Question about music history

1951

1964. You can thank the Beatles for this idea.

Ian St. Ian wrote:

1964. You can thank the Beatles for this idea.

Just looking quickly at my own iTunes library, there are certainly full albums released before 1964. Both Sketches of Spain and Kind of Blue were released prior to that year. I imagine that there are full albums that predate these.

The long playing (lp) record album was introduced in 1948, and by the late 50's accounted for 58% of all vinyl record sales.

The idea of the album representing a unified theme rather than a compilation of singles is said to have originated with the Beatles' Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band, released in 1967, followed by the Who's 1968 rock opera, Tommy.

Music Historian wrote:

The long playing (lp) record album was introduced in 1948, and by the late 50's accounted for 58% of all vinyl record sales.

The idea of the album representing a unified theme rather than a compilation of singles is said to have originated with the Beatles' Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band, released in 1967, followed by the Who's 1968 rock opera, Tommy.

Again, I'm not sure why Sketches of Spain wouldn't qualify as an album with a unified theme. Do you consider it to be a collection of singles?

It depends on the genre. Jazz albums were coming out in the fifties, even earlier than Sketches of Spain, I'd say at least by the bebop era. Sketches of Spain is definitely a unified album. I don't get the impression that rock caught on at the same time. Album oriented rock became more of a thing in the 60's (a la Beatles), while guys like Elvis were still single oriented in the 50's.

You asked why an album became a "body of work". Since the media of a grooved disc could hold about 30 minutes of recording, they figured that they might as well fill the available space. Hence, the "record album" was created as a body of work.

It would be as if a book of pictures was limited to only 30 pictures, and you filled the available space, your "photo album" of 30 pictures would be your body of work.

FYI - There were 78rpm long play records dating back to the 1920's. They were about a quarter inch thick, and they were the first albums aka collections of songs and skits.

I agree with what Music Historian said.

Jazz albums are tricky because so many of them don't have words or lyrics or text to the songs. Miles Davis may call his album "Sketches of Spain" and then write an instrumental piece called Saeta or Song of My Country, make them sound reasonably Spanish, than some could say that makes it a unified album.

So many jazz albums are instrumental and the titles are attached to them from the whims of the composer. They could be called anything. It's certainly not like Program Music like you get in the classical field (think: Peter and the Wolf). Even Antonio Vivaldi's Four Seasons, although not originally composed for an album, certainly follows a strict theme and uses clever devices, like flutes to imitate birds and a monotonic cello to simulate a dog barking in the distance.

It's hard to argue with an album like Tommy, trying to convince anyone it doesn't have a unified theme. There were classical operas before it, but they were always meant to be performed with acting, live. Tommy was meant to be a record with no actors.

I remember John Lennon commenting on Sgt Peppers saying, "We told everyone these songs all go together and they did because we told them they did." Then he said Paul McCartney came up with the title/idea Sgt Peppers after they had most of the album finished, and they had written most of the songs for it apart from each other--none of the others knowing what any of the others were working on. He also hinted that the Beatles may not have had an idea the songs followed some kind of theme until someone pointed it out to them. George corroborates this on the Beatles Anthology film.

Part of it though, is that rock albums were meant to be listened to in their entirety (think: nearly any Pink Floyd album). I always considered it that the whole album was supposed to give you a kind of experience that was bigger than any one song on that album.

The Beatles released singles that were not on any of their original albums ("Yesterday" and "Rain" are two examples). Rain was on the flip side of Paperback Writer, and for years that was the only way you could get that song.

I guess the argument could be made, and supported, from many camps--not the least of which is Jazz music such as Miles Davis. Charlie Parker did some albums in the late 1940's with whole orchestras behind him ("Laura" comes to mind) and they had a cohesive feel because each song had an orchestra behind it with Bird wailing away on his sax, playing ballads with 10,000 more notes than they had been heard with before. It was pretty revolutionary at the time.

The idea of a cohesive album, to me at least, is that it was a rock music thing. I don't know how I could prove it though.

So maybe these are just things people say.

What Music Historian said above though is exactly how I've thought of this "cohesive unit" thing as relates to albums. I do consider Sgt Peppers to be the first one (cohesive). It doesn't automatically make me right.

nee: Ander Thoul wrote:

FYI - There were 78rpm long play records dating back to the 1920's. They were about a quarter inch thick, and they were the first albums aka collections of songs and skits.

Yes, I'm well aware of 78 rpm records. In my previous comment I did not reference dates or rpm so that it covered all eras.

