0

Since the discovery of the compact disk today's albums can reach up to 80 minutes of play.

I was wondering what is the shortest in length album (LP) ever released?

GGGE
  • 245
  • 1
  • 9
papakias
  • 915
  • 5
  • 16
  • 1
    Depends on what you consider an album... Here's a two links to lists other people have put together with things they consider full albums (not EP's or singles), which are really short.

    https://www.albumoftheyear.org/user/toasterqueen12/list/14861/shortest-albums-of-all-time/

    https://rateyourmusic.com/list/Turkey_Beard/short-dogs-in-the-house-the-shortest-albums-ever/

     – cnamejj May 28 '21 at 07:28
  • 1
    Well I guess if the artist considers it an album it is an album. On the other hand laying 1 second with sold intention to break the record is no appreciated. But that's art I guess – papakias May 28 '21 at 11:13
  • 1
    Of the ones on the list, I think the Minutemen album is pretty clearly intended to be a full album, and it's ~15 minutes long. Some of the others are, well, less clearly intended to be taken seriously. :) – cnamejj May 28 '21 at 19:57

5 Answers5

3

I believe that Elvis Presley's "It Happened at the World's Fair" held this record officially for some years. According to Wikipedia, it is 21:21 in total, somewhat longer than Billy Bragg but shorter than all of the others in namezero's answer.

Lefty
  • 721
  • 4
  • 9
2

I think the definition of "full length" is quite malleable, anyway, but it appears to be somewhere around 28 minutes.

A quick search came up with this source of the shortest 10 albums:

The Byrds – Notorious Byrd Brothers (1968; Columbia) Duration: 28:28

Serge Gainsbourg – Histoire de Melody Nelson (1971; Philips) Duration: 28:04

Nick Drake - Pink Moon (1972; Island) Duration: 28:23

Fela Kuti – Expensive Shit (1975; Soundsworkshop) Duration: 24:02

Ramones – Ramones (1976; Sire) Duration: 28:52

Prince – Dirty Mind (1980; Warner Bros.) Duration: 29:57

Billy Bragg – Life’s a Riot with Spy vs. Spy (1983; Utility/Polydor) Duration: 15:17

Slayer – Reign in Blood (1986; American) Duration: 28:00

Big Black – Songs About Fucking (1987; Touch and Go) Duration: 29:08

Against Me! – Transgender Dysphoria Blues (2014; Total Treble) Duration: 28:48

namezero
  • 144
  • 4
1

Nobody on these kinds of lists ever shows any love to KISS. Dressed to Kill is under thirty minutes and included the original studio recording of the classic Rock and Roll All Night.

RockFan60609
  • 11
  • 1
1

Shortest album I know is 17 minutes total. It's "All day sing and dinner on the ground" by the Statesman Quartet.

Jim Bryce
  • 11
  • 2
0

the album Bathory by Bathory (1984) clocks in at around 23 minutes long with ten tracks including an intro (Storm of Damnation) and an outro (The Winds of Mayhem)

Varg Worshipper
  • 1
  • According to its Wikipedia page "Bathory" runs 26:52. Several shorter albums have already been mentioned here. – PiedPiper May 27 '21 at 21:21