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Should albums have more songs on them?


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Old 09-10-2011, 16:55
Shadow2009
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I mean, most albums these days are between £7 - £10, and considering the average amount of tracks on an album is 12, I don't think it's really worth the money. I mean, artists take a year to record an album (sometimes two years, sometimes even three or four) and I find it hard to believe over that period of time they've only found 12 decent songs to put out to the public. I think that's one of the factors of why album sales are dead. If you're a Katy Perry fan, and you've already bought the five singles and then decide you want the album, what's the point in handing over money for an extra five or six songs?

I remember Christina released 'Bionic' last year, didn't that have 20+ tracks?
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Old 09-10-2011, 17:01
kazozh5
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I mean, most albums these days are between £7 - £10, and considering the average amount of tracks on an album is 12, I don't think it's really worth the money. I mean, artists take a year to record an album (sometimes two years, sometimes even three or four) and I find it hard to believe over that period of time they've only found 12 decent songs to put out to the public. I think that's one of the factors of why album sales are dead. If you're a Katy Perry fan, and you've already bought the five singles and then decide you want the album, what's the point in handing over money for an extra five or six songs?

I remember Christina released 'Bionic' last year, didn't that have 20+ tracks?
and we all know how bionic done haha. on a serious note the more songs they include on an album, the more the artist/ record label have 2 pay for producers, songwriters etc especially when the artist themselves dont write or produce in most cases e.g. Rihanna. Also I think if u have a standard 12 track album it leaves open the choice of releasing a deluxe later on. but in general the bigger artists e.g. gaga & katy perry will release both a standard & deluxe at the same time so you have the choice
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Old 09-10-2011, 17:22
Slojo
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Gaga's Born This Way Delux edition had 17 tracks on the main album plus another 6 on the additional remix disc so Good value for money as far as I'm concerned

On a wider note I think quality is more important than quantity ---- I would rather have an album with 12 good tracks than one with 20 poor tracks.
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Old 09-10-2011, 17:37
Eraserhead
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It's a legacy from the days of vinyl. One side of an album could only hold about 20-25 minutes of music or around 5-6 songs of standard length of about 4 minutes each.

So a new album by any artist would only be 10-12 songs in length with a running time of around 40 minutes.

With the advent of CD an album could stretch to 70 minutes but few artists chose to write albums that long.

Now with mp3s and downloading an album's length is theoretically unlimited but I guess there's a limit to our attention span. I think an hour is a reasonable length for an album. That's about 15 songs on average.
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Old 09-10-2011, 17:45
little-monster
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I don't like albums that have about 15 songs or more. They become boring and it's like the rest is all filler.
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Old 09-10-2011, 18:15
redlight79
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I don't like albums that have about 15 songs or more. They become boring and it's like the rest is all filler.
Totally agree. Between 10 & 14 is usually best. Madonna normally only has 10, though she recently she has used 12. I'd rather have a album which is short and amazing, rather than an album with pure filler. Shakira's a good example, She Wolf is an amazing album, and only 9 songs (though I have added Waka Waka, Loca and Give it Up To Me, therefore bringing it back up to 12).

Mind you, I have been altering album recently. The Wanted's debut album is also really good (with the exception of Golden, Hi & Low, and Weakness, which are cut off my iPod). I also am looking forward to their next album, but 18 songs is too much, so I will get the deluxe album, and trim the rubbish songs, because there sometimes are really decent songs on deluxe albums.
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Old 09-10-2011, 18:22
O.Michel
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Well, I don't care THAT much as long as ALL the songs are amazing with no fillers and of course as long as the overall tracklist is cohesive, makes sense and completes a concept.However, most of the albums today have at least 2 fillers and some random songs on there, so when I see an album with less than 10 songs, I am a bit underwhelmed tbh, but I've learnt to not mind anymore And artists seem to be more focused on their concept when the tracks are less, so it's all good.When I TRUST and have faith in the artist, I don't mind the number of the tracks
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Old 09-10-2011, 18:24
little-monster
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Some short albums can be amazing

Back to black is 11 songs with a total time of 35 minutes and that is one epic album.
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Old 09-10-2011, 19:39
_Venger_
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My most fav albums off all time are usually on average 9 - 11 tracks long

Killer over filler for me ANYDAY
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Old 09-10-2011, 19:54
Eraserhead
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Some short albums can be amazing

