Ok I admit some of those are tough to defend, but it's worth pointing out that in the old days most musicians that recorded albums had significant organic valid

Ok I admit some of those are tough to defend, but it's worth pointing out that in the old days most musicians that recorded albums had significant organic validation of their art through live performance. You have to assume these guys http://www.zonicweb.net/badalbmcvrs/stuffparty.jpg http://www.zonicweb.net/badalbmcvrs/stuffparty.jpg had been successfully entertaining audiences for years and likely making a good living of it - and were probably pretty good musicians too. Today, putting out an "album", as well as producing sophisticated album art is so much easier, but the true test is, can it touch the audience artistically and emotionally? Not always the case!