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Moogtron III 
Prog Reviewer
Joined: April 26 2005
Location: Belgium
Status: Offline
Points: 10616
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 Posted: May 05 2005 at 04:24 |
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Paul Simon once said that an album of 45 minutes has just the right timespan to listen to. I can't explain why, but I agree. Some of my favourite albums are no longer then 30 minutes. Some of my favourite albums are longer, but I rarely listen to the complete album. 30 - 50 minutes seem to be the right length for me. Strange, but true.
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PROGMAN
Forum Senior Member
VIP Member
Joined: February 03 2004
Location: Wales
Status: Offline
Points: 2664
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Posted: May 03 2005 at 04:38 |
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45 minutes is enough
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CYMRU AM BYTH
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Posted: May 03 2005 at 04:11 |
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Sean Trane
Special Collaborator
Prog Folk
Joined: April 29 2004
Location: Heart of Europe
Status: Offline
Points: 20241
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Posted: May 03 2005 at 03:02 |
Yup!!! The normal vinyl lenght was excellent lenght (between 30 min to almost 50 for Genesis albums and 60 min for Klaus Schulze's Timewind) just too bad that we had to get up and change sides!
Actually 80 mins is simply too long even when I do a compilation of stuff I love from an artist! The only time I really enjoy 80 min of stuff (even great prog bands ) is when driving long stretches! This mostly to avoid changing CD as not to handle them while driving!
I do not think that it is a good idea for an artist to cram a disc up to the brim. During vinyl days , a group came up with 40-45 mins of music every so often (probably as their contracts specified, once a year) but bands like TFK , Transatlantic and PT's Steve Wilson put out such a huge amount of work that the stuff is very much diluted. 
As the great wiseman once said: Culture and ideas are like jam, the lesser you have of it , the more you want to spread it to make it last!
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let's just stay above the moral melee
prefer the sink to the gutter
keep our sand-castle virtues
content to be a doer
as well as a thinker,
prefer lifting our pen
rather than un-sheath our sword
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VLADO
Forum Senior Member
Joined: April 06 2005
Location: Slovakia
Status: Offline
Points: 136
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Posted: May 03 2005 at 02:59 |
 NetsNJFan wrote:
I kind of liked LPs
not the sound quality, but the idea of seperate 'sides' of music, it was cool. Also, the 40 minute album forced musicians to strain out the best material for their albums, and not throw everyhting on and see what sticks.
I think Genesis had the right length with about 50 minutes.
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agree, nothing compares to the old good blacks. i like to handle it, i like to put it very carefully on the player, i like to turn the side. it does need more your attention, of course, but reading books do as well. and the timing was perfect with LPs.
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...and in the end the love you take is equal to the love you make...
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ProgRockerJDS
Forum Groupie
Joined: March 18 2005
Location: United States
Status: Offline
Points: 64
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Posted: May 03 2005 at 02:42 |
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Well, it really depends for me, too. Modest Mouse made a 70+ min long album for a debut. Same with Tori Amos's new one, and in both cases, IMO, they seem to drag on a bit(even though they have plenty of gems to offer.) But some bands, like The Flower Kings and Dream Theater, balance it out perfectly with some of their records. It varies from artist and album, and it really boils down to the actual material that's on the cd. That's what really makes or breaks a release.
Edited by ProgRockerJDS
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NetsNJFan
Prog Reviewer
Joined: April 12 2005
Location: United States
Status: Offline
Points: 3047
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Posted: May 02 2005 at 22:44 |
I kind of liked LPs
not the sound quality, but the idea of seperate 'sides' of music, it was cool. Also, the 40 minute album forced musicians to strain out the best material for their albums, and not throw everyhting on and see what sticks.
I think Genesis had the right length with about 50 minutes.
Edited by NetsNJFan
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Cygnus X-2
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
Joined: December 24 2004
Location: Bucketheadland
Status: Offline
Points: 21342
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Posted: May 02 2005 at 19:26 |
It really depends. I like to listen to older albums because they have less time on them, which means that songs aren't as in depth as today. But I like to listen to newer albums because they give the artist more time to do what they want to do without worrying how much time they can put on (still somewhat true today). Back then if you wanted to go beyond 45 or 50 minutes, you had to release a double album, which in the long run would cost the consumer more. Nowadays, you can have essentially one double album on one CD, which takes less money from the pocket of the consumer (except for select albums, i.e. TFTO, The Wall, Quadrophenia, The Lamb, etc.).
I'm somewhat conflicted.  
Most groups these days don't even put 70-80 minutes on their albums, too (Non-Prog that is ).
Edited by Cygnus X-2
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Ben2112
Forum Senior Member
Joined: March 15 2005
Status: Offline
Points: 870
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Posted: May 02 2005 at 19:21 |
Snow Dog wrote:
With the advent of CD we can now have 80 min albums, but does anyone find that albums of 60 - 80 mins are just tooooooo much sometimes.?
Was the good old album of approx 40 mins just right?
What are your views? |
Yes, I wholeheartedly agree! I seldom make it through newer albums in one sitting, even bands I love. I think 40-46 minutes was an excellent built-in time for albums in the vinyl era. This is probably the reason I am not huge on most double/triple albums either; I guess I just don't have the attention span.
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Snow Dog
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
Joined: March 23 2005
Location: Caerdydd
Status: Offline
Points: 32995
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Posted: May 02 2005 at 19:18 |
With the advent of CD we can now have 80 min albums, but does anyone find that albums of 60 - 80 mins are just tooooooo much sometimes.?
Was the good old album of approx 40 mins just right?
What are your views?
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40 or 80?
