The Spirit of Radio: Conceptus Interruptus

[athelind]

AAAUGH.

The radio station just played one track from Rush's 2112 album.

For those who aren't familiar with it; 2112 is a "concept album" of the sort so beloved of Pretentious Prog Rock Bands like the Trio from Toronto. The "A" side is a single long story-based piece, divided into individual tracks solely for the sake of convenience.

Playing just "The Temple of Syrinx" is like ... like ... cutting off Star Wars right before the Death Star run.

Naturally, I have the CD, so I'm playing the entire album right the heck now, but, nevertheless, the damage is done. I'll have that irritating UNFINISHED feeling for the rest of the night.

How can you DO that?

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Comments

[cpxbrex.livejournal.com]

I was originally gonna find fault with the statement that 2112 is a concept album. The second half - once the second "side" but that's an obsolete term! - has nothing to do with the *song* 2112. But then it sank in that they played part of the orchestral suite 2112.

To be fair, classical music gets treated like that all the time. You listen to classical music stations and you'll heard Ode to Joy or The March of the Swiss Soldiers without any contextualization at all. And they do that kind of stuff to prog rock all the time. Four words. Thick as a Brick. ;)

[athelind.livejournal.com]

Thank you; "orchestral suite" was the missing term I was wracking my brain for.

And, yeah. It bugs me when they do it to "Thick is a Brick", though Tull DID do a special cut of that for radio play. I've heard the radio version of "The Wall" far more often than I've heard the album.

I think one reason it got the AUUGH reaction was that part of my brain was thinking, "gosh, nobody EVER plays 2112 on the radio."

Oh, and a MUCH better metaphor: it was like just playing the "Galileo" parts of "Bohemian Rhapsody".

[cpxbrex.livejournal.com]

No one plays 2112 on the radio because it's 20 minutes long! I mostly agree with you, though. I hate it when they chop up songs for the radio. I mean, have you heard Sweet Child of Mine on the radio? They cut out two minutes of the guitar solo. Hello! Without the guitar solo, why even bother with the goddamn song! Because we're thrilled with lyrics like "pray for the thunder and the rain to quietly pass me by"? Quiet thunder. Brilliant lyrics? No. Great guitar solos, hehe. And that's only 2 minutes out of a 7 minute song! I agree that Temples of Syrinx, cut from 2112 and played without context, is graphic musical violence.

But, hey, I don't know your pain. I don't even know if we HAVE a radio in the house. ;)

[athelind.livejournal.com]

But, hey, I don't know your pain. I don't even know if we HAVE a radio in the house. ;)

Git offa my lawn, whippersnapper. ::caneshake::

[moonfires.livejournal.com]

Of course, "Thick as a Brick" is an overblown parody of a concept album, it's needed to have a radio cut of it. Since there are only 2 tracks - Side A and Side B.