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TRACK BY TRACK: ONE MAN'S EPIPHANY by Bob Lefsetz "I am nothing more than a little boy inside That cries out for attention though I always try to hide" "Epiphany" Staind So much has changed in the last two and a half decades. I remember needing to buy Abbey Road when it was released. "Come Together" was on the radio, but that was not enough. A Beatles album wasn't about the single. Once Rubber Soul was released, one realized the entire album was a STATEMENT! Made to hang together as a whole. Those days are through. Oh, you hear music business people talk about the ALBUM! They're like grandparents lamenting the way it used to be. The audience knows that albums are crap. They know there's only one good song contained. That's all they're interested in. This freaks out the business people. Because if one can't sell the whole damn album, all the economics don't work. What's even more hysterical is the business people don't even listen to the whole damn album. Maybe once, to determine the single. That's all. Life's too short to listen to all that crap. But they expect the audience to. Kind of ridiculous, don't you think? So if a good album is released. Something solid from beginning to end. It's not like October 1969, when Abbey Road was released. Oh, there are some fans. Who rush out and purchase the CD and play the whole thing. But the rest of the world listens only to the single. Even a whole bunch of people who BUY the CD. They don't want to waste their time on the remaining music. So what we have is the equivalent of an iceberg. Or maybe it's more like an archaeological dig. Something is jutting out of the surface in the desert. But it's unclear what's hidden beneath the ground. Is it something FANTASTIC? Or just junk? That single can be seen/heard. But the other 11 tracks - does it pay for the archaeologist to dig here? Does it pay to buy this album? After all, one can't act on every option. In most cases, what's underneath the surface is a dud, but sometimes, on a hunch, you dig and find something incredible. Now you might say albums aren't like buried relics. They're available in the store. But think about it. So much of this stuff. It's sitting in the bins. Think of the effort required. But the business has gotten so bad, that something can be on the endcap. Begging to be taken home. And STILL most people avoid it and have no inclination what's inside. Oh, they might have heard a single. But is the single representative of what's on the rest of the record? These business people. That's how they talk today. About SINGLES! They'll hear a newly finished album and say THERE ARE FIVE SINGLES. But think about it, if there are five singles, and 12 tracks on the CD, what are the other songs? ALBUM TRACKS! Now in most cases, these tracks are just dreck. That's what "album tracks" has come to mean today. Songs that can't be worked as singles. But in the old days, in the late '60s and early '70s, there was no honor greater than to be an album track. If a song was an album track, that meant it defied pigeonholing. It wasn't made for the masses. For top 40 radio. It was something SPECIAL! Something that you listened to home alone in the dark. Stoned, with a candle burning. Let's see, do you know the song "Forty Thousand Headmen," off the second Traffic album? In no era of top 40 radio would it fit the format. It's the ESSENCE of an album track. And better than most of what was played on top 40 radio not only when it was released, but today. The dynamics. The feeling. If you know it, you know what I mean. If not, do yourself a favor. Buy the album. News Story: Staind Tops the Charts |
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