But furthermore, as recording and writing are still in the process (while recording my computer hard drive decided to take a vacation from functionality) having all the tracks so far along, I’m at a loss as whether or not to finish the songs dynamically and theme wise according to track order and flow as they stand FOR the record, or to try to chase them down individually first, then let the tracklisting define itself and lend to changes later, and therefore, in my opinion, risk the flow. It doesn’t seem like they can be done at once, because once a good idea for a song clashes with its place in the album, either the idea or the flow will win out. To me, focusing on one song at a time helps find the idividual life of the song, its own sort of essence. However, occasionally, the changes can disagree with the album altogether, and although they make the song better, they can even kick some of my good songs out because they no longer seem to be capable of coexisting amicably. I’ll tell myself, “well thats what EPs are for”, but then again, why wouldn’t I put my best songs out there? Its a shame, getting just 10 songs to agree with each other often times seems like trying to walk 10 hungry rambunctious German Shepherds through a meatpacking factory.

So in todays day and age, is it?

Song substance > Album flow
or
Album flow > Song substance

As for album length, again, there are no hard rules. I do feel 40 minutes is just about ideal, though. It is long enough to convey several, multi-texutured ideas while its brevity avoids monotony.

In my limited knowledge of record mechanics I’ve come to the idea that fewer tracks and more substance is what makes for a better record. I more often find that its albums like Dark Side of the Moon that are concise with 10 tracks and full of quality music that are the albums I am more drawn to as a whole. That being said, Coldplay’s album “Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends” actually takes this a step further. Beyond the 10 tracks, 3 more are found either mentioned subtly or hidden entirely. Furthermore, all 10 tracks were designed very differently from each other, so that although from start to finish it functions well as a whole, I never felt like the tracks got monotonous, and never treaded previous ground. That being said, I feel it is a risky concept. Someone falls in love with the hidden track after a track they dont like, and the album could be difficult to operate. Furthermore, if there are 13 songs in a 10 track album, why not just include all in the tracklisting giving the listener more freedom to go where they want to go? Beyond this, I am also convinced shorter albums are much easier to focus and control from start to finish. I would rather have 50 minuts of music packed into 40 minutes rather than 60 minutes packed into 50. The attention span of a listener willing to check out a whole album seems to hover around 40 to 45 minutes. Albums that stretch out longer for me seem to lose focus and increase the likelyhood that I’ll skip tracks halfway through to save time.

Anyways, beside the rambling, my apologies for the shotgun questions. In your opinion, is it better for an album to have fewer tracks and a more densly packed quality (be it heavy or sparse content depending on the song), and better to contain unmentioned and/or bridged material(like double song tracks and hidden tracks) lending to more music for your buck? And what in your opinion is the best amount of time for a record to have assuming there are no filler songs and it retains concise structure, that the listener would be more likely to listen to it all the way through without stopping?

One of the richest experiences I live for is driving down to my local Rasputin (record store) and going to the indie clearance isle (where they sell CD’s for $.25 each) and just pick up about 20 CD’s, listen to them and discover all kinds of new music. So in conclusion, I think there is still a place for albums and I also apreciate the ability to purchase one track at a time. I couldn’t agree with you more on the idea of an album being an emotional journey and Dark Side Of The Moon is a perfect example.