Every now and then one of us suggested that maybe we should drive up to Pennine and beat the shit out of the engineer because there was no doubt about it: he was the one to blame; he knew we were inexperienced. You can get only three or four minutes of great-sounding music on each side of a seven-inch single. That’s why, when I’d listened to “Sebastian” by Cockney Rebel all those years ago, I’d had to turn the record over halfway through the song. I’d always thought it was a bit of a gimmick but suddenly I knew why—and why most hit singles were three minutes long. It’s because that’s the ideal
...more
