transcript
show notes
What makes a side-long musical journey work?
In today's episode of Dave’s Side One, Dave turns to Side Two of Chicago’s Chicago II and “Ballet for a Girl in Buchannon.”
The key isn’t the running time.
It’s what the music does with that time.
Dave introduces The Suite Test:
Does the piece establish a theme?
Does it change shape?
Does staying with it pay off?
And when familiar ideas return, do they mean more because of everything we’ve experienced in between?
A great extended album side doesn’t simply last.
It travels.
Side One Spin: What suite or extended album side completely pulls you in?