I was listening to a new music show on my XM radio, and heard the terms “record” and “album” applied to an upcoming release by a new artist. It caught me a bit by surprise. I hadn’t heard the word “album” used to refer to a musical recording in quite some time.
I don’t know why, though. It’s a perfectly good word to describe a collection of music by an artist. “Record” also works well.
Both terms fell out of usage when CDs stole the limelight from LP vinyl ages ago. The words seemed to be associated with an older format, so “CD” was the preferred term. For some years now “CD” seems less and less relevant. “MP3” has tried to take its place over the last decade, but there are other competing file formats from Apple iTunes and others.
I think that’s why I like the words “record” and “album.” They are not media dependent. They can refer to a collection of songs regardless of whether that collection is on CD, MP3, enhanced DVD, BluRay, LP vinyl, or wax roll. I’m glad to hear them coming back into regular use.
Of course, with the ability to purchase (or pilfer) individual songs so easily, perhaps the concept of putting music into an album is also archaic. I would hope not. While the word “single” has always been applicable in the music business, I don’t see the word “45” coming back anytime soon.
I grew up during the tape and CD era, but love vinyl. Before the MP3 days I would always talk about my vinyl as records and albums but like you said those terms are changing in their meanings now. I have to think about it sometimes to make sure I say vinyl these days instead of the generic terms I was used to using.
As far as the creation of full albums in the MP3 era there will always be all out artists who produce concept albums and lots of them still release those in vinyl even today. The difference is that the ones who just threw some stuff together won’t sell as much by way of their fluff tracks anymore.
I think the idea of an album – a collection of somehow related music – is good from a sales standpoint. I like the flexibility of purchasing a single song or the whole collection. In olden days you could only purchase the singles that were released as such, and sometimes obscure tracks on albums languished. At least with digital downloads you have access to those tracks now, too.
As far as concept albums are concerned, I’m sure there will still be a few, but I doubt if we’ll see another like Pink Floyd’s “The Wall” or Jethro Tull’s “Thick as a Brick.”
I might rank Arcade Fire’s “The Suburbs” as a concept album up there with Thick as a Brick. But I’ll have to listen to it a few more times to decide . . . .