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I'd like some thoughts about this.

In an increasingly mp3 driven world, I'm not sure how long this will be relevant anyway.

In listening to an "album" as a complete work, how important is it to you there there is a stylistic cohesion? 

Is it possible to have a very cohesive, unified album but still have a lot of stylistic diversity from song to song?

On an album that is not stylistically cohesive by design, for instance a singer/songwritier type with just voice and acoustic guitar, how does the artist (or how should the artist) keep you interested across the whole album, how does the artist create interest within the limitations of  monochromatic instrumentation?

Thanks.

Interesting topic!

I love it,  H!  The "cohesive-stylisticdiversity" category.

Maybe Prince's second album?

Or the Who Sell Out?

Just thinking out loud here...

I'd say that Queen II and A Night at the Opera are very stylistically diverse, yet cohesive albums. I think the trick is to have the songs written and recorded in the same time-frame so the overall feel and production of the album comes from the same place. I don't know, I think my demo album is pretty 'diverse', even if it's not that stylistically varied. What do you think about that as an example, Josh? I think you've heard my album...

I love stylistic cohesion -- to me, its very important and albums I love -- I mean love -- almost always feature it in some fashion. Example, in my opinion: "Phantom Power" by Super Furry Animals. There's stylistic diversity, and plenty. And yet it all sounds VERY of a piece in terms of sounds. Perfect.

Actually, SMiLE is a great example for this. An album that has both "Barnyard" and "Surf´s Up" really shouldn´t work. But it does.

It is possible to have diversity in style and retain cohesion in terms of lyrics as well as music on a given release.

We could all cite numerous examples of such albums with more or less cohesion.


But to me, it is often a matter of getting to know an album and becoming used to the sequencing of songs and that they are grouped together on one album.  For example, which beachboy albums are cohesive?

Pet Sounds?
20/20?
Shut Down VII?

Interesting topic.

Personally, I strive for cohesion. Not on a conceptual level, but I tend to enjoy music - my own, or listening to others - that sounds as if came out of the same process. Maybe it's because my brain is set on "Drone". I just love that heightened feeling when listening to classic 'cohesive albums' like Pet Sounds or Loveless or Mars Audiac Quintet.

Diversity can be interesting but it can also sound really contrived. That was the "postmodern" disease of the 1990s; bands mixing this and that genre,putting the beats under the guitars and have that producer put some techno noises and then do the slow gospel ballad. Sometimes brilliant results (ie Primal Scream's "Screamadelica") but more often pretty lame results (ie any stereotypical trip hop record in 1995).

The mp3 playlist thing is really interesting. I, being an albums man, suffer from it greatly because I'm often too lazy to go and pick out a CD from my collection so I'll just put on some MP3s. But anyways, I've always had the habit of listening to the same song on repeat for hours and hours. There's this Philip Glass track (Part 1 of "Music In Twelve Parts") that I listen to obsessively now, which annoys my gf greatly....

I don't think the album format will go away even though everybody's walking around with Ipods now. The album format has become an institution or tradition because there will always be people influenced by typical album format artists like the Beatles or whoever.

I alway's listen to albums fron start to end ..no matter what album i'm listening to. I alway's feel it's a piece of art and that's what the artist wanted you to listen to. Like LOVESEXY ..on early cd copies it only showed one track so you couldn't skip a track !!!.i respect that......i never listen on shuffle.

Good/great songwriting and performance.

Two words: White Album.

If an album is going to be stylistically monochrome (i.e. all acoustic folk, all power-trio rock or blues, etc.), what's going to keep me interested beyond great songwriting are varied vocal approaches, shifts in dynamics, changes in rhythm and tempo even if they're very subtle, etc.

Take Slayer's Reign In Blood for example. It's speed metal through and through, but not all of the songs are taken at breakneck pace, the rhythms aren't all exactly the same, the vocal approach is mostly the same throughout, but the musical changes that take place make up for it, plus that screaming guitar crescendo at the end which crashes into the sound of thunder and rain...

But then there's a record like Diana Krall's The Look Of Love which is also stylistically monochrome, very cohesive, yet boring as all hell because every song is at the same tempo, not much in the way of varied dynamics to speak of, and it becomes one 50-minute drone of string-laden bossa nova and ballads spit out with computer-like accuracy. The songs are top-notch, the musicianship is unparalleled, but it's tough swallowing 12 same-sounding slow cuts all at once.

I think Satchel's EDC is a cohesive, unified album that has a lot of stylistic diversity -- grungy type songs, piano-based ballads, elctro-rock instrumentals, rock & soul, tenor and falsetto vocals -- yet it all hangs together really well. Part of that I attribute to the bad-ass Reservoir Dogs dialogue stuck between some songs, and because the diversity doesn't go too overboard. It's not like they're mixing up arias, death metal and bluegrass, nothing too out there.

But ultimately I agree with andy that great songwriting and performances are going to be a big factor in whether an album hangs well. Too many duds, and you're gonna wanna skip through it or stop it altogether.

Ram or Band on the run.....have a lot of diversity, fun to listen to .

"London Calling" and "Sign o' The Times" for sure.

I think you're almost got it right. I believe having the recordings primarily done by the same people and in the same place around the same time is important. As for when the songs were written, I think that matters far less.

To answer the original question, I think certain change-ups in texture (through arrangements) are absolutely necessary throughout an album. By having a single, strong production vision, you can use different instrumentation across a group of songs and still retain a feel that the songs belong together as an album. Good sequencing is also key. An album like the new one by The Clientele is an example of how NOT to do it. It sounds nice, all quite pleasant...but it's far too similar. There is nothing but mid-tempo, vaguely backward-looking pop. by the time you hit anything diverse, the album is 85% over, and if you're spared the chore of having to review it, you've probably turned it off already. (That or it's background music to you.)

So to me, that's the key. I don't ask for a "concept album," and unless you're a rarity, you ought not attempt one anyway. Most of them are horrible and pretentious. But I do prefer an album to feel as if it is by the same artist, the same band. I want a general cohesion without sacrificing creative arrangements.

Yeah, you're probably right as far as the writing thing goes, but I'm sure it can be a factor in some cases.

For stylistically diverse, try Fleetwood Mac's TUSK  !! Yee-ha, haven't mentioned that in a while!

Tonight's The Night.