CD era often proves less is more (article)

[carrie721]

When The Who took the stage this week at the Pepsi Center, Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey wisely decided to serve up a good bit of their new album, Endless Wire, in snippets. They did a six-song "miniopera" that neatly summed up the album. Some of the songs in that, including We Got a Hit, can be found in longer, extended versions on the disc as well.

Good plan. Had they chosen to play Endless Wire in its entirety, it would have taken up half the concert. Clocking in at one minute under an hour, the new album is far longer than Who's Next (42:15) or The Who Sell Out (40:04). For good measure on Endless Wire, The Who threw in a bonus DVD with 27 more minutes of music, topping out at 86 minutes total.

When CDs freed artists from the time constraints of vinyl, who knew that they would become so bloated? With an optimum of 22 to 24 minutes per side on vinyl, artists were forced to be economical (which is why Stevie Nicks' great song Silver Springs was cut off of Rumours). These days you can cram 80 minutes onto a disc.

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band clocked in at 39:43. Rubber Soul was just 34:50, and even shorter (28:39) on the U.S. release. Dark Side of the Moon is 42:52, not a wasted moment. Pet Sounds was 36:25. Let It Bleed was 42:13.

Even classic double albums such as Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (76:12), Blonde on Blonde (71:40) and Exile on Main Street (66:48) are shorter than single-CD releases today.

Metallica may suffer most from this. Load was 74:59, and leftovers from those sessions filled up 75:56 more on Reload - a whole lot of digital data for sessions that produced only one good song, Hero of the Day.

Is less really more? You be the judge.

The Rolling Stones

• Then: Some Girls was the last truly great song-for-song Rolling Stones album. With 10 tracks, it clocks in at a neat 40 minutes, 40 seconds.

• Recently: A Bigger Bang boasted 16 songs lasting 64:23; that's more than 50 percent bigger and 100 percent more disappointing. Can you name a single song?

Don Henley

• Then: Hotel California, even with other Eagles putting in their songs, represents the band's finest work with a tidy nine tight songs lasting 43:28.

• Recently: Inside Job has just four more songs than Hotel California, but it still clocks in at a whopping 69:58.

Van Halen

• Then: Van Halen I, the band's classic debut album, is full of menace in songs such as Running With the Devil and Ain't Talkin' 'bout Love. It's 35:13 of rock perfection.

• Recently: Van Halen III was a leaden side trip with Gary Cherone on lead vocals. That was bad enough – but did it have to last 65:10? You'll never get that time back.

Michael Jackson

• Then: Thriller needed just 42:19 for Jackson to make himself a superstar.

• Recently: The warning signs were there, with 1992's Dangerous leaping to 76:58. But Invincible, Jackson's delusionally named 2001 comeback album, was 77:08 of wasted time.

Fleetwood Mac

• Then: Rumours, in just 39:03, allowed the three songwriters to craft an album for the ages.

• Recently: Say You Will managed to capture one or two sparks, but nothing that would make even a good Rumours outtake. And it took 76:16 and 18 songs.

Other short-but-sweet discs:

• Prince: Purple Rain, 43:48

• Led Zeppelin: Led Zeppelin IV, 42:25

• Jimi Hendrix Experience: Axis Bold as Love, 38.49, and Are You Experienced, 40.12

• Stevie Wonder: Talking Book, 43:26

• U2: The Joshua Tree, 50.11

• John Lennon: Imagine, 39.25

• Bob Dylan: Blood on the Tracks, 51.40

• Miles Davis: Kind of Blue, 55.16

• Sex Pistols: Nevermind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols: 38:35

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drm...152531,00.html

[Peestie]

I wish SYW had been a double album. I love the way we got so much on. In the age of the CD it just means more music to chose from if they fill the CDs up, and then you can always edit out the songs you don't like (In the case of SYW there are none for me) and take it down to 40-45 minutes.

[carrie721]

Originally Posted by Peestie

I wish SYW had been a double album. I love the way we got so much on. In the age of the CD it just means more music to chose from if they fill the CDs up, and then you can always edit out the songs you don't like (In the case of SYW there are none for me) and take it down to 40-45 minutes.

i always think of SYW as a double album, actually. it's pretty much the same length as tusk.

that said, i rather miss the era of 40-minute albums. now CD's seem more like collections of songs instead of cohesive pieces of art, with a few notable exceptions popping up once in a while.

[Sahara]

I remember hearing an interview with Chris Hughes, Tears For Fears' producer, he was talking about the CD age vs the vinyl age.
He said a lot about how in the good ol' days it used to be that they'd think about it in terms of side one and side two. A breezy opener (cliche as it is!), maybe a second one, and then get into the heavier stuff -- flip over, the journey starts again. Whereas now, you've already gone and called a cab and washed your hair by the middle of track 3....

I can't get enough of SYW. Should have been a double album, the more the better!

[Johnny Stew]

I prefer longer albums. When I burn CDs for myself, they clock-in as close to that 80-minute mark as I can get them.

It's just a shame that so people have the attention span of a gnat and lose interest in an album after 35-40 minutes.

[DavidMn]

Originally Posted by Johnny Stew

I prefer longer albums. When I burn CDs for myself, they clock-in as close to that 80-minute mark as I can get them.

It's just a shame that so people have the attention span of a gnat and lose interest in an album after 35-40 minutes.

Check this out. I have 2 Fleetwood Mac cd's that I made that took up EXACTLY 80 minutes each.


CD1:

1.Albatross
2.Oh Well
3.Hypnotized
4.Why
5.Landslide
6.The Chain
7.Gold Dust Woman
8.Dreams
9.Never Going Back Again
10.Songbird
11.Sara
12.Walk A Thin Line
13.Over And Over
14.I Know I'm Not Wrong
15.Think About Me
16.Gypsy
17.Everywhere
18.As Long As You Follow
19.Steal Your Heart Away
20.Illume

CD2:

1.Fleetwood Mac
2.Man Of The World
3.Green Manalishi
4.Safe Harbour
5.Warm Ways
6.Say You Love Me
7.Blue Letter
8.Oh Daddy
9.I Don't Want To Know
10.Save Me A Place
11.That's All For Everyone
12.Beautiful Child
13.Brown Eyes
14.Sisters Of The Moon
15.Isn't It Midnight
16.You And I, Part 2
17.Big Love
18.The Second Time
19.Throwndown
20.Peacekeeper
21.Bleed To Love Her
22.Say Goodbye