Best EP Ever?

[glancaster]

Not forgetting The Masterplan, which they tucked away as an extra track on the 12"/CD of Wonderwall.

I recall Noel once saying they put out tracks as B sides that other bands would make a whole career out of, and whilst I'm not that much of an Oasis fan, to be fair he had a point. Shame he wasn't lead singer, as I always preferred his voice and certainly his version of Wonderwall.

I find it hard to tell the two brothers apart.

So, Thing A is the singer, and the lairy one, and Thing B stays in the background, seems more intelligent, and can write decent songs.

Then they swap over.

They're basically the same person, which is why they hate each other.

 

[Tony L]

It therefore follows (because I say it does..) that the Best E.P. ever was, and remains, the Beatles 'Magical Mystery Tour', which was originally issued as an 2 E.P. 'gatefold' in 1967 and only later (1976 I think) as an LP, cobbled together with additional songs.

The full MMT album was a US release in 1967.

 

[Mullardman]

My parents had quite a lot of Beatles music in this format, 7 inch, 45 rpm, 2 songs per side. Wikipedia has a whole list: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beatles_discography#EPs

Magical Mystery Tour is the final one in the Wiki list. Cheating slightly, as it was a double E.P., as you point out. Anyway, no shortage of choice or quality.

Sometimes I feel like there should be a special Beatles get-out clause in any 'best of' thread: assume an implied 'apart from The Beatles'. Otherwise the 'correct' answers may start to get somewhat monotonous.

That said, some here don't actually like The Beatles. I find this hard to understand, but usually take it to mean that they don't actually like pop music at all, which is fair enough I suppose. Martin Amis went further: '...to be against the Beatles (late-middle period) is to be against life.'

Kind regards

- Garry

Having woken up a bit more.. I suppose what I was reaching for is that the Magical Mystery Tour was possibly unique as a way for a major band to introduce a major, and further evolution of.. their oeuvre. Not just an E.P., but a double E.P., when I've no doubt a whole album would have easily been possible for them. Plenty of artists, including the Beatles, Stones, Manfreds and many other bands of the 50s and 60s produced E.P.s partly as a sort of 'cut price' LP and partly as a way of selling songs that might not appeal so much to the 'hardcore' chart only mob, but as far as I'm aware, MMT is pretty unique in its format, its presentation and its artistic intent.

 

[Mullardman]

The full MMT album was a US release in 1967.

I'll take that.. but WTF do the Mericuns know?

 

[Elephantears]

The two EPs MBV released prior to 'Isn't Anything' are joint winners of my best EP ever prize:

1. You Made Me Realise/Slow/Thorn/Cigarette in Your Bed/Drive It All Over Me
2. Feed Me With Your Kiss/I Believe/Emptiness Inside/I Need No Trust

 

[Mullardman]

Good thread, though I think we should define ‘12” EP’, and how for me it really isn’t a 12” single. To my mind it needs to have a minimum of four distinct tracks (i.e. not just remixes of one song), e.g. A Certain Ratio ‘Du The Du (Casse)’, McCarthy ‘Red Sleeping Beauty’ etc (I’ll have these as my choices for now, I’ll add more later). More than four songs and it is probably a ‘mini-LP’, a format I love, e.g. The Fall ‘Slates’, Lush ‘Scar’, Stump ‘Quirk Out’ etc, these normally having three tracks a side, or four really short ones. By saying that one could make a strong case for The Orb’s ‘Blue Room’ being an EP despite only one track (part I&II) as it plays for 40 minutes!

Of course there was originally no such thing as a 12" E.P.... That would have been an LP. I suppose the lines between 7" E.P. and 7" single began to blur around 1970 when the concept of the 'maxi single' was introduced. The first I bought was by Curved Air and featured 'It Happened Today' on the A side and 'Vivaldi'/'What Happens When You Blow Yourself Up' on the B side. A little later was Free's 'Alright Now (long version), backed by 'Wishing Well/My Brother Jake'.