Back to black is 11 songs with a total time of 35 minutes and that is one epic album.
Very true. "Pink Flag", the début album by Wire, packed 21 songs into 35 minutes, each one of them a gem.
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Old 09-10-2011, 20:28
cnbcwatcher
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The deluxe version of Britney's Femme Fatale has 16 songs and it's one of my favourite pop albums. There are very few (if any) fillers.
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Old 09-10-2011, 22:27
getty
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I think the absolute maximum an album should have is 13, the ideal number being 12. Anymore than that and it'll be filler.
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Old 10-10-2011, 01:37
Robotrock04
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Agreed regarding shorter albums, so many albums I like would probably benefited if they were shortened down. MJ's Invincible is one I really like but it could do with being shorter, its 77 minutes long with 16 tracks :O

Janet Jackson sometimes makes her albums too long with the little interlude things she does in a lot of them too I think
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Old 10-10-2011, 04:36
MikePJB
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When albums I'm really excited for only have 10 songs or something it's a bit disappointing. Rihanna's 'Loud' and Beyoncé's '4' are both great albums and are 10/11 songs long. I would've liked more, but I'm happy the way they are.

Also I see some people say they'd rather shorter albums without filler, well why can't an album have 16 songs without filler? You don't only have to have only 10 brilliant songs, why not 16 brilliant songs. Saying that I guess between 12-14 is ideal.
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Old 10-10-2011, 19:07
Nemokins
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Always remember quality over quantity :P
Albums can take a long time to be released, so I'd personally hate to see them taking longer just to bring more content into it that's on par with everything thats meant to be on it
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Old 10-10-2011, 19:09
mimicole
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Some of my favourite albums only have around 11 songs on them.

examples:

Crazy For You - Best Coast
Light Me Up - The Pretty Reckless
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Old 10-10-2011, 21:04
CLL Dodge
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Quality is more important that quantity but it seems a rip off when an album is about 40 minutes long and there are other songs recorded at the same sessions that turn up as extra tracks on singles releases.
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Old 10-10-2011, 21:09
RussellIan
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ABBAs The Visitors is perfect with its nine tracks.

I do however love the extra four on some of the later editions (Under Attack, TDBYC, Should I Laugh Or Cry, You Owe Me One), but it leaves me with a dilemma. Whilst each track could have very authentically been linearly 'worked' into the album at a certain point on its own merit, and that would make for even more fantastic, enhanced listening; it wouldn't be the masterpiece that ABBA created back in 1981.
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Old 11-10-2011, 08:24
gagarules86
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I don't think there should be a rule on how long an album should be. It's quality over quantity either way.
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Old 11-10-2011, 11:15
siriusrose
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I don't think just because an album has 13+ songs that it means some of them must be filler, especially when a lot of artists take 2 years or so to create the album.

I personally don't think an artist should release an album until it has atleast 12 tracks, it feels unfinished to me, if they have more than that I don't think they should just not include them because it makes the album long. So basically include as many song as are worthy, if you don't have 12 worthy songs then is the album really finished?
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Old 11-10-2011, 11:18
Coen
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Some of my favourite albums have 4 or 5 tracks, but each track is 10-15 minutes long.

These aren't pop albums though, they're post-rock.
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Old 11-10-2011, 11:36
O.Michel
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I don't think just because an album has 13+ songs that it means some of them must be filler, especially when a lot of artists take 2 years or so to create the album.

I personally don't think an artist should release an album until it has atleast 12 tracks, it feels unfinished to me, if they have more than that I don't think they should just not include them because it makes the album long. So basically include as many song as are worthy, if you don't have 12 worthy songs then is the album really finished?
That's actually a great point.I hadn't thought of it this way
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Old 11-10-2011, 11:46
shelleyj89
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I remember Christina released 'Bionic' last year, didn't that have 20+ tracks?
Christina's always had long albums. BTB was a two disc album with 22 tracks overall, and overall Stripped was 20 tracks. The delux edition of Bionic was 23 tracks. IMO pretty much all of those songs have been quality songs too.
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Old 11-10-2011, 12:20
ags_rule
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Nah I prefer an album with 8-10 meticulously worked tracks rather than 14+ filler. My favourite albums:

Appetite For Destruction - 12 tracks
Master of Puppets - 8 tracks
Rust In Peace - 9 tracks
Paranoid - 8 tracks
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Old 11-10-2011, 12:24
myscrapbook2011
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I have all of Steps Albums and I noticed that Step One had 12 tracks, of which, 3 were filler. Steptacular had 14 and had 1 filler track. Buzz had 15 and and had no fillers.
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