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Bit OT: Songs That Are Too Long


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Age 15, first band. They asked me to join because I could play the whole long Light My Fire solo (7 minutes) on someone else's Farfisa. I'm glad I don't have to play that anymore. And there is a short version by The Doors (3 minutes).

 

Played In-A-Godda-Da-Vida, too (17 minutes!). At least LMF was a little interesting.

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I interpret the OP's question to be about songs that were good, but should have been ended much earlier.

 

1. "Abacab" is 6:55, but I don't need anything after 3:40. It could have worked if the instrumental solo led back into a climactic final chorus and/or verse, but without this the instrumental part just seems meandering. An example of where better producer input was needed (or needed to be heeded).

 

2. On Chicago III "Sing a Mean Tune Kid" is 9:15, but it should have ended at 4:20. This is part of a bigger problem, which is that album should have been 1 LP instead of 2. It would have been a pretty good single-LP album.

 

An underappreciated aspect of Chicago III is that their horns never sounded tighter, but the diluted songwriting compared to II or V obscures this.

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My nomination would be Dream Theater's The Astonishing...The entire album. A 34 song, 2 hour and 11 minute concept album. AYFKM? How in the world are you supposed to digest this record? They played this entire album on tour?

 

My problem isn't it's length, it's a concept album/rock opera, and many before it have worked. My problem is IT'S A TERRIBLE ALBUM! It's drab, is sorta Disney-ish but not hooky enough to be, sorta metal, but not heavy enough to be. It's the poor amalgamation of styles, none of which are done very well, and all come together in a muddy, unimaginative shade of brown.

 

But speaking of hour-long songs and color shades, on the flip side, are you familiar with Fates Warning's "A Pleasant Shade of Gray"? Now there's a 55min song (broken into 13 tracks) that ABSOLUTELY works, and doesn't feel long at all. One of my very favorite concept albums and in running for favorite album of all time.

 

As for Starship Trooper, see my above comment. The jammy bit is absolutely not too long, but no one ever remembers the vocal section before it. I wouldn't say it's "uninspired", but it's definitely not the masterpiece that Steve Howe's jammy coda is.

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As for Starship Trooper, see my above comment. The jammy bit is absolutely not too long, but no one ever remembers the vocal section before it. I wouldn't say it's "uninspired", but it's definitely not the masterpiece that Steve Howe's jammy coda is.

 

I thought Howes 'rockabilly ' guitar passage was clever. Very different from what most rock and blues guitarists were doing back then.

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Depends on what you mean by "too long", as the opposite can also be true.

 

Back when my 80's tribute band was still active, we were about to drop "I Ran" by A Flock of Seagulls, but decided to give it one last try with the long album intro dropped in favour of the extremely short pre-vocal section on the single. It went from being our concert-killer to the song that got everyone on the dance floor (if they weren't already)!

 

Contrarily, we were the only band that did the album versions of ANYTHING, in this region, and it drew an appreciative crowd as the parts that get dropped on the shorter versions are usually the very things that make the song sound less repetitive and make it unique. An example is "Love Shack".

 

I despise the medley concept with a passion, and don't get the point. Why work so hard on so many part-songs, miss what is unique about each, then jam them together with a similar beat, and often even the same key? It's the equivalent of a song that is too long and repetitive at that point. And it's a nightmare for sure, for the keyboardist, with the increased number of sounds that have to be reached and changed rapidly!

 

I've had it explained to me that it keeps people dancing and that they would get bored otherwise, which I don't buy into. One example is a 10-12 minute Madonna medley, covering close to two dozen songs. Believe me, we had NO trouble at all, getting people to stay on the dance floor (we were careful to avoid breaks between songs) for the full-on 12" mix versions of "Borderline", a custom long mix of "Holiday" etc.

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One of my bands does Kashmir. Perhaps too long, unless you are the keyboard player...love playing those harmonic minor string lines.

"We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing."

- George Bernard Shaw

 

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Todd Rundgren's "Hello It's Me". Great song marred by the irritating repetitious vocal chorus ending and the studio chatter at the beginning of the full version.

 

OTOH, Todd's original version with his group Nazz was succinct ear candy

 

[video:youtube]

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Bob Dylan - "The Hurricane".

 

I actually quite like it as a poem - it's unusual in that it's very literal.

 

But putting the lyrics to one side, 11 verses that sound musically pretty much exactly the same as each other is too much of a grind for me.

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Grateful Dead's "A Touch of Grey"...at 5:50 (album version) and 4:35 (single version), both are at least 4 minutes too long :)

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In my old time, when I was a teenager, hey Jude was the perfect Lenght to have a slow with a girl that was "ending well" for me....So, no, never shorten Hey Jude...

For Purple rain, we play it as the last song after 3 set of 16 songs, last song of our 3/4 songs encore and we play it until the weird strings part comes in, so, it's just a 5 mn song....which is good for the guys to catch up a girl too so, don't shorten it as well...Give them the time to "make it"....

