Steely Dan's
Aja. Van Morrison's
Astral Weeks. Aerosmith's
Toys in the Attic. Todd Rundgren's
A Wizard a True Star. As the summer concert season winds down, it seems that 2009 was, for many, a celebration and reclamation of the album, for fan and artist alike. Anyone lucky enough to catch Steely Dan's Boston show not only got to hear the jazz/pop sounds of
Aja from the opening groove of "Black Cow" to the final notes of the radio hit "Josie", but they were also treated to a surprise performance of the Dan's guitar masterpiece,
The Royal Scam. And so it was with Van Morrison, Aerosmith, Todd Rundgren, and several others who chose to resurrect their most ambitious studio projects and present them from start to finish in a concert hall setting. Anyone familiar with Rundgren's psychedelic cacophony of sound on 1973's
A Wizard a True Star will realize that this is no small undertaking. Same holds true for Van Morrison's brilliant 1968 recording,
Astral Weeks, which relied more on improvisation than studio wizardry as he took the listener to the back streets and sounds of Belfast. And of all the Aerosmith albums, none has quite the flow and continuity of the riff rocking, greased up pubescent sleaze of
Toys in the Attic. Question is, if you could pick one album to hear from start to finish, live on stage, no matter where or when or how it was recorded, what would it be? Last album you listened to start to finish? Is this the last hurrah before the album meets the same demise as the dodo?
Don't forget Jen Kearney's 2009 album, "Year of the Ox"! (And her CD release party went through the disc from front to back and it was GREAT).
I've always wished I could have seen August Darnell aka Kid Creole do his entire "Dr. Buzzards Original Savannah Band" back in the day. And though it's plenty obscure, I've also always had the hankering to hear Populuxe' "deep in an american evening" live and from start to finish, too. (Rob Shapiro and Pete Straub are playing out again in LA, so the possibility lives).
And then there's every Little Feat album ever made...