The Album: Many Songs, One Piece

Often just a collection of songs an album is generally how bands release their music, with the exception of EPs and singles. Often an album will have two or three "hit" songs and then several other lower profile, but hopefully still good, tracks. Often the songs are very much separate entities and can sometimes be very different in style from each other. However this isn't always the case, sometimes an album can feel like a single piece of music, even though it's technically split into multiple tracks. To achieve this each song needs to lead into the other, not necessarily seamlessly but the divide can't be too obvious. Also each song must be similar in its style and motifs if not directly continuing the previous song's lyrical subject.

So in this article I'll talk about a few albums that sound like they're one long musical piece and, more than that, work as one single entity. A few of these albums may have been mentioned before on this blog before but I can't leave them out of this list.

Far - Regina Spektor

The interesting thing, for me, about this album with respect to the idea of it being a single piece is that the songs are fairly separated, they vary a little bit especially with regard to their tempo. However despite this it feels a little bit like a journey of sorts and so it fits into this category. A masterpiece of vocals and piano, this is one of my favourite albums. Its beautiful lyrics touch on various melancholic subjects; for instance the questioning of belief in Laughing With (the best song on the album), and in Blue Lips with the lines:

"As they made it past the enemy lines
just to become enslaved in the assembly lines"

A lovely album that, while individual tracks differ, has a nice overall production with relaxing piano part and vocals that make you think while you enjoy the music.

By Tom dl (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons


10,000 Days - Tool

Simply a masterpiece. The album's dark allure prevails right the way through with songs varying dramatically but still retaining an overall composure. The first track, Vicarious, has to be one of the greatest album openers I've ever heard, and what's more it leads quickly into the crushing introduction to Jambi. The album's absolute highlight, and my favourite Tool song, is 10,000 Days (Wings Part 2). The lyrics for this are sublime and the singer Keenan's emotions come to the surface as he recounts the hardships his mother endured when she was paralysed before her eventual death.

"10,000 days in the fire is long enough,
You're going home."

Talent is so obvious on this piece, along with all the other Tool albums. The multiple time signature changes add to the complexity of the music that amazes me every time I hear it. The album feels like a single entity, and I rarely listen to individual songs from it (with the exception of the song 10,000 Days). It's one of my top two albums (I can't decide how to rank it within that group) and I urge you check it out. If you don't listen to any other music I talk about, listen to this.

Crack the Skye - Mastodon

Departing somewhat from their normal style, 2009's release from Mastodon was far proggier than anything they have released before or since. Not as heavy as Leviathan it features lots of picked acoustic guitar and lovely whiny melodies over heavier riffs. The lyrics talk about Tsar Nicolas II of Russia amongst other things. The songs on this album are sometimes difficult to distinguish from each other; such is the way that the piece ties together. This really emphasises the sense that it's less a collection of songs and more a musical journey. The final track, The Last Baron, is 13 minutes long which along with its style puts it firmly in the progressive category, and also features lyrics that work especially well live. When they toured in 2010 I saw them in Bristol UK where they played the entire album start to finish. Playing an entire album live is rare but it worked really well. This shows the majesty of the album; definitely worth a listen.

By http://www.flickr.com/photos/shadowgate/ [CC-BY-2.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
http://www.flickr.com/photos/shadowgate/3703888760/


So those three albums are all examples of where, rather than being firmly split into several unique songs, the tracks are all part of a single identity and form a journey upon which the listener embarks.