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This will get buried but I am writing in hopes one day google picks this up and someone finds it as facinating as I do. The thing with tapes is that they have

This will get buried but I am writing in hopes one day google picks this up and someone finds it as facinating as I do. The thing with tapes is that they have 2 sides. Artists previously utilized that fact in interesting ways. It was a logical way to break up songs or themes. One of my favorite examples of this is Metallica's black album. The first side begins with enter sandman which has this mellow but building intro. The second side hits hard right at the start with Through the Never. Today, most listeners have no idea how this album is partitioned.

deleted 8y ago
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WhompingWindows 8y ago
This is extremely common throughout the history of music. The original context of a work is almost always lost as technology and culture change, presenting familiar pieces in new ways. How often are Chopin's pieces performed in huge recital halls, when they were meant for small salons/private parties? How about Schubert's songs, which were sang in very private settings for friends? Or the contrasting sides of two records? Or the continuous flow of record/tape/CD from one track to the next, vs. Spotify playlist's penchant for combining songs from all over the place. What about sampling tiny pieces of a work? Theme and variations on a work from an opera for a piano? Adaptations for new instrumental groups of old pieces? Since music is inherently playful, and society is great at inventing new musical toys, I think we're destined to an ever-shifting musical landscape.
- cr1895 8y ago
  This goes the other way, too...where once a recording engineer had to decide how and where to split up a long work, the entire uninterrupted piece can now be played digitally.
Latteland 8y ago
Don't forget about the late great Tom Petty and his famous "Hello, CD listeners, in fairness to cassette owners, we'll take a quick pause while they flip their cassettes over.
crtasm 8y ago
And even if you had an autoreverse cassette/record deck there was a noticable pause between sides.
T-hawk 8y ago
Another example: Emerson Lake & Palmer, album Brain Salad Surgery, track Karn Evil 9. That's the line "Welcome back, my friends / To the show that never ends". The song is split across the two tape sides, and that's how the second movement begins, to greet you right after reversing the tape. That's a similar partitioning detail, lost on CD and any other purely linear format.

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WhompingWindows 8y ago

This is extremely common throughout the history of music. The original context of a work is almost always lost as technology and culture change, presenting familiar pieces in new ways. How often are Chopin's pieces performed in huge recital halls, when they were meant for small salons/private parties? How about Schubert's songs, which were sang in very private settings for friends? Or the contrasting sides of two records? Or the continuous flow of record/tape/CD from one track to the next, vs. Spotify playlist's penchant for combining songs from all over the place. What about sampling tiny pieces of a work? Theme and variations on a work from an opera for a piano? Adaptations for new instrumental groups of old pieces? Since music is inherently playful, and society is great at inventing new musical toys, I think we're destined to an ever-shifting musical landscape.

cr1895 8y ago
This goes the other way, too...where once a recording engineer had to decide how and where to split up a long work, the entire uninterrupted piece can now be played digitally.

Latteland 8y ago

Don't forget about the late great Tom Petty and his famous "Hello, CD listeners, in fairness to cassette owners, we'll take a quick pause while they flip their cassettes over.

crtasm 8y ago

And even if you had an autoreverse cassette/record deck there was a noticable pause between sides.

T-hawk 8y ago

Another example: Emerson Lake & Palmer, album Brain Salad Surgery, track Karn Evil 9. That's the line "Welcome back, my friends / To the show that never ends". The song is split across the two tape sides, and that's how the second movement begins, to greet you right after reversing the tape. That's a similar partitioning detail, lost on CD and any other purely linear format.