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March 28, 2024, 02:42:33 PM

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Albums that are particularly short

Started by shlug, January 03, 2022, 12:42:55 AM

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cosmic-hearse

'London Calling' by The Clash is just over 60 minutes long but also a double LP, so it is simultaneously short & long

purlieu

Quote from: thecuriousorange on January 03, 2022, 06:51:44 PMI don't think there's even been a double album that couldn't be whittled down to a superior single disc. Quality control usually takes a large hit in the unfocused second half.
I find it very difficult to believe that classic albums like Dead Cities, In Sides, Music for the Jilted Generation, Dubnobasswithmyheadman, 76 14, Selected Ambient Works 85-92, Music Has the Right to Children, Tri Repetae, Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld, Zauberberg, Dig Your Own Hole, Modus Operandi, Homework or Substrata would benefit from being cut down to 38 minutes.

Midas

Richard D. James Album by Aphex Twin came out on a single 12" in '96. Running length: 32:51. In 2007, the same artist released The Tuss - Rushup Edge, a 32:48 EP released across three separate records with one track on each side.

Was surprised to hear Blackstar playing in the supermarket a few days ago but it turned out to be Stevie Wonder singing Someday At Christmas instead.

The Mollusk

One of my fave ever short albums is "Horse of the Dog" by Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster. 25 mins of raw buzzing demented evil rockabilly noise. The energy on that thing is completely wired and batshit, soon as the bass opens the first song my heart rate goes up and my hands go into fists.

The last and longest track on the album closes it perfectly in a snarling sluggish crawl, and feels like it holds up a stern finger that says "if this album went on any longer it wouldn't be as good".

Sebastian Cobb

Cutting Mellon Collie down to a single side would be a daft thing to do given a lot of Pumpkins' contemporaries were releasing short stuff that made punk sound overproduced, a double-plater of pure self-indulgence was perfect.

shlug

Quote from: thecuriousorange on January 03, 2022, 06:51:44 PMI don't think there's even been a double album that couldn't be whittled down to a superior single disc. Quality control usually takes a large hit in the unfocused second half.

I agree with this sentiment in most cases but there's some double albums that lose their way in the mid point instead before coming back through on the other half. Daydream Nation for one comes to mind (although admittedly they throw an absolute stinker with Eliminator Jr to finish instead of ending on Hyperstation).


badaids

Gainsbourg's L'histoire de Melody Nelson feels like it's nearly an hour long, but it's only like 27 minutes.  Such a brilliant record, and one where the extended version really is great too.


phantom_power

Bowie's Station to Station isn't exactly short (nearly 40 minutes) but I always wish it had more songs on it, as the 6 that are on it are so fucking brilliant

I remember Supergrass's Road to Rouen being short and surprisingly underwhelming, like they were basically out of ideas and had padded an EP's worth of tracks out with a bit of useless filler.

gilbertharding

I remember finding out that Superfuzz Bigmuf isn't an album. Could have fooled me.

amateur

Weezer - Pinkerton (34:36)
Weezer - Weezer (The Green Album) (28:20)

Good albums imo

Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth

Quote from: The Mollusk on January 03, 2022, 08:37:50 PM"Horse of the Dog" by Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster.
This was the first thing that popped into my head upon seeing the thread title. Even the comparitively long follow up, The Royal Society, was still fairly brisk at about 45 minutes.

The Mollusk

Quote from: Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth on January 05, 2022, 12:01:27 PMThis was the first thing that popped into my head upon seeing the thread title. Even the comparitively long follow up, The Royal Society, was still fairly brisk at about 45 minutes.

TRS doesn't capture the same frenzied energy of the debut, and although I know that's intentional and they were expanding their sound it unfortunately didn't win much favour with me. Even revisiting it years later I found it pretty underwhelming.

IIRC "Blood & Fire" seemed to then toe the line pretty well between the two, being 37 mins and a more polished attempt at the heavy madness of the early stuff. I need to go back and listen to that more.

Ambient Sheep

The Sugarcubes debut album, Life's Too Good clocks in at just 33:05 but never feels like it; it's almost perfect.

lipsink

Quote from: shlug on January 03, 2022, 12:42:55 AMPersonal favourite of mine but Spiderland is surprisingly short at just under 40 mins. I love how unique and droney the album is so I could do it with being longer as the time just flies by whenever I listen to it but equally it feels like the climax to Good Morning Captain comes in at the perfect point so I wouldn't want to spoil it so I'm a bit conflicted.



I recently rewatched the 'Breadcrumb Trail' documentary where one of them said it was originally going to be an 8 track album but they decided to leave 'Pam' and 'Glenn' off the album to make it more sparse. I think it works better without those songs but it definitely feels a little short.

