My Nostalgia for Albums is Growing

Depending on your age—and I’m thinking GenX and/or maybe late Millennial—you probably have a memory of listening to full albums by musicians.

Before the CD came along, you had a record player.

You’d plop the needle onto the vinyl, and then sit back and take in whatever the artist had to offer.

Technology came along and made things portable with the cassette tape, first in the form of boomboxes (throw it on your shoulder and strut around), and then with the Walkman.

Yes, the iPod was revolutionary, in that suddenly you had thousands of songs in your pocket, but the Walkman…

The idea you could be anywhere, and with a simple clip-on device attached to your belt, you could ignore the ugly world around you, and live inside your head thanks to the music you loved.

As stated in the video, there was something special about listening to full albums.

You learned to appreciate the layout of the songs; why the artist placed them in the order they did.

Security, by Peter Gabriel, goes out with an upbeat bang, thanks to Kiss of Life.

After Wallflower, the song just before ‘Kiss,” things were a little serious. Downtrodden. Outright depressive.

Instead of leaving listeners on a low note, you get a fantastic, move-your-body beat in an odd time signature.

Conversely, U2s Achtung Baby leaves you with a contemplative state of mind, with “Love is Blindness.”

A good album is shaped like an arc, with the songs, and forgive me for this cliché, taking you on an emotional journey.

(Yeah, yeah… gag me with a spoon. Cheap language, I know, but it’s a true statement.)

You don’t get that with a Spotify-culled playlist. 

Sometimes you don’t think to do it when putting together a playlist of your own.

I didn’t mention it in the video, but one final thing about record albums that I miss: the art.

Those big, square, cardboard albums came with some beautiful art.

I miss that.