Back in the day the vinyl album determined how many songs you could put on a record. It was like a quality policeman. Then CDs came in and changed stuff again. People thought it was a good idea to put 19 songs on a CD. In the 80/90s records got longer. Then i tunes and i pods came in and it all changed again. We're trying to decide how many songs we should put on our new album. We discussed it a few weeks ago when Fili was singing. I'd quite like 7. I think we decided on 10 at a maximum.
I think our best realised record is Japanese Graffiti. Not because it has better songs than the others or better playing but because it doesnt overstay it's welcome. It has 9 songs. Looking back I would now drop Shop Dummies and make it 8. I guess I'm a bit of a minimalist. I like short albums and short songs. It's a skill to get what you want down on a song in 2 and a half minutes and then get out of there quick smart. Dont get me wrong I like all 11 minutes of "Feels so good" by the Move but it would have been just as good at 3 minutes. The original of "Move on up" by Curties Mayfield is 11 minutes long. The version everyone knows is an edit at 4 minutes.
One song I wouldnt like to be edited is the live version "More than I can stand " by Bobby Womack. There's a 5 minute rap with the audience about finding his girl cheating on him and looking in the window and catching her. He does the stutter of the boyfriend and everyone in the audience laughs and at the end he even pretends the police are trying to close the gig down. It's 10 minutes long and worth every minute but would it still only be 79p on i tunes wheras Blitzkrieg Bop is probably 79p as well. Need to go and download them both.
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