Random Music Thought

Matt Smith

Matt Smith

THEOCRACY
Jun 11, 2004
1,169
37
48
47
Athens, GA
www.theocracymusic.com
I decided that I really miss "sides" on music releases. With vinyl and cassette, you had side 1 and side 2 (or more). I'm certainly no analog vs. digital snob (though I still hate CDs even though they are the only option nowadays besides MP3 and occasional vinyl--but I hate them because they're so fragile more than anything). It sounds stupid, but I really think sides gave albums a bit more personality somehow. I'd probably feel different if I were a few years younger and had started my music collecting on CD instead of cassette, but when I think about all the classic albums from when I was growing up, they had sides and were ordered accordingly. You may feel like listening to "Side 2" more than "Side 1" at any given time, and each side had its own feel and personality in a way. The break in the middle gave you a fresh start and Side 2 usually started with a bang.

I think with CDs, the first tracks usually get played the most. If you have time to listen to the whole disc straight through, that's one thing, but at least I don't always have the time. Granted, you could just start at song 6 or whatever, but that's just not the same. :)
MP3 playlists take the personality of music away even more, I think.

Anyway, I don't mean to sound like some kind of old fart bemoaning technology, as I listen to CDs and MP3s as much as anyone. It's just an observation. In fact, a lot of the vinyl snobs who insist it sounds so much better than CD are undoubtedly influenced by these types of factors that play into the entire experience.

This obviously is not quantifiable, and only comes down to each individual's experience, but does anyone agree? Disagree? Don't care?
 
I usually find flipping something over annoying because sometimes it ruins the flow of the music. But if the music is arranged in a way where it doesn't ruin the flow and is actually cool I do really enjoy that. For instance, on Believer-Dimensions, one side of the tape is the thrash metal that made them great, and the other side is the sweet classical trilogy piece. I think with stuff like that it is really cool. Usually when I'm at home I love listning to records, but I like listining to music in my car also. If I buy a record and really like it, I usually buy the CD so I can listen to it in my car also. I also like the bigger artwork that a record has.
 
Hard to say really. It would be difficult to see it happening with some of todays prog metal especially...example Symphony X - The Odyssey (which I am actually listning to right now :grin: ) where the title track would take up almost all of side 2. I think I'd find this a little odd. Maybe it's just me. Actually, does any of that make any sense whatsoever???

I actually like the CD's as you can just stick in the CD when you are short on time and play one or two tracks as you feel. plus the fact that I always had bad luck with cassettes in my time as the darn tape always seemed to wind out and get stuck awkwardly in parts of the player.

MP3's also I don't mind as I have a personal MP3 player and I can stick all my fave tracks on it and listen away when travelling and it randomises everything to give me different songs every time.

Maybe I'm just a technology freak. If I'd been used to cassettes through most of my life though, it might have been a different story.
 
I can understand what you're saying Matt. It takes me about 20 minutes to get to work (or school). So when I'm in the car, I play a CD from Track 1. By the time I get home (40 minutes round trip), I'm usually on track 8 or track 9, and I usually take the CD back in and bring out a new one for the next day. So I understand the notion of the start of a CD getting more playtime then the end. For probably a good half of my CD's, I would say I am more familiar with the first tracks then the end tracks.

I agree that when there was 'sides' to albums, it was easier to grasp the album as a whole.

When you have to take an album like Kamelot's Epica - 17 tracks - and listen to it all the way through, that's a lot of music to grasp. Lots of melodies, lots of changes, just a lot to get a grasp on.

When you compare that with a current release that's just as long but is split (An instant example that comes to mind is Dream Theater's Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence), it is split into 2 CD's. Both CD's aren't very long (30-40 mins each) but everything sticks.

Like you said on 'side 2' starting with a bang, I think that's a problem with lots of bands. Most band's do seem to write material now and arrange it so the strongest material is at the start of the album. So it's almost like starting with the climax of the album, and after that it just seems repetitive and uninspiring. Sides would force bands to have to redo it so that the second side or CD starts with a great opener again (Would kind of suck to start it with a ballad.)

I think you even witnessed the phenomenon on the start of CD's getting played more than the end of them on your poll on Theocracy's website Matt. :)

In conclusion of my essay =P, I agree with you Matt. I think sides would force bands to write a more solid range of material, and it would give the album more personality. Another example that springs to mind is Nightwish's Century Child. To me - the first five songs on the album are incredible. They flow amazing, just seem to fit together. Starting with track 6, it almost feels like Side 2 for me. I still like it just as much, but it has a different feeling then the first 5. (Which is why I feel I like CC better than Once, just because Once the songs seem more separate than flowing.) So in my mind, Century Child would be a good album for 2 sides, as the music has 2 different halves I feel.

Well, that was a lot of typing - good day!

