenage angst etc etc and every time I listen to it, I’m transported back to my youth. Not every song on the album is particularly great, but it works superbly as a whole.
Actually – worth mentioning that both of these albums have iconic artwork too – wonder if that’s coincidence, or whether it’s part of the package?
T’flid, I hate people who hate music because it’s mainstream.
Hi techy – good points made well here but I think that you sum it up nicely by saying “The notion that an album is great is very subjective to the listener”. I”m sure that we have all heard people say that albums like Dark Side are crap, too mainstream – whatever. Nobody can say that that album is not a great album – end of story – people who say otherwise either have shit in their ears or are saying it for effect.
As with Screamadelica it is recognized by many as a great album, but it doesn’t really matter as you think it’s a great album. I’ve been listening to some old stuff past few days and I’ve rediscovered music that think is great (Thunder for example) which has given me so much pleasure – to me it’s a great album – again end of story.
Glad you mentioned Screamadelica listening to now and enjoying – can feel a new post coming on
URD – ??? last comment
T’flid sez he knows “plenty of people who hate (Dark Side) because it’s mainstream. I’m just saying – sort of like yourself, Dawg, but not as erudite – that to have as a starting point, that you hate any music just becos it’s mainstream, well that just grips my sh!t. Why cut yourself off from enjoying ANY music by having a preconceived notion of what’s “cool” or “acceptable”? Which is not to say anyone should love mainstream just because it IS mainstream, either. Enjoy music for what it is, godammit, for how it makes you FEEL; share what you like – or what you feel others might like – encourage others to join MFTM, start a “Save the Lesser-spotted Mystic Knight” campaign, something useful like that …
Yay, I’m totally on your side, pal! At least it’s not mainstream
Hi Peeps!
I totally agree with your comments technoflid…Pink Floyd is an example of clever music mastery. There’s a kinda unity about it.
I’ve been thinking….what makes a great album?
I guess different kinds of music evoke different feelings in me depending on my mood…but if I think of one of the many albums that I totally love at the moment it has to be Abraxas by Santana.
A wonderful mix of sounds. Each track just seems to fall seamlessly into the next. The balance of vocals and instruments is very cleverly done. And the album covers…well, do I need to say more?! The whole package!
I think a good album is one that you love to go back to time and time again…there’s no such thing as a bad track on a good album.
Now I’m thinking of Harold Budd and Brian Eno….aaaahh…is there no end to the music madness!
Tx
Excellent choice of a Santana album Tricia, and it got me thinking. I haven’t played that CD for ages, possibly even years. But it is so comforting knowing that it’s sitting in the rack biding its time, waiting for that opportunity to leap into the CD player and blow me away all over again.
Isn’t this also the sign of a truly great album?. One that can be tucked away, forgotten about for years on end. But then, when the time is right, it pops out again and sounds as fresh and revitalising as the first time you heard it.
I agree with most of what has been said here about what makes an album ‘great’. That sense of time and place, the fact that it can’t contain a missable track, the disregard for popular opinion or, as you have put it ‘mainstream’. But I have to disagree with Mr D’s statement that it should include 12 songs ‘nothing more nothing less ‘. Even his own example of Deep Purple’s In Rock only had 7 tracks, but very few would disagree that it is a great album.
And, and I accept that this may just be me, I don’t appear to put as much relevance into the sleeve these days as most of you seem to. Especially with these new fangled CD thingys that everyone is on about these days. To tell you the truth, I hardly even notice them, and the print in the booklets is always so small that I can hardly even see it never mind struggling to actually read what they have to say.
Having said that, anyone tries to steal my LP version of Man’s Be Good to Yourself at Least Once a Day and they’re going to have a fight on their hands. Remember that one Mr D?
Some of my examples of ‘great ‘ CDs: Hawkwind – Space Ritual, Black Sabbath – Master of Reality, Led Zeppelin’s 1st, Scorpions – Tokyo Tapes (don’t laugh, I like it), Audience – The House on the Hill, Jethro Tull – Heavy Horses, most of Stevie Ray Vaughan’s. Oops here I go again, this list could go on all night so I’ll just shut up now and go to the pub instead.
Eric Clapton – Unplugged. The Members – At the Chelsea Nighclub. Sade – Lovers Rock. The Clash – London Calling. Dire Straits – Dire Straits. UB40 – Signing Off. Roger Waters – Pros & Cons of Hitchhiking. Right, so no surprises there then, UncleRaveDave. Oh, and Pink Floyd – The Wall (obviously).
Wait, wait – and Talking Heads – Stop Making Sense. And, and, and …
Hi Tricia – thanks for posting. I’ve just thought of a great way to tell if you think an album is great or not – its not very scientific but may mean something to you and others here.
I reckon its a great album if; at the end of a track you instantly (without thinking) can hum the first few bars of the next track without looking at album sleeve – you know simply cos you’ve played this album so much, lived with this album so much, had so much pleasure from this album that its part of you.
Do you know what I mean?
I’ve had this lately with a number of albums that I’ve been rediscovering and I’m sure its a sign of greatness
Hi Spacey – you’re right about the sleeve, it seems to have lost the reverence maybe we placed on it especially on albums we bought ‘back in the good old days’. One exception to this is the new album by Pineapple Thief with cover artwork by Storm Thorgerson.
Scorpions came to Doha about 3 years ago – played to about 54 – don’t know why I just told you that.
Have you downloaded the new mini mix yet – you may like track 4
There are some really great comments here… a great post.
LD – how true about knowing an album so well that when one song ends, you already know the opening bars of the next. So much so, that if you hear a song from a much-loved album as part of a compilation, it throws you completely when an unexpected song follows it!!