Record Factola
The Longest 45 RPM Single Ever Recorded
B-Side - Camel, Janus Records, 1976 J-262
FACTOLA: The longest playing single on a 45 RPM record is "Lunar Sea", the Track B by Camel at 10 minutes and 27 seconds. This is the U.S. pressing and unlike the UK version that plays at 33 1/3 rpm, the U.S. Janus copy plays at 45 rpm.
My thanks to record collector Paul LG Pegnato for correcting the previous longest playing single of a 45 RPM as Bruce Springsteen's "Fire" (at 10 minutes and 3 seconds) which I am now calling "the second longest playing single on a 45 RPM."
Camel's recording of "Lunar Sea" written by Latimer/Bardens, playing time 10 minutes 27 seconds. Released in 1976. Label: Janus Records A Division of GRT Corporation, New York, N.Y.
Discogs' Notes also state that Track A for the Janus record was from The Album Moonmadness "MOONMADNESS" - JXS-7024 and that Track B Lunar Sea is a live version of a track from Moonmadness. At the time of its release it was touted as the longest 7-inch, 45 RPM side ever made, at 10:27. 1976 GRT CORPORATION.
The confusion for Phonographia's "Fire" Factola was that the Track B timing for the 45 RPM "Lunar Sea" by Camel at 10:27 was for the UK version which was recorded at 33 1/3 (not 45 RPM like its Track A). Therefore, it was not considered a 45 RPM recording. Discogs had noted the following:Track A: 1976 Gama Records Ltd. ZXDR 59237 45 RPM.
Track B (Recorded live at the Hammersmith Odeon, London): 1976 Gama Records Ltd. ZXDR 59238 33 1/3 RPM.
