Occasionally I become temporarily convinced that certain totally irrational things are true. This week, for example, I am sure that somewhere between six and seven minutes is the ideal song length, which the Perfect Song (a white whale if there ever was one) would have to be found within. I’m aware this is ridiculous, but my listening just happens to be throwing so many great songs that correspond with this that it’s a beguiling thought.

The Velvet Underground– Ocean (Live)

I understand that there are ten minute long live versions of “Ocean” out there, and I am currently in the process of searching them out. This version, which I can’t actually confidentially place with any particular live album, last just over six minutes, and already seems just about perfect. I’d imagine you could extend this circular jam outwards any number of minutes and it would still work, but in this version six minutes passes awfully quickly. Lou’s not really singing about anything, but John Cale (I think) is playing organ and although not a hint of skronk is raised, it’s still one of the Velvet Underground’s finest moments.

[visit a website here, buy a live disc here]

Sweet Billy Pilgrim– Stars Spill Out Of Cups

I’ve already mentioned this one in the Rubber Room, but even though I already loved it then it’s only grown in my estimation since. It’s six and a half minutes, or at least so I’m told, and there is at least one bit that I keep humming (the “it slips a little more each day” part), which is good enough to have me listening to this near-daily. But the real key is the bit starting at around 3:15, where the music shifts slightly and people begin singing from far off and time stops. It returns to the chorus afterwards, and I do love that chorus, but I’m still not fully convinced that years and years don’t lie within those six and a half minutes.

[visit the website here, buy a disc here]

Slowdive– Blue Skied An’ Clear

The recent Catch The Breeze compilation, although slightly maddening in its track selection (no “She Calls”? Really?), at least makes this and much of Slowdive’s pristine Pygmalion LP available again after being out of print for around a decade. This is the absolute gem from that record, almost seven minutes of lying back in the sun and letting those tides of voice wash over you, a drum softly ticking in the background, the occasional gentle guitar rippling like a pool ten seconds after the stone hits. “You say la la love and it sounds so good / You say la la love and it sounds so sweet” is about as coherent as Neil Halsted gets, but amazingly the track perfectly recapitulates the amazed, slightly stoned wonder in his voice perfectly.

[visit the website here, buy Pygmalion here]