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aapatsos 
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
Joined: November 11 2005
Location: Manchester, UK
Status: Offline
Points: 9226
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 Posted: November 21 2007 at 18:38 |
I agree that 75+ min. albums are hard to maintain a high-quality level all the way through However, I can draw many examples of 75+ min. masterpieces... I don't really have a 'desired record length' as my top albums range from 35 to 80 mins  , most of them being somewhere in the middle...
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Bj-1
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
Joined: June 04 2005
Location: No(r)Way
Status: Offline
Points: 31606
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Posted: November 21 2007 at 18:18 |
I prefer 35-45 minute albums myself. Quality over quantity!
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RIO/AVANT/ZEUHL - The best thing you can get with yer pants on!
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cynthiasmallet
Forum Senior Member
Joined: October 01 2007
Location: United Kingdom
Status: Offline
Points: 545
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Posted: November 21 2007 at 17:57 |
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Marillion have the right idea, excluding "La Gazza Ladra", I think "Clutching at Straws" was their longest with Fish, and that's only, what, 50 minutes long?
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Would you like to watch TV, or get between the sheets, or contemplate the silent freeway, would you like something to eat?
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darkmatter
Forum Senior Member
Joined: November 23 2006
Location: New Jersey
Status: Offline
Points: 2760
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Posted: November 21 2007 at 17:53 |
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I have a big problem with listening to Ayreon's The Human Equation because it's too damn long, and the quality of the music doesn't make up for that. I find it difficult to sit through all of it (though I haven't listened to it in a while). I think the ideal length of an album is between 50 and 65 minutes, that's my opinion.
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sleeper
Prog Reviewer
Joined: October 09 2005
Location: Entropia
Status: Offline
Points: 16449
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Posted: November 21 2007 at 17:47 |
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I agre that their are not many very good 75+ minute albums out there, but they do exist. I have also come across the reverse problem, a number of modern albums that are just too short, with only 45-50 minutes (obviously, I dont apply this to albums that were originoly released as vynil).
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Spending more than I should on Prog since 2005
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Inverted
Forum Groupie
Joined: January 17 2006
Location: United States
Status: Offline
Points: 75
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Posted: November 21 2007 at 16:27 |
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I love long albums! I would rather pay the 15 dollars for a CD that is filled than pay the same for a disc with only 40 minutes. I like to think of it very economically -- more bang for my buck!
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Prog... It's good.
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Finnforest
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
Joined: February 03 2007
Location: The Heartland
Status: Offline
Points: 17084
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Posted: November 21 2007 at 16:25 |
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I'm with you Teo. Most artists need an edit job prior to releasing their magnum opus....They don't have as much to say as they think they do.
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...that moment you realize you like "Mob Rules" better than "Heaven and Hell"
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MajesterX
Forum Senior Member
Joined: December 30 2005
Status: Offline
Points: 513
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Posted: November 21 2007 at 16:21 |
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For me, albums are an experience. If you fill them will music that has no substance and is just there to fill space, I don't see the point.
There is only so much good work an artist can do with 80 minutes at their disposal. The occasional inclusion of an album of this length, only integral to a work's substance, is acceptable to me. Bands feel they need to use all 80 minutes, but I'd rather they spend a long time working on a solid 35-50 minutes than the same time working on 80 minutes with less focus on refining their music.
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paloz
Forum Senior Member
Joined: February 17 2007
Location: Italy
Status: Offline
Points: 329
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Posted: November 21 2007 at 16:04 |
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Yes, not all cd have to be over 80 minutes. For example, for me Scenes from a memory should have been cut of 20-25 minutes, and it would have been perfect. But there are also great 70-80 cds that need them (and have the right to be like that). Some examples: "Trout Mask Replica", "Tommy", "The Wall", all Godspeed etc...
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King Crimson776
Forum Senior Member
Joined: October 12 2007
Location: United States
Status: Offline
Points: 2779
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Posted: November 21 2007 at 16:01 |
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It's not like you have to sit through the whole album in one sitting, it's just more music
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MikeEnRegalia
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
Joined: April 22 2005
Location: Sweden
Status: Online
Points: 21383
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Posted: November 21 2007 at 15:54 |
 ProgBagel wrote:
Just depends on who does it. If Fear of A Blank Planet and Nil Recurring were crammed together...I'd find a way to give it a 6.0 on this site. |
You're describing the vinyl edition of FoaBP ... 
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Proletariat
Forum Senior Member
Joined: March 30 2007
Location: United States
Status: Offline
Points: 1882
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Posted: November 21 2007 at 15:47 |
ProgBagel wrote:
Just depends on who does it. If Fear of A Blank Planet and Nil Recurring were crammed together...I'd find a way to give it a 6.0 on this site. |
I would have given it two stars, I thought that PT wasn't able to sustain the consept that long as it was.
