B-Side Cuts

The way we listen to recorded music has changed a lot in my lifetime. It's hard to believe, but my uncle actually had a gramophone which we played when I was a kid. I've had records, 8-tracks, cassettes, CD's. I'm amazed at all the different ways the recording industry has convinced me to purchase the same music over and over. I've resisted getting an I-pod or MP3 player. My wife has embraced modern music technology and has both.

Of all the formats, I think record albums were my favorite. They were big - so there was plenty of space for artwork and lyrics to be printed on the cover - and they had two sides. The best music was always on the front; but later - when you knew the front side by memory - you could turn the record over and there was a whole new set of music to enjoy. Smart bands placed a great tune as track one on the B-Side so you had to turn the record over to hear it. I don't think the B-Side was ever as good as the A-Side; but a few - like Boston's first album - had B-Side cuts that went on to become hits in their own right. I think every song on that album eventually became a hit.

The other big change has something to do with focus. Not many people listen to a whole album by an artist any more. Now, everyone's I-pod only contains "the good ones". You get a different understanding of an artist when you listen to an entire album in the order it was produced. Sometimes - like Dark Side of the Moon - the album is more than the sum of it's parts. They aren't a bunch of individual songs randomly laid down on vinyl; they relate to each other. It's the order "they" wanted you to hear them in; why fight it? Would you cut the body parts from a Picasso and glue them back down "in the right places"? Greatest Hits albums have a place too, but eventually you have to spend the time and listen to the real albums to understand the music.

There were many reasons why the 8-track failed. My pet peeve centered on the tune list. The 8-track contained the same songs as the album, but they were often arranged in a different order. This was done to prevent songs from jumping across tracks. I found it off-putting when the next song was the "wrong" one. And sometimes songs had to jump tracks anyway because there wasn't any way to avoid it. Who wants to hear a big pause and a ca-chunk in the middle of her favorite song? The only real redeeming quality of the 8-track was - in a time before auto reversing cassette decks - it's ability to play continuously for as long as you wished. I have fond memories of Abbey Road played in just that fashion ... and so does my wife.