One track albums

[taminga16 (Greg)]

Hi Eric,
I have been away for a while and have just noticed your avatar, you are giving a a lot away , but it made me think about other one track albums, so here goes....

Neil Young. ARC.

Greg.

[Octane (Humayun)]

Pete Namlook and Tetsu Inoue - Shades of Orion.

Magic.

H

[erick (Eric)]

Interesting ask, Greg!

But one-track album, or one-track sides?

In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida (the track) was side two of In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida (the album)

If one-track sides: "Echoes", side 2 of Meddle - Pink Floyd

If one-track albums: "Thick as a Brick" - Jethro Tull (Yes, I reckon it can be argued that the track does continue from end of side one to side 2. I just checked - Wikipedia agrees.)

[Max Vondel (Peter)]

Fripp and Eno ~ Evening Star - side two "an index of metals" -29 minutes
It changes so slowly that you hardly notice it!
Brian Eno "Discrete Music" side 1, 32 minutes
And some "Acid Mothers Temple" albums

[MrB (Simon)]

The original "Tubular Bells" by Mike Oldfield
Part 1 - 25:29
Part 2 - 23:20

[gary]

Originally Posted by Max Vondel

Fripp and Eno ~ Evening Star - side two "an index of metals" -29 minutes
It changes so slowly that you hardly notice it.

In a similar vain, Eno & Fripp ~ No Pussyfooting with "The Heavenly Music Corporation"
on side 1 and "Swastika Girls" on side 2.

However, Eric's suggestion of "Thick as a Brick" is the one that instantly comes
to mind of what is essentially a single track that spans both sides. It was if they
only had to fade out on side 1 because of the limitation of the size of the vinyl.
In fact when you consider the LP's multi-page fold-out local newspaper cover,
arguably one of the most mind-boggling value-for-money LP covers ever produced,
it is as if the finite confines of the vinyl weren't enough as the whole concept spills
out into the third dimension of the packaging as well. Can't do that when your
album is distributed as an MP3 download.

[gary]

Originally Posted by MrB

The original "Tubular Bells" by Mike Oldfield
Part 1 - 25:29
Part 2 - 23:20

Hi Simon,

Indeed. And Oldfield's Amarok has a single 1 hour long tracking consisting of dozens of
movements.

[AstralTraveller (David)]

In the vinyl era one-track albums were very rare. I can think of Thick as a Brick and Passion Play (both Jethro Tull). Tales from Topographic Oceans (Yes) was four one-side pieces that were musically and lyrically different but conceived as being related 'thematically', but how you could ever work that out from the lyrics has me baffled (nice album though). In the CD era I think there have been a few. There have certainly been some 'ambient' albums. There are also those that have distinct movements but which play continuously (eg Pat Metheny's This Way Up which is subdivided into Opening Part 2, Part 3 Part 4).

One-track sides were more common. In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida (1968) was probably the first. I used to think Echos (1971) was second but the folk group Pentangle did Jack Orion (on Cruel Sister) a year earlier. After that they were almost common. Yes were very fond of them: Close to the Edge, all four sides of Tales and The Gates of Delirium from Relayer. Genesis all but did one (Suppers Ready), both sides of Fripp and Eno's first album and the second side of the second, Eno's Discrete Music (and in the CD era Thursday Afternoon), A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers (from Pawn Hearts by van der Graff Generator) come to mind. There must be more.

And there is!!

Frank Zappa - Lumpy Gravy (1967) Parts 1 & 2 now appears to be the first example of one-track sides and one-piece album. (How strange for Zappa to be seminal. )

Other examples include:

Miles Davis - *****es Brew (1969) Pharaoh's Dance and *****es Brew
Miles Davis - In a Silent Way (1969) Shhh/Peaceful and In a Silent Way/Its About That Time
Soft Machine - Fourth (1971) second side is Virtually Parts 1-4
McDonald & Giles (1971) second side is the Birdman suite
New Trolls - Concerto Grosso (1971) - Nella sala vuota, improvvisazioni dei New Trol
Deep Purple - Made in Japan (1972) - Space Truckin'
Mahavishnu Orchestra - Between Nothingness and Eternity (1973) Dream
Jade Warrior - Waves (1975) Parts 1 & 2
Tangerine Dream - Ricochet (1975) - Parts 1 & 2
Vangelis - Heaven and Hell (1975) Parts 1 & 2
Led Zepplelin - The Song Remains the Same (1976) Dazed and Confused
Vangelis - Chariots of Fire (1981) (title track)
Vangelis - Soil Festivities (1984) Movements 1-5

