Albums vs. Singles/Songs

A strange debate has taken place in my head about the idea of albums and records of artists versus simply invdividual songs or singles. As of late, I have liked buying whole albums as opposed to songs. I feel like listening to a record in its entirety enhances the meaning the artist(s) try to portray through his/her/their music and sometimes brings even more feeling to the singles everyone hears. Like the songs in The Black Parade. Individually, they are all great songs to listen to. Individually, some people adore them, while others scorn them for being the epitome of stereotypical emo with a circling theme of darkness and death. But together, they tell a story of life and death and the emotions that run through your veins in the moments before and after you take your last breath. Concept albums such as TBP are meant to be listened to as wholes, though they can produce chart-topping singles.

Other albums have songs that are quite possibly impossible to listen to without the rest of the record. Forgive Durgen's Razia's Shadow is essentially a musical within an album, narration and all. The songs typically end with narration leading to the following song. The songs themselves are quite enjoyable to listen to, but missing pieces disallows listeners to fully appreciate what the congregation of musicians have put out.

Then, there are albums that don't have a connection between their songs other than the genre and the artist. Pretty.Odd., Folie a Deux, and City of Evil are all records I love listening to as collective groups rather than singling out the songs within them. As good as they may be, I find a strange enjoyment listening to them all together with the other songs in the album.

And that's my muscial rant for today. Maybe a discussion of rock vs. hip-hop vs. pop next time?