A friend and I got together last weekend to learn a bunch of songs that we're gonna play at a block party in his neighborhood in Bristol, UK next weekend. One of the tunes we're doing is a guitar version of "Bridge Over Troubled Water" by Simon and Garfunkel. After spending about an hour working through the whole thing with him on guitar and me on lap steel he reminded me that "Bridge" is the lead off track on that album. It's the tune of the week right now, so take and a few minutes and give it a listen. I was blown away thinking about that epic as a lead off track. I couldn't help but think there is just no possible way that would fly in the music market place these days. At least not on such a large commercial scale. It's really kind of sad. Such a bold statement, laid out up front. Smack, this is our album, this our identity. These days there's much more a mindset of "get the listener in safely, then cautiously reveal a bit of yourself to them." I've heard it said that the simple change from vinyl and cassette tape to digital media has changed the flow of albums forever. On vinyl it was like side one, complete with an opener, closer etc and then take a breather, flip the record and repeat. Now it's really a beginning middle and end experience. In a way i think the CD and iPod are better because it allows records like Dark Side of the Moon to flow so smoothly that they wash over you. I do, however, think there is a certain magic to a two sided album. Beyond just the brilliant, huge packaging it gave artists an inherent buffer zone so that they really had no choice but to say BAM here's my identity on side one and the BAM "you're on side two now sucker." Too bad I can't afford to press my new record to vinyl. Maybe I'll just sequence it with a 5 minute gap in the middle . . .