[gary]

Originally Posted by AstralTraveller

both sides of Fripp and Eno's first album and the second side of the second, Eno's Discrete Music

... Eno's Neroli (single 57 minute track) and his Thursday Afternoon (single 1 hour track)

[Ausrock (Chris)]

As an aside, JT/Ian Anderson has recently released (from the JT website..............."TAAB2 - Whatever Happened To Gerald Bostock? - is a full length Progressive Rock "concept" album worthy of its predecessor. Boy to man and beyond, it looks at what might have befallen the child poet Gerald Bostock in later life. Or, perhaps, any of us."

Also, A Passion Play came about when Tull returned to the UK after some form of tax exile, they had already recorded an album but it wasn't released (then), instead they started a new project which became A Passion Play. The unreleased album was one CD of the two CD set "Nightcap", the other CD was essentially all unreleased songs.

Originally Posted by AstralTraveller

In the vinyl era one-track albums were very rare. I can think of Thick as a Brick and Passion Play (both Jethro Tull).

[erick (Eric)]

Originally Posted by gary

...... the LP's multi-page fold-out local newspaper cover,
arguably one of the most mind-boggling value-for-money LP covers ever produced.....

Still have it, but you had to pick your LP carefully - most were warped due to the packing. I saw one once that threw the tonearm off the LP as it went over the hump!

[erick (Eric)]

Originally Posted by MrB

The original "Tubular Bells" by Mike Oldfield
Part 1 - 25:29
Part 2 - 23:20

Good call, Simon!

[Bassnut (Fred)]

I think these are one track albums.......

Thick as a brick, Jethro Tull. A classic.

Frances the Mute, The Mars Volta. One of the few contemporary prog rock outfits these days. Sort of Led Zep only tighter, faster, trickier and well........ better.

[Octane (Humayun)]

Here's a recent one, by the megagroup Transatlantic.

This is a 1 hour 20 minute track, titled The Whirlwind, performed live.

H

[Bassnut (Fred)]

Originally Posted by Octane

Here's a recent one, by the megagroup Transatlantic.

This is a 1 hour 20 minute track, titled The Whirlwind, performed live.

H

H, thats very good, thanks.

[Octane (Humayun)]

Fred,

You would appreciate their studio albums.

They're an incredible band.

Average track length on the first album was around 20 minutes, or so.

H

[Davi5678 (Dave)]

+1 on Frances the Mute, I was going to post that too, this could be renamed the prog rock thread

[Colin_Fraser]

Originally Posted by AstralTraveller

One-track sides were more common. In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida (1968) was probably the first.

Not quite, Alice's Restaurant by Arlo Guthrie 1967

[MrB (Simon)]

Originally Posted by Colin_Fraser

Not quite, Alice's Restaurant by Arlo Guthrie 1967

HAH! I forgot about that one!

I don't want a pickle, I just wanna ride my motorsickle.
I don't wanna die, I just wanna ride my motorcy..... cle.

[gary]

How about the other extreme? How about LP's recorded by a single artist or group
that had the most number of tracks and not counting "best of" style compilation
albums?

The first that pops into my head is The Residents Commercial Album which
when it appeared on LP in 1980, had 40 tracks, each exactly 1 minute long.

... plus they produced a video for every track.

Red Rider form the Commercial Album
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3g5wFHK42IU

Medicine Man from the Commercial Album
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxyvP...eature=related

Amber from the Commercial Album
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFHs3Wzd19U

So are there any other LP's that meet the criteria I stated in the first paragraph that
have a very large number of tracks that you can remember?

I am impressed by how many single track albums AstralTraveller could recollect
so I would be interested if you know of many LP's with lots and lots of tracks?