The Art of the EP

Cosmic Harmony

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Music fans of all genres talk about famous LPs all the time. They talk about the individual songs that make them up ever more often. Something falls between the cracks though and is often times overlooked, the EP. A handful of songs make up an album with a run time of an episode of Seinfield or less. Sometimes released in between albums to maintain attention, other times they're key in building the early fanbase for bands, and others it's just because the band had stuff like covers that they wanted to release but didn't want to fill up an album with.

What are some of your favorite EPs? Why do you think they are or are not important? Discuss away.
 

electric funeral

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What I thought of immediately is the Nuns Have No Fun Ep from Merciful Fate released in 1982. It is their first release, made of 4 songs. I will spare you the cover.
It's good music though.
 

LOU/REALM

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Many come to mind.....but this has got to be my favourite

The Reptile House EP THE SISTERS OF MERCY
 

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gcczep

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Ep

I have one EP that I liked and still have. Cheap Trick's "Found All The Parts". I have ones from Rainbow, Deep Purple and Robert Plant. They are 12" so I don't know if they qualify. Usually I snagged them to get unreleased tracks or live versions of songs.
 

Big Ears

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I remember The Jam releasing a 12" single which had a longer playing time than a Duran Duran album released at the same time. I'm not really a fan of either band, but it shows that LP, EP and 12" single can be loose terms with some bands giving fans value for money and others ripping them off.

The Beatles' Twist and Shout must be one of the most famous EPs and is one of my favourites. I've got a Move single, which has three tracks and is really an EP. Vardis released a double EP (2 x 7" vinyl EPs in one sleeve).

I dont know much about CD singles and EPs, except that Dream Theater have released at least one EP that is practically an album. CD singles remind me of cassette singles in that they beg the question, 'Why not just release an album and be done with?'
 

Cosmic Harmony

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When I became aware of EPs as a thing it was because of Guns N' Roses' debut "Live ?!*@ Like a Suicide". The songs were released as the non acoustic part of "GN'R Lies" a few years later.

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Though I have to say that I think my favorite EP right now is from Against Me!, who have a number of great EPs to their name. Two of the three tracks on "The Disco Before The Breakdown" are some of my absolute favorites from the band. They have very powerful lyrics that the band has always had as the very intense vocal delivery and energy that their early albums over the later ones.

Against%20Me!%20-%20The%20Disco%20Before%20The%20Breakdown.jpg
 

Soot and Stars

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I love EPs! It's usually a perfect balance of songs. On an album things artist can really create albums that are so bloated and releasing EPs is a great way to release great material in between albums that are likely better off in a less rigid structure. I love when there are some great songs that would be otherwise B-sides clustered together on an EP as well as a cover or two. EPs also tend to be where a lot of new bands release there material to get noticed and a lot of times their best in order to get steam for an actual album release. This collection from the Pumpkins is formed to make up some of their best work and it's essentially a boxed set of EPs :bow::

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Some of the greatest EPs in my opinion are as follows:

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Riff Raff

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I think EP's can be better than some full length albums. Reason being that some EP's to me have enough good songs to keep me interested as opposed to some full length albums that contain a lot of filler. The Tool ****** EP is one such EP i am a big fan of.
Tool ****** EP
 

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