-Jon
 
Nightmare1z said:
I can understand what you're saying Matt. It takes me about 20 minutes to get to work (or school). So when I'm in the car, I play a CD from Track 1. By the time I get home (40 minutes round trip), I'm usually on track 8 or track 9, and I usually take the CD back in and bring out a new one for the next day. So I understand the notion of the start of a CD getting more playtime then the end. For probably a good half of my CD's, I would say I am more familiar with the first tracks then the end tracks.

I agree that when there was 'sides' to albums, it was easier to grasp the album as a whole.

When you have to take an album like Kamelot's Epica - 17 tracks - and listen to it all the way through, that's a lot of music to grasp. Lots of melodies, lots of changes, just a lot to get a grasp on.

When you compare that with a current release that's just as long but is split (An instant example that comes to mind is Dream Theater's Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence), it is split into 2 CD's. Both CD's aren't very long (30-40 mins each) but everything sticks.

Like you said on 'side 2' starting with a bang, I think that's a problem with lots of bands. Most band's do seem to write material now and arrange it so the strongest material is at the start of the album. So it's almost like starting with the climax of the album, and after that it just seems repetitive and uninspiring. Sides would force bands to have to redo it so that the second side or CD starts with a great opener again (Would kind of suck to start it with a ballad.)

I think you even witnessed the phenomenon on the start of CD's getting played more than the end of them on your poll on Theocracy's website Matt. :)

In conclusion of my essay =P, I agree with you Matt. I think sides would force bands to write a more solid range of material, and it would give the album more personality. Another example that springs to mind is Nightwish's Century Child. To me - the first five songs on the album are incredible. They flow amazing, just seem to fit together. Starting with track 6, it almost feels like Side 2 for me. I still like it just as much, but it has a different feeling then the first 5. (Which is why I feel I like CC better than Once, just because Once the songs seem more separate than flowing.) So in my mind, Century Child would be a good album for 2 sides, as the music has 2 different halves I feel.

Well, that was a lot of typing - good day!

-Jon
Click to expand...

I really agree with you on your Century Child reference.
 
I like CDs and am glad that you don't have to change sides. If I don't have the time to listen to the whole CD I oftenly listen to my favorite tracks on the disc - and that is much easier with a digital source (CD, MP3, MD...).
 
I was just thinking about this a few days ago, when someone was playing a song from a very old Halloween album (the flip side to Disney's original Haunted Mansion).
I used to listen to LPs while laying on the floor, head against a speaker, playing our family's acoustic gutar, watching the moon outside the window and one of the things that would snap me out of the trance was having to get up and flip the record over.
I like how CDs (and even tapes), mp3s and DVDs can be set on endless repeat, these days and we all know the quality has improved a hundred-fold. But, yeah, the old records are part of my life....the first 20 years of it actually. That's why they make me nostalgic. Also, remember how some of the better bands actually made a real art piece out of the giant fold out album jackets? We'd buy the record album then tape it on cassettes for portability.
Last Christmas we were actually looking high and low for old Christmas albums cause it was the first one we had to spend away from parents...away from the old LP albums we'd grown up with. We were really craving the old needle in the groove fuzz that came with the classic Christmas songs we'd grown up with under a lighted tree counting down the days.

One good thing about modern CDs though, You have to admit.
The old wax masters for LP records were made in wax. So, if someone like Matt were to sing, with such a powerful voice and such dynamic choruses, he'd have thrown the needle off into another track, ruining the song.
(laughs) Back then, severe analog compression and limiting had to go on, and recording engineers/coaches used to get into fights with the bands because they were standing way to close to the microphone, or were singing "too loudly."
At least nowadays we have the freedom to let out all our energy without worrying about limitations of the recording media. :cool:

Oh, by the way, we absolutely love the song samples from Theocracy.
We're planning on buying copies for us (4 band members) and our friends and family for gifts.
GREAT (!) job man. We especially have the sample section from the song, "Mountain," stuck in our heads. All of us have been singing it over and over and we started cracking up the first day we were jamming around and one guy was trying to figure out the melody on the Synthesizer, at the same time I was walking in, humming the chorus....pretty amusing.
We're all Christian and our songs all have some theological theme to them, some more subtle than others, but we love Your style and how well the sound layers turned out on the album. Worth twice what MetalAges is pricing the CDs, at least twice.
Good work.
 
I hate tapes mostly because I'm always worried about wearing them out, so I used my digital video camera to get my favorite tapes onto my computer and into mp3s. I really don't have many tapes though, so I don't have to worry about it much. Out of my 220 or so albums, I think I've got only 17 tapes.
 
Nice find!

Matt, cool to see how you also got your music out on vinyl! Personally, I wouldn't know what to do with LP's... I can't play them and if I could I would make mp3's out of 'm. The digital versions are so much more portable. Taking a record player with you on your bike can be quite cumbersome, I guess.
 
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