My house is full of 7″ singles which trailed album releases by bands in which I was interested – sometimes I bought the album, and sometimes I didn’t. Either way, I don’t think that a lead single selling independently from or additionally to the whole album from which it comes spells the death of the album.

The second thing is that I think the creation and consumption of either singles or albums as a leading format is a trend that moves in circles. In the 1960s, the single record was king and bands recorded albums in a short space of time to keep the singles shifting. In the 70s, artists became more interested in producing concept albums and multi-side LPs (although anyone who ever purchased Metal Machine Music may question if this was a good move). Come the 80s, singles sold strongly again, with many No 1s selling over a million copies, and albums were not considered so important by bandsor their fans. Then again in the 90s, the classic album returned to the fore. The current interest in the singeas a format is no indicator that the album is gone for good – I’m happy to think it’ll be back in a few years’ time.

Not so long ago, the passing of the single format was everywhere mourned. Now, artists are once again interested in short-format music, and the public are happy to consume in a pick-n-mix kind of a way, a single here and a single there. I think it’s certainly true that the rise of download purchases facilitates this, but I neither think of downloads as the cause or the sustainer of the trend. The single is not dead, and neither is the ambum – they’re just taking their rightful turns in the spotlight, as they always have done, and will do.

I also think that public excitement over The Killers’ new album is evidence in favour of the continuing life and relevance of the long-player for those who wish it!

However, maybe people would be more likely to buy the full album if they could get more than a 30 second preview of each track. How about a full one time listen through the entire album? I think too many albums only contain 1 or 2 decent tracks, leading to the cherry picking we see. This doesn’t help the few artists who genuinely are putting out whole albums of quality material.

(And no, I don’t buy mp3’s or other intangible music – I prefer to have control of the music I buy)

Personally, I like nothing better than dusting off my old Led Zeppelin vinyl and listening to them exactly as God, or John Bonham – whichever deity you prefer – intended. Vinyl, , with its 20ish minute-a-side playing time, was perfect. Listen to half the album, get up, wander over to the turntable, turn the vinyl over, dust it off and enjoy the second half.

Of course, some of it comes down to the music makers. Many artists mistake their ‘best’ 8 to 12 songs as an album just because they cumulatively last about 40 minutes or so. And, thanks to the democratisation of music-production – now everyone with a PC/Mac has a music studio in their own home- the number of truly great albums is being diluted even further.

http://archive.oxfordmail.net/2006/9/7/104358.html

That said, Zappa’s “Bobby Brown” seems to be one of the most popular tracks from the 80s, yet nobody finds it appalling – until I actually translate the lyrics for them!

I would say 99% of my music listening is the radio in the car, which is usually a mish mash of the “best of the 80s, 90s and today” – although the 80s seems to have consisted of around 15 or 20 tracks… :-S

I like the principle of albums, but generally I only have time to listen to one or two tracks anyway, or I only like one or two tracks from an album… Likewise, if you are at a party, in a club, listening to the radio etc. most people don’t want to listen to an hour of music from one artist.

There was a news report about that tragic case where a dad on holiday leapt from an upper story window with his kids, but the dad survived. It was a very sombre news report.

But then the playlist machine kicked in, and it was impossible to mistake to the opening bars of Van Halen’s ‘Jump’.