Friday, February 15, 2019

Size matters


I came of age musically right as the CD began taking off. My first records were on vinyl and cassette but early on I was given my first CD (Queen’s News of the World) right as the format was taking over everything. Ry Cooder had released one of the first albums recorded entirely on digital. Dire Straits was hawking Phillips Compact Discs. The first wave of transfer of classic albums to this new format was underway, with the disastrous sonic consequences we all know (I still have some Beatles and Miles Davis AAD CDs from that period and they are unlistenable, even by today’s mp3’s standards).
Artists now had a much larger canvas to fill and record companies figured that people wouldn't feel they got their money's worth until every single nanobyte was used and the platter was nearly busting with ones and zeros. Blockbuster records were now nearly as long as double albums of yore. To compare, Appetite For Destruction and Achtung Baby clock in at 54 and 56 minutes each. Albums that are all killer no filler like Let It Bleed, Who's Next or Back In Black are usually between 38 and 45 minutes and double masterpieces like Exile On Main Street and Layla and Assorted Love Songs are 68 and 76 minutes each.

Not every band has an hour or more of great songs to release every couple of years. Which is why a lot of the albums started having more filler than before the 80's. Granted, bands also started taking their sweet time in between albums when classic bands would sometimes release several a year in the sixties and seventies. But the fact is as album length grew, quality dwindled.

It's even worse nowadays when every release (I won't call them albums anymore) is unconstrained by physical limitations. And if that wasn't enough, they all add five more songs which for some reason are considered "bonus tracks" although part of the release... But take the new Rival Sons album Feral Roots: at 47 minutes long it's lean and mean, without one bad song. It's probably their best release yet. Now take Iron Maiden's last record, 2015's Book of Souls. It has some great songs, even the long ones. But at nearly 93 minutes long it's absolutely indigestible.

Our attention span hasn't shrunk, it's the material that doesn't grab us. There is something to be said for working within a pre-determined frame. There is something to be said for learning to edit oneself. Not every thought needs to be spoken. Not every noise artists make make needs to be recorded and released. Bands need to leave us hungry for more, not feeling overstuffed.

Now get the fuck off my lawn!

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