Are we there yet?
Are we there yet?
The journey of rediscovering albums and old friends.
“Once a journey is designed, equipped, and put in process, a new factor enters and takes over. A trip, a safari, an exploration, is an entity, different from all other journeys. It has personality, temperament, individuality, uniqueness. A journey is a person in itself; no two are alike” -John Steinbeck
I am at the stage in family life where it feels like packing the car for a journey often takes longer than the trip itself!
On some journeys, future memories are created that will be discussed around the dinner table while some evoke emotions and trigger past memories. But other, often unexpected journeys, allow you to remain in your armchair while you travel a great distance and even back in time.
Falling back through the time tunnel can happen without warning, while reading Mike Scott’s wonderful memoir I felt transported back to the eighties when rediscovering that immense record ‘This is the Sea’ as a musical accompaniment and a chill went down my spine returning to my teenage years. Another shorter expedition to 2007 was prompted when Dublin band Kodaline released their EP containing a cover of the terrific LCD Soundsystem track ‘All My Friends’ and re-playing ‘Sound of Silver’ became a must.
I forgot how much I loved that particular record and I am still kicking myself that I never got to see them play live. I have to console myself with the ‘Shut Up And Play The Hits’ DVD. (Incidentally, Pitchfork created a wonderful feature on all of LCD Soundsystem’s 43 songs catalogued chronologically that is also available in a pdf format.)
When listened to again, a great album can generate that feeling of having been re-acquainted with an old friend. It cannot be underestimated the power of re-connecting with a record, especially the way the artist intended. Watching a recent interview with Jeff Tweedy, I loved listening to him talking about the making of an album, the bands exploration and their agonising over the sequencing of the tracks for ‘The Whole Love’, which is still on my music rotation and winding it’s way further into my personal favourites with each listen.
I often finding myself with a mental wish list of albums that I look forward to purchasing on my visit to the next record store, only for it to evaporate when bombarded by decision fatigue when entering such a place. I have often found myself (much to my wife’s great amusement) totally disoriented by choice when in the middle of a store.
But the digital disruption which has become part of this modern life often has people in that ‘shuffle on’ mode. Sadly for music lovers, news items continue to chart the demise of the album pointing to dwindling sales of both the physical and digital. Some records that warrant deserved attention or at least a second chance, tend to get overlooked.
Mixed tapes for your walk-man, greatest hits, the iTunes model, streaming services with their vast repositories where you can cherry pick what you like to create the ultimate playlist for whatever the occasion, have all led in part to the decline of the album format. But I also think we began to lose our way on the album concept in the move from Vinyl to CD and when the importance of the sleeve art design began to wane where once there was an emotional attachment, at least for some of us growing up in that time, the album art became iconic images.
Back in 2009, Dave Allen coined the term, the end of the organizing principle where he suggested that “ we are now seeing the end of the album-length work as the permanent work, the everlasting body of work that represents the pinnacle of an artists’ creativity. ”
Shudder the thought of it, but are we there yet? Have we reached that destination?
Over the last few years the record industry has not created many compelling cases against this viewpoint, that warrant that dedicated investment of time in getting to know a record. For me ‘The Suburbs’ is that rarity of a modern record where I tend to listen the whole way through on each play.
Arcade Fire - The Suburbs (Official Video)
Directed by Spike Jonze!
That had me from the opening twenty seconds, it felt so accessible, I was just hooked and got rewarded in the listening experience with that continuity, story and progression. I guess that is why I keep travelling forward and back through the music catalogue, searching to find more and rediscovering old friends.
“What do we need music to do? How do we visit the land in our head and the place in our heart that music takes us to? Can I get a round-trip ticket?” -David Byrne