Can length ruin an album?

[SteveO]

I have experienced albums that are too long whereby I am saying to myself Enough already...hurry up and finish !!!..lol and then there's the other side of the coin whereby the album is too short and it leaves you crying for more and saying to yourself...Rip Off !!!..lol

[hatchetman]

Songs like "Hotel California" are so long I could cry. But mostly I want more from an album, not less.

[mtthwibrahim]

It really depends on what's backing up that length. My second favorite piece of music (just behind "Black Saint and the Sinner Lady"), Feldman's "String Quartet No. 2", clocks in at over 6 hours, but it's so god damn perfect I don't even mind. But an album like the Beatles legendary "White Album" is so padded out with filler that it takes away from all the great stuff there

[Music Head]

It really depends on what's backing up that length. My second favorite piece of music (just behind "Black Saint and the Sinner Lady"), Feldman's "String Quartet No. 2", clocks in at over 6 hours, but it's so god damn perfect I don't even mind. But an album like the Beatles legendary "White Album" is so padded out with filler that it takes away from all the great stuff there

agree with the White Album comment

and 6 hours to listen to a piece of music, no thank you

[gater]

Yes. For example, as much as I love The Clash, "Sandanista" would have been a stellar single record set. Alas, as two discs, it falls very short of what I always thought it could have been, just as good as "London Calling" or their first album.

[SteveO]

The Beatles amassed several songs while in India during their failed Guru Expedition. They appear on The White Album including Lennon's controversial foray into experimental music - Revolution No.9. It's certainly an eclectic and diverse collection of songs composed by Paul, John and George in isolation.... and Ringo gets to sing his harmless novelty songs.
I fail to see any padding or fillers on this record. They didn't have to throw in junky fillers like so much of other mediocre here today/gone tomorrow artists have to do past and present ! Creativity poured out of them like water ! Remember this was the late sixties and not today !!!! Artists should be so lucky to get the Beatles' fillers !!!..lol
Tracks 6-17 or the Abbey Road medley were clips from just some of the Beatles' unfinished tracks.They were inundated with a lot of material..which I am almost certain appeared in the early solo works of Paul, John, George and Ringo.

It really depends on what's backing up that length. My second favorite piece of music (just behind "Black Saint and the Sinner Lady"), Feldman's "String Quartet No. 2", clocks in at over 6 hours, but it's so god damn perfect I don't even mind. But an album like the Beatles legendary "White Album" is so padded out with filler that it takes away from all the great stuff there

[hatchetman]

I've been thinking about this a little more. You know, if it's a good album, then yeah I want more, but if it's just an okay about, length can kill it.

[LMD]

I don't think I've ever run into an album that I really liked that was too long. I've run into a ton that I thought were too short and would give anything to have more from those time periods (See, Santana + McLaughlin's "Love Devotion and Surrender," Robin Trower's "Bridge of Sighs," or even Chris Isaak's "Forever Blue" for example). In a list of my top 10 favorite songs, I think 7 or so would probably clock in at 8 minutes or longer, so maybe I'm just crazy. I love long music and long albums, its like this awesome journey through some other reality, much like books and movies are. EP's have their place in the grand scheme of life, but I'd much rather have a "The Wall" or "The Neon God" 2-disc set than one album of 30 or 60 minutes.

Of course, on the flip side, if its a bad album I'll want it to stop sooner. But would the length really be "ruining" the album at that point, or would it just be that its a bad album in general that runs too long?

[Jerome]

If an album's too long for your liking press the 'stop' button. On the other hand if you feel it's too short you can do zip about it.

[CherieLuamboYampanyaStar]

Not really. A length does not play a big factor in whether the CD is good or not. It is whether music is really good or not. It really depends on the music itself.