merge multiple row cells of text corresponding to one row of data
 

i upload delimted data from a system which has wordprocessing fields which
get captured as a variable number of multiple rows within one field/column,
but which correspond to a single row of related data in other columns
the =A1&A2... WORKS, but is tedious and manual.
1. why can't the syntax =($A1:$A36) be used?
THis would appy as well to the concatenate function. Instead of
=CONCATENATE(A1,A3,A4...) why not enable =CONCATENATE($A1:$A36)
2. Why can't the first row (to be concatenated) be defined logically by the
presence of data in a different column (say $B) for that first row, and the
final row be defined logically by the presence of data in the next row of the
same defining column ($B) with data
3. this would permit the analysis of the spreadsheet based on formulae,
instead of manual review.