Another album that sounds better on vinyl (Bowie was a good call above): anything by Fleetwood Mac. The richness of those tracks really come through better on a turntable through a warm amp. I like CDs and records but, as was said above, some albums/songs are just better for one format or the other.

-MG (ablueguitar.net)

Another album that sounds better on vinyl (Bowie was a good call above): anything by Fleetwood Mac. The richness of those tracks really come through better on a turntable through a warm amp. I like CDs and records but, as was said above, some albums/songs are just better for one format or the other.

For all of you vinyl junkies:
www dot vinylrecords dot ca

Although, I will agree that the vinyl presentation is much better. Large art as part of the package, not some desposable jewel case. You appreciate it as art more.

As far as recent albums with a full album’s worth of great songs, there have been a ton lately, you just have to know where to look.

Even though this article had nothing to with vinyl, it seems to have turned into a vinyl conversation.
My opinion on this is that it all depends on what artist you are listening to. Someone mentioned “Ziggy Stardust” sounding better on vinyl, which may be true. It was made with vinyl in mind. CD’s usually bring out imperfections in original recordings, even when re-mixed. BUT, you listen to an album like Radiohead’s “Kid A” for example, which was made for the enhancement of every sound, it sounds better on CD.
I for one can’t get into vinyl. Hard to get, I wasn’t raised on it and I’m not that nostalgiac for it.

this isnt about vinyl, its about complete pieces of music. several songs strung together as opposed to individual mp3’s.

I recently have become rather nostalgic when it comes to vinyl, dusting off the collection of my youth and reconnecting the long-dormant LP player in order to give the black circles another go. What’s odd is that although I’ve purchased almost all of these records again in CD format over the years, there’s still nothing like holding an actual album, admiring the artwork in detail, etc. You just don’t get that with compact discs.

I’m sixteen and I love vinyll (and it seems I’m not the only one.) I doubt it that vinyll was ever ‘gone’ in the first place because there always have been DJ’s who are playing vinyll, people who love retro-stuff, parents who let their kids listen to vinyll……So I don’t think you can even call it a comeback. I definitly agree with those of you who are saying that an album is too expensive. If you have to pay 16 dollars for an album that you can also get for free, it’s not difficult to guess what the majority of musiclovers would do.

I’m thirteen and I recently bought two record players at my local thrift shop. I’m all for keeping the vinyl alive. I only have a few albums, but I’m hoping to find some more.

I’m thirteen and I recently bought two record players at my local thrift shop. I’m all for keeping the vinyl alive. I only have a few albums, but I’m hoping to find some more.

I love art work and sound of vinyl. Today’s turntables can really bring out a warm more complete soundstage than yesteryear’s players. I enjoy taking the cover and liner notes back to my lazy boy as the record plays. It’s the greatest baby! Well, damn near anyway….

Great point, Public. The record industry has had its opportunities to “make peace” with the companies that promote and sell digital music. Instead, it’s turned into one big pissing match between them, because the big labels are still being run by fossils who grew up listening to Elvis Presley and early-Motown. I believe that there will be innovative thinking in the future and the album will return, but it will take several years, or decades for the next generation to appreciate.

I’ve called off the dogs. Don’t worry, Pesci isn’t coming. Simply, I love vinyl. What about it? EVERYTHING. To answer your other question, Rockbutterfly and hostility go together like beer and cigarettes,baby. Enjoy your record collection!!! See ya–Rock P.S. Chinaski says,BURP!

Referring way back to the original post:
I appreciate, and agree with most of your opinions, yet your frustration seems unfairly pointed at just the kids who aren’t buying albums. You should really blame the record industry. It was the major labels that exploited its artists, by not supporting the original bands & instead focusing only on the easily digestible crap. Now it’s all coming back at then & I find it hilarious. Never believe it when the record industry blames falling CD sales with downloading - they screwed themselves by choosing to promote crap, instead of real artists.

