Recently I was on the phone with one of my besties. The topic of conversation turned to music and we started listing our favorite albums. Notice I said albums. Yes, I’m old. I fear with music streaming we are losing the concept and art form that is an album. All the best albums tell a story. If we only stream a performer, we do not get the experience the musician truly meant for us to have.
Please understand, I love my HomePod with the intensity of 1000 suns. It is one of the best gifts my husband has ever given me. He is an excellent gift giver, much better than me. Before the HomePod we always listened to albums on our turntable. We still do some, but admittedly, quite a bit less because this technology certainly does make it easier. Flipping an album while I’m in the middle of cooking dinner really is a pain in the ass.
While the vast majority of the time when using modern technology, I just request an artist or music genre, there are times when I need to hear an album in its entirety. Luckily, Siri will do this, too.
So many albums just demand one listen to them from beginning to end as the musician intended. My all-time favorite musician, the late, great Thomas Earl Petty, was very intense about the order of songs on his albums. He talks about it in great detail in his biography, Petty, by Warren Zanes. If you are a fan of bios and of Tom, I cannot recommend this book enough. It is entertaining AF.
The two albums of Tom’s which are a perfect story for me are Wildflowers and Southern Accents. Tom admits Southern Accents got a little off track when he looked back at it, but that was probably due to the vast amounts of cocaine they were snorting. Hey, it was the 80s.
The other thing that I find totally fascinating about artists who try to tell a story on an album is the amazing songs that don’t make the cut. Not because they are bad songs, some of them are brilliant. They just don’t necessarily fit with the rest of the album or contribute to the story. I always find it exciting when these songs are released years later—usually after the artist’s death—and I’m just like, “Holy Cow! How is this not on an album?” Prince was supposedly the king (ha!) of this. Sources report he has a stockpile of unreleased music. I want to hear it all. That man was a genius.
If I were to list my top five favorite albums (in no particular order) I enjoy thoroughly from beginning to end, it would have to be Tom Petty’s Wildflowers, Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska (note: I only listen to this when I’m sad and really want to lean into it. It is brilliant, but very depressing. It is also good for a dreary day), U2’s Achtung Baby, Michael Jackson’s Off the Wall and Pearl Jam’s Ten. All of these are amazing records and if you haven’t listened to them all the way through in one sitting, you are missing out.
I realize these are mostly albums of my youth. This isn’t surprising since this is still the music I listen to most. However, I realize I’m missing the point and not truly appreciating the work of some of my new favorites like Chris Stapleton and Brandi Carlile because I have not listened to them very much on an album-by-album basis. I need to get on that.
Music is one of the universe’s greatest gifts. I can’t imagine life without it. As I’ve said before, if I could have one superpower, it would be the ability to sing. My voice scares small animals and turns men into stone. It is really bad. Alas, I will have to just be satisfied listening to others who do what I can’t. This doesn’t mean I’m not singing along to the whole damn album.
Angela Traver
What is this blog about? Well, it's a general blog, but it is also a very specific blog. If you get that reference, you get a gold star! I have been a public relations professional and writer of press releases for more than 20 years—primarily in the booze biz. I decided to do some writing for fun and embrace the humor that gets me through most days. Hopefully it will make you chuckle—or at least smile. I’m a certified crazy magnet, and more than a little nutty myself, so buckle up. Also, I have two vices—profanity and red wine/whiskey. You’ve been warned. It should also be noted, that I’m a HUGE Bob & Sheri fan. I’ve been a listener for more than 20 years. This opportunity is a dream come true and it may have made me cry. That being said, I cry at everything. If you are into booze, dogs, food and/or knitting, hit me up on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter (although I’m terrible at Twitter and it scares me) @kyspiritsgal. You can also find all my previous blog posts at www.kyspiritsgal.com.
