The quote I have used as the title for this post is from German philosopher and inventor; Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831)
It is true for every aspect of culture throughout time, half arsed jobs are rarely those great works that are remembered and revered, but, in today’s fast paced attitude toward churning out new content and product, is passion being forsaken for the sake of quantity over quality?
One of the big album releases of this year is Elbow's 'Build A Rocket Boys!' set for release on the 7th of March. There has been, almost exactly, a 3 year gap between this album's release and the release of their previously acclaimed 'The Seldom Seen Kid' which reached #5 in the UK chart.
In the case of most popular music today an artist must be seen to be constantly at work, whether it be touring or recording, or they risk becoming over looked or even irrelevant, with a lot of artists releasing albums annually (and in some cases more frequently than that), with multitudes of singles released throughout that time.
Before the single 'Neat Little Rows' was released 28th Feb this year, their last released single was 'The Bones of You' released 29th Sep 2008. Yet this silence does not seem to have diverted their fans' interest in any manner.
I myself often find a song from their back catalogue popping up on shuffle from my music collection and don't enjoy it any less because it's a few years old. After all these are songs that had real work behind them, you can hear the thought and construction within both the lyrics and the music.
Any 'great', well crafted song that has had passion in its corner during it's conception will generally be timeless. Artists like The Small Faces, Metallica, Jonny Cash and other such icons are enjoyed by members of generations way after those in which their songs were created and will continue to be listened to still.
Some popular music today which is churned out quickly and with little craft behind it, despite being popular today, will no doubt struggle to stand the test of time.
One of the big album releases of this year is Elbow's 'Build A Rocket Boys!' set for release on the 7th of March. There has been, almost exactly, a 3 year gap between this album's release and the release of their previously acclaimed 'The Seldom Seen Kid' which reached #5 in the UK chart.
In the case of most popular music today an artist must be seen to be constantly at work, whether it be touring or recording, or they risk becoming over looked or even irrelevant, with a lot of artists releasing albums annually (and in some cases more frequently than that), with multitudes of singles released throughout that time.
Before the single 'Neat Little Rows' was released 28th Feb this year, their last released single was 'The Bones of You' released 29th Sep 2008. Yet this silence does not seem to have diverted their fans' interest in any manner.
I myself often find a song from their back catalogue popping up on shuffle from my music collection and don't enjoy it any less because it's a few years old. After all these are songs that had real work behind them, you can hear the thought and construction within both the lyrics and the music.
Any 'great', well crafted song that has had passion in its corner during it's conception will generally be timeless. Artists like The Small Faces, Metallica, Jonny Cash and other such icons are enjoyed by members of generations way after those in which their songs were created and will continue to be listened to still.
Some popular music today which is churned out quickly and with little craft behind it, despite being popular today, will no doubt struggle to stand the test of time.
Elbow are a band that first played together in 1990. They are a well oiled machine when it comes to working together and have described this upcoming album as the album they have been aiming for their entire careers so far.
If three years of work isn't passion enough to make this album of interest a quick listen to the song 'Lippy Kids' performed live is definatly something to convince you to look forward to this next album release and to illustrate the difference between truely crafted work and that which is churned out or the sake of having huge volumes of work.
If three years of work isn't passion enough to make this album of interest a quick listen to the song 'Lippy Kids' performed live is definatly something to convince you to look forward to this next album release and to illustrate the difference between truely crafted work and that which is churned out or the sake of having huge volumes of work.
Listen on youtube here > 'Lippy Kids' - Elbow
I can't wait to get my hands on this album and let you know if the passion in it can be felt.
I can't wait to get my hands on this album and let you know if the passion in it can be felt.
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