Hi Guys first posting! I thought i'd add my tuppence worth
I've found it quite interesting to try and use other less visited and ancient structures when composing songs to build a bigger picture of what i'm trying to express. Just as a song should have a beginning/middle and end, my idea is that a collection of pieces (an album or a set of songs) should have structure also.
Other less common song forms you could utilise are the
rondo ABACADA (you return to a common theme to give the listener a foundation and comfortable reference point) and
through composed which is different in each section ABCDEF(challenging but fun!). In blues the 8 bar and 16 bar forms are overlooked greatly in favour of the 12 bar.
As part of how you might construct the bigger picture (the album!) you could compose in Sonata form for instance. This has a complex structure and would take some time to dissect properly, but basically you have :-
1 - 1st movement - main theme or exposition (think song 1)
2 - The development - this harks back to the 1st movt but could be different in meter/rhythm/key/tonality and where new ideas/episodes are introduced (song 2)
3 - Recapitulation - the recap back to song 1 but you could essentially change the tonality and transpose the melody from major to minor or vice versa. End this with a coda which could be purely instrumental and more improvised. (song 3)
Thats just 1 idea for a structure to challenge yourself. You could use it loosely and not be too strict about the form. Other bigger forms to look at are suites, opera, partitas and the symphony! These structures are there to base ideas on, and in reality we can pull them around, chop bits off, add cadenzas etc...
There is a wealth of musical riches prior to the 20th century that could inspire your grandest pop opus. The bigger picture is the artists goal, not just the detail. Be brave and stretch the boundaries.
In this age of the "ipod on shuffle" its so easy to forget the dynamic of an album and how each piece relates to the last. Your work as a whole is the ultimate goal at the end of the day...erm, unless you just want to play a strophic/12 bar tune, (That's cool too!).
Cheers for reading