There sure are way too many artists with sprawling discographies that are ok at times but far from essential.

Wow, that's a great idea... What about blu rays? Then they can have live links where you can click on individual band members, and bring up detailed histories or analyses of their musical perspectives....

I prefer concept albums. I don't think I could make a case for them, though. I just do.

Dnt wasn't making a point about concept albums as such, I think.

The problem isn't the format itself but the fact that before you press the record button you had enough time to make the previous 6 minutes or so of your masterpiece a relevant part of the piece of music you thought was fit for release. I believe it comes with understanding old fashioned concepts like restraint and quality control, as well as vision and desire to catch the listener's imagination.

I understand, completely... Which is why it's such a waste... Like SY, then visionaries like Richard D. James, technology was very much a big part of the vision and voice of these people; like Kubrick's technical genius and Welles' before him...

To paraphrase something or other; never has so much benefitted so little people... It's as if... Pattern recognition is on the run; Derrick Mays once said; Singapore can never make a Beatles or a Rolling Stones; you ain't got no rebel alliance; if you're so comfortable; there is no reason to change the status quo... No one seems motivated enough; there's always reasons and justifications upon each other...

Computers can think; at the speed of atoms; but they can never feel...

YES!!!!

this is not about concept albums. It is about a cohesive suite of songs, arranged in a specific, well-thought out way, that maximizes the enjoyment for the listener.

Mixtapes are killing albums...

Why? I bet a lot of artists who went on to make great albums started out doing mixtapes in their parents' basement or something... Do you mean people aren't buying albums coz they're too busy making mixtapes? That's like saying books will die out, coz people can make collages... :)

no I just mean I downloaded a ton of Gucci Mane mixtapes but never got around to BUYING his last album.

It's all about technics and machines. Today you don't need expensive studio equipment and engineers who know to run it, only to record some songs, so you don't need to spend time for it. Play around with some beeping programs and burn it on cd-r, and also the manufacturing of real cds or vinyls is cheapier as ever. Everybody can do it, it's not a professional's key. The much more work for a good Album leads to products which look like nearly the same, so why spend so much more time and money for the minimal difference?

I think yr right.

For while I've thought that it's great the ANYBODY can now record a CDR that sounds as good as an album, but at the same time it sucks because the market is flooded with so much cheapo product that it sort of devalues things.

And this liberation leads to the underground scene we have today where bands release a new set of jams every few weeks, often sounding the exact same as what they've did before. I think it would benefit these type of bands if they just tried to sum everything up in a few albums. Of course this wouldn't apply to a band like Sun City Girls where it's certainly not possible to sum them up with only a couple of records.

Why put 12 killer songs on one album when you can put three on one album and fill the rest up with semi-good tunes thus creating 4 albums instead of 1.

to not be a greedy hack? to create ART?

why create art when you can be a greedy hack?

SYRFox has a good point.

Who creates art in this day and age?

<---

Or at least tries to

especially when Miley Cyrus is grinding against 45 year old gay men
http://www.dlisted.com/?mediaKey=c11...sShareURL=true