Quite how or why the 12" single arrived escapes me.. though I suspect a 'DJ/MC'/mixing and scratching etc.. (Yeeeewww) connection.

As ever, I'm open to correction/abuse/ridicule....

 

[Tony L]

Quite how or why the 12" single arrived escapes me.. though I suspect a 'DJ/MC'/mixing and scratching etc.. (Yeeeewww) connection.

Hugely improved sound quality and room to stretch-out for extended mixes. As I understand it they started appearing during the Studio 54 era in the mid-70s initially for club/disco use, though swiftly adopted in rock and audiophile circles. The ‘80s was full of them. The 7” EP existed since the late-50s, e.g. I have many early Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong etc EPs with two tracks a side, but sound quality is usually pretty dire as one would expect from cutting that length into that space.

 

[Goldenmouse]

Lush - Scar

 

[Mullardman]

Hugely improved sound quality and room to stretch-out for extended mixes. As I understand it they started appearing during the Studio 54 era in the mid-70s initially for club/disco use, though swiftly adopted in rock and audiophile circles. The ‘80s was full of them. The 7” EP existed since the late-50s, e.g. I have many early Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong etc EPs with two tracks a side, but sound quality is usually pretty dire as one would expect from cutting that length into that space.

I must say that I was impressed by the SQ of some I heard and it does make sense. However, I was given a whole stack of 80's ones. Mostly 'dance' stuff. I'd never heard of a single one of the 'artists' represented, but I did give them a go. Try as I might I couldn't make myself like any of them and I passed them on. It remains the case that music, of any type, either moves me, or it doesn't. If it doesn't, I don't have enough time left to waste on it.

Agree with you on 'original' EPs of the 50s and 60s. I have quite a few, ranging from the Clancy Bros, to Manfreds etc. None rare enough to bother 'flogging', nor good enough sounding to bother playing. Without checking, I can't recall whether stereo found its way onto E.P.s of that vintage... though I have a few classical ones. I have a vague memory to the effect that one of the Beekles layte 60s hits (Hey Jude?) was supposedly the first Stereo 45 single. Could well be wrong though. Shockingly... it's been known...

The first one I actually bought for myself was the Stones 'Five by Five'. I don't recall it sounding any worse than anything else on the old Dansette Major with ceramic cart. and TC8 'flipover' stylus. Can't think why...

 

[Tony L]

I have a vague memory to the effect that one of the Beekles layte 60s hits (Hey Jude?) was supposedly the first Stereo 45 single.

Not even remotely close! I’d cite this Decca ‘Double-F Double-S’ demo disk from 1958, the introduction year of stereo, as a candidate, but I don’t know for sure.

PS I have a copy!

 

[Mullardman]

Aaahhh.. but that doesn't count because it is:

1. Described as an EP
2. A Demonstration Record... rather than a single release looking for chart success.

So I'd still like to know which 'popular' single 45 rpm release was the first in stereo in the UK?

This site looks interesting.. https://www.bsnpubs.com/stereoproject/stereo45s.html
...but it's American and features Stereo singles from 1958-61. .. which at least shows that the concept was not only proved.. but in use very soon after the introduction of 'modern' stereo.

 

[Mullardman]

P.S. I told a porky upthread. The Rolling Stones E.P. I had was not 'Five by Five', but their first one simply called 'The Rolling Stones'.. sorry...

 

[Tony L]

So I'd still like to know which 'popular' single 45 rpm release was the first in stereo in the UK?

You may find it was quite late as pop music was always marketed to children/teenagers and the assumption was a Dansette or whatever. One only needs to look to the Beatles, right up until Sgt Pepper in ‘67 the stereo mix was an afterthought marketed in limited quantities to older audiophiles. The fact is the stereo 7” has been around just as long as the stereo LP, i.e. since 1958. I’ve seen many early classical 7” singles/EPs. Jazz less so, but they do exist. The assumption has always been that these genres sell to slightly older people with much better kit. I get the impression stereo was adopted rather more swiftly in the (I assume comparatively wealthier) USA, so chances are their pop singles migrated to the format more quickly.

