Bad opinions • Page 849

everything since tlla has been extremely good if not great

 

To be clear, that’s what I was saying. Varying from good to really good

 

Was just making my agreement known haha

 

Mind you, I don’t think their last two records are bad at all, far from it. TLLA however is this pure emotional catharsis of a record, it’s just hits you so hard and it’s truly one of the best post-hardcore albums of the 2010’s, it’s lightning captured in a bottle. You have to be a true soulless monster to listen to and not be moved by this moment of emotion and grief channelled through TLLA. When I say they live in the shadow of that, that’s what I meant. Many bands come and go without putting out something as substantial and moving like TLLA is, it’s not a truly bad thing but imo, they’ve yet to put out an album since that truly eclipses that experience.

 

here it is my worst opinion

if your new album is between 47 and like 54 minutes, honestly just edit it down to a SLIGHTLY shorter length to get it onto a single LP (assuming you're gunning for an eventual vinyl release). I can't tell you how many albums I haven't bought on vinyl just because I don't want to flip sides every 12 minutes. if you're headed for 2LP town get that fucker up over an hour. but I mean, really, you don't have that much tier-1 material, do you now?

one cool idea would be to hold back a few songs for the CD release. CDs are good and sound great and are presumably somewhat more energy efficient as far as physical media goes. also you can manufacture them whenever you want!

 

Genuine question: are there any double albums that WOULDN'T have benefited from being edited down into a single album? I can't think of any off the top of my head. I also have a poor attention span tho. Even with my queen xtina I almost never listen to her double album Back to Basics in its entirety because it's so long

 

going by the "exceeds the capacity of a single vinyl record" definition there are lots that justify being longer than that

 

if youre annoyed at the antiquity of physically using vinyl then maybe you shouldnt be using vinyl… because it is antiquated

 

These CD things sound great. I can see them becoming the dominant physical media.

 

if auto companies get a bailout CDs should have gotten a bailout

 

Collecting/listening to vinyl has definitely helped me appreciate the virtues of a really tight 30-40 minute album. Of last six AOTY winners, five of them were 10-song albums. But I'm surprised at how often I see people around here criticizing a 10-song album and acting like they need to have bonus tracks or b-sides to be substantial enough. I can't think of many recent 15-20+ song albums that couldn't stand to lose a few weaker tracks.

 

Optimum album length obviously varies based on the style - a straight ahead punk record really has to have something about it to be longer than 30 minutes whereas a prog record that length would leave you feeling underchanged - but optimum number of tracks always seems to be about the same to me. Once you go beyond 10 or 11 songs it becomes quite unlikely that it couldn't do with some editing.

 

If you're a professional band, write good songs put them on the record. A band like Bad Religion can put out 15-16 track album that's awesome that comes in at 36 minutes-38 minutes. Each song belonging to the record. Digital has opened us up to the opportunity of offering more than the physical mediums could ever do before. I love robust album eras by bands. I feel it allows them to be more creative. I think of things like Gaslight Anthem's Handwritten album era. 15 originals and 3 covers.

Craig and I have differing opinions on this. I am one those of one those people. It's really a personal preference in how and where you consume music.

 

I haven’t bought a CD since 2013, I do not miss the format.

 

30-40 mins is ideal, 45-50 mins is fine, 60+ means there’s a chance it could use some editing

 

Listen to better bands and then you can handle longer records….but to each their own.

 

PBtT and Deafheaven are making me wonder if I don't have a tendency to prefer (competent) cleans overall

 

Outkast - Speakerboxxx/The Love Below?

Bo Burnham - Inside?

M83 - HUWD?

 

Speakerboxxx/The Love Below would definitely benefit from some trimming

 

How many minutes would you trim out?

 

78:23

 

CDs rule imo

still among the best and now one of the cheaper ways to hear music digitally

 

You really need to earn it if you exceed 45 minutes for me lately. But plenty of albums earn it.

 

I don’t mind something lasting around an hour if I’m on a drive. But I’m an a big album era person

 

A 30-45 minute album's a beautiful thing. It does seem pretty rare for double album to feel like it doesn't need at least a bit of editing.

I think this is where I'm at. Not a popular opinion anymore, but other than albums recorded via analog (When you hear stuff like Mbv - Loveless and Fleetwood Mac - Rumors on vinyl it really does sound like the definitive versions imo), to me the pros outweigh the cons by far.