The Art of the Album

How to judge what you’re listening to

A. W. Hall

A singular song possesses not a single objective feature; they are entirely isolated and subject to the judgement of the music critic within yourself, able to be given their own meanings, memories, and connections. Contrarily however, the album is less subjective, and a far more challenging task. 

The art of the album is a rather forgotten art within the mainstream, they lack the intrigue and excitement of single tracks, adding filler songs to round out releases and offer nothing more of value. Another common issue today is that many people will claim to love or enjoy an album after adding three out of 15 songs from the LP to their playlists.  

So now we have two major issues, improper albums, and improper listeners. 

Before we rediscover the lost art of album curation, let’s fix the listeners. 

Step 1.  

Listen from the first to the last track, painter’s do not wish you to see 1/5 of their painting, they want you to view it in its entirety. 

Step 2. 

Take note of the album, there are different types of albums. Is this LP a concept album, double album, or is the album simply bound by theme? 

Step 3. 

Judge – now if you’re not sure how to judge an album that’s where the paragraphs below come in. 

To start – as mentioned in step two – identify what type of album this is, from here we can judge it fairly, an album bound by theme of sound or lyricism cannot be scrutinised for its storytelling when compared to a concept album on one’s relationships. 

A major part of every LP is its production – the sound of the music – higher quality production often results in more resonant sounds with more intricate and defined layers, however, not all music intends to possess such complexities, rather the simplicity of genres like folk use their acoustic sounds to evoke thoughts and feelings. 

Well composed albums will always invoke thought – or provoke emotion in the listener, one that doesn’t, may harbour overplayed or unoriginal themes (Ed Sheeran and Drake – artists whose albums, in my opinion, are rather dull past the hit songs and share no new exploration of themes they provide). Whilst another issue may be a heavy focus on the production or the production invoking the wrong emotion. 

Lastly, does the album challenge you? Did you gain anything from the album’s exploration of sounds, concepts, or lyrics? Does it harness both lyrics and production to its advantage? Can you go back to the album and find new appreciations from a second listen? 

The proper curation of an album helps us to establish connections and better understand the world we live in, and it would be a shame if we let that go to waste over the catchiness of some songs heard on the radio that everyone else is listening to. 

So, when you decide to listen through an album just ask yourself, what’s the coherence between tracks? If there isn’t one, then the album will likely serve little purpose as a full-length project. If there is coherence, how is the production? Does it hinder or benefit the coherence of tracks? Is the album consistent or does it have a few catchy tracks and offer nothing more? Did the album provoke or challenge thought and ideas and help you deepen your view on the world (often on relationships or life)?  

After you answer these questions add some potential wildcard points, such as has this album been influential on music? After all of that you can now fully develop a comprehensive opinion or rating, and enjoy your music just a little bit more.