FWIW this genre divide still exists, but it is now with mastering compression. The assumption still being that pop/rock is played on awful equipment or on the move, whereas classical and jazz are mastered with proper dynamic range for proper audio kit at home. Club/dance music straddles the divide as it is mastered to sound good on large full-range club systems, so is often very good from an audiophile perspective, e.g. no one cares if you can’t hear the really low frequency bassline of a techno 12” on some crappy portable as it will never be played on that sort of kit.

 

[35451]

Spiral Scratch by the Buzzcocks. 1977

End of.

 

[Wolfmancatsup]

Mesopotamia by the B-52s is always listed as an EP - up until I bought a copy I saw EPs as being 7” 45rpm things. Mesopotamia is 12”, 33rpm, with a total of six tracks (short running time though - 26 minutes or so). Personally I’d call it a mini LP or summat.

Mick

 

[Mullardman]

Right. Just to confuse things more..and of course nothing to do with EPs

There were of course many 10" LPs. I bought a recently produced one a couple of years ago in the Cavern, Liverpool, featuring various artists from the history of the place. Standard 78s were 10" and Classical 78 'albums' (i.e. a set of discs) were mostly 12". I also used to have a few 8" 78s which as I recall were of pretty budget stuff. Also a few 'freebie' 78's at probably four or maybe 5" . One such as I recall had an extremely 'clipped' voice informing me that I was about to listen to the latest sensational new singer to join the 'Crrrrystalate Rrrrecord Company'.. He wasn't.

I also have a 12" aluminium disc which has some sort of coating (acetate?') It was produced in the East Coast's answer to Nashville.. Skegness.. and features my late Father in Law doing his ventriloquist 'End of the Pier' show when he toured for Moss Empires.

 

[Seeker_UK]

IMHO, a 12" single with one track either side is not an EP.

The answer is of course, New Order 1981-1982

But honourable mentions for:

Who - Ready Steady Who

Shadows - Shadows to the Fore

 

[Tony L]

Mesopotamia by the B-52s is always listed as an EP - up until I bought a copy I saw EPs as being 7” 45rpm things. Mesopotamia is 12”, 33rpm, with a total of six tracks (short running time though - 26 minutes or so).

That’s unquestionably a ‘mini-LP/mini-album’ in format speak, it sits with many other things such as Billy Bragg’s Life’s A Riot, The Cramps Gravest Hits, Stump Furious Pancake, Lush Scar, Husker Dü Metal Circus, my own lot’s (Jactars) Pull The Plug and countless others.

This was a really popular format for a while in the early to mid-80s as the pressing cost was no more than a 12” single, they had a selling price between a 12” single and an album, and tended to be a great impulse purchase for skint indie kids. My memory is hazy, but IIRC at one point a 12” single was about £1.99, a mini-LP £3.99 and a full album about £6.49. The crippling expense for a small band was the recording costs, so far cheaper to record six, or eight short songs rather than 10 or 12 for a full album.

They also sounded great as you can cut them louder than an LP as in most cases they play for 15 minutes or less a side, many being cut at 45rpm as they were short enough to do so. The amusing thing is so many classic Blue Notes, Riverside etc jazz titles are actually just the same usually playing for 15-17 minutes a side and as a result having stunning sound quality as you can cut proper dynamic range with that much space. It’s actually my favourite vinyl format; long enough not to be a pain having to change side every few minutes, yet short enough to really sound superb.

 

[mondie]

Here's my favourite EP, 2 tracks per side at 45rpm. Love it

 

[MichaelC]

Motörhead Golden Years. I didn’t buy many singles or eps or 12 inchers when I was young, but this was something I got my hands on in my formative years. I rather liked it.