Comments on: The Do’s and Don’ts of Self-Titled Record Albums

By: Awesome Links for October 25th - October 31st - The Anti-Boredom Team

Awesome Links for October 25th - October 31st - The Anti-Boredom Team — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 14:30:04 +0000

[...] The Do’s and Don’ts of Self Titled Record Albums. [...]

By: Kirk Demarais

Kirk Demarais — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 17:02:26 +0000

@Shawn Robare I’m a Weezer fan too. At least they’re aware in advance that their self-titled albums are going to be known by their color. I recently read an interview where they were half-heartedly pondering a Yellow Album.
And I like that their logo hasn’t really changed since their first album. Hmmm, maybe I should do a piece on band logos.

@Anthony Funny, I came very close to mentioning that Fiona album but I hesitated because I was already over my desired word count, and I didn’t want to drop a big road block in the middle of things. So I’m glad you mentioned it down here.

@Anthony Groen I did come across Scott Walker while doing research for this, but my personal bias must have kept him out. I hadn’t heard of him prior, and he was before my time (and apparently more of a thing in the UK). But being a pioneer of this naming practice, I must admit that he deserved a mention.

@Gina Great footnotes indeed! There’s more about the ELO mishap here…
http://www.snopes.com/music/hidden/noanswer.asp
And there’s a similar incident involving the Byrds…
http://www.snopes.com/music/hidden/untitled.asp
I hadn’t heard about that Hall and Oats one; how funny. Of course I could listen to Hall and Oats stories all day.

@Chris Donato I could totally see that happening. The album title would just be replaced by the web address where the song came from.
I just read that Smashing Pumpkins are about to release 44 songs as they are recorded. It has begun.

@docweasel Hilarious! Thanks for pointing us to that great example.

By: docweasel

docweasel — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 10:13:13 +0000

Self-naming your first album (especially when you are a solo artist) can also result in your album garnering an long, inscrutable title you never intended because nature abhors a vacuum, I guess.

By: Chris Donato

Chris Donato — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 20:10:50 +0000

Great article, Kirk. But I think in the not-too-distant future folks will be scratching their heads wondering what “albums” are.

“You mean you bought an item with 10+ songs on it?! All I’ve ever known was purchasing one song at a time every few months when my favorite band decides to release one online.”

Oh, and “other times it proclaims the end of artistic integrity.” Brilliant.

By: Gina

Gina — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 20:57:00 +0000

Loved this article! How about a footnote about albums where there was a miscommunication between artist and label about the album title, such as Electric Light Orchestra’s LP, “No Answer”? Story goes that the label kept calling the band’s people to get title of new record, but never got a response. These were, of course, the days before answering machines and internet. Some secretary just wrote, “No Answer” on a paper memo and passed it on. Can’t remember what ELO really wanted to call it–maybe someone else does. Or, where the label has an antagonistic relationship with an artist. An example: Daryl Hall and John Oates left Atlantic Records for RCA. Atlantic apparently wasn’t all that happy to see them go (this was the label of “She’s Gone” fame), so they rounded up some unreleased songs that H&O did for Atlantic and released a new album to capitalize on the by-now-famous-but-departed-artists. The name of the album? “No Goodbyes”, with no picture of the duo anywhere on it–just a generic cover (some sort of stock photo, maybe?) of a lady in a nightgown talking on the phone.

By: anthony groen

anthony groen — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 01:50:43 +0000

kirk you forgot to mention scott walker of the walker brothers. scott’s solo albums were genius, simply named: scott, scott 2, scott 3, scott 4

By: Anthony

Anthony — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 23:11:29 +0000

Well said, Kirk! I’ve often pondered the methods to this madness. Why would you put so much effort into the creation of an album and then not bother to give it an expressive/evocative title? Odd. And quite baffling, really…

Of course, the extreme yin to this perplexing yang (or vice versa?) would have to be Fiona Apple’s infamously epic, if not entirely ostentatious album title, ‘When the Pawn Hits the Conflicts He Thinks like a King What He Knows Throws the Blows When He Goes to the Fight and He’ll Win the Whole Thing Fore He Enters the Ring There’s No Body to Batter When Your Mind Is Your Might So When You Go Solo, You Hold Your Own Hand and Remember That Depth Is the Greatest of Heights and If You Know Where You Stand, Then You’ll Know Where to Land and If You Fall It Won’t Matter, Cuz You Know That You’re Right’. In this case, I think I’d prefer a self-titled album!

By: Shawn Robare

Shawn Robare — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 15:41:59 +0000

Yeah, I have to wonder why there aren’t more design oriented gents in bands with a vision of the future. I actually dig the Weezer albums, but I think they should have kept it consistent with each release, and just call it quits when they hit brown or puce. They even flirt with it on Make Believe by evoking the whole Feelies cover yet again. Is it so wrong to have a plan? Sigh, nice article Kirk.