perfect album length

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I reckon an hour as a general rule.

― monstatruk, Monday, 24 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

42 minutes.

― jel --, Monday, 24 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

38:58

― gareth, Monday, 24 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

53 minutes

― Melissa W, Monday, 24 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

30 minutes = it will fit on one side of a C60 = it is grebt

― RickyT, Monday, 24 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

If you can get your eleven-song LP to clock in at under half an hour, you're doing well.

― Tim, Monday, 24 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

What's all this about 11? The perfect number of tracks = 30/average length of track, obv.

― RickyT, Monday, 24 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

40 mins = 12 3-minute songs with a little extra time for gaps overrruns etc.

― Jez, Monday, 24 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

40 mins, because there are always three crap songs you can edit out when filling half a C60.

― B-Rad, Monday, 24 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

74 minutes. (Yes, I'm just saying that to be difficult. There IS NO PERFECT ALBUM LENGTH DAMMIT)

― Nate Patrin, Monday, 24 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

You'd think that under 30 minutes = good. NOT TRUE. "It's A Shame About Ray"- shortest top ten album in US history, sadly it's shit.

I'd say about 53 minutes.

― Dom Passantino, Monday, 24 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Should fit on half a C90 ~ 45 minutes, give or take.

― Mark, Monday, 24 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

As Mark said it should fit on one side of a C90. But usually a C90 is really a C94 and albums without filler are extremely rare. Therefore around 60 minutes with 3-4 songs of filler equaling 13 minutes is perfect.

― alex in mainhattan, Monday, 24 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Should be the length of a concise live show (sans encores & between- song tuning / swapping banter) == 38-42 minutes. This is ROCK minutes, though - I would think that a pop album should be shorter, and less structured forms of music are given more wiggle room.

― Daver, Monday, 24 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

So, 35 minutes then. Sounds about right to me.

― Jeff W, Monday, 24 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I really like losing myself in long albums.

― Melissa W, Monday, 24 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

No mora than 10 songs.

Timewise around 40 minutes.

― Marc, Monday, 24 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Five or six tracks, 30 minutes.

― Siegbran Hetteson, Monday, 24 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

There is no logical reason why the length of an LP should have been the ideal length for an album, but it turned out to be. 40-45 minutes is the Golden Rectangle of album length.

― o. nate, Monday, 24 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

c. 42 minutes - long enough to put on one side of a C90 with room for a short extra track by some random other artist.

― DV, Monday, 24 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

36 minutes. So I can fit two on a 74 minute CDR

No more than 12 songs EVER - same goes for gigs.

― Zanny G, Monday, 24 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I'd like to agree with Gareth. But I'm all for 36:47.

― Tim DiGravina, Monday, 24 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

You'd think that under 30 minutes = good. NOT TRUE. "It's A Shame About Ray"- shortest top ten album in US history, sadly it's shit.

There's no way that album made the Top 10 in the US, unless it was modern rock, or CMJ or Gavin charts (which don't count for anything).

I'm sure the Beatles had records under half an hour that topped the US Pop Charts (they were all hacked up, but still).

― Vic Funk, Monday, 24 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

The 60s are full of popular albums that clock in at less than 30 minutes.

Right now, I'm thinking of the early Byrds albums in particular. 12 songs, only a handful going past 2:30. Some shorter than 2 minutes.

― Oliver, Monday, 24 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

As long as it needs to be.

― Ned Raggett, Monday, 24 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Ned, that's CRAZY TALK! 45 minutes or less (or the pizza... er, CD is free)

― Nate Patrin, Monday, 24 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Twelve inches.

― John Darnielle, Monday, 24 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Definitely no longer than 50 minutes. Perfect is between 40 and 45.

― electric sound of jim, Monday, 24 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Depends who the artist is. Stereophonics: one thousandth of a second, tops. Al Green: about twenty hours, please.

― Martin Skidmore, Tuesday, 25 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

33 minutes. This is just long enough to hear it all on my average bus journey to school.

― Anna Rose, Wednesday, 26 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

No, wait, wait -- I've finally figured it out. 54 minutes, 17 seconds. If an album is not this length then it can GO TO HELL.

― Nate Patrin, Wednesday, 26 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

An interesting focus. But to repeat, as long as it need to be. :-)

― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 26 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

An interesting focus. But to repeat, as long as it needs to be. :-)

― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 26 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

*hiccup*

― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 26 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

45 Minutes, plus 32 minutes of bonus tracks, demos, alternate takes, etc.
Damn straight. If I'm gonna pay $18 for this, I want my friggin money's worth.

― Lord Custos III, Wednesday, 26 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I don't care how long the album is, just QUIT IT with the stupid "hidden" songs at the end of the CD...

― henry scollard, Friday, 28 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

CONGRADULATIONS! YOU HAVE FOUND THE SECRET POST AT THE END OF THE THREAD!

― Lord Custos III, Saturday, 29 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

six years pass...

is 36 too short?

― Surmounter, Thursday, 12 March 2009 00:02 (seventeen years ago)

no, but 35 is

― Tracy Michael Jordan Catalano (Jordan), Thursday, 12 March 2009 00:03 (seventeen years ago)

― Surmounter, Thursday, 12 March 2009 00:03 (seventeen years ago)

it's funny, on the hands of a clock, i always feel like once you've gotten to 36, the hour's as good as over

― Surmounter, Thursday, 12 March 2009 00:03 (seventeen years ago)

EP-length albums (under 25 minutes) are cool, especially in hardcore punk and '60s pop music. Longer than 45 minutes can't fit on one side of a C-90; hence, a bad idea.

― xhuxk, Thursday, 12 March 2009 02:13 (seventeen years ago)

(Ah, just noticed somebody else made the C-90 point seven years ago here. Good.)

― xhuxk, Thursday, 12 March 2009 02:14 (seventeen years ago)

i was raised on C-90s but seriously they're pretty irrelevant these days (unless you own irreplaceable recordings) and C-90 concern shouldn't force an album below 45 mins when it's a 50-minuter by nature

perfect album length is generally somewhere between 35 and 75 minutes but it really depends on musical ambitions

― This is the day when fisticuffs happened everywhere (country matters), Thursday, 12 March 2009 02:21 (seventeen years ago)

ok. cuz i put mariah's Rainbow on last night, and it was 55 minutes in length, which made 38ish seem too short. no?

― Surmounter, Thursday, 12 March 2009 13:39 (seventeen years ago)

i think hitting 40 is always good, maybe

― Surmounter, Thursday, 12 March 2009 13:41 (seventeen years ago)

i think the albums i listen to the most from start to finish tend to run around 30-50 minutes. i'm having trouble thinking of 65 min. + that i regularly listen straight through

― mark cl, Thursday, 12 March 2009 13:55 (seventeen years ago)

unless i'm cleaning the apartment or the turtle's tank or something

― mark cl, Thursday, 12 March 2009 13:56 (seventeen years ago)

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