What Makes An Album Timeless?

At first, I wanted to name this blog post, “What Makes an Album Great?” but then I thought about it for a while and I thought the word “great” was too broad for what I wanted to talk about because there are a lot of albums that are “great.” Therefore, I chose to change the title to “timeless” because it perfectly describes the types of albums that I wanted to talk about that I think are “great.”

So what do I mean by timeless?  I mean albums that can stand the test of time.  I mean albums that you can play more than once without feeling like you’re forcing yourself to like it.  I mean albums that sound great being played over and over again.  I mean albums that you can play a year or two from now and it’s feels like you’ve experienced it for the very first time.

I’ve been listening to a lot of albums lately and I’ve noticed that all of the albums that I love are albums that give me a great experience.

Now when I’m listening to an album, I like to try and figure out the album’s experience and get into the mind of the artist who crafted it.

To give you a better idea of what I’m talking about, you know you’re listening to types of albums when you feel like you’re listening to a movie.

I envision these types of albums as one whole song as opposed to a group of songs.  Each song on these types of albums effortlessly and naturally transitions to the next song in order to enhance and continue the listener’s experience.

Here are a group of albums that I feel describe what I’ve just described above:

Kendrick Lamar – Good Kid, M.a.a.d City

The Roots – Undun

Childish Gambino – Camp

Kid CuDi – Man on The Moon:  The End of Day

Kid CuDi – Man on The Moon II:  The Legend of Mr. Rager

Raekwon – Only Built 4 Cuban Linx II

Kanye West – 808’s and Heartbreak

These are only some of the Hip-Hop albums that I feel are timeless.  If I missed anything, it’s because I forgot to add it to the list or didn’t listen to it yet.

So what do you think?  Do you think an album’s overall experience is what makes it timeless?  Or do you think I’ve missed something about what makes an album great?  Let’s start a conversation.

Be sure to support the artists you feel deserve it in any way possible.  Good music shall always prevail.

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