Mogwai's third album 'Rock Action' really could do with 2 more songs on it. After 'Come On Die Young' the band purposely RA really short to kind of be contrary (according to Stuart Braithwaite anyway)

Butchers Blind

Brakes album Give Blood from 2003 clocks in at 28:57 and good with it too.

shlug

AJJ's People Who Can Eat People are the Luckiest People in the World is one of them similar to what I said about Milo Goes to College where the short length stops the lack of variety become grating. Probably more so in fact as a lot of the songs sound incredibly similar.
Thankfully they added a bit more variety and instrumentation on Knife Man to justify it's longer length.

The Mollusk

Quote from: Butchers Blind on January 05, 2022, 08:42:49 PMBrakes album Give Blood from 2003 clocks in at 28:57 and good with it too.

There's nowhere near enough love in the world for this tremendous band!

An extremely short album I heard recently and enjoyed was Candlepower, the debut album by Marina Allen. A very soft, slightly jazz-inflected album with Karen Carpenter-esque vocals. Fans of Weyes Blood might enjoy it. The review below mentions it as being 7 tracks and less than 20 minutes. From the tracklisting at the bottom, I make it less than 17 minutes. I suppose you'd have to call it a mini-album really.

https://www.loudandquiet.com/reviews/marina-allen-candlepower/

Another that springs to mind is Diamond Mine by King Creosote and Jon Hopkins. Also 7 tracks, but positively bloated by comparison at 32 minutes 11 seconds.


the science eel

Nobody's mentioned A Hard Day's Night yet! the greatest short album of alllll

bgmnts

Electric Six's Fire is probably not short enough to be considered particularly short at 38 mins or so, but most of the best tracks are like 90 seconds to 2 and a half mins long and it's a quick listen.

It's also ace.

Spiteface

Quote from: lipsink on January 05, 2022, 03:40:19 PMI recently rewatched the 'Breadcrumb Trail' documentary where one of them said it was originally going to be an 8 track album but they decided to leave 'Pam' and 'Glenn' off the album to make it more sparse. I think it works better without those songs but it definitely feels a little short.

Mogwai's third album 'Rock Action' really could do with 2 more songs on it. After 'Come On Die Young' the band purposely RA really short to kind of be contrary (according to Stuart Braithwaite anyway)

Yeah, I think especially after Godspeed You! Black Emperor did Lift Your Skinny Fists, people were expecting Mogwai to follow suit and do a double album as well. I remember the belief at the time was that My Father My King should have been on the album, but they did that recording with Steve Albini afterwards. It would have been back when they were still in the mindset of singles/EPs being standalone things.

I don't think MFMK would fit with that album anyway.

Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth

Quote from: The Mollusk on January 05, 2022, 01:52:26 PMTRS doesn't capture the same frenzied energy of the debut, and although I know that's intentional and they were expanding their sound it unfortunately didn't win much favour with me. Even revisiting it years later I found it pretty underwhelming.

IIRC "Blood & Fire" seemed to then toe the line pretty well between the two, being 37 mins and a more polished attempt at the heavy madness of the early stuff. I need to go back and listen to that more.
I like The Royal Society, but it is indeed a bit of a gear change from Horse of the Dog and could maybe have done with a bit of trimming.

I remember feeling trepidation about Blood and Fire because it had been so long since they'd done a full length album, only for it to win me over instantly. Here's a rather good b-side from then.


Hat FM

Quote from: Darles Chickens on January 04, 2022, 10:57:42 AMI remember Supergrass's Road to Rouen being short and surprisingly underwhelming, like they were basically out of ideas and had padded an EP's worth of tracks out with a bit of useless filler.

No way! great album!

#55
Quote from: Hat FM on January 11, 2022, 02:57:37 PMNo way! great album!

Should probably give it a re-listen one of these days. I remember loving the opening track, and the rest fading into a mush of meh. Particularly Coffee in the Pot.

Edit: Gonna do it now, I've got a spare half an hour.

Pauline Walnuts

Quote from: lipsink on January 05, 2022, 03:40:19 PMMogwai's third album 'Rock Action' really could do with 2 more songs on it. After 'Come On Die Young' the band purposely RA really short to kind of be contrary (according to Stuart Braithwaite anyway)

It needed 2 more good songs on it.

timebug

Dylan's 'Blonde on Blonde' double album was noted at the time, as side four of the vinyl release only had one song 'Sad Eyed Lady of The Lowlands' which clocked in (from memory!) at around twelve and a half minutes; which was short-change even back then, for an album, where a side generally ran to about twenty to twenty five minutes.

JaDanketies

This 16-minute Ska Grind album Le Scrawl - Eager to Please used to be my jam after I saw them at Brutal Assault festival. This thread was a nice reminder to listen to it again and maybe check out some of their other stuff

Johnny Yesno

#59
Torture Garden (1990) by Naked City comprises 42 perfectly formed tracks in 25m46s.


Naked City - Torture Garden: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccyhnJo00Y4

Cartooom! (2004) by Plus-tech Squeeze Box is 28m05s long and has 13 tracks.


Plus-Tech Squeeze Box - CARTOOOM! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UpwGaUonuQ

Both are extremely dense content-wise and are as long as they need to be. They're much longer albums compressed into a shorter space of time.