Is it just the few of us?

Recognizing the shift to single tunes as the predominant way of enjoying music these days, I have to wonder if it has always been like this.  I know that Top40 radio has always been a force with favourite songs moving up and down a chart.  I also remember that single sales were quite high in the past.  If I use my wife as a reference point, single songs were really all that mattered.  There was a satisfaction in listening to the current blast of popular music as she drove.  Yes, I enjoyed the AM blast as well.  But for me, it represented something different.  I was on the hunt for albums filled with the same magic that blasted from a radio speaker.  New artists, more albums, nirvana.  That's my cycle.

Today, we have a slightly different approach.  Top40 radio is still here although they're now separated by genre, no longer exposing a vast group of listeners to a wide selection of styles.  Now there are stations that are highly specific to the kind of music that you listen to with little crossover.  That narrows the choices dramatically.  Country sticks with Country music, and  Hard Rock stays on its side of the street.  Likewise with Rap, Jazz, and you name it.  And so, today's radio creates its own group of non-straying listeners.  And those listeners like the songs...rarely the album.  This is the underlying cause of crashing album sales.

With purchasers of music from iTunes and the myriad other services available, and a shuffled playlist on iPods and phones everywhere, we no longer take the time to enjoy an album of music from the same artist unless they have multiple hits.  In that case, a small contingency of music buyers move out to pick up the album, just never in the same numbers as before.  (Why?  Why, downloading for free, of course).  The music listeners are there in record numbers, but now they have different avenues of distribution to avail themselves of.  Soundscans cannot find those 'under the radar' music lovers.  But add the numbers up...they're still quite high. 

Roping this back to the original train of thought, I have to wonder if most people have always been song-exclusive lovers as opposed to album lovers.  I know my wife has been forever.  She doesn't need an album to make her happy.  An iPod of selections is heaven to her.  If iPods existed in the '70s, she would have filled it with songs from the radio.  And so I have come to realize (take it easy with me, I'm slow on the uptake. It takes me a while to 'get it.') that we may have been largely an “iPod” generation all along. 

And so today's music lovers haven't created a 'new way' nor have they shifted it.  It's always been here.  The advent of the the computer and the internet has just made life simpler for most song lovers.  The smaller contingency of album lovers (who made bands important enough to continue) will always bemoan the loss of the album.  The rest of the world is quite happy to have things their  way...finally.

Bottom line?  Album lovers will soon become extinct with our inevitable passing.  As this younger generation grows -  they are already used to the methods of distribution that currently reign and the SONG – they will squeeze out the album lovers and physical distribution will cease.  If I'm Universal or any of the other big players, I'd relegate physical product to niche market, and get on with the new era.  The battle is lost.  The 'government' is barely functional, and the masses have run wild, doing as they will.  It's time to realize a price compromise and start growing from that.  All over again.  In that way, perhaps a regaining of the music nurturing more prevalent in the early decades of Rock can be had.  Instead of flooding the markets with too much garbage, we can begin to create a wider berth of stars rather than a flood of 'one-hit wonders.' 

Maybe.

We take a moment to mourn the passing of Gospel singer, David 'Pop' Winans, Sr, who, at the age of 74, has succumbed to a heart attack/stroke originally suffered in October of 2008.  His contributions and his family (which includes BeBe Winans and CeCe Winans) has enhanced the current art-form of Gospel music.  Even as he joins the Great Band, he will be missed.

We have one review for you today for the recently released EP from Texan metal guitarist, Tommy Bones. The EP is Self/Titled.

We are happy to present the latest As The Disc Spins by Lindsay Planer. In this new issue, he reviews five big project sets. Those are Johnny Cash (Live at Folsom - Legacy Edition); Nina Simone (To Be Free: the Nina Simone Story); Little Walter (The Complete Chess Masters: 1950-1967); Chuck Berry (You Never Can Tell: The Complete Chess Recordings: 1960-1966); and Roy Orbison (The Soul of Rock and Roll). We hope that you enjoy them.

We'll see you on Monday.

Universal Republic will be releasing a Live album and DVD for Jack Johnson.  This album will be simply called Jack Johnson Live and is expected on June 23.  It will be available as LP, CD, DVD, and BD (Blu-ray).  Fans are happy about this one.

ECM Records is releasing Mostly Coltrane by Steve Kuhn on July 7.

Hollywood Records have World Wide Open from Love and Theft coming on July 14.

Rounder Records adds to the Steve Martin collection of works with the release of an album entitled The Crow: New Songs for the 5-String Banjo, due on May 26.

Eagle Rock Entertainment will release a Procol Harum Live disc called In Concert with the Danish National Orchestra & Choir.  It is scheduled for  May 26.

Interscope Records is going to release The Wallflowers Greatest Hits into the digital realm as a full length release.  It is planned for May 26.  I'm going to start reporting more on DD releases as often, these releases are albums that people are waiting for to be available on iTunes, or otherwise.  After all, Digital Downloads are not up for no reason at all.

Volcano Records will release Uplifter from 311 on June 2.

The following titles will be released on vinyl LP in addition to their other formats.  These include Crossing the Rubicon (The Sounds – 06/02 on Original Signal Recordings); Relapse (Eminem – 05/19 on Aftermath Records); and Abnormally Attracted to Sin (Tori Amos – 05/19 on Universal Republic).

Reprise Records will be releasing the new Mastodon album, Crack the Skye, on LP in a 2LP Deluxe Edition with CD included.  A bit lot pricey at $44.98USD, retail.  This is planned for May 5.  It will also be made available in standard LP as well ($16.98).

Legacy Records will release Grace Around the World for Jeff Buckley as a standard CD and as a Limited Edition CD/DVD. It is planned for June 2.

Sire Records will release Begin to Hope by Regina Spektor as a 2LP album on April 18.  Sire will also release the new Meg & Dia album (Here, Here, and Here) on vinyl LP, scheduled for April 21.

Roadrunner Records will release Love is Gone by Dommin on May 12.

Some added news on the upcoming Tori Amos album (Abnormally Attracted to Sin):  The title, in addition to CD, DD, and LP, will also deliver a Deluxe Edition that includes a bonus DVD of “visualettes,” documentary footage shot in HD and Super 8, of each song on the album.  The 17-track!! album is scheduled to drop on May 19.

Texas-based Hardcore Metal is what this band is all about. Seeding the market with this stack of metal songs, this S/T EP can sear your eardrums AND supply juice to the solar panels of your neighbours' houses. Tommy Bones is spilling the gasoline and this EP is the match.

Foghat ruled the charts and Rock lovers' hearts with the release of this high-charting platinum selling release, Fool For The City. With blues, hard rock, and the uniqueness of Peverett's vocals, Foghat - and Fool for The City - remains representative of a great era in Rock music, the '70s. This album generated the huge hit, "Slow Ride" as well as the album's title cut. Mobile Fidelity, with their attention to detail, has released an excellent audio version of the classic album on SACD, where it needed to be.

The female-fronted Orchid Thieves hails from the UK (don't confuse them with the Canadian and NYC bands of the same name variations), where it currently delivers it's brand of Rock not unlike The Pretenders except with stronger vocals. The music is reminiscent of an earlier time and yet they remain very relevant to the kind of emerging musical style that it coming from the always fertile musical climate of the UK. I highly recommend them to you. I am providing links to their Facebook page and their MySpace page, where you should find plenty of music to enjoy from this new band. Soon, they will release their debut album. We hope that they will do well. You can also follow their Twitter feeds.

Check out their posted songs, especially "After Tomorrow." They will be releasing an EP in a few months.