Quotes About Albums

Guy Picciotto had a really sound point: Live albums basically have bands playing songs that are available on studio records, and what example can you think of where the live album is better? What are the great live albums? I have live albums of bands, but I wouldn't listen to them for the most part. So we thought, instead of spending energy trying to puzzle out how to create a live record, let's just write another studio record.

I just liked stand-up comedy so much. I used to memorize Bill Cosby albums and other people's albums, George Carlin, Flip Wilson.

I think that with albums these days, as long as you are moving forward and not trying to re-create things and looking back, albums are like living breathing things. They change, they evolve and it's this big thing that you are trying to get out to people. To me, whatever you can do to get it out there, do that.

I made music on Seven the same way as on the other albums. I only used acoustic instruments... I'm looking for instruments that have vocal sounds, forgotten instruments like the guimbri... The first and second albums were about the voice, what came before. This album is about introducing those sounds into modern, Western life.

I think most albums deserve a documentary because [an album] is a visual book. You don't have to read up on it because you can listen and watch the whole story. I would love to see lots of albums [become films.]

I think it would be nice to sell 15 million albums as a solo artist. I'd have to deal with all the repercussions of that, but that wouldn't be too bad.

I'm always sort of reflecting on what I do on what I've done. Usually before I make a new album, I'll listen to the previous albums just to see where I've been.

I'm just going to keep going. For me, the most important thing is that I have fun. I've reached nearly everything already with Accept and U.D.O., so the most important thing is that I have fun touring and making albums. I'm still nervous when a new album comes out. I'm still nervous when we start touring. So as long as I have this feeling, I can't say when I will stop.

I think much has been made of this alter ego business. I mean, I actually stopped creating characters in 1975 - for albums, anyway.

I've never not been pleased with one of my albums. I figure because it's spoken word, there will be people who relate to it, and people who don't, so I don't worry about any of that. I've been doing it for over twenty years. I've always written because it was something I had to do, never for the glory.

Most of the albums that have taken long have been related to illness and fatigue or producer problems.

But maybe every life looked wonderful if all you saw was the photo albums.

I'll always have songs with a farm connotation on my albums. It's in the fabric of my music, and I plan to keep it that way.

Amy Winehouse was not a person I ever met, and I can't say that I am overly conversant in all of her music. I do have her albums, and years ago, when I first heard her sing, I thought she was extraordinary. The tone of her voice, her phrasing, her raw appearance - these qualities were extremely captivating to me.

Doing an album is like having a business card; to show people what you do. The most important thing to me is the stage. I do albums because I love the stage.

Music didn't really hit me again until the '90s, when the dancehall scene got going. The '90s were perfect for me. I would have really liked to have had The Slits out in the '90s again, to do tours and albums, because I think the '90s was a brilliant decade for music.

It's depressing when you're still around and your albums are out of print.

I've done so many albums where I've been in the studio for 14 hours a day for six months just trying to come up with things on my own. It's a nice change helping other people with their music and not being all about what I'm trying to do myself.

You know, albums are a funny thing. They're not like an intellectual decision. It's a collection of your kind of musings.

So few hip-hop artists have ever advanced. Their songs on their seventh, eighth albums sound exactly like the songs on their first album. More than an artist, I'm a real person-and real people grow. And I wanna just sing my growth.

I only do solo albums when songs are screaming at me to be let out of my mind.

Three years between records is longer than average. Double albums are much more of a statement. I really wanted to put myself out there as much as I possibly could.

I bought singles until I started working properly and then I started buying albums, so this brings back a lot of teenage memories from being in London before I got work

I've always had a bazillion songs in my archive, but I want to play people stuff they know. Now that I have two albums' worth of material, that gives me freedom to compose a set that's more well-balanced and build a show rather than just a recital of some songs.

Ive probably written about three albums that no one will ever hear.

A lot of my albums that Ive done, a lot of the songs have been the first take. Its before you mess with it too much - you can take away all the spontaneity and the emotion of something by trying to make it sound perfect.

The problem is, and I'm just as guilty of this, a lot of people see their follower count increase and mistake that for friendships. It's great to have followers, especially if you want to sell albums, promote shows, or promote your friends, but you still need to get outside and talk to other human beings.

I think the time in between albums, as much as it was not anticipated, it was much-needed, and very helpful, very useful. I've done nothing but hone my craft, and get better, and learn, and gather information in the process. So I'm grateful for it in retrospect.

A few more albums, a few more years, I'll be like Peter Petrelli in Heroes. I'll be some type of rap super-monster or something.

I use a combination of all my influences on my albums.

Keeping fans loyal is a delicate balance. Therein lies the challenge for any band that's more than a couple albums deep. It's like, how do you continue to make records that are representative of who you are that your fans will recognize as your band, while still trying to push things forward and present new sounds for people.

I hate negative songs; I won't sing them. It doesn't matter if it's sold 2 million more albums.

Most pop albums I was looking at as examples to point out production elements had a song that made you want to dance. I've been listening to electronic music forever and I just wanted to have something dancey.

If you go back to all my albums, they're all confessional.

Now everything is available at the push of a button, and that thrill of the search is gone. With vinyl albums and special edition releases, I feel like that's coming back.

I think you go through different phases when you do albums, and I think that they change according to where you are in your life and what you're inspired by at the moment.

You don't make solo albums to have hits.

If an artist wants to work with me because they feel I've made some credible albums and there've been things that are long-lasting, it's because those artists took the time and we built an idea.

One of my oldest friends from Kansas, his sister was married to Ben [Folds] and wrote lyrics on his first couple of albums. I got to meet him the first time I saw them in concert at The Bottleneck, a great bar in Lawrence, Kansas. Then, he was the musical guest my first or second week as a writer on SNL. I was like, "I don't know if you remember me?" And he was like, "Oh my god, yeah!" He's a big photography fan, as am I.

I've written about one song on several different albums.

That was an idea of the record company, and also that was my first album after MCA and we wanted to come back with a strong album that would be noticed. If we put the vocals by very talented people and very meaningful songs, then the vocals would be a platform so that I could be noticed again. All of the MCA albums were just loaded with problems -- you know, the right musicians, the engineers. The record company would say 'You have to make music for black radio, you can't do what you have been doing with The Crusaders.' Everybody was telling me that was over, finished, done.

I've recorded 25 or 30 albums. I know that sometimes when you work with producers who are kinda dictators, it doesn't help you make a better record.

I didn't want to play it boring and safe. I also didn't want to innovate too much. Second albums, man, they're even scarier than first ones.

I shot many scenes of Hamburg, albums full of postcard motifs, and I discarded almost all of them. I ride my bike through Hamburg every day. I go shopping here, I go to the doctor - and yet I no longer have the eye for telling stories about this damn city, even though I love it.

I could never really tell you what direction. It's just however God just makes it; that's how all of my albums are. I don't really aim for a direction, but I just pick the best beats I can pick and that's it.

I think in my earlier albums I lived in my head a lot more. The issues I dealt with were all personal, depression or how I would react to certain situations. Now, not feeling too depressed that much anymore, I think about other things. I turn my thoughts outward now.