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who hiccuped endlessly trying to giggle but wound up with a sob
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ProgBagel
Prog Reviewer
Joined: May 13 2007
Location: United States
Status: Offline
Points: 2819
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Posted: November 21 2007 at 15:39 |
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For the topic's sake, yes, they are getting a tad bit boring and fail to impress me.
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ProgBagel
Prog Reviewer
Joined: May 13 2007
Location: United States
Status: Offline
Points: 2819
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Posted: November 21 2007 at 15:39 |
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Just depends on who does it. If Fear of A Blank Planet and Nil Recurring were crammed together...I'd find a way to give it a 6.0 on this site.
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cuncuna
Forum Senior Member
Joined: March 29 2005
Location: Chile
Status: Offline
Points: 4318
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Posted: November 21 2007 at 15:22 |
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Nothing like that good old Brain Salad Surgery album. It ends when you need it; it lets you breathe, you get enough pauses and a whide musical range to let your mind play.
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ĦBeware of the Bee!
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Moogtron III
Prog Reviewer
Joined: April 26 2005
Location: Belgium
Status: Offline
Points: 10616
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Posted: November 21 2007 at 15:21 |
Oh well, in the age of MP3 it's only a temporary problem 
Just kidding  , though there may be an element of truth in it. Paul Simon once said in an interview that he found out that 45 minutes is the perfect time span to listen to an album. And I agree with The T: most artists are not able to make an 80 minutes album which is good overall. |
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Proletariat
Forum Senior Member
Joined: March 30 2007
Location: United States
Status: Offline
Points: 1882
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Posted: November 21 2007 at 15:17 |
I really hate this, I start listening from the beggining but then after a while get bored and turn it off, next time I play it I start from the beggining again and the same thing happens, it can take up to ten listens for me to make it to the last track, and then I wished I had heard it earlyer, especially if its the best.
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who hiccuped endlessly trying to giggle but wound up with a sob
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StyLaZyn
Forum Senior Member
Joined: November 22 2005
Location: United States
Status: Offline
Points: 4079
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Posted: November 21 2007 at 15:10 |
The T wrote:
Yes. I am. 
Really, there was a time when you could expect to listen to your newly purchased prog masterpiece (or that you expected it to be a masterpiece) without having to set your agenda, to alter your whole day, to forget about the rest of mankind for almost 80 minutes! The problem is, while there are a lot of magnificent 79 minute albums, most of them are harmed by the length. It's not the rule that artists manage to put out 80 minutes of pure quality, but an exception.
I know the needs for artistic expression demand more.. time... or resources.. or whatever. But sometimes it's just pretentiousness of artists who really think all they write is good. Yes, even Roine Stolt sometimes suffers from this (even though I love his music so much that I happen to enjoy his elephantistic albums ).... But what about the times when albums lasted 40-50 minutes? What about some balance? Some equilibrium? Not EVERYHTING has to be 80 minutes long!  |
I hear what you are saying. Some Prog just lacks diversity. Or the sound gets tedious. The most recent victim of this is DT's latest studio release. I had hoped to hear so much more from such outstanding musicians. And as much as I like Devin Townsend, he also seems to lack sonic diversity with Ziltoid.
One album I can't rave enough about, not sure if it's 80 minutes or not, is Kino's Picture. After about a year, it still retains it's magic to me. And I really enjoy Rush's SnA release.
Overall, an album that is put together well and lasts 50-60 minutes exceeds any production of 80 minute rehashed material. The idea of filling up a CD for the sake of doing it is nonsense.
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fuxi
Prog Reviewer
Joined: March 08 2006
Location: United Kingdom
Status: Offline
Points: 2461
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Posted: November 21 2007 at 15:08 |
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You're dead right where the Flower Kings are concerned, hell, I usually get tired of their music after ten minutes, they're so O-VER-IN-SIS-TENT, but in the past year I got to know two fairly recent prog albums which are over 70 minutes long (I think) and incredibly inventive from start to finish: Discus' TOT LICHT and Deluge Grander's AUGUST IN THE URALS. Talkin' 'bout Prog Heaven? Well, it exists!
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cuncuna
Forum Senior Member
Joined: March 29 2005
Location: Chile
Status: Offline
Points: 4318
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Posted: November 21 2007 at 14:59 |
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No to mention, forget about designing the whole listening experience and just put a lot of songs togheter instead. I fail to listen such long albums everytime, leaving 5 track out of my atention for months.
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ĦBeware of the Bee!
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I'm tired of (most) 79 minute albums!