Referring way back to the original post:
I appreciate, and agree with most of your opinions, yet your frustration seems unfairly pointed at just the kids who aren’t buying albums. You should really blame the record industry. It was the major labels that exploited its artists, by not supporting the original bands & instead focusing only on the easily digestible crap. Now it’s all coming back at then & I find it hilarious. Never believe it when the record industry blames falling CD sales with downloading - they screwed themselves by choosing to promote crap, instead of real artists.

Give it up for vinyl, I use to dj and i still have all my vinyl by the crates. Any DJ who uses CDs is a fraud.Shit they dont even break a damn sweat. We all should get High and listen to Common`s Bee or anything by Bob James or Grover Washington and you will notice a difference

Most of you under the age of 25 (and that’s being generous) will never appreciate the concept of the album. You have all been so desensitized by the quick-hits and “late-breaking” news on MTV and VH1 to have an attention span long enough to listen to an album in its entirety. Don’t get me wrong…I subscribe and download regularly from iTunes, Rhapsody and others. However (and I know there are many others out there who agree), there is sometimes nothing better than lying back, strapping on the headphones and enjoying a great album from top to bottom, thumbing through and reading the liner notes and learning more about the artist you’re listening to. Multi-album deals aren’t signed anymore because the younger audience doesn’t have the patience or attention span to allow their heroes develop as artists. Generally, you are all more concerned with the lifestyle and image that comes with being a star, but not about the substance of the message they are trying to convey to you. I know you all do not fit this profile, but I’m 32 years old and work with a lot of people in your age group. It’s not your fault that you have been trained to not be able to think more than one day in the future or appreciate the art of the album. Hell, most of your parents are probably first-generation MTV junkies and the apple obviously hasn’t fallen far from the tree.

I am 32 years old and have subscriptions to iTunes, Rhapsody and a couple of others and download music regularly. However, most of what I download are rare tracks or music for theme parties, friends, etc. I always purchase and will continue to purchase full-length albums for the artwork, lyrics and credits. I don’t feel that many under the age of 25 today have the attention span or appreciation of music as an art form to understand what I’m saying, in this era of soundbites and “quick-hits.” I mean, how many multi-album contracts are signed these days? Not too many, because execs realize that the frivolous spending youth (in general) can’t stick with a particular artist long enough to watch their career develop. I don’t know about most of you, but nothing is better than strapping on a set of headphones and listening to an album from top-to-bottom while enjoying a cocktail or two. Even more so than the musicians involved, I find it very interesting to hear the influence of producers from album to album, among various artists. And what about the tangible effect of holding that $16.99 CD in hand and reading the liner notes and knowing that you OWN this. Digital downloads are artificial and don’t do enough to educate their buyers about the artists (although most services are making big advancements in this area). It’s unfortunate that so many out there are learning about their favorite artists through sterilized media like MTV, MySpace and iTunes rather than through the music and imagery of the album itself. I know there are many young people out there that understand my point of view, and I hope you all keep the album alive!!

itunes does NOT sell albums

itunes does NOT sell albums

Don’t rip yourself,dude. It was only a joke. You seem like a nice chap. When you’re having a tough day, and can’t hang on to God, just hold onto the music…Peace

tit-fucker…your statement may have rambled, but I dig.

There are those of us (artists and listeners both) who won’t let the album die. The album will probably not exist to those who only care about radio play, disc sales, etc. But for those of us who go to record stores searching for b-sides, deleted demos, live bootlegs, etc, the album as art will always be important.

I mean, do you really see bands like Radiohead, the Mars Volta, the Flaming Lips, or TV on the Radio making non-album based music? There are plenty of artists making great albums, you just have to know where to look. Plus, even shitty bands like Green Day and My Chemical Romance will continue to make concept albums.

I’m not a tit-fucker. Never done it. Nor cared to. At the time making some gross statement via my name made sense to me. Now I regret it, as I regret much of who I am from day to day. So forgive me for making a beast of myself.

