Rating Compact Albums

[videoheadcleaner]

Okay, hard to define but I mean albums that only have 4 or fewer tracks. Or in some cases (like Brian Eno or The Necks) 1 track.

How can you rate it objectively then place next to dozens of other albums with 10 tracks or more?

[Guest]

What do you mean? e.g is it an LP or EP? I mean some tracks are very long like in Metal Machine Music or in GY!BE albums, so they may even be longer than albums with 20 tracks, so where is the difference? The fact that a 30-minute track isn't split into three or four tracks doesn't mean too much.

[videoheadcleaner]

For example, Brian Eno's I Dormienti is one track at 40 minutes long. It is considered an album and after listening to it, it might make it on a year chart somewhere down the track. However, as iTunes and the rise of digital downloads has conditioned us to listen to and rate tracks, how do we assess an album with one track? Sure, you could split the track into its movements or time where you consider the track to ebb and flow but is this accurate?

I guess my point is that if I rate a one track album 5 stars for the track, it doesn't mean it is a perfect album. Also I am probably tired and reading too many drafts has ruined my brain. As well as ambient music has got a hold of me recently.

[SquishypuffDave]

I imagine in that case you'd judge the song according all the properties you look for in an album; cohesion, consistency, pacing, etc. If a perfect song isn't a perfect album to you, then that's how it is. If an album of lesser length is of lesser merit to you, then that's how it is.

[paladisiac]

mike oldfield "tubular bells" comes to mind. i kind of think of it as rating each long track based on the average of its "suites" or movements. In that, i'll have an average album rating, i suppose. But really, i just come up with an overall rating of how i like the track. It's just a more extensive exercise of the usual act of rating.
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[videoheadcleaner]

Thanks for the ideas people. Will look into it.