I’ve always been fascinated by audio LP manufacturing, and some of the tricks they did with the format. From the reground/recycled and Dynaflex albums of the ’70’s, to the 3-sided The Monty Python Matching Tie and Handkerchief album, this stuff is just fascinating to me.
Today I learned that Todd Rundgren’s album Initiation is one of the longest commercial LPs ever pressed, clocking in at 67 minutes! Side two is the epic instrumental A Treatise on Cosmic Fire conceptually inspired by Alice A. Bailey’s book A Treatise on Cosmic Fire. (A book he would also dip into for his majestic The Seven Rays.)
Here’s the details on how the album was manufactured with some insight into why producers avoided such lengths.
From Wikipedia:
At over sixty-seven minutes, Initiation is one of the longest commercially-released albums contained to a single LP disc. Due to a plastic shortage, in order to keep the album on one vinyl LP, Rundgren had to limit and EQ the master so the bass response was rolled off to keep the grooves small enough to cut onto a single disc; he also had to speed up the first half of Side One (“Real Man” to “Eastern Intrigue”) and speed up the entirety of Side Two to eliminate 2–3 minutes from each side (5). The album’s original inner sleeve included a note which stated: “Technical note: Due to the amount of music on this disc (over one hour), two points must be emphasized. Firstly, if your needle is worn or damaged, it will ruin the disc immediately. Secondly, if the sound does seem not loud enough on your system, try re-recording the music onto tape. By the way, thanks for buying the album.”
And since you read all the way to the end, a small present. Enjoy.
Ric Bretschneider
October 10th, 2027
San Jose, CA