Medieval Babes

Potential storage capacity of a physical medium should never determine length of content ... ideally, we're buying art, not artichokes. If a great book is only 100 pages, should we complain?

A CD can hold 80 minutes of music, but that certainly doesn't mean it must. If an artist has only 37 minutes of something to say, why should they say more? Especially if that 37 minutes is good, and even more especially if it's bad.

Market pressure on musicians to fulfill the maximum capacity of the compact disc is resulting in a glut of diluted and overly long records. Let's remember that some of the greatest albums of all time, some by The Beatles, for instance, are only 25-30 minutes. Quality, not quantity.

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...lightweight, saccharine simpering...

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Very nice! Ross, I see you were following Vuk's and Joe's statements. Damn you people You won't see any Pearl Jam chez moi though, that's a promise!

But hey, has anyone heard of these Medieval Babes???

As far as how long a CD should be my view is that in this day and age any artist should be looking to fill at least 60 minutes of a CD's running time, if they have the material and if they do not then they should either wait until they do or release what they have as a single.

cheers

Nigel

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As far as how long a CD should be my view is that in this day and age any artist should be looking to fill at least 60 minutes of a CD's running time

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Why?

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Just wondered if you and the Dreamhouse team are likley to do any gigs in Europe in the near future?

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From your mouth to NAIM's ears!

Near future? In geologic terms, yes ... the very near future. Definitely sometime in the new millennium (insert your favorite emoticon here)

But seriously, thanks for your interest. We would love to play anywhere we are wanted, logistics willing. Nothing booked as of this time. Would absolutely love to come back to Europe. Jonathan, you have my blessings to set something up. We'll be there.

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Enya makes the Corrs look like Pearl Jam.

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Nice one, Ross!

I can handle Watermark, and tried again with The memory of trees... which sucked, mostly. I even read some review of her latest effort where the reviewer praised the 37 minute release as ballsy and the mark of a well established artist !(my paraphrasing) A more cynical view is that the contract demanded another album, the record company wanted to get it out, it was tough enough to get 37 mins down, and having fulilled obligations... I think this squarley falls into the quality not quantity debate, but does this album* (EP?) fall into either category? Just curious.

*remember folks, there was a time when 37 mins was the norm (self-indulgent prog-rock triple albums aside), back when the earth was flat and LP12's roamed the plains freely...

Rico - musichead

cheers

Nigel

Joe

P.S. If the link doesn't work, just copy and paste this URL into your browser's location window: http://www.geocities.com/Yosemite/5473/enya.wav

[This message was edited by Joe Petrik on MONDAY 27 November 2000 at 15:06.]

Agree with Fred's point that when a thing is over, it's over, though I doubt it's too hard to add goodies to a finished CD: video footage, for example, doesn't intrude on the playback experience or artisitic intent in any way, but does add an extra tangible something which is probably available in many cases (at least cases as high profile as Enya's) for fans who want to stick it in their computer. Electronic catalogues with short sample tracks are another simple use of otherwsie dead space which might help the label make some more and help the listener find something new they like.

Vuk, that you can sweep aside Pat Metheny in a single line suggests you haven't listened very carefully, to the incredible breadth of output aside from anything else. "Song X" is nothing like "Still Life Talking", for example (though I love them both).

The Baebes are okay, though more about marketing than anything else. I'd suggest a trip to Linn's label site where all their discs are avaialble for a tenner and there's a very good selection of early music, especially vocal stuff.

Pete.

Jonathan, I haven't even tried to calculate my FEPs! Thanks for the Babes story, much appreciated. Thanks to Pete for the Linn label info. I'm sure they do look better than they sound, it's just that they sounded so different that it caught my attention.

Fred, sorry about pushing the short-length issue. I wasn't aware that you were a musician. It's just that I get so excited when I load a CD and find more than 60 mins of music because then the CD seems worth the price. Regular prices are ridiculous, you need to get them when they are on sale.

[ITALICS] The Memory of Trees [/ITALICS] wasn't that great, but this new release is good. I still wish it was a bit longer though. Also, it may be a bit longer than 37 mins. because when I load the CD, it shows nine tracks. However, when I actually let it play, it goes to 12 tracks. But it's still not close to 60 mins.

Another major rip-off these days are DVDs. I just bought [ITALICS] The Thomas Crown Affair [/ITALICS] for $12.99 CDN. on sale whereas its regular price was $22.99. The sale price was $1.00 less than the price of a newly released CD (example U2)! Where's the logic in that???

Q: why do they charge so much for CDs?

A: because they can.

That's about it. Damn site cheaper in N.America than Europe, mind...

Pete.

The boys in the UK pay a fortune for CDs. They pay in pounds what you pay in dollars, even though the sterling is worth about twice as much.

Even in the land of the free and home of the brave, CDs are fairly expensive (an average of $16 US, or about $24 Cdn). Canada, in comparison, has some of the cheapest prices I've seen.

Joe

One of my favourite bands is Morphine and they rarely reached 40 minutes. I love the music but it is still a rip-off.

cheers

Nigel

Haven't heard the Medieval Babes, and from the marketing pitch, it doesn't look like something I'm likely to chase. If you're interested in medieval vocal music beyond the illusion of busty serving wenches, look up the Anonymous 4 on the French Harmonia Mundi label, e.g., Love's Illusion or An English Ladymass for two.

Cheers,

John Schmidt
"95% of everything is crud" - Theodore Sturgeon

[This message was edited by John Schmidt on MONDAY 27 November 2000 at 21:46.]

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I wasn't aware that you were a musician.

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Please don't hold it against me.

Arun also wrote:

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It's just that I get so excited when I load a CD and find more than 60 mins of music because then the CD seems worth the price. Regular prices are ridiculous, you need to get them when they are on sale.

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And Nigel wrote:

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An arbitrary figure I grant you but given the price of CDs anything less is a bit of a rip-off.

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I agree that CD prices are high, and I sympathize with those not in the USA for whom the prices are even higher.

But, Arun, I'll bet you're decidedly not excited when you load up a CD with over 60 minutes and find that it sucks ... obviously, that CD doesn't seem worth the price at all.

And why should quantity of content determine worth regardless of quality? Don't you feel that for $8 a nice glass of Veuve Clicquot is vastly preferable to two bottles of André Cold Duck? I know I do, and for me, music is the same.

I've always felt that great music was worth any price, no matter the length ... even a single song ... if it moves me to tears or otherwise rocks my world, if it's music I can't live without it's worth it.

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Please don't hold it against me.

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Au contraire, mon frere. It's great to have musicians on the conference and people from all lines of work. It increases the variety of responses and topics.

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...if it's music I can't live without it's worth it.

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Well said. I agree with you all the way. Unfortunately, SOME people just don't realize that everyone has their own musical preferences!

It's also fairly well recorded stuff, and ideal for showing off the system (especially the deep bass bits - with the system cranked, I can get the sofa to jump (no kidding) - then again, that's not the object of the exercise

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The Baebes are okay, though more about marketing than anything else. I'd suggest a trip to Linn's label site where all their discs are avaialble for a tenner and there's a very good selection of early music, especially vocal stuff.

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I had a surf over to the Linn site but couldn't see any mention of the Baebes - I'd love to get a hold of their stuff on Vinyl if possible...

John

Pete.