Shortest & Longest LPs
- Thread starter JOv2
- Start date
LP vs. EP is a tough call. But sold as an LP, Gino Vannelli's Crazy Life clocks in at 23:58.
The longest LP I own? Its shorter side is more than five minutes longer than Gino's entire LP. Harry Connick Jr.'s Lofty's Roach Souffle is ~29 minutes on the B-side, and ~35 minutes on the A-side. Around 64 minutes total. Despite being somewhat compromised (it is cut at a lower volume), it actually sounds good. My favorite album of his, as it's all jazz trio performances. Side one is definitely the longest album side I have; one of Pat Metheny's albums (Letter from Home) has a side just shy of the 30 minute mark.
The longest LP I own? Its shorter side is more than five minutes longer than Gino's entire LP. Harry Connick Jr.'s Lofty's Roach Souffle is ~29 minutes on the B-side, and ~35 minutes on the A-side. Around 64 minutes total. Despite being somewhat compromised (it is cut at a lower volume), it actually sounds good. My favorite album of his, as it's all jazz trio performances. Side one is definitely the longest album side I have; one of Pat Metheny's albums (Letter from Home) has a side just shy of the 30 minute mark.
They can be but in most circumstances, they shouldn't be. When a whole album side is longer than many entire albums, you know it's been squished!
To cut something that long, the signal has to be kept lower so the grooves can remain narrow enough to hold the entire side. Not only width, but depth--those grooves were not cut very deep. (Both parameters are adjusted on the lathe before and even during a cutting.) So because the music is quieter, the background noise will seem as though it is louder. And as the groove gets closer to the middle, there's more distortion on playback.
I have quite a few approaching 50 if not exceeding it. Many Genesis albums are longer than 50 minutes--Foxtrot (~51), Selling England by the Pound (~53), A Trick of the Tail (~51), Wind and Wuthering (~50), ...and Then There Were Three (~53), Duke (~54), and those that followed were all 45-47 minutes, except for double albums (Seconds Out, Three Sides Live, We Can't Dance {which only had a very limited vinyl release in the EU).
Pat Metheny Group's First Circle lands at ~50 minutes, where Letter from Home is at ~62 minutes (and both sides seem like they are really crammed onto the record--I have both a US and a EU press of this one). Secret Story had a EU release on vinyl and is spread across four sides, but they squeezed nearly 24 minutes on side one, probably because track #4 is 10 minutes long; the three other sides are more reasonable. Side one still sounds really good, though, and they didn't have to approach the label area too closely.
Audiophile records will try to avoid two things--cutting too much time on a side, and cutting too close to the label. For 45 RPM, the practical limit is probably 14 minutes, where 20-22 is the most practical for 33⅓ RPM.
rockdoctor
Well-Known Member
My shortest lp would probably be Equinox by Brasil'66.
I think my longest is Mamas and Papas 16 Greatest Hits.
I will have to check.
I think my longest is Mamas and Papas 16 Greatest Hits.
I will have to check.
I suspect that the longest LP might turn out to be a classical album. I own this one on CD, but it was also a single LP, clocking in really close to one hour. It's had several different covers over the years, first released in 1960. ORFF: CARMINA BURANA, ORMANDY & THE PHILADELPHIA ORCHESTRA
28:52 on Side 1
29:18 on Side 2
28:52 on Side 1
29:18 on Side 2
Classical certainly has albums that could clock in over an hour, as there are many quiet passages which use up little real estate on the lacquer. A solo piano recording (like Glenn Gould's "Goldberg Variations") don't use much space at all. I don't have much classical on vinyl (I lean more towards DSD/SACD, high res or even CD for those, unless it's an all-analog reissue of a Living Stereo title), but I don't think any of mine approach half an hour per side. I'll have to take a look later on.
The Harry Connick Jr. album, looking at the record in good lighting, appears as though there's very little signal on it. That shows how low the record was cut to fit it all onto one disc.
The Harry Connick Jr. album, looking at the record in good lighting, appears as though there's very little signal on it. That shows how low the record was cut to fit it all onto one disc.
rockdoctor
Well-Known Member
I was correct on Mamas and Papas 16 greatest hits as my longest lp. The total time is 47:37.
