If you're obsessed with albums like I am, the number of songs in a tracklist has an inexplicable significance. While having 10, 12, or 15 tracks seems very neat and tidy, and having nine or less seems vaguely progressive, 11 tracks bursts with confidence, as if the artist had too many good songs for 10, but didn't want to pad it with 12. In honor of Nov. 11 (11/11!), here are the 11 great albums with 11 tracks.
1. The Velvet Underground - The Velvet Underground & Nico (1967)
The point where rock music and art first converged is certainly a matter of debate, but the point where it converged to most effect was the Velvet Underground's 1967 debut, which over 11 songs explored pop, garage rock, noise, and classical minimalism to kickstart a thousand subgenres.
2. Neil Young - After the Gold Rush (1970)
In 1969, Neil Young unleashed the seven-song electric guitar workout Everybody Knows This is Nowhere, but the following year saw him mellow out with his 11-song folk rock masterpiece After the Gold Rush, though classic songs such as "Southern Man" proved that he still had some fury in him.
3. Nick Drake - Pink Moon (1972)
Following the commercial failures of his first two albums, English folk singer Nick Drake recorded the stark, heartbreaking Pink Moon over the course of just two nights, with little more than his voice and acoustic guitar for 11 tracks. It would be his last studio album before his death in 1974 at age 26.
4. David Bowie - Low (1977)
David Bowie had always leaned towards the artsy side of rock music, but his 1977 classic Low is arguably his most progressive. The album's first side is seven tracks of industrial post-punk, while side two is four tracks of brilliant ambient minimalism.
5. Fleetwood Mac - Rumours (1977)
In 1977, Fleetwood Mac set out to record an album with no filler whatsoever, where any one of its songs could conceivably be released as a single. They somehow pulled off this feat with Rumours, which would go on to become one of the top 10 best-selling albums of all time.
6. The Replacements - Let It Be (1984)
The Replacements never completely lost their snotty punk attitude, but as their career went on, they became more sophisticated in their songwriting. The perfect blend of their punk roots and gradually maturing songwriting was their 1984 album Let It Be, which managed to place blistering hardcore songs alongside piano ballads, arena-rock anthems, and even a Kiss cover.
7. My Bloody Valentine - Loveless (1991)
While a proper mix of a mainstream pop album aims to make each instrument totally crisp and distinct, My Bloody Valentine's Loveless did just the opposite, blending each guitar, synthesizer, drum, and voice until they became a heavenly, swirling mass of abstract pop.
8. Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea (1998)
Even though Neutral Milk Hotel frontman Jeff Mangum only really knows a handful of guitar chords (or at least he only chooses to play a handful of chords), he's still somehow manages to write some of the most emotionally potent music of the last 25 years. If you walked up to a random hipster and simply said "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea," they would probably choke up a bit (and I include myself in that sweeping generalization).
9. Radiohead - Amnesiac (2001)
Though Amnesiac is often seen as the lesser half of Radiohead's Kid A/Amnesiac double feature, it's still a remarkable album in its own right, boasting some of Radiohead's darkest and most abstract pieces of music, as well as some of its most beautiful, such as "Pyramid Song" and "Life in a Glass House."
10. Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2002)
Americana and experimental rock are two genres that don't interact nearly often enough, despite the fact that Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot thoroughly proved that they can complement each other perfectly. On second thought, it's probably a good thing that Yankee Hotel Foxtrot didn't have many imitators, since it keeps the album fresh and exciting.
11. Portishead - Third (2008)
If Radiohead ever decided to completely embrace their doomy, nihilistic impulses, they would probably make an album like Portishead's Third, which is eleven tracks of industrial dread, channeled through a psychedelic krautrock framework.
What are your favorite albums with 11 tracks? What did I get wrong? Let us know down in the comments section!
