Concept albums and voice signatures

In .net magazine (Sept 2010, p.42) Jeffrey Zeldman makes reference to the web we grew up with being as obsolete as concept albums. It's true that music distribution has suffered a series of step-downs from the format that previously conveyed the concept album visually. Many LP covers are classics in themselves. The switch from LP record covers, to CD, and then to mp3 ... downloads means concept albums are indeed fewer; but maybe the reduced visual impact means that new concept albums are less noticed too?

Could the concept album experience a renaissance: online? Story telling has never been completely lost. The web and world's media depends on content: the appetite for stories and music is voracious - Hollywood is famished. Successful narratives prove their worth by doing surprising things with concepts that prompt re-telling down the ages. The concepts may change, but the structures and elements of the stories are timeless.

Concepts obviously remain central to making sense of everything: self, others, the world and the future that includes the new web. In Hodges' Health Career - Care Domains - Model we have a concept album. It is a care concept album comprising several snapshots or frames. It is also person-centred.

It has a voice that has its own musical signature, it is unique - that is if the album is truly person-centred and listened to.

.net September also includes a brief interview with the creators of The Specials website, which takes the form of a docu-soap about five friends with learning disabilities.

When we listen stories can be told:

great things can follow.