# What's the longest single album track you know? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 1, 2019, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-single-album-track-you-know/834855 "2019-06-01T00:28:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2019, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-single-album-track-you-know/834855/41 "2019-06-01T21:58:20Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > The longest LP track I’ve listened to more than once on purpose (I’m a Pop music girl-- 4 minutes or less!) is Rare Earth’s cover of Get Ready which clocks in at 21:30. To be honest, I think it’s the epitome of self-indulgence and just breaks down into random noises after 15 minutes or so. As a confessed pop music lover and modern jazz hater, my taste my be suspect. I didn’t actually like that song before I heard that version, which I enjoy just because it’s so _different_ from everything else popular that’s out there. I know that psychedelic soul is a thing but I couldn’t name you any other prominent examples that have an extended freakout. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2019, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-single-album-track-you-know/834855/42 "2019-06-01T22:05:17Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > Mike Oldfield has both of those beat with _Tubular Bells_. The album itself is a single composition of 48 minutes and 50 seconds, split over two sides of an LP. The single (which got to #7 in the US) edits this down to just 3 minutes and 18 seconds. Vat am I, chopped liver? Mike got that beat with Amarok, see post #2, even if you counted it as one song, which it isn’t. Plus TB 1 is definitely two tracks, with part 1 ending after the Master of Ceremonies section with Viv. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2019, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-single-album-track-you-know/834855/43 "2019-06-01T23:51:35Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Vat am I, chopped liver? Mike got that beat with Amarok, see post #2, even if you counted it as one song, which it isn’t. Plus TB 1 is definitely two tracks, with part 1 ending after the Master of Ceremonies section with Viv. \*Amarok \*never charted. _Tubular Bells_ did. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2019, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-single-album-track-you-know/834855/44 "2019-06-02T01:57:43Z")
Not the longest in this thread by any stretch, but probably the longest in my personal collection is “Supper’s Ready” which takes up all of side 3 of the Genesis live album “Seconds Out”, and clocks in around 25 minutes. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2019, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-single-album-track-you-know/834855/45 "2019-06-02T06:08:17Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > \*Amarok \*never charted. _Tubular Bells_ did. The charting question started at post 29. Perhaps you don’t know Amarok, which is a pity. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2019, 8:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-single-album-track-you-know/834855/46 "2019-06-02T08:59:06Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Vat am I, chopped liver? Mike got that beat with Amarok, see post #2, even if you counted it as one song, which it isn’t. Plus TB 1 is definitely two tracks, with part 1 ending after the Master of Ceremonies section with Viv. (1) _Amarok_ did not see release of itself, or any part thereof, as a single. (2) Even if you count the album release (being that it consists of one piece) as a single, it didn’t chart in the US. (3) Even if you count _Tubular Bells_ as two tracks, each of them is still longer than the examples presented by **Helmut Doork**. > [@Voyager](#): > > The charting question started at post 29. Yes, and that’s the post I replied to. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2019, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-single-album-track-you-know/834855/47 "2019-06-02T09:08:24Z")
Firesign Theater’s **Don’t Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me the Plier** s is two LP tracks telling one long story, most of it non-musical, for a combined length of 46:27. “This Side” is 22:14 and “The Other Side” is 24:13. “Alice’s Restaurant” has to be up there. ---
**Author:** ![Helmut\_Doork](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e8c25b/32.png) [@Helmut\_Doork](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helmut_Doork)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2019, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-single-album-track-you-know/834855/48 "2019-06-03T00:36:25Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > Mike Oldfield has both of those beat with _Tubular Bells_. The album itself is a single composition of 48 minutes and 50 seconds, split over two sides of an LP. The single (which got to #7 in the US) edits this down to just 3 minutes and 18 seconds. thanks! I got this from a late 70’s Book of Rock Lists, clearly it was wrong!🙂 ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2019, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-single-album-track-you-know/834855/49 "2019-06-03T14:31:57Z")
Sorry, thought I was making a new thread. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f8ce5/32.png) [@The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Peyote_Coyote)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2019, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-single-album-track-you-know/834855/50 "2019-06-04T03:43:00Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > The longest LP track I’ve listened to more than once on purpose (I’m a Pop music girl-- 4 minutes or less!) is Rare Earth’s cover of Get Ready which clocks in at 21:30. To be honest, I think it’s the epitome of self-indulgence and just breaks down into random noises after 15 minutes or so. As a confessed pop music lover and modern jazz hater, my taste my be suspect. I’m a jazz fan, and I thought it broke down into random noises well before 15 minutes. ---
**Author:** ![Junior\_Spaceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Junior\_Spaceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Junior_Spaceman)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2019, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-single-album-track-you-know/834855/51 "2019-06-04T06:03:40Z")
Gavin Bryar’s track ‘Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet’ has a CD version of about 74 minutes. From memory, the composer’s idea was that the track would go as long as the modern recorded format would allow, so in 1975, it was a 25 minute LP side, then a full 74 minute CD. Since music now is digital, and effectively of unlimited length, I wonder how far it might be pushed. (The spirit of the composition is that even though it is based on a tape loop, the accompaniment is played in real time, so it’s not just a matter of cutting and pasting an endless version). ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2019, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-single-album-track-you-know/834855/53 "2019-06-04T12:25:05Z")
Just out of curiosity, what is the longest possible track on a vinyl LP? I always thought Dylan’s Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands would be up there because it took up an entire side, but others were longer. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2019, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-single-album-track-you-know/834855/54 "2019-06-04T12:48:01Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Just out of curiosity, what is the longest possible track on a vinyl LP? I always thought Dylan’s Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands would be up there because it took up an entire side, but others were longer. If you define LP to mean a 33 1/3 RPM 12" record, then normally these hold up to 45 minutes of music (divided over two sides), though some formats went up to 52 minutes. By using narrower grooves, you could go even higher, though this made the records quieter and more fragile. [Wikipedia’s “LP” article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LP_record#Playing_time) gives one example of an LP with 90 minutes of playing time (_90 Minutes with Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops_). So with the same configuration, you could theoretically get a single track of music lasting 45 minutes. If you use a lower rotation speed, you can pack even more audio onto a disc. [Wikipedia’s article on unusual record formats](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unusual_types_of_gramophone_records) lists one published record with a turn speed as low as 3 RPM (though alas, without the playing time) and another unused format that plays at 4 1/6 RPM (with one pressed example fitting 10 hours per side, and a theoretical maximum of 12 hours). ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2019, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-single-album-track-you-know/834855/55 "2019-06-04T13:37:14Z")
The longest actual song in my music library is “The Giddy Limit Bonus Mix” by Professor Elemental, at 42:54. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-single-album-track-you-know/834855.md?page=2)