By the way, while the 78s were pretty thick compared to the 33 1/3 albums, I've never seen one 1/4 inch thick.

if we're sticking with rock and roll (and thereby eliminating "sketches," as well as other landmark concept albums like "time out"), the first thought that came to my mind was "pet sounds," which is viewed as partial inspiration for "sgt. peppers." though some may shudder at the suggestion, wikipedia actually has a decent article on concept albums, though...

I heard it said that Frank Sinatra had the first "concept" album where there was a deliberate overall feel and sound to it. Not sure what album that was but it was in the 50s. It definitely began in the 50s and before the Beatles ever thought of it. Certainly Miles Davis was doing it around 1960.

Of course I assume we are just talking about jazz/pop/R&B etc, not classical. And I'm also assuming we are talking about a deliberate making of a full album as one artistic piece. I listen to bluesmen like Charley Patton and Robert Johnson from the 20s and 30s. In hindsight their body of work put together in an album is epic stuff with very diverse stuff but with a synergy too it. But of course a full album was completely off their radar screen when they recorded.

That's why In The Wee Small Hours is often referred to as the first ever concept album. This was Sinatra dealing with how lost and alone he felt when Gardner left him. In an era where albums effectively did not exist - the 12-inch disc was not invented until shortly after the release of in The Wee Small Hours, and when it was invented, this was the album that came to define the medium - In The Wee Small Hours was a revelation. It was the first recording that sustained a mood - any mood - for its entire length. It was the first recording specifically designed to flow the way we now expect albums to. And it was the first recording intended to be listened to one sitting, rather than broken up and digested on a song-to-song level.

So this, right here, can legitimately not just be called the first concept album ever, but could even be called the first genuine album ever. Scary thought, huh? That fact makes In The Wee Small Hours a serious contender for the most influential musical work of the 20th century.

http://www.sputnikmusic.com/review/7066/Frank-Sinatra-In-The-Wee-Small-Hours/

Not sure why anyone would shudder at that suggestions. It's pretty widely documented that Paul and John were blown away when they first heard Pet Sounds and considered the album a landmark and, in some ways, a challenge to equal or surpass.

socal cush wrote:

if we're sticking with rock and roll (and thereby eliminating "sketches," as well as other landmark concept albums like "time out"), the first thought that came to my mind was "pet sounds," which is viewed as partial inspiration for "sgt. peppers." though some may shudder at the suggestion, wikipedia actually has a decent article on concept albums, though...

I had avoided Pet Sounds for years, but when I read how influential it was on the Beatles, gave it a listen and really enjoyed it. I believe the Beach Boys next album, Smile, was supposed to be Brian Wilson's response to the Sgt. Pepper album.

Sinatra was a genius and very influential. I read that Jim Morrison wanted to be the Sinatra of his generation. I still enjoy the way Hendrix incorporated Strangers in the Night into his guitar solo in Wild Thing at Monterey.

Regarding Miles, there are some great youtube videos of him and Coltrane trading licks. If you haven't seen those yet you might want to check them out.

1949

[quote]its a sinatra wrote:

So this, right here, can legitimately not just be called the first concept album ever, but could even be called the first genuine album ever. Scary thought, huh? That fact makes In The Wee Small Hours a serious contender for the most influential musical work of the 20th century./quote]

Frank Sinatra has been hugely influential on American music in general. Didn't think of Wee Small Hours, but I am grateful you brought it up, because it really was a concept album, way before anyone else. You've convinced me.

I've always thought Sinatra was great not so much for his voice but because of his brain. He was always thinking, and a very sensitive musician. Wee small hours, and others like that, takes you into his world. A great voice which was at its peak in the 1930s and 40s. It's too bad he was so abrasive and spent the last 30 years of his life as a sort of caricature of himself. Sinatra was a major, major talent and has to go down as the single most influential American singer.

Rock music probably constitutes the Beatles or Beach Boys as first because rock 'n rollers eschewed Sinatra and his genre as from the square, older generation. They just didn't count.

78s were limited to about 3:30 per side. They were about 10-12 inches in diameter. Classical recordings in the early 1900s were split up over several 78s and sold in an actual album that held all of the indvidual 78s together so you could put it on your bookshelf. In the 1930s, popular artists began releasing their songs in sets contained in the book like albums with cover art and a listing of all the songs. But it wasn't until the LP that it became customary for a pop artist to be expected to release 8-12 songs at once. It was a long evolution from the early 78s.