Does anybody remember that in the movie Men in Black Tommy Lee Jones is showing the Fresh Prince some new tiny music technology that was going to replace cds. He says, “Now I have to buy the White Album again.” I don’t want to buy the White Album again! But I have. Three times. First on cd, and then again when my cds got stolen, and then again on vinyl so I could ‘hear what it sounded like to the people who first heard it.’ Oh by the way, I’ve also stolen the White Album on mp3 as well just so I could cart it around on my laptop. And somehow I know I’d end up purchasing it again in some new way. But how can it get smaller than an mp3? Are people so tired of music taking up space in their lives? Shrink down the megabytes, implant it in my very tiny blood cells. Hey. If they offered the White Album the size of my refrigerator, I’d buy it. I’d walk inside it, turn it on, unfold the artwork and wrap it around me like a blanket, breathe in its frosty air and be happy (also comforted to know that it has the ability to keep itself fresh).

Good grief, I can never remember my point. But if you’ve read this far, you’re true blue. It’s comforting to know that there are others out there who care that our liberties are being dealt away in such a frivolous manner. I will imagine all of you going home tonight to your stacks of vinyl and compact disc and dancing with your headphones on.

hey “Rockbutterfly” uuummmm,,,,,Physical Graffitti just happens to be one of my favorite albums,,,,,,Joe Pesci to smash in my head??? What the hell does that have to do with you obviously likeing vinyl, and me not missing it?? Such hostility comeing from someone with a name like “RockButerfly”.

it’s a revco woooorld!

it’s a revco world!

Hey Heat, sounds crappy and easily gets wrecked? Sounds like a CD to me. With a COOL name like HEATmiser, you sure missed out on the WARM sound of vinyl–Michael McKeon

Well, I was going to read your comments until I saw that you call yourself “tit-fucker.” It’s fine if you like to do it, but to address yourself as that is well, kida slimy. I once met a guy (no bullshit) that had a tattoo that said “I Love Pussy.” Yeah, he just got out of prison! Think about it. I’m very concerned–ROCK

Cota, You don’t miss vinyl? Did you ever own PHYSICAL GRAFFITTI? I think I’ll have to send Joe Pesci to your house to smash you in the head with a golf club thirty or forty times

We can’t afford LPs because there is too much bleeding inflation!

i think the cd’s on it’s death bed… not really the album so much.

I have not played or bought a vinyl record for probably 20 plus years and dont miss them at all.

I have never downloaded a single.

I prefer to buy a cd disc. They are much more easy to play and cart around, and honestly, I have never understood the “vinyl is so much deeper” argument. Played on a decent system and thru quality speakers, cd’s are just fine for us that don’t have bionic ears.

20.00 does seem like alot of money, but really, what else can you do with that money,,,,buy a couple of drinks??? Maybe a pizza??

I think people who DON’T listen to full albums are useless morons.

5 albums of the past 5 years in which i loved every song.

i’ll give more than 5:

College Dropout- Kanye West
Late Registration- Kanye West
Hell Hath No Fury- Clipse
Hip Hop is Dead- Nas
Food & Liquor- Lupe Fiasco
To The 5 Boroughs- Beastie Boys
Be- Common
The Beautiful Struggle- Talib Kweli
Idlewild- Outkast

i could keep going, but the point is that good rap music is still being put out, but the good rap music doesnt get the promotion that crappy music gets.

songs with horrible and embarrassing lyrical content like “This is Why I’m Hot” or “Walk It Out” or “Party Like a Rockstar” are basically full length ringtones. no matter what genre you look at, most music artists these days are in it for the money and the fame, you have few artists left who do it for the love of music.

how to tell the difference:
artists who do it for the love of music make albums, artists who are do it for money and fame have one radio hit and then just throw 12-13 more songs together and release the CD

Daydream Nation, “noise rock masterpiece.” Personally, I love the album, Top 5 of all time for me, but didn’t RS give it just 3.5 stars when it came out? Funny how times change.

The album is not dead, it just has the flu!

Hmmm… I seem to recall some RS editor advising us to “download a couple singles” of the latest Spoon album in last week’s New Music Tuesday review. I’m glad I didn’t take that advise, and bought the whole album instead. Hypocritical article? Discuss.

