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EPs Vs. Albums - what do you think?
the_pied_piper:
--- Quote from: Hat on 06 Feb 2009, 13:18 ---The idea that the difference between an EP and an album should be determined by track quantity rather than by the total recording length, to me, implies that you have never listened to a band with a song much longer than 5 minutes.
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This is very wrong. In fact, many bands i listen to have tracks over 5 mins, several over 10 mins even. I say that i prefer an EP to have less tracks as the bands with short songs will put out an EP that is short in length and it will be called an EP by all while several people, possibly yourself included, will call what i would call an EP (4-6 songs) an album, e.g. Explosions in The Sky - All of A Sudden I Miss Everything is ~45mins but with only 6 tracks. Personally, i would call this an EP regardless of track length (you might disagree) but that is how i refer to an EP.
--- Quote from: the_pied_piper on 06 Feb 2009, 12:01 ---I realise this leaves 7 but i haven't yet come across an album (mini-album perhaps?) with 7 tracks, it just seems a strange number.
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Note: I should have researched a little better as How, Strange Innocence has 7 tracks.
--- Quote from: Hat on 06 Feb 2009, 13:18 --- It just seems really arbitrary, and although while vinyl is still produced, there is still some kind of legitimate need to have the term EP still exist, I think the definitions of what an EP is that people are coming up with here are entirely pointless and silly.
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I agree that the definitions of an EP are arbitrary but that is why the question "What do you think defines a good EP (in terms of length, tracks, how often they're released etc.?" was asked. It wasn't for someone to come in and say definitively this is an EP, this is an album; just to say what they think.
Harun:
a good ep is an ep that doesn't have songs that are also on (later) lp's. live songs and covers are also nice, but are usually mediocre/lame.
i'd rather wait until the band has enough songs for an LP
michaelicious:
EPs are great. Lots of truly wonderful records are EPs.
Belle & Sebastian have pretty great EPs.
Bedhead's EPs are incredible.
Vaya is my favourite At the Drive-in record.
Burst & Bloom by Cursive is excellent.
Barely Real by Codeine is also excellent.
Colossal's Brave the Elements is tops.
Deerhoof have a pretty good track record for EPs.
Memento Mori by Ghosts & Vodka manages to accomplish quite a bit in only 10ish minutes.
Metal Circus has some of my favourite Hüsker Dü stuff.
Rome is far and away my favourite recording by Les Savy Fav (apart from Inches, which is just a collection of singles as well).
Neko Case's Canadian Amp EP is pretty cool.
Pipas have pretty much only released EPs and they have all been solid.
All Through a Life by Rites of Spring. I don't really need to say anything about that one.
Desert Strings and Drifters and Pause and Clause by Sharks Keep Moving are both spectacular.
Spoon's Love Ways and Soft Effects EPs rank pretty close to the top of their output.
Times New Viking's Stay Awake can only be described with two words which are "Hell Yeah".
I dunno if anyone here even knows this band, but The Vermicious Knid's Days That Stand Still is among my favourite records ever.
You Were Always is a pretty new band who have put out two spectacular EPs so far.
That's just off the top of my head. I think the evidence speaks for itself.
Hat:
--- Quote from: the_pied_piper on 06 Feb 2009, 16:07 ---This is very wrong. In fact, many bands i listen to have tracks over 5 mins, several over 10 mins even. I say that i prefer an EP to have less tracks as the bands with short songs will put out an EP that is short in length and it will be called an EP by all while several people, possibly yourself included, will call what i would call an EP (4-6 songs) an album, e.g. Explosions in The Sky - All of A Sudden I Miss Everything is ~45mins but with only 6 tracks. Personally, i would call this an EP regardless of track length (you might disagree) but that is how i refer to an EP.
--- End quote ---
--- Quote ---I agree that the definitions of an EP are arbitrary but that is why the question "What do you think defines a good EP (in terms of length, tracks, how often they're released etc.?" was asked. It wasn't for someone to come in and say definitively this is an EP, this is an album; just to say what they think.
--- End quote ---
But if two people are trying to say "what makes a good X" don't they first have to agree what does and doesn't constitute X to a certain extent? I mean, maybe you define an EP by the number of tracks, but I remember a while back when a friends band of mine released a five track CD going for something like 55 minutes, and how sensitive two of the members were in regard to it being referred to by the street press as an EP, because they had basically sweated out a piece of work clocking in significantly longer than a lot of albums, and felt the term EP downgraded the sheer amount of effort that had been put into it. I just don't think track length OR quantity is really good enough to differentiate between an EP and an LP in all circumstances, hence my distaste for the term. I mean, if we use track quantity as the distinguishing feature of an EP, then Dopesmoker is a single. The only remotely satisfactory definition I can think of is 'a release of substantially shorter duration than the average output of that band', and even that has almost as many problems as your definition, such as the question of how can a band know what their average album length will be when releasing a debut EP.
E. Spaceman:
--- Quote from: the_pied_piper on 06 Feb 2009, 16:07 ---
This is very wrong. In fact, many bands i listen to have tracks over 5 mins, several over 10 mins even. I say that i prefer an EP to have less tracks as the bands with short songs will put out an EP that is short in length and it will be called an EP by all while several people, possibly yourself included, will call what i would call an EP (4-6 songs) an album, e.g. Explosions in The Sky - All of A Sudden I Miss Everything is ~45mins but with only 6 tracks. Personally, i would call this an EP regardless of track length (you might disagree) but that is how i refer to an EP.
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By this definition, Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven which has 4 tracks would be an EP. Given that it is in fact a double album we can safely discard this idea as being utterly wrong.
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