What are the best albums with five tracks or less?
December 23, 2014 8:59 AM   Subscribe

I recently discovered that I have access to Sony's Freegal music download service via my local library, but my limit is five tracks a week. Since I prefer to get full albums, I'm wondering what your favorite albums are with five tracks or fewer. So far I have Miles Davis' Agharta but that's it. I'm a fan of jazz and rock.
posted by Clustercuss to Media & Arts (34 answers total) 10 users marked this as a favorite
 
I nominate Animals by Pink Floyd.
posted by Gelatin at 9:05 AM on December 23, 2014 [6 favorites]


...and for that matter, Wish You Were Here.
posted by Gelatin at 9:06 AM on December 23, 2014 [9 favorites]


Best answer: If you like Miles Davis, In a Silent Way has only two tracks (each an album side long). It is an amazing piece of work.

also good:

John Coltrane: My Favorite Things (4 tracks)

John Coltrane: A Love Supreme (4 tracks)

Charles Mingus: The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady (4 tracks)
posted by jammy at 9:07 AM on December 23, 2014 [3 favorites]


Is there a length limit? A lot of post-rock bands like Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Explosions in the Sky like to use just a few tracks with long, multi-suite running times.
posted by Rhaomi at 9:10 AM on December 23, 2014


Razor Pony by Dave Simonett is six tracks but you can leave off 4. Are You Behind the Shining Star? with no ill effects. or.. you can just get the whole thing here
posted by edgeways at 9:19 AM on December 23, 2014


Best answer: Soused from Sunn))) O and Scott Walker.
posted by OmieWise at 9:26 AM on December 23, 2014




Janelle Monae's Metropolis: The Chase Suite
posted by Gordafarin at 9:32 AM on December 23, 2014 [3 favorites]


Isaac Hayes' Hot Buttered Soul and The Isaac Hayes Movement.
posted by Chenko at 9:45 AM on December 23, 2014


Best answer: Soft Machine's Third, in the jazz fusion genre, is a double album (75 min. 15 sec.) with four tracks.
posted by ogooglebar at 9:54 AM on December 23, 2014 [2 favorites]


Mike Oldfield, Tubular Bells (2 tracks)
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 9:57 AM on December 23, 2014


Jethro Tull's "Thick as a Brick" is technically one track...
posted by AJaffe at 9:57 AM on December 23, 2014 [3 favorites]


And one that I forgot to mention in that prior thread: Eleven Eleven's "Star City," which is technically a single, half-hour long song (sort of a cross between Slint and Unwound).
posted by saladin at 10:26 AM on December 23, 2014


Response by poster: Great suggestions here, thanks!
posted by Clustercuss at 10:34 AM on December 23, 2014


Yes's "Close to the Edge" is only three tracks (and one of their best).
posted by Neely O'Hara at 10:56 AM on December 23, 2014


Best answer: Kieth Jarrett's The Koln Concert is sublime and only 4 tracks.
posted by ropeladder at 11:07 AM on December 23, 2014 [1 favorite]


Brian Eno's Ambient 1: Music for Airports.
posted by mermaidcafe at 11:40 AM on December 23, 2014 [1 favorite]


Best answer: Steve Reich's Different Trains/Electric Counterpoint. Not nearly as unapproachable as it sounds. Kronos Quartet on Side A and Pat Metheny on Side B. It's a segue from Jazz/Rock but an easy and worthwhile one.
posted by digitalprimate at 11:57 AM on December 23, 2014


How about Studio Tan by Frank Zappa? Only four tracks. The main attraction here is the 20 minute prog rock parody, "The Adventures of Greggery Peccary".
posted by starbreaker at 12:34 PM on December 23, 2014


Omona Wapi, by Franco & Rochereau. Four tracks of some of the most irresistible music you'll ever hear.
posted by languagehat at 12:42 PM on December 23, 2014


LCD Soundsystem 45:33 is kind of an album, kind of a single with bonus tracks, but either way has the 1 long song and 3 other songs.
posted by Huffy Puffy at 12:44 PM on December 23, 2014


If you're willing to wait, you can do side 1 of Rush's 2112 (with the whole rock opera), then do the other side with individual songs the next week.

The Flaming Lips released The Terror on iTunes with all the individual songs on individual tracks, but also with the whole album on one track.
posted by Huffy Puffy at 12:47 PM on December 23, 2014


I think pretty much every Godspeed You! Black Emperor album is five or fewer tracks.

