Tracks Of Life

So much attention is placed on having a hit single it's a wonder that anyone ever considers whether or not if it was released as part of an album or not. And, if so what other gems might there be? In the past, album tracks have often gotten as much or more attention as the songs that were released as singles. So, what makes for a good album track?

It's guaranteed that the answer to that question is very subjective. But, having said that, looking back to the early 1990s, a lot of hit albums contained only one song of any merit and that was the song that got released as a single. The problem then was, that the thinking was to make an album composed of songs that had singles potential. And, the course of action was to gather a group of well known producers who had had hit single success, and have each one produce a single for a particular artist. The result of such a process usually yielded one hit single, a couple of maybes and the rest sounded like filler. Having 6 or more producers only made for a disjointed and/or disconnected sonic experience.

Previously, in earlier decades, an album was built upon a concept. Possibly the sound or songwriting of a particular artist would be the theme that ran throughout the music of an entire album. One producer would be chosen, either by the label, or if the artist was of enough stature, they would choose the producer, or produce it themselves. The artist would demo their songs and bring them to the studio where together with the producer, they would listen to what was there and decide which ones would work toward a complete body of work.

After working on several songs, new ideas might be added and possibly 15 to 20 or more songs might actually get recorded. From those songs, the artist and producer would sit down and listen to them to choose which ones had a similar appeal and cohesion to form a single project. These songs might be narrowed down to 10, 11, or maybe 12 tracks. The lead single might be something that the artist had come up with as a single. Or, the lead song may have come from the new material written as a process of working through the album.

As an example, take Earth Wind and Fire's All 'n' All. The album opens with the lead single, "Serpentine Fire," which is an uptempo funk jam with a positive theme. They follow that with, "Fantasy," a smoother groove with about the same tempo. After that comes a brief musical interlude called, "In The Market Place," that features the Kalimba and vocal chants. The piece serves as a segue into another uptempo jam called, "Jupiter." "Jupiter," is followed by a ballad called, "Love's Holiday." This serves to change the pace and set the stage for more jazzier sounds. Next comes the first of two interludes called, "Brazilian Rhyme." This one has scatted lyrics and serves to segue into the song, "I'll write A Song," which is of a slower tempo with acoustic guitar as the band stretches out a little. A different musical theme follows, in the form of the song, "Magic Mind," which has a mid tempo groove whose lyrics relate to the previous song. From there they move into an instrumental that has some scatted lyrics called, "Runnin'." Then the second interlude also called, "Brazilian Rhyme," follows and it's a slow, serene musical passage that serves as a segue into the final song, "Be Ever Wonderful," which leaves the listener with a positive message.

A listener, listening to this album should come away with the feeling that the music is a complete work and all because of the unreleased, album tracks. But, that's just my opinion, I could be wrong.