Major Stars' "Elephant" -- 14:54
Brand new psychedelia from the prolific Twisted Village, run by Major Stars' guitarist Wayne Rogers. (We're pretty sure he's not the same guy who played Trapper John on M.A.S.H.). As the extended guitar jam proves, there are advantages to having your own label. You can play the same note for over a minute at the end of a song.

The Allman Brothers' "Whipping Post" (live) -- 22:56
I'm not a huge Allman Brothers fan, but I have to admit, seeing them live in the early 1980s was an astonishing experience. It was a date. I didn't choose the band. I didn't know what to expect. But when they launched into the interminable, cathartic, utterly astounding "Whipping Post" near the end of the set, I came damn close to re-evaluating my position on Southern rock.

Pink Floyd's "Shine on you Crazy Diamond, Parts 1-5" -- 13:40
Dedicated to Syd Barrett, this gorgeous instrumental soundscape loops and soars and laments. But maybe 13 minutes isn't enough for you? Not to worry. There are twelve and a half more in "Parts 6-9".

Neil Young's "Change Your Mind" -- 14:39
Okay, the lyrics are kind of sappy. Even Neil can't really pull off stanzas that say "don't let another day go by without the magic touch." Still, the guitar solo is as elemental as the ocean, lifting up and crashing down so powerfully that you hardly feel the time pass at all.

Television's "Marquee Moon" -- 10:40
The unmistakable two-note opening. The swirling dual guitar solos of first Richard Lloyd and then Tom Verlaine. The "what the hell are they talking about" lyrics. It all adds up to a remarkable thing -- a very long song that is over too soon.

Tortoise's "Djed" -- 20:53
Self-indulgent noodling or free jazz for the new millennium? You decide. You have a really long time to make up your mind.

Godspeed You Black Emperor's "Storm" -- 22:35
Actually, every song on Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven qualifies for this list, but we'll go with the first and longest track. This amazing orchestral odyssey blends waltz rhythms, strings, horns and snippets of "Amazing Grace" into a mind-altering experience.

Bardo Pond's "Walking Stick Man" -- 11:01
Like all Bardo Pond tracks, this one has a curiously timeless effect. Once you're in the middle, it seems like it has always been on and always will be. Dive deep into your unconscious to find the core of its sludgy guitars, massively heavy drumming and indecipherable mutterings. Breathe. Ahhh.

Mercury Rev's "Very Sleepy Rivers" -- 12:27
The closing track to the extraordinary Yerself is Steam comes in from very far away, whispered vocals tantalizingly just out of ear shot, two-note bass line pulsing like a heartbeat. A dreamlike landscape turns gradually darker with yelps and more insistent rhythms. Why are the rivers so sleepy? Not sure, but it all makes