The album is not dead. There are still great albums coming out. NIN ‘Year Zero’ is a good example of something that has a rich musical storyline. OVERHANG’s ‘Another Hole For You To Crawl Into’ is another good example. Putting a good album on from start to finish allows the audience to fall deeper into the music. Its a richer experience.

“Vinyl is purely nostalgia. In reality they sounded crappy and quickly got wrecked.”

Listen to Ziggy Stardust on CD and then listen to it on vinyl and tell me the vinyl doesn’t blow it away. I always thought the vinyl people were full of crap until recently when I went back and compared some CDs to vinyl and it really isn’t even close. The sound on vinyl is so much richer and fuller.

..oh, and $16.99 is a bullshit price for a CD. If the labels could set the wholesale price at $6.00 then the stores could sell them for $9 or $10 and people would be more open to trying a new band (or one that they like the radio single of) instead of downloading that one song.

I used to own a CD shop and the wholesale cost for an independent store (without the volume discounts that Best Buy gets) was between $11.00 - $13.00 per disc, plus shipping cost. I had to sell CDs for at least $16.00 and made more money sellling a used CD (pay $3 or$4 sell for $8) than a new one.

The problem is that the artists producing predominenat popular music (e.g., hip hop and teen pop) are not artists who are built to last and do not make whole albums that are decent to listen to. Be honest — give me more than five hip hop/rap albums released in the past five years that you LOVE every song on it. I mean EVERY song.

In the album’s heyday, the major selling artists WERE artists who were built to last (Stones, Bowie, Zeppelin, Parliament) and made entire statements…

I’m not saying those artists aren’t still out there (wilco, tapes n’tapes, arcade fire, white stripes, etc.), it’s just that they’re not the ones selling the most records. So they don’t get as much attention. Thus, the record industry declines.

I buy any abum available on vinyl, on vinyl. We Were Dead Befoe The Ship Even Sank, Wincing The Night Away, etc. So what’s this about a comeback?

Come to my apartment. We can talk to about vinyl all day.

I live Raleigh, NC

LCD Soundsystem are still a Next Big Thing?

I’ve noticed recently that when a new album comes out, it’s usually at a discounted price the first week. I buy all my music at an independent record store, but I’ve noticed that places like Best Buy are doing this as well lately. I can think of a few records I purchased the week they came out that were surprisingly cheap (just got Spoon’s new album for 9 bucks). I hope that’s a trend. But I can honestly say that I would never shell out $16 for something unless I either know the artist well or have previewed the songs somehow, or have read multiple glowing reviews from trusted sources. Otherwise I feel like I’ve been raped if I pay that kind of money for something that doesn’t end up thrilling me. Perhaps the bottom line is that as consumers we have the right to get what we want. If we want albums on cd or vinyl with all the artwork, somebody will give it to us. At least I hope so. Think of all the wonderful independent artists and record companies doing things the way they want to. Some may make concessions to the times, but I imagine others will continue to thrive on that independence. I suck.

I agree with everyone who says that paying 16 bucks for a cd is outrageous. There have been many albums I’ve purchased only to find 3 good songs that get played on the radio 17 times a day. I defintely would buy a cd that’s good from begining to end, but that’s becoming a rare thing these days. The focus is more on the single and not the complete package.

If the music industry would realize 16 bucks is a rip off, more people would buy CDs. I bought CDs before they raised the CD prices due to illegal dowmloading. Way to punish your customers. Long Live Bitcomet

AOR = album oriented rock

We’re all to blame. Labels still think that $16.99 is acceptable for an album (most artists get less than one dollar per disc). The artists can’t put out 3 good songs and 9 fillers, the public won’t buy it. The public takes what they want, you can find ANY song for free. Popular music has pretty much always been a “singles” market, it’s just that now it’s evolved into ringtones.

A CD can be a record as it has several records on it. An album is a record. Vinyl is a record. The term record is not limited to the vinyl format. That’s nonsense. I buy RECORDS all the time, rarely do I purchase singel digital tracks… only when a gift card is in my possesion.

The times have changed. Sadly, many albums in the last years are made up of filler.
It is the era of the playist.

