Which side reigns supreme? Rumours

[The Highwayman]

Record albums up through the '80s could usually only hold roughly 40 minutes of music. As such, the 11-track Rumours isn't short for it's time period at all.

[FuzzyPlum]

Originally Posted by The Highwayman

Record albums up through the '80s could usually only hold roughly 40 minutes of music. As such, the 11-track Rumours isn't short for it's time period at all.

Well, no, they held more than that.
The White FM album was 42.12.
Hotel California was 43.28.

[The Highwayman]

Hence why I said "roughly" 40 minutes.

[FuzzyPlum]

Originally Posted by The Highwayman

Hence why I said "roughly" 40 minutes.

Okay, substitute 'fairly short' for 'relatively short'.
Though there are some shorter albums, a cursory look would suggest the vast majority are longer.

Anyway, the point is there seemed to have been plenty of space to substitute IDWK for Silver Springs (maybe even space for both).

[The Highwayman]

I suppose. But I love 'I Don't Want To Know'. To me, Rumours is a lesser album without it. But now, for me, Rumours is a lesser album without 'Silver Springs' since I'm so used to listening to the remastered CD with it on it. Here, now in 2015 there's no reason to ditch any great song on Rumours (ever song is great, of course) for 'Silver Springs' - it's already on the album now.

[FuzzyPlum]

I've been back and read up on what Ken said about Silver Springs in 'Making Rumours'. He says they were limited to 22 minutes per side. Any more would require a reduction in the volume.

Side 2 always had plenty of space to be able to add Silver Springs instead of I Don't Want to Know. This would have made much more sense to me. As much as I like IDWK it seems more of a B side than Silver Springs. The only problems with having SS in place of IDWK is that it would have made side 2 much longer than side 1 so they may have had to swap songs over to even it out.

In his book Ken challenges readers to try to fit all the songs on the album. I'm not saying this makes for a better album (side 1 would have been much, much stronger than side 2) but it is possible;

(using the timings listed in his book)

Second Hand News 2.43
Dreams 4.14
Don’t Stop 3.11
Go Your Own Way 3.38
Silver Springs 4.46
Songbird 3.20
21.52

The Chain 4.28
Never Going Back Again 2.02
You Make Loving Fun 3.31
I Don’t Wan't To Know 3.11
Oh Daddy 3.54
Gold Dust Woman 4.51
21.57

This also uses Silver Springs at 4 minutes 46 seconds long. There would be much more scope if the shorter 4.33 version were used.

[The Highwayman]

Hmm. Putting 'Never Going Back Again' on side 2 DOES give Lindsey a greatest presence on that side. At the same time, you could put 'Silver Springs' on side 2. Well, I guess there was room after all.