By album I actually did not mean concept album. I should have clarified this. I consider them to be fairly distinct entities. I think a concept album is relatively easy to write when compared with other albums; it contains a unifying concept. As you know, I have absolutely nothing against concept albums and I do not think the concept album is dead (see Francis the Mule, various Rhapsody albums and maybe American Idiot). I do think albums (with no unifying concept) are dead. Think about the "punk" trash-music that is popular with the kids today (Blink 182, etc). Each new song is relatively indistiguishable from the last.
I had completely forgotten about Harvest, which is probably the best album, period. Followed by the almost equal Harvest Moon. Good call Bert. As for rap, I wouldn't put it down completely. While in all musical genres there will be purveyors of filth and crap, there are sometimes very wothwhile spots to find. While not a Jay-Z fan at all, I did enjoy his Black Album quite a bit. And it was an album.
I never really "get" those Wes Anderson movies. Rushmore had some funny parts ("These are OR scrubs." "Oh, are they?") and I had high hopes for Royal Tenenbaums. But it just wasn't funny. Or I just didn't get it. Maybe I should watch Life Aquatic, but I fear I'll just be left confused. Massive movie reviews coming soon as I've been watching quite a few. But Batman Begins = best movie of the summer, hands down. More to come.
