To celebrate the inaugural National Album Day, Musicians’ Union (MU) General Secretary Horace Trubridge writes in praise of the album as an artform.
I’m of a certain age that I can still remember the thrill of picking the vinyl album out of the racks at the record shop, getting it home and piercing the thin plastic protector to slide the beautiful black disc out of its sleeve. At this point it was important to pause and admire the centre label before surrendering the audio treasure to your Dansette or better still, Technics turntable.
I can remember it because I still do it most weekends. I still love vinyl and I love the album concept.
A good, well considered album takes you on a journey. There will be highs and lows, but if it’s a really good release then as soon as you finish the second side you will be forced to flip it over and start again.
If, dear reader, you are under 20 and have only ever consumed music from streaming platforms you may well be scratching your head and wondering what the hell I’m talking about.
It seems to me that the music industry and the way we consume music in particular is changing on a daily basis. Whilst Spotify continues to dominate the market in the UK and Europe, there are other offerings coming online every day.
The BBC for instance is poised to launch their new BBC Sounds iPlayer facility – is it streaming or is it a linear broadcast? The jury is still out on that one. But I mention it largely to illustrate the point that from an industry perspective, the new services and how they impact on an antiquated rights regime make things more and more complicated.
As a result, it would be very easy for me to fall back on an ‘oldies’ favourite of lamenting the days when the business was so much more straight forward…So I will.
There were singles, occasionally EPs (that’s extended plays for anyone under 30) and albums. You released the single and it either sold or it didn’t. If it didn’t then it probably didn’t get radio play – or at least not for very long – and if it did then you followed it with an album. Simples.
Of course now, from a consumer perspective, it couldn’t be easier to access and/or obtain the music you want to listen to, and surely that’s a good thing for the industry isn’t it? Well it might be but has that ease of access engendered an element of laziness in the way we listen to music in 2018?
In an analogue era, to capture the music you wanted to listen to, you had to go to a retailer and either buy the record, cassette, or cd, or order it. Surely, having made that effort, the last thing you would do when you put the record on would be to dismiss it after thirty odd seconds and move on to something else. Yet that is what many, many users of streaming platforms do.
I remember when it was cool to buy an album, take it home, play it several times until you knew the track listing off by heart and then invite some friends round to listen to it. Then, and only then, would you offer up an opinion on the quality and appeal of the music and invariably by then – if you had chosen wisely – you were well and truly hooked.
I’m prepared to accept that devotees of particular bands and artists will still do this, but they are far from being in the majority of music consumers. Recorded music has gone the way of all things that were once reusable and are now disposable. Its cost, and more importantly its value, have plummeted.
So, are reports of the demise of the album premature? I for one sincerely hope so.
The album is a work of art. It is, at its best, the threading together of songs and compositions in an order that ultimately makes them worth so much more than the individual tracks would be otherwise.
Drink in the artwork, read the sleeve notes and get a feel from the words and the messages exactly what the artist is trying to communicate to you. And before you nominate this blog for ‘pseuds corner’, if you’ve never done it yourself, give it a go.
This Saturday is National Album Day. If you’ve still got a turntable, cassette or cd player, go out and buy an album by an artist that you like and bung it on. Second-hand shops are a great source if you’re working to a budget. Pick wisely, and you won’t be disappointed.
Saturday 13 October is National Album Day with celebrations across the UK.
Events include an exhibition commemorating 70 years of iconic album artwork, album playbacks and gigs UK-wide, as well as programming across BBC Radio and television.
You can also share your ultimate National Album Day album of choice using the hashtag #NationalAlbumDay. Find out more on the National Album Day website.