“Let’s add some transitions in, to the point that different parts of the song are almost unrecognisable as the same tune and may as well be different tracks entirely.”
Prog rock got it right. Master of Puppets is only 8 minutes long, we can't afford to make such a mistake again. Never make a song that short, and eventually we'll get a 1 hour Master of Puppets!
I still remember listening to a song that I really liked, so I saw the name and saved it.
Next song came on, there seemed to be a continuation between songs, I was like "damn what a nice transition", went to save the song: "This song is already in your playlist"
Huh... Ok...
I kept listening, another transition, I was like "damn this album is so nice", went to save the song, "This song is already in your playlist".
This happened to me, but in person the first time I saw Nightwish in concert. I love the band but I hadn't had a chance to catch up on their (at the time) latest album yet. I asked "wait, is this the same song?" several times.
Song is The Greatest Show On Earth, also around 24 minutes. Incredibly good
24 min sharp in fact. Though the last bits are ambient noises. "... from so simple a beginning, endless forms most beautiful, and most wonderful, have been, and are being, evolved." Ah, time to fast-forward to the next song.
Speaking of 24 min sharp: Octavarium by Dream Theater. I have joked at times that an Octavarium is a unit of time, equal to 24 minutes exactly.
Well, thing is, it's not easy to expand on a song. You can't just reuse the same melody+rhythm without changing anything about it or it'll likely be boring.
And especially with your darlings, it can be tricky as an artist to make such changes, because you might feel like any such change makes it less perfect.
Some artists can condense a variety of concepts into three or four minutes, while others can make a ninety minute song about smoking dope in the desert and it's just as compelling.
Yakety Yak. The Coasters. 1958 Spark Records. One minute and fifty seconds of sublime, in-your-face, balls-out nonsense. Everything rock and roll was meant to be.
Gatsbys American Dream has a song called Meet me at the Tavern in Browerstone . Absolute masterpiece in every way except that it ends in under 30 seconds and leaves you with a deceptive ending that has you craving more.
Best example I can give of this. The whole album Volcano is a masterpiece, despite being 33m and change. Their entire catalogue is a great listen and you can do it in a two-hour car ride. Definitely left me wanting more over a decade ago.