Album lengths in the U.S. and the UK used to be different. The U.S. standard in the 50's and 60's was between 11 and 13 songs, with most of them being right in the middle. Song lengths catered to what used to be the length of a song on a 10" 78 rpm recording, which was 2:30 to 3:30. Thus, it was that time length that became what represented pop radio, but usually a pop hit was 2:55 or less. By the mid-60's, song lengths for pop songs grew longer by a minute, which seemed exhausting. By 1967, your typical song gaining airplay on FM radio was 3 to 5 minutes, although what was on FM generally would never get airplay on AM radio, where pop was the king. You might hear the freaky stuff on FM, but you would never hear pop or easy listening.

I still stand by this, but the length of an album is anything longer than 26 minutes and 59 seconds. That was often the length of most albums in the 50's and 60's, which was 11 and 13 songs. In time, albums grew to be 30 to 35 minutes. Then artists pushed themselves to go between 35 to 40, and eventually 45 minutes, which was the norm for albums in the late 1960's and throughout the 1970's. Also keep in mind that this is all from a vinyl perspective, and any tape formats still catered to the record.

As the cassette grew in popularity, people liked the fact you could make a mix tape that was 60 minutes, which for a generation meant "an album plus a few B-sides", a mentality that still exists with older albums and CD reissues, the bonus tracks. By the late 70's/early 80's, albums on cassette started to be between 40 to 50 minutes. By the mid-80's, they were between 45 to 55. As the compact disc found its way in, the CD catered to the cassette and the record, in that order. The primary issue was that you didn't have to walk to your stereo to flip a record. The functionality of a record also allowed producers, engineers, and the artist to program the music in a certain way so that it would sound *and* feel good. In rock and pop, the first song was generally the loudest track, the most exciting. The last song on a side was usually a ballad, or something more mellow. That's due to how a record is designed. The closer the groove gets to the center, you have to compromise volume and dynamics, thus the reason why ballads were reserved as a side closer, or the end of the album.

Formatting it for two sides of the cassette was faithful to the record, the "two side" mentality but you didn't have to deal with vinyl dynamics. However, since vinyl was still the norm, most albums were designed with a record in mind. The same can be said for early pressings of CD's, where peak levels were low. They were still thinking in terms of vinyl, so while volumes were quieter on earlier CD, some will tell you that they sounded better, especially with CD's made after 1997 or so, when mastering techniques and brickwall limiting became an issue for making digital sound "better".

What the CD essentially changed is how an album was formatted. The level of pacing changed, for one didn't have to think in terms of creating two distinct sides, or "part 1" and "part 2" of an audio program. It was one continuous presentation. Now, in the era of the 78, albums were meant to represent, to some degree, a live performance. Albums back then were designed in a way where the first song was "the banger", and the last song would move you to want to experience the music again. While the compact disc removed the need to create two distinct sides/moods, removing it also left behind quality music and album programming, something I feel has been lost to some degree in the randomness of the custom playlist.

With the CD, it was possible for everyone to obtain a high quality version of the hit. With CD-R's, you could just burn what you wanted. With iPod's, you get what you want and that's it. While some may have felt that album tracks were nothing but "fatique", the song was placed on the album for a reason, even though the general consensus is that "anything that's not a hit is filler". Unfortunately, a lot of artists make way too much filler in order to sell product, so all they're worth is "the hit". See Beyonce for references.

There are still artists who create music with the old sensibility of album programming, and that still keeps true to the power of album integrity. Sadly, I think it's a dying art and yes, I call it art because it requires someone to design a program that is seemed suitable for the listener, to give them a certain amount of impact at the right time, and lighten up when needed. Arguably, it shows the power of the compilation, the "greatest hits" album, the soundtrack. Less people are willing to sit through an album, but they also lose out on a presentation that the artist felt was important enough to release.







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