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Post by mjjfan810 on Jan 29, 2020 21:15:33 GMT
Back in the day, an album could be anything from 6-10 tracks, these days albums are getting longer. In the 90s it was commonplace for albums to be around 14-15 tracks in length, usually filling up the maximum disc space available. Skip to today, and many artists are putting out 18-20+ track albums, which would've been considered double albums back in the day.
My question is, do you guys have a preference for album lengths? Do you prefer the short and concise approach, a nice tight ten track release of the strongest material, or are you of the mindset that the more the merrier when it comes to new music from your fave artists/bands etc?
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Post by HIStoric on Jan 29, 2020 21:25:45 GMT
I think generally a good studio album length in the realm of 40-50 minutes. To me that’s a length that feels concise and neither short nor long.
Lots of exceptions of course, but that’s just my general feel.
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Post by mjjfan810 on Jan 29, 2020 21:54:32 GMT
I think generally a good studio album length in the realm of 40-50 minutes. To me that’s a length that feels concise and neither short nor long. Lots of exceptions of course, but that’s just my general feel. But what about the albums you consider your all time favourites? Do they tend to be longer or shorter in length? And do you think longer albums would be better if they trimmed the fat? It's funny over the years seeing Prince/MJ fans create their own fantasy edited tracklistings for Emancipation/Invincible and yet no two fans seem to agree which 12 tracks should make the cut and which ones should stay on the cutting room floor. So perhaps longer albums are a positive thing as it is offering something for everyone?
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Post by aazzaabb on Jan 30, 2020 0:58:08 GMT
I think generally a good studio album length in the realm of 40-50 minutes. To me that’s a length that feels concise and neither short nor long. Lots of exceptions of course, but that’s just my general feel. This!
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Post by respect77 on Jan 30, 2020 4:36:54 GMT
I agree with Historic that the old vinyl album length was ideal. Even then it wasn't that common that all 40-50 minutes were top notch. Remember how MJ said that often artists put one or two good songs on an album and the rest were fillers but he didn't want that, he wanted his albums be filled with songs that were single material from start to finish. I think he accomplished that with OTW, Thriller and Bad. Then as his albums grew in length they got more fillers, although the quality control was still very good compared to many other artists. But I sometimes think Dangerous and HIStory would have benefitted from being 2-3 tracks shorter maybe. I still love them, though. Dangerous still has a lot of single material and HIStory is almost like a concept album to me, so it doesn't necessarily have to be viewed in terms of potential singles. Eg. "Money" probably would not have done well as a single but I feel it's absolutely essential to the album and one of my favorites on it. On the other hand, I could have done without Come Together, for example. Not because it's a bad song but because it's a Bad (era) song and doesn't really fit into the album to me. Actually I'm not too fond of the only #1 on the album, YANA, either, so I definitely don't look at that album through "single material" eyes, I look at it how songs fit into the concept.
In general, I think 40-50 minutes is also the ideal length because that's about people's attention span IMO, just sitting down and paying attention to music (as opposed to just letting it play in the background). Also it forces artists to put the best of that recording session on the album. I don't think it is a coincidence that most albums that are considered classics and are among the best are that length.
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Post by ghost on Jan 30, 2020 6:57:19 GMT
It all depends on the content and strength of the material. I own some albums that are 10 tracks long and only have one good song and then I own other albums which are 16 tracks and every song is a keeper.
I would usually say the more music, the better, but that's only if the music is good and not packed with filler material just to fill up the disc.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 30, 2020 11:09:18 GMT
40 mins most of the time. If you can keep my full attention and mind for 70 mins, be my guest.
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TonyR
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Post by TonyR on Jan 30, 2020 20:22:38 GMT
Long albums if it's Dangerous.
Short albums if it's Invincible.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 30, 2020 21:51:36 GMT
Long albums if it's Dangerous. Short albums if it's Invincible. Its like Invincible is full of 12" mixes by accident.
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Post by Russg on Jan 30, 2020 22:42:52 GMT
Long albums if it's Dangerous. Short albums if it's Invincible. Its like Invincible is full of 12" mixes by accident. Do you think the songs go on too long then?
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Post by Deleted on Feb 1, 2020 8:48:12 GMT
Its like Invincible is full of 12" mixes by accident. Do you think the songs go on too long then? The first 3 especially. They would have been better as 3.5/4 minute tunes.
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Post by Cloudbuster on Feb 3, 2020 13:01:55 GMT
Neither.
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Post by MattyJam on Feb 3, 2020 13:18:33 GMT
I actually tend to gravitate more towards longer albums. I'm quite old fashioned in the sense that I still listen to albums as a whole, and rarely select individual tracks or playlists, so for me, I love nothing better than kicking back and putting on a record that's a good 70mins or so.
I do appreciate the conciseness of a great 9-10 track album, all no killer, no filler etc, but the lazy side of me gets annoyed when it's finished and I have to think of what I'm going to play next.
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Post by electriceyes on Feb 1, 2022 22:40:22 GMT
Most of my favourite albums are long.
I almost never play Thriller for example, because it feels like it's over before it's even began. Also, the trouble with short albums like Thriller is, if there's 2 tracks you're not that fussed on, you're left with, what, 7 tracks? I've never been fussed on TGIM or PYT, so I tend to just listen to songs from Thriller on playlists.
Whereas even if there's 3 or 4 songs I dislike on a 15-16 track album, there's still a good hours worth of music to enjoy on the rest of it.
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Post by butterflies2 on Feb 2, 2022 0:10:10 GMT
I like long albums so there’s variety to choose from, but how short the silk sonic album is made me appreciate short and sweet albums
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