Van Morrison is at Massey Hall on September 30 and October 2 performing his masterpiece album Astral Weeks in its entirety, followed by a set of his classic songs.
Music journalists have been warning us that “the album is dead” for at least a few years now, citing increasing online sales and other internet-related “acquisitions” of singles (and singles alone) as the culprit. As early as 2007, however, there has been some dissension among the ranks on this subject, as is evidenced in this Rolling Stone article citing some evidence to the contrary.
And, if we may be so bold as to join with the dissenters, may we just say that the album appears to be alive and kicking, especially if some recent and upcoming activity at Massey Hall is any indication. Van Morrison comes to town this week with two concerts featuring performances of the songs from his landmark album, Astral Weeks. If you’re not convinced that this album continues to be celebrated as one of the greatest of all time, check out Jesse’s post from when we excitedly announced these events.
Tickets for two Steely Dan performances at Massey Hall went on sale last week, too. Steely Dan also appear to be a fan of whole albums, and at each show the band will be performing one of their albums all the way through—on November 25 it’s Aja, and on November 26 it’ll be The Royal Scam.
And just this past Saturday those who were lucky enough to have a ticket saw Classic Albums Live generate a perfect reproduction of the Beatles’ Abbey Road with every nuance (including the bubbles in Octopus’s Garden ) intact. Classic Albums Live is in the business of re-creating some of the most significant music—in album form—of our time. If you saw it and loved it, or if you missed it and find yourself feeling a bit sheepish for doing so, you’ll have another chance to see them work their magic, this time on Pink Floyd’s The Wall in April.
Yes, most of these albums—Van’s Astral Weeks, Steely Dan’s Aja and The Royal Scam, and Abbey Road—are, ahem, “classics.” What about, you might ask, the significance of albums that are created today? Well, just last week the Canadian music industry recognized the merit of ten complete albums by awarding the Polaris Music Prize. We haven’t yet had a chance to review the set-list for the two Metric shows at Massey Hall in October, but the band was a contender for that prestigious prize, and whether or not they play their latest album straight through we hope that the gems on the album beyond the best-known singles make a well-deserved appearance on Massey’s stage.
Stefania Paterak is the Programming Coordinator for Massey Hall and Roy Thomson Hall.
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