Quick Before it Melts

Sunday 29 March 2009

Yes, yes, and yes

On my recent trip to California, I rediscovered my iPod’s ability to play a single album through from beginning to end.  So accustomed have I been to the shuffle setting that the concept of listening to a single album by a single artist in the running order they intended is novel and new.  I shouldn’t be as surprised as I ma by how rewarding this is, since most of the time my shuffled music listening experiences have been little more than five second snippets of songs that I immediately skip; unto the next track, looking for something immediate, something strong, some elusive quality that will make me stick it out to the end of the track.

The art of album listening requires time and patience, something I seem to have little of these days.  I don’t think I’m alone in this, judging by the reactions I’ve read about Joel Plaskett‘s new, triple album release, Three.  What is he thinking?  Three albums worth of music?  Who’s going to sit and listen to three albums at once?  Can he really have enough good material for three albums?  The short answer to that question is, yes, he does have enough good material.  And while you might not think you have time to listen to 3 albums in a row, the total running time is a mere hour and 45 minutes, about the same amount of time it might take you to watch a couple episodes of C.S.I. or 24 in a row (and I know some of you out there have done that–more than once).

What Plaskett has done to help the attentionally-challenged is break the whole thing down into three self-contained and complete albums all there own.  Three being the running theme here, many of the songs feature three word repeating titles (“Precious, Precious, Precious”, “Through & Through & Through” for example).  Nine tracks per album make each one a neat little nugget, with there own mood and sound.  As a whole, the album holds together beautifully, cementing Plaskett’s reputation as one of Canada’s finest singer-songwriters.

So, I’m guessing the burning question on your mind right now is, have I listened to Three all the way through?  The answer is yes, I have, and I will again and again and again.

Mp3: Joel Plaskett “Run, Run, Run”
Facebook: Joel Plaskett
Myspace: Joel Plasket
Buy: Joel Plaskett Three

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by J. Di Gioia | Comments Off

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 29th, 2009 at 10:00 am and is filed under MP3. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.