Korgscrew
Group: Super Admins
Posts: 3511
Joined: Dec. 1999 |
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Posted: Feb. 22 2014, 00:28 |
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I think that's a complex issue right there. I love the idea of albums being made as albums, where there's a commonality which flows between the songs and makes it greater than the sum of its parts. That said, especially in a musical culture driven by singles and individual downloads, songs tend to be expected to stand alone, especially the ones which are actually chosen as singles.
I think if these had been leaked, there'd be a stronger case for arguing that we should wait before judging them (though still, what Gus said about them being full songs still does hold - even if they're part of some kind of song cycle, they ought to work on their own...but, for example, I think On Horseback fulfils a role within Ommadawn which can't really be understood without hearing it in context). As it is, these have been released officially by the record company, presumably in consultation with Mike, even courting heavy radio play in the case of Sailing. They're suggesting this is a taste of what's to come, inviting discussion, trying to pique interest.
Because of that, I think it's perfectly fair to judge them in the form they've been presented in, as stand-alone songs. They've been chosen to represent the album - whether, once we've all heard the album, we feel they picked truly representative songs or not is of course another matter, but that's what they've chosen, and that's what people are discussing here. If Mike had wanted to make a strong statement with this album, saying there will be no single and no tracks available individually as downloads, that it has to be heard as a whole for it to make any sense, I'd again be more likely to agree that people should resist any temptation to listen to snippets, but that's not the situation we're looking at right now. I guess there's still the chance that people who don't like these two songs will find something else to like amongst the others, but the more tracks are released, the more people can get an idea of the overall aesthetic of the album.
Not everyone's going to like everything he does, that's really what it all comes down to - this is an album of commercial rock songs for the Radio 2 audience, it's not going to please the people who are holding out for another Amarok...or even another Millennium Bell...
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