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Depends on what you mean by "too long", as the opposite can also be true.

 

Back when my 80's tribute band was still active, we were about to drop "I Ran" by A Flock of Seagulls, but decided to give it one last try with the long album intro dropped in favour of the extremely short pre-vocal section on the single. It went from being our concert-killer to the song that got everyone on the dance floor (if they weren't already)!

 

Contrarily, we were the only band that did the album versions of ANYTHING, in this region, and it drew an appreciative crowd as the parts that get dropped on the shorter versions are usually the very things that make the song sound less repetitive and make it unique. An example is "Love Shack".

 

I despise the medley concept with a passion, and don't get the point. Why work so hard on so many part-songs, miss what is unique about each, then jam them together with a similar beat, and often even the same key? It's the equivalent of a song that is too long and repetitive at that point. And it's a nightmare for sure, for the keyboardist, with the increased number of sounds that have to be reached and changed rapidly!

 

I've had it explained to me that it keeps people dancing and that they would get bored otherwise, which I don't buy into. One example is a 10-12 minute Madonna medley, covering close to two dozen songs. Believe me, we had NO trouble at all, getting people to stay on the dance floor (we were careful to avoid breaks between songs) for the full-on 12" mix versions of "Borderline", a custom long mix of "Holiday" etc.

I am insulted by medleys. Hate them with a burning passion reserved for hell. Ive had 2 different bands propose we mash up a medley, i swore i would quit both times and killed the idea dead in the crib before it could breathe.

 

Not judging others. I dunno, its just a thing with me. Lol

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How about green grass and high times- good song idea that didnt know it should end. Same can be said for free bird, which im surprised wasnt mentioned yet.

 

I just listened to Bohemian Rhapsody with my daughter ... i guess its too long but its really 3 or 4 songs, none of which are too long. So ... no. Not too long.

 

A lot of Yes songs were too long. I love Yes but hated that endless aspect of prog. I never got Dream Theater, never liked them. i dont know their songs well but Ive done 3 gigs we split the bill with a DT tribute, I thought every single song was too long. i dont get why a concert.bar audience wants to hear even a single one of their songs, i just dont know wtf that even is. Its musical, sure, but its not songs. Its definitely not for me.

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The very first really long song I ever heard was "Goin' Home" by The Rolling Stones from their Aftermath album in 1966. Bob Dylan had done some songs around five minutes long but the Rolling Stones song was over eleven minutes. The local AM Top 40 station in my hometown would play it late at night which led to the song gaining some popularity locally.

 

[video:youtube]

 

There is more to the story of how a long song like this came to be. The Rolling Stones recording engineer at the time was Dave Hassinger and it was probably due to his influence that they were allowed to stretch the song beyond the usual three minute limit. Hassinger had previously won a Grammy for best engineered record for his work with The Chipmunks. He was a recording engineer at RCA Records in Hollywood where The Stones often recorded in the mid-60's. Hassinger first engineered some of The Rolling Stones Now! album released in early 1965. He went on to engineer many of their biggest hits including "Satisfaction", "Get Off My Cloud", "The Last Time", "Play With Fire", "19th Nervous Breakdown", etc. For the Aftermath sessions Bill Wyman credited Hassinger with making them feel comfortable and allowing them to take their time to experiment. Not only is "Goin' Home" one of the first long songs the Aftermath album itself ran over fifty minutes which may have been a first. Hassinger's involvement with long songs doesn't stop here. Later in 1966 Hassinger engineered Love's Da Capo album which contained the 18:57 "Revelation" which was possibly the first rock song to take up the whole side of an LP. Also in 1966 Dave engineered The Seeds Web of Sound album which contained the 14:45 "Up in Her Room". He then produced the first Grateful Dead's 1967 debut album which had the 10:01 "Viola Lee Blues" and 1968's Anthem of the Sun which had the 11:20 "Alligator" among other long songs. Also in 1968 Hassinger produced the Canadian band The Collectors debut album which contained the 19:06 side-long epic "What Love (Suite)". Doors producer Paul Rothchild no stranger to long songs also producing Love circa 1967 called Hassinger "...one of the great engineers in the world today..."

 

[video:youtube]

[video:youtube]

[video:youtube]

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Love 'em or hate 'em, there are many tunes out there--often from the 70's--that are WAY too long. Maybe we enjoyed them back in the day but now, not so much. Sometimes people run out of the room screaming after just a few opening notes. Perhaps shorter versions would be more appreciated.

 

Anyway, here are a few that come to mind:

 

 

[video:youtube]

 

 

[video:youtube]://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WUdlaLWSVM

 

 

[video:youtube]://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_MjCqQoLLA

 

 

Feel free to list your "favorites."

 

 

You can't include prog in any such discussion - the length of the song usually defines whether something is prog or not.

 

My view on songs that need to be shortened to zero:

 

1) Anything by Bruce "Don't Push Me" Springsteen

2) Anything by Santana

3) Anything by Don Maclean

 

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