OK i know alot of people when they buy a cd want a FULL cd, i worked in Music Retail for a long time and about 90% of the younger buyers look at a CD's for the amount of tracks. So im requesting to any artist that caters to that mentality, you will have no career if you do. The argument is made that cds are too much and people want a full cd for their money, BULLSHIT, i was just looking through some old vinyl i had and came across a genius purchase i made back in 1985 (i think) It was the "DREAMS" soundtrack, this horrible John Stamos show about a band and i wasted 6-7 bucks on this way back in 1985, which was probably my whole allowance, so the kids of today complaining about prices,lifes a gamble sometimes, grow up.

Now the issue of the 80 minute cds, this has to stop. Lets be honest, outside of Best of's, concerts, compilations, no artist has done a solid 80 minutes. I look at my favorite cds of this year and no one of them are 50 minutes, and most of them are 10-12 tracks at the most. So new artists and older ones (u know who u are) stop it with 80 minutes where only about 30 are worthy of recording time, stop it with skits,interludes and moaning when u cant think of enough tracks. The 80 minute cd is why music and artists just outright suck, its why when you buy a cd that you get hit with 18 tracks and only 10 are good if your lucky, sorry folks 10 for 18 is only a good average for Baseball players not artists or wannabe artists, or older artists trying to appeal to that mentality.

Well, there's no "80 minutes CDs anymore".

Everybody go for the "30 minutes CDs" hype and guess what? They're STILL a filler.

Harlepolis said:

Well the quality of the artists will drop mainly because a label will sign anyone, but i find ALOT of older artists (janet,Prince and some others) tend to think throwing 18 tracks together is something worthy, well its not. If you look at the evolution of Vinyl to CD this is where the artist quality died out, sure there are shitty 30 minute cds done. But the CD generation is so used to skipping tracks that they dont really mind that 12 out 18 tracks suck because they can skip it, or program it out. Back in the Vinyl day, no one wanted to get up and lift the needle, you had to keep people interested. Technology is not always a good thing.
[Edited 10/29/06 22:13pm]

Thats why I always thought that Prince was smart when he made LoveSexy track-less

i applaud the shorter length cd's of the past year.

I'm a sucka for the long ones lol maybe becoz I love double CD/LP set albums

My favorite P album is Dirty Mind, and that has to be barely a half hour.

I would rather have a half hour of great music rather 70 minutes of mediocrity.

However 70 minutes of great music still should be the goal.

What about SOTT?

there is a difference in artist thinking when they do a double album or when they do an 80 minute cd. Christina Aguilera's "back to basics" is an example, obviously a double record and it should have been for the difference in music, but alot of people complained because the running time of both discs added together came to 78 minutes which could have fit on one cd. I just feel when an artist fills it with 80 minutes and tons of tracks, they are saying too much, its hard to even keep the mood and the feel of a record that long.

jacknapier said:

Artists have a different mind set when they do Double albums as opposed to just filling a cd with 80 minutes of music, its not the same process.

I agree that 80 minute of quality music is much appreciated, but to be filled with tasteless fillers hell to the nah

Arab music started off with a single track back in late 40's, and carried on that way untill almost the teens of 50's and then it's become 2 tracks untill the late 70's.

80's was the changing point when artists would put out 6 tracks on a cassette (whoa), then the mid 90's came and the revolution begun, all the lables started following what's going in the West by producing 11 track albums untill the 00's came and the craze really SHIFTED.

Now we got artists putting out up to 16 track LPs (no remix included btw), all new material and the shoot like 4 ot 5 singles from that album and flood the channels and radios with them which seriously suck (Unless it's a good 16 tracks, which is RARE)

I agree that 80 minute of quality music is much appreciated, but to be filled with tasteless fillers hell to the nah

Arab music started off with a single track back in late 40's, and carried on that way untill almost the teens of 50's and then it's become 2 tracks untill the late 70's.

80's was the changing point when artists would put out 6 tracks on a cassette (whoa), then the mid 90's came and the revolution begun, all the lables started following what's going in the West by producing 11 track albums untill the 00's came and the craze really SHIFTED.

