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A "single-serving" of music, or CDs vs. vinyl

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A "single-serving" of music, or CDs vs. vinyl

Old 02-22-06, 11:23 AM
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A "single-serving" of music, or CDs vs. vinyl

I know there are several others who frequent this forum who are, like me, old enough to have grown up in the days of vinyl LPs. Now, not getting into the issue of sonic quality of vinyl vs. CD, I'd like to talk about what I call the "serving size" of music. As a kid I would rarely listen to both sides of an album consecutively, at least after that initial listen when I got home from the record store. Later, as a college student, there was always the tradition of going around the room and everyone picking an album side to play while sitting around drinking, playing cards, whatever. Consequently, ~20 minutes of one band/album is what I grew accustomed to. With CDs this is thrown out the window. But I still find myself adhering to the single side of an album 'policy' quite often. For instance, I just listened to the "first side" of Eno's Another Green World, and then switched to Miles Davis' Seven Steps To Heaven. Or, I'll often play 'side two' of Beggar's Banquet. Really, about 5-7 songs is enough, and then I want to hear someone or something else. Does anyone else do this?

Last edited by wendersfan; 02-22-06 at 11:27 AM.
Old 02-22-06, 12:08 PM
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I'm sure I did this. Like side one of the Violent Femmes debut got much more play than side two. But I can also remember the pain of having to get up and go turn over the record. Blah.

One thing that I miss a little bit, and this will sound odd, is the restriction that cassette tapes played in my car. I would often sit through a slow song or something that was a bit odd because advancing wasn't as easy as a push of a button. I'd often rather listen to the song than FF. This probably forced me to listen and eventually enjoy some tunes I might have originally skipped. Same can be said for vinyl.
Old 02-22-06, 04:09 PM
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Back in my vinyl days I always seemed to get stuck on one side of an LP and hardly ever play the other. After replacing them with cd I play the entire thing and really enjoy all the "other side" stuff I haven't heard a zillion times.
Old 02-22-06, 04:37 PM
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Yeah, I think music meant more when it was broken into smaller chunks. Especially on double albums. Physical Graffitti is almost too much to absorb at two lengthy CD's. But broken down into 4 distinct sides, it was much better. And don't even get me started on the 2 record sets crammed onto a single CD. I still listen to London Calling and think of it as 'sides' rather than one long album.
Old 02-22-06, 04:42 PM
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The best thing about the vinyl age IMO is that it kept the album sizes down and made artists more choosy about the content of the album. Sure there were double albums, but those were mostly reserved for special occasions. There's just too much filler on a lot of CDs, especially hip hop with all the stupid skits and whatnot.
Old 02-22-06, 05:04 PM
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Also, there was sort of a tradition with r & b records, where one side was the 'dance' side, and the other was the 'makeout' side. You just don't get that anymore. It's a wonder teenage boys can score at all these days.
Old 02-22-06, 06:46 PM
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I always liked that in my all-time favorite tape, Breeder's Last Splash the last song on one of the sides was called "Flipside"...
Old 02-22-06, 09:37 PM
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I only started to buy a lot of music when tapes came out. One thing I did do, however, was to play DJ and bust out a ton of 45's.
Old 02-22-06, 10:01 PM
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The move to CD changed the way that artists create albums. Albums in the CD era are meant to be listened to straight through. Good ones, anyway, like OK Computer. As someone who grew up with tapes but matured musically with CDs, I consider myself an album purist. I always listen to albums straight through and really look for album cohesion and balance (an album that front-loads a couple singles and then devolves into filler never goes far with me). Personally I lament the move to digital music and a singles culture. I think we'll be seeing fewer and fewer concept albums, etc.
Old 02-23-06, 12:12 PM
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I love to make compilation cds from what I own, and when doing so, am very aware of the "midpoint" of the album I'm making. Basically still creating my album as if it were meant for two sides.. you know how like on cassette or vinyl they had songs that finished off side one, and songs that started your mindset for side two?

Does any of this make sense?
Old 02-23-06, 12:22 PM
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Originally Posted by reverie
you know how like on cassette or vinyl they had songs that finished off side one, and songs that started your mindset for side two?

Does any of this make sense?
Yes. But nothing was as cool as that mid-song 8-track change! jk
Old 02-23-06, 07:16 PM
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In my vinyl days, when the first side ended I almost always flipped it over. To not do so would actually nag at me. As for CD's, I just let it play. And 8-tracks, well, they just super-sucked!
Old 02-23-06, 11:18 PM
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Originally Posted by reverie
I love to make compilation cds from what I own, and when doing so, am very aware of the "midpoint" of the album I'm making. Basically still creating my album as if it were meant for two sides.. you know how like on cassette or vinyl they had songs that finished off side one, and songs that started your mindset for side two?

Does any of this make sense?

Hell yes! Being a fellow mix maker - it used to be tapes, now it's CD's - I'm very aware of creating a certain ebb and flow to my compliations. Like you, I'm very old school in my thought approach to doing it.
Old 02-24-06, 07:45 AM
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Originally Posted by Rocketdog2000
Hell yes! Being a fellow mix maker - it used to be tapes, now it's CD's - I'm very aware of creating a certain ebb and flow to my compliations. Like you, I'm very old school in my thought approach to doing it.
Wow, I though I was the only weird person in making compilations! For me, it almost annoys me when I make a cd for a friend and they say they've listened to songs a, b, f and d because I try to make my albums flow and I feel like they don't quite get the whole feel of it. I always make year end cds (for new songs and music discovered that year) and this is the first year it spread to two cds. It was fun making what I considered two sides of a very long album for real again.

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