Rush...New material may not be in album format

Pekka wrote: Hopefully they won't do that, album is a format that needs to be preserved.

I'm hoping someone puts something out on 8 Track again.

i wouldn't bet on either format LP or CD. The predicted "next" step is streaming music to whatever device you care to listen to it on.
Imagine crystal clear FM signal ! With time, any & all music should find its way onto services like Spotify and those that will succeed it.
The CD ? Just check Walmart. Then have a look in 6 months. The floor space keeps being cut down.

debrewguy wrote: O.K. folks , here's what you're missing - an album consists of one of more songs released as a collection. A song, or songs can be released on its' own without precluding the eventual collecting of a certain number of songs into an album. Sooooo ... Rush , and any other group that follows this approach , can & will likely still put out albums. They just won't wait until they have a "full" album's worth of music to put out a song or more. Just as they probably won't stop writing, recording, and releasing albums if & when the motivation or inspiration hits. After all, why force things just to fit into some pre-conceived commercial requirement. Again, ask Beethoven & the other dead white guys how they got away with putting out stuff other than full blown symphonies ...

Wow...its *really* not as simple as that! The very best albums aren't just an arbitrary collection of songs, far from it. It's a collection of songs, chosen to be presented together because they complement and enhance one another. That's why Dancing with the Moonlit knight wouldn't be the same buried somewhere in the tracklist of Foxtrot or Wind and Wuthering. It works as well as it does because it was chosen to be the first piece of a very particular set of songs. The same can be said of any number of great albums. You can't just take Shine On You Crazy Diamond and stick on the Wall. It doesn't work!

And that is why the album format is so important. Yes, we'll still hear lots of great songs. But the album is its own art form.

It's not that I don't accept the artist's new vision. 

Well, naturally there are exceptions to every rule, and no simile is perfect!

For what it's worth, though, I was referring to narrative driven films. I think they make a fair enough comparison to, say, a concept album. Each one relates a story, with the intention of affecting emotions in some way. It takes you on a journey, and if the artist is good enough at his craft, each piece of the story is carefully placed and achieves an optimal effect on your emotional response. 

Seeing Citizen Kane presented as a series of scenes, out of order, and released sporadically....well, it wouldn't half the same effect, would it? 

Obviously, this isn't true of EVERY movie or EVERY album, that's a given. But i'm just trying to illustrate a point, that's all.

Well, I totally support artists exploring new ways to put out their music.  Format isn't particularly relevant.  If an artist wants to put out a concept set they still can regardless of format.  Totally surprised to see the 33-1/3 make a comeback.

Well, at least this guy ^ knows how I feel!

maybe it'll give Rush a new lease of life

crafting a concept album *usually* produces one or two filler pieces which advance a theme but would be dropped or torn apart for its ideas if the goal were to make the individual songs as good as they could be

Elderflower Man wrote: I love albums! A well-written album is a coherent experience, and listening to an album which has been carefully constructed and flows together is a much stronger experience than just listening to one or two songs on their own- like the adage, "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts". That's lost when you just release songs on their own. Besides, I'm a collector at heart, and I love to be able to buy and hold my albums. Ah, well, at least it's good to see Rush getting back in the studio.

Eapo_q42 wrote: Well, at least this guy ^ knows how I feel!