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

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