forsberg_us wrote:

"I guess that would feel better then 105 but still hot."

Yeah, but if you were in Vegas it would be a dry heat.   (happy)

I always thought that was the stupidest phrase.  "Dry heat."  Like it somehow makes it less hot.  I had an uncle that lived in Vegas for several years.  I visited him a couple of times while on summer break when I was in high school.  Believe me, when it's 110-115, it's freakin' hot and there's isn't any part of you thankful that it's a "dry heat."

It's like sauna versus steam bath.  They are different.  I prefer the steam bath, but only after emerging from an ice cold Wisconsin lake.

First off, the term "classic" can never be included in a sentence with "John Cusack."

And while artists still release LPs, I would disagree that it is the primary format for musicians.  Most artists release one, often two singles from a new "album" before the album ever becomes available.  It provides an opportunity to test the waters and gauge fan interest in the product.  But album sales have been on a steady decline for more than a decade, and there isn't any reason to thing that trend will end anytime soon.  According to Billboard, album sales for 2011 (digital or physical) stand at 177.83M.  In contrast, digital song sales for 2011 are at 754.4M.

Personally, I couldn't tell you the last time I purchased an actual album.

forsberg_us wrote:

First off, the term "classic" can never be included in a sentence with "John Cusack."

And while artists still release LPs, I would disagree that it is the primary format for musicians.  Most artists release one, often two singles from a new "album" before the album ever becomes available.  It provides an opportunity to test the waters and gauge fan interest in the product.  But album sales have been on a steady decline for more than a decade, and there isn't any reason to thing that trend will end anytime soon.  According to Billboard, album sales for 2011 (digital or physical) stand at 177.83M.  In contrast, digital song sales for 2011 are at 754.4M.

Personally, I couldn't tell you the last time I purchased an actual album.

But the weird thing is that almost all songs are still connected to long play albums.  Even when a single is released before an album, the album is typically in the can.  They are just trying generate interest and hype for album sales. 


As for comparing sales, if the average LP has 10 songs, then we are looking at 1.77 B songs sold on physical media, versus 754.4 sold digitally.  So, while the trend is still unstoppable, sale of physical media is still more than a blip.  But even digital sales will probably fall streaming.  We'll pay a monthly service fee and have access to everything . . . until a fee-less format with advertising takes over.  We won't need to own the stuff anymore.

"But the weird thing is that almost all songs are still connected to long play albums.  Even when a single is released before an album, the album is typically in the can.  They are just trying generate interest and hype for album sales."

I'm not sure that's entirely true.  It seems that the more interviews I hear with artists talking about a new single, they are still in the process of recording the album.  The songs are undoubtedly written, and they may even be so far as to have selected the specific songs, but I think the recorded album is still a work in progress.  In many cases, I'm seeing a 5-6 month lag between the release of a first single and the release of an album.  And in the case of new artists, I don't think the album is by any means a certainty.

I suspect the concept of the album is merely the result of "old habits die hard."  Many more artists are turning away from LPs in favor of EPs

Last edited by forsberg_us (8/04/2011 11:24 am)

artie_fufkin wrote:

"Pink Floyd, Meddle, side 2."

I'm sure you also enjoyed Rush's 2112.

To paraphrase Fors:

"I would rather go outside, strip to my skivvies and lay exposed to the sun and heat for the next 8 hours on Ballpark Village softball field than listen to a [Rush] song."

70s music most certainly did not suck.

AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Skynyrd (underrated, IMO), Iggy and the Stooges, Van Halen, KISS, Big Star, CCR, Marvin Gaye, Al Green, The Clash, Fleetwood Mac, T. Rex, Cheap Trick, The Who and The Velvet Underground all put out stellar albums in that decade. And that's just a quick list.

tkihshbt wrote:

Crap, I forgot all about Thin Lizzy and Alice Cooper.

Well let's list albums.  We're talking albums that are great end-to-end.  Things you WANT to pop the CD in rather than listen to a mix-tape / playlist:

Alice Cooper "Billion Dollar Babies"
Pink Floyd "Dark Side of the Moon" (actually ALL of their albums from the 1970's, "Meddle" through "The Wall", are awesome).
Stevie Wonder "Talking Book", "Innervision"
Cheap Trick "In Color", "Heaven Tonight", "At Budokan"
UFO "Strangers in the Night"
Scorpions "Love Drive"
Carol King "Tapestry"
Paul McCartney "Ram"
Genesis "Selling England by the Pound", "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway"
Gentle Giant "Three Friends", "Octopus", "In a Glass House"
Jethro Tull "Aqualung"
Steely Dan "Aja"
Billy Joel "The Stranger"

help people . . .