It's post-rock but you might like it.
posted by Gev at 1:09 PM on December 23, 2014


Sex by The Necks
One single track. Damned good, too.
posted by Thorzdad at 2:47 PM on December 23, 2014


Best answer: A few more jazz albums:
Thelonious Monk - Brilliant Corners
Sun Ra - Space is the Plase
Coltrane - Olatunji Concert

"Rock" is a pretty broad category, so I'm not sure whether you'll like these recommendations. As others have said, experimental/noise rock albums are much more likely to be within in track limit.

Some experimental rock:
The Microphones - Mount Eerie
Black Dice - Beaches and Canyons
Can - Monster Movie
Giraffes? Giraffes! - More Skin With Milk Mouth

Some good punk and indie EPs:
TV on the Radio - Young Liars
Fugazi - Furniture
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Is Is EP

Not jazz or rock, but really good:
Joanna Newsom - Ys
posted by Fishkins at 2:53 PM on December 23, 2014 [3 favorites]


Best answer: I recommend pretty much any Fela Kuti album. 10 or 20 minute songs with which you should rock the hell out. Zombie is one such.
posted by Kafkaesque at 3:21 PM on December 23, 2014


The whole "Travels in Constants" series is good and often only 1-3 tracks, there are a couple dozen of them by a variety of post-rock, rock, jazz and other bands.

You might look at EPs/Singles from bands you already like - they often have alternate takes and B-sides, and are often only a few tracks too.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 4:52 PM on December 23, 2014


If your taste extends into the unusual (atonal experimental stuff), you might enjoy Nick Buzz's Arnold Schoenberg and the Berlin Cabarets.
posted by Poldo at 5:09 PM on December 23, 2014


Tangerine Dream has several albums that meet this criteria: Rubycon, Ricochet, Phaedra and Green Desert.
posted by rfs at 7:26 PM on December 23, 2014


Response by poster: Freegal has no Zappa, sadly, and I got a bunch of Fela stuff doing a similar "cheap by the track" thing a few years ago, but there's probably more out there I don't have so thanks for the reminder! Definitely anything prog, I already have Close to the Edge and Thick as a Brick but I'm sure there are others. On a whim today I got five of the longer, proggier tracks from a Utopia Live at the BBC compilation, but next week I'm giving some of these a whirl.
posted by Clustercuss at 8:53 PM on December 23, 2014


I don't know what this service would, or wouldn't, have on it, but here are some EPs and such from my collection that have 5 or fewer tracks:

Explosions in the Sky - Earth is Not a Cold Dead Place
CHVRCHES - Recover EP (electropop, but I really love them so I'm recommending it anyhow)
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - Treble in Trouble
The Hard Lessons - Wise Up!
TV on the Radio - Young Liars EP
Bon Iver - Blood Bank EP
My Bloody Valentine - Glider EP, Tremolo EP, You Made Me Realise EP
The Antlers - New York Hospitals

In general, EPs are going to be rich territory for 5-or-fewer track albums.
posted by axiom at 9:25 PM on December 23, 2014


Dire Straits, Love Over Gold. A classic.
posted by MexicanYenta at 11:26 PM on December 23, 2014


Best answer: If you're at all a fan of Greg Dulli, and unusual cover versions, be sure you check out The Afghan Whigs' 5-track 1992 "Uptown Avondale" EP, as well as The Twilight Singers 2006 EP "A Stitch In Time".

L'altra's 3-track self-titled 1999 debut (see "Colding Fields" - let it play past 2:20) is an odd one that immediately came to mind. Indie rock, but with heavy jazz sensibilities.

Ethan Rose's 3-track full-length "Ceiling Songs" features kind of abstract instrumentals including predominant use of toy music boxes.

Back in jazz-land, Charles Mingus's "The Clown" is a longtime fav of mine, though the digital release may have more than 4 tracks.
posted by myrrh at 11:36 PM on December 23, 2014


"Herbie Hancock - Head Hunters" is only four tracks, and it's one of my favorite albums of all time.
posted by kcalder at 12:54 PM on December 24, 2014 [1 favorite]


« Older Like This Is My Jam, except for articles, books...   |   This is awkward. Why yes, we met on Match.com. Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.