Now we got artists putting out up to 16 track LPs (no remix included btw), all new material and they release/shoot like 4 or 5 singles from that album and flood the channels and radios with them which seriously suck (Unless it's good material, which is RARE)
[Edited 10/30/06 4:13am]

I wouldn't mind an 80-minute CD if it was truly inspired and interesting.I recall back in 1992,Prince released 'Love Symbol' and Madonna released 'Erotica'.Those CDs seem to go on forever but the music is so good that I don't really mind.Imo,there's no filler on those albums and I can listen to them all the way through.

One word: Words

if that aint filler David, then lord help us all.

SoulAlive said:

I remember this vividly. When it's quality it's great, but of course most think their album is great music. The others don't care, just buy their record.

I can deal with musical intros, outros and reprises but skits and interludes are the worst.

It depends, I mean, OK Computer is a relatively long album as is Sign O The Times, and both are solid from start to finish.

What really drives me nuts is when they waste time putting a bunch of pointless seques on an album. Do we really need to hear Mary J Blige's answering machine messages?

I think the only time I enjoyed skits and segues on an album was with De La Soul Is Dead.

Tom said:

I heard that sequence for the first time just recently and thought it wuold never end. It really is pointless.

I think mostly my point is that alot of artists and labels give in to the idea of just filling up the cd is what makes it better and certainly alot of the consumers feel that way too. I also think an artist when they sit down to do an album have an idea of what they are doing, Prince when he did "Sign of the Times" had the concept ready and that would be different than just having a couple of good songs and throwing on another 10 to fill up the cd space. With alot of new artists today what the label will do is sequence the cd so "the hits" are the first 2-3 songs and the rest is just filler, they figure alot of people are buying the cd just for those 2 or 3 songs because there arent any actual single releases so they dont really care about the rest of the record.

true. I was trying to get into Erasure lately, only to find out they have a gazillion CDs, and there's alot of crap to sift through to find the good stuff. I downloaded a huge collection of all of their albums (sorry guys!) but so far it's been kind of annoying going through all the glut to find the good stuff. Not only with individual CDs, but with their overall output, I think it's not such a bad idea for artists to edit themselves a bit more. I remember back in the early 90's I was the exact opposite, thinking they should release everything (back when Prince was fighting WB), but now I feel a little different about it.

Tom said:

I agree, Tom. I think that self-indulgent, ignorant and embarrassing skits are part of the reason radio and R&B and hit-pop are falling. I mean, really, how many answering machines, ghetto-esque phone calls, shootouts, etc. can y'all really do?

Yeah, I mean of course the fact that there are so many artists out there, and music really is so easy to create with technology, you dont need a band, or even instruments, just get some beats and loops and u can create so many songs so quick, this another reason why i think albums are loaded with tracks. I mean the only time i want to hear that much from an artist is in concert and then i want my 2+ hours, but on a cd, just give me a solid 35-50 minutes and im set. Even albums that i overall like, i find that if they are loaded with tracks i tend to not play them through on future listening, or even remember what song was what.

namepeace said:

Those "Leave A Message" intros are classic!

The answering machine to a Mary J Blige album is essential as is the thunderstorm to a Janet album.

CinisterCee said:

two times!!

I think it just depends.

Personally, I thought that George Michaels last one was a tad too long...but for someone that comes out with an album every 6-7 years, I don't mind..I have 6-7 years to enjoy that lengthy CD. I think many artists do it because they are lucky to actually put out a single or 3 and get some of these songs on there as B-Sides...and considering no one buys singles anymore...well there you go.

Likewise when other artists go the other way like Sade who comeout with an album per decade and then all we get is 40 minutes or less? I feel cheated.

Perfect timing I think is about an hour. More than that is too much.

lastdecember said:

I think when you are clocking in close to 80 it's best to break it up into 2 CD's and pop on a few extra somethings so it goes past the timed mark of 80, so you don't get those complaints.

sosgemini said:

I don't listen to Dwele's some kinda as much because the intros are trifling and annoying.

sosgemini said:

Even worse than that: "Did You Do It?"

Tom said:

For Erasure...Everything pre Erasure is worth checking out...everything after, you gotta be a fan for that. But you know, their album lengths tend to be spot on.

sosgemini said:

Words is a great song. Could have done without Rain...but I am in the minrity on that one. Did you do it was complete filler.

Emancipation is a clear example of someone needing an edit.

Harlepolis said:

really smart, if kind of annoying. I remember holding down that fast forward button in my car, and my hand would slip and skip tracks instead, staring the whole album over!

I like the occasional double album or long album, but most artists can't pull it off. Only the great ones and only once in a while.