Sides
One of the great things about the vinyl experience is that albums come in 'sides'. It totally changes how we listen to music and how albums were created.
When 'The White Album' was edited, the Beatles made sure George got a song on each of the four sides. Also, it's obvious they were throwing George a bone by giving him the opening songs on Side Two of both Sgt. Pepper and Abbey Road. When you listen to the CDs, 'Within Without You' doesn't have the dramatic flair it does when you have that little break between Side One and Two. Same with 'Here Comes the Sun'. What a great way to start Side Two!
And sometimes, you just want to listen to, say, Side Three of 'The White Album' (a great group of songs, BTW).
Okay, so it only really matters when you're listening to records that were created with the 'sides' in mind. True. But we've lost that 'first half/second half' element to albums which is a wonderful format and concept.
But in defense of CDs, the great thing they do that albums don't is the shuffle. I'm listening right now to five CDs and it's a treat: Bette Midler, Roger Miller, Steve Miller, Alanis Morissette and Aretha Franklin (give yourself a cookie if you noticed I'm plowing the 'M' section of my CDs and threw in Aretha for a little soul).
Yes, the 'shuffle' is great. But I still miss 'sides'.
When 'The White Album' was edited, the Beatles made sure George got a song on each of the four sides. Also, it's obvious they were throwing George a bone by giving him the opening songs on Side Two of both Sgt. Pepper and Abbey Road. When you listen to the CDs, 'Within Without You' doesn't have the dramatic flair it does when you have that little break between Side One and Two. Same with 'Here Comes the Sun'. What a great way to start Side Two!
And sometimes, you just want to listen to, say, Side Three of 'The White Album' (a great group of songs, BTW).
Okay, so it only really matters when you're listening to records that were created with the 'sides' in mind. True. But we've lost that 'first half/second half' element to albums which is a wonderful format and concept.
But in defense of CDs, the great thing they do that albums don't is the shuffle. I'm listening right now to five CDs and it's a treat: Bette Midler, Roger Miller, Steve Miller, Alanis Morissette and Aretha Franklin (give yourself a cookie if you noticed I'm plowing the 'M' section of my CDs and threw in Aretha for a little soul).
Yes, the 'shuffle' is great. But I still miss 'sides'.
posted by John Goins at 11:42 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home