If a band is worth anything, they are able to make a worthy and complete album. There are very few real singles bands anymore, but plenty of act with the ability to put out only 2-3 good songs and are no longer able to get away with 8 filler songs on a CD.

IMO, if the band is good, the whole CD is worth getting - the bullshit bands are the ones with an ok song or two and an album of crap.

My ipod is full at 40 gigs (10,000 songs) and maybe 75 songs are not part of complete albums

Long live albums!

There is still a place for albums out there. While the conventional methods of doing business are flying out the window, someone w/ enough brains could benefit from this suddenly outdated concept.

If people actually took the time to listen to an album, they might actually enjoy it. I’ll give you an example:

I have every album by a lot of the bands that I love (and I’d like to get every album of ALL the bands I love). If they ever made a “Foo Fighters Greatest Hits”, I’d still rather sit and listen all the way through “The Colour and the Shape” then listen to the Greatest Hits. I have “The Smashing Pumpkins Greatest Hits” but it’s far more enjoyable to listen to Siamese Dream and Gish all the way through, then to listen to that.

Whenever I am in a really good mood and I just want to jam, I listen to Weezer’s Blue Album. It’s awesome, it’s perfect from beginning to end.

Long live albums!!!

you guys are idiots

IDIOTIC…..SUBJECTS. WHAT A WASTE. ALBUMS ARE DEAD. BUT MUSICIANS ARE NOT GOING TO STARVE. IM STILL WAITING FOR ANOTHER KURT COBAIN.

THIS IS BORING

People that buy albums for the sake of an artists work, will always buy LP’s. I think one reason album sales are decreasing is because digital gives the non-art music consumers a chance to AVOID buying albums. All they want is a song they heard on the radio. As those people slowly move over to digital, it’s seperating the buyers of music for art, or for fad. So, albums themselves won’t die. They’ll level off somewhere.

As far as incentive to buy physical albums, focuz on the art. They already released High Def-like cd’s, they just didn’t hit. My vote is make the album art/packaging worth buying. Not jewel cases, but full on album folders like records used to be sold in. Obviously not that large, but if an album has sweet packaging/art work it’s definately a plus over digital.

yu can tell the times of good music are gone when people mistake records for albums…..

you guys are idiots….they ain’t talkin’ about VINYL, they’re talkin’ about an ALBUM (i.e. full length collection of songs as released and recorded by the artists) a record is made of vinyl…..

Vinyl is purely nostalgia. In reality they sounded crappy and quickly got wrecked. Maybe they need to release high definition CD’s or something like that. Make the packaging larger and include more artwork or something along those lines. That might make it more appealing. They could advertise it as CD’s but with better sound quality.

Are you sure this article is talking specifically about vinyl? I assumed it was discussing the album in general, available on vinyl and cd and cassette. I like songs, and eps and crap, but I think any artist worth his salt should be capable of putting together a cogent piece of work with either unifying themes or sounds. Do you dig me? It’s a shame to think that these stupid kids (I’m almost thirty, dagnabbit)are growing up from track to track, downloading only portions of and artist’s full concept. Perhaps I’m overgeneralizing here. For my part I’ll say that I like buying vinyl and cd’s. I like the tangible, like the artwork. I like that someone cares enough to put it all together as a presentation to the listener. It’s the way it should be. It’s like a gift from artist to fan. What could be better? I hope somebody can stop all the bastards from wrecking things. Why should I have to get all worked up over this? I’ll tell you why: because some son of a bitch record exec bigshot hosebag realized it costs nothing to create an mp3 (which is what, really? It’s quiksilver). They save money, and we lose our hearts in the process. Ahhhh fudge!

LP’s wont die. they might remain a collectors item, but people are still gonna get them.

I still buy albums in record stores. I believe in the importance
of the art of the record. Its not
just the music you’re buying its
the entire concept.

Yeah for vinyl. I love spinning records, its the most therapeutic and absorbing way to listen to music. Vinyl rocks.

I still buy albums. I believe in the importance of the woek the artist is putting into the records. Its not just the songs
you’re buying its the entire concept.

Vinyl coming back? What’s that? Are those the voices of angels!