Caroline Sullivan wrote a rather amusing and interesting piece yesterday on the Death of the Album. Whilst I can't entirely agree with her comments about large collections - I'm no John Peel but we're at the higher end of music collection quantities (partly because we have not yet entered the download age) - I did think her remark about there being too many filler tracks on albums very telling.
It reminded me of why I often put together compilations. Really, in some instances there are only a couple of tracks I like and the rest is just... well, dull. Maybe if I did have downloading/putting on my hard drive I would shed some of the music I own....?
But then I rather like the eclectic nature of our collection: some good, some bad, some so-so, some amazing tracks alongside the fillers on certain albums (and, despite what Sullivan said, the same can go for singles).
I saw that and thought it quite a provocative article - given that the readership are likely to still be album buyers.
ReplyDeleteI used to think the album would never die, and have the straining shelves full of CDs and attic of vinyl to prove it.
I don't think I have converted yet, but I have started to feel less connection to the physical artifact since doing most of my listening on an mp3 player.
Now that the whole 20Gb is full up and I have to delete stuff to put anything new on I have started to get a bit more choosy and leave off the duff tracks.
I'm sure that is the first step.