Arthur Lee, eBay, And The Last Track On The Album...

Mountain Jam

Music used to come stuck on something called “records.” Thing about records was this: The songs were sequenced, and there were 2 sides. There was no random access, except for picking up the tonearm and moving it to where you wanted it.

So yeah, sequencing was a thing. On a good album, the artist would think carefully about which song to put first, which song to end the side with, which song to end the album with. Think of Sargent Pepper, of course Sargent Pepper. It starts with the title track, “we hope you enjoy the show” they sing. Then towards the end the reprise, “we hope you have enjoyed the show.” Imagine putting on the CD, and using random play. The Reprise comes on first; how much sense does that make?

And I suppose they could have put A Day In The Life anywhere and it still would have been a great track, but it was meant to be a grand finale, second only the last movement of Beethoven’s Ninth. I think. That final chord, the one where the fadeout is so flaky that you can hear the air conditioners in the background, that chord, it has to come at the end of the album. It has to.

Let’s not even get to MP3s. Just the CD thing changed the whole experience. Remember double albums? Side one backed with side four, and side two backed with side three. They did that so you could put on side one, and put side above it on the record changer. (You do know what a record changer is, don’t you?) And so there was Eat A Peach by The Allman Brothers, 2 sides of studio recordings, 2 sides of one long live jam. But the jam was interrupted, half on side 2, half on side 4. Now on the CD they stitched it back together, made it one long track, which is artistically sound, but splitting it was just as artistically valid, for different reasons, but this is the CD. Nothing to be done.

Once you get into cybertracks, well just forget everything you ever knew. Never even mind the absence of cover art. Now you get to pick and choose the tracks, forget concept albums, forget sequencing, forget the album as a statement; we are back in the 50s, the single reigns supreme, but now it’s called an MP3 and it doesn’t have b side.

And the whole cyberworld thing brings with it another thing – band names. You have to have a searchable name. So search Crash Test Dummies, or Barefoot Ladies, and you’ll…what? Barenaked Ladies? Oh alright. Search Barenaked Ladies and you’ll do alright.

Oh wait, that one could be a problem. Ok let’s stick with the Dummies.

But back in ’65 when Arthur Lee named his band Love, well didn’t he realize that he was making it impossible to search for his music on eBay? I mean even under Music, you get 39,615 results, and not too many are the group you’re looking for. And then there’s Yes. And best of all, The The (352,844 hits). It won’t do. Someone should have warned these guys. Them, 890 results, better than The The, but still.

And what’s sad for me is that I have a turntable still, but not the wherewithal to use it. so I listen to old fashioned CDs, and yes, I have plenty of MP3s, and cassettes, and I randomize stuff as much as the next guy, but to me it’s like grammar – you’re only allowed to break the rules if you know them to begin with…

The Grand Finale