EXTENDED PLAY

Fifteen very long tracks by long-haired men under the influence of flared trousers:

1. A Treatise on Cosmic Fire (36.00) Todd Rundgren 1975
2. The Ikon (30.22) Utopia 1974
3. Dazed and Confused (live) (26.53) Led Zeppelin 1976
4. Supper’s Ready (22.58) Genesis 1972
5. Nine Feet Underground (22.40) Caravan 1971
6. The Gates of Delirium (21.55) Yes 1974
7. Ritual (21.35) Yes 1973
8. Ricochet Part 2 (21.05) Tangerine Dream 1975
9. The Remembering (20.38) Yes 1973
10. The Revealing Science of God (20.27) Yes 1973
11. Healing (20.00) Todd Rundgren 1980
12. Close to the Edge (18.50) Yes 1972
13. The Ancient (18.34) Yes 1973
14. Singring and the Glass Guitar (18.24) Utopia 1977
15. Shine On You Crazy Diamond (17.34) Pink Floyd 1974

Notes

‘ Treatise on Cosmic Fire’ came with the warning that the grooves were pressed so tightly, a worn stylus would ruin the record instantly.

The two chief culprits here, Todd and Yes, are more closely related than their trans-atlantic roots might imply. Todd Rundgren’s wife is on record lamenting that his career took a downward turn after he discovered Yes. “Every morning I woke to ‘Roundabout’ at full volume and every day he would say his ambition was to write a song as good as ‘Close to the Edge’”

source: Eric Lumsden (thanks to my brother for sending me this list, though it has brought back horrid memories of actually being forced to listen to this sort of stuff in my childhood!)

Further Notes (RcL)

Dorset popologist Marco Rossi adds the following: Aumgn by Can (17.32) (the same LP, Tago Mago, also contains Halleluhwah at 18.32), Pink Floyd's Echoes (23.27) and Van der Graaf Generator's Plague of Lighthouse Keepers / Eyewitness (23.05) which is a whole side long, but is it one song or two? He also notes, from an earlier period, Love's jamathon Revelations (18.57), though maybe stoned jams ought not to count, in the same way I wouldn't let jazz creep cat-footed into the list, since the jazzers just carry on regardless for hours as long as they get applause from beardies now and then?

This whole list pales into significance when you visit www.dprp.vuurwerk.nl/specials/longsong/list.html and see this fellow's comprehensive list, including a 154 minute track from Klaus Schulze, though some might class him as sort of jazz-space-rock.

Away from the silly areas of prog and jazz, there is The Velvet Underground's Sister Ray (17.27), Crispy Ambulance's fab The Presence (13.01) and Television's Marquee Moon (10.40). The longest top 10 hit was The Orb's Blue Room in 1992 (40.00) though the 67 minute EP did contain a radio edit. At the other pole, the shortest hit song I could think of was The Buzzcocks' Love You More (1.46), but I now spot that Buddy Holly's Baby, I Don't Care beats it by ten seconds. I'm sure there are shorter ones... I'll get back to you on this. Rave on!