Last edited by Max (8/07/2011 5:39 pm)

"Sticky Fingers" (Should add "Exile" but listening to it all in one sitting is tough)
"Plastic Ono Band"
"Muswell Hilbillies"
"IV"
"Who's Next", "Live at Leeds"
"London Calling", "The Clash"
"The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars"
Big Star - "#1 Record" (props to TK)
Television - "Marquee Moon"
Elvis Costello - "My Aim Is True", "This Year's Model"
Pretty Things - "Parachute" (I just discovered this a year ago, but is a must-listen-all-the-way-through record for me)
Neil Young - "Tonight's The Night"
Crack The Sky - "Crack The Sky"
Black Sabbath - "Paranoid"
Blue Oyster Cult - "Secret Treaties" (I know "Tyranny and Mutation" is considered their best, but this is the one I heard first).

I'd keep brainstorming but am sure I've already crossed someone's line here.

Last edited by JV (8/08/2011 6:14 am)

JV wrote:

I'd keep brainstorming but am sure I've already crossed someone's line here.

some continuations:

absolutely for "Who's Next", and I would throw "Quadrophenia" in there.
Neil Young "Harvest", "Live Rust".
(dare we mention Frampton's "Comes Alive" for its key role in popularizing the 'double live' format.)

God this is going to suck balls...

My top 70s albums.

I got a Name, Jim Croce
Dark Side of the Moon, Pink Floyd
Hotel California, The Eagles
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Elton John
Van Halen, Van Halen
Led Zeppelin IV, Led Zeppelin
Boston, Boston
Bad Company, Bad Company
Cat Scratch Fever, Ted Nugent
Paranoid, Black Sabbath

80s? It's worse even still.
Slippery When Wet, Bon Jovi
1984, Van Halen
Appetite for Destruction, Guns N Roses
Pyromania, Def Leppard
Back in Black, AC/DC
Thriller, Michael Jackson
Purple Rain, Prince
Hysteria, Def Leppard
Open up and Say Ahhh, Poison
Don't be Creul, Bobby Brown

Sad, I know.

Last edited by alz (8/08/2011 2:14 pm)

artie_fufkin wrote:

tkihshbt wrote:

70s music most certainly did not suck.

AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Skynyrd (underrated, IMO), Iggy and the Stooges, Van Halen, KISS, Big Star, CCR, Marvin Gaye, Al Green, The Clash, Fleetwood Mac, T. Rex, Cheap Trick, The Who and The Velvet Underground all put out stellar albums in that decade. And that's just a quick list.

You rarely heard some of those bands on the radio, though TK. Big cities had one, maybe two AOR stations that had limiated playlists. You knew if thr DJ said a Who song was coming on, it was going to be either Baba O'Riley, Won't Get Fooled Again or Pinball Wizard. You weren't getting The Real Me.
There were twice as many Top 40 stations that played crap like Afternoon Delight or Love Will Keep Us Together.
As bad as that was, it got worse when disco broke. Middle aged white people were taking disco dancing lessons at community centers. It was fucking disgusting.

That's hilarious.

Props to JV for BOC. That band was heavy as hell.

"Props to JV for BOC. That band was heavy as hell."

I saw them twice. Not really. Once live. At the old Boston Garden. Great show. I don't remember who opened, but it was a really lame act. Might have even been hometown hero Billy Squier. Or Squier may have been the headliner with Def Leppard in support. That was one of those weird tours where the headliner and the opening act were flipped on the bill in mid-tour. Pyromania broke - or more aptly the Rock of Ages video broke on MTV - at about the same time Squier's pranced around his loft in a pink tank top in the "Everybody Wants You" video. His take on that was priceless, something like "Five minutes after that video aired on MTV, my career ended. Everyone thought I was gay."
The second time I *saw* BOC was that Black & Blue movie about their tour with Sabbath. During about 80 percent of Sabbath's set, the camera shot was a closeup of Ronnie James Dio, who had mole on his neck you couldn't take your eyes off of. I'm sure considering Dio's vanity he ordered no full body shots so no one would figure out he only was 4-feet, 9-inches tall, but seeing that mole on a theater screen was disturbing.

alz wrote:

Sad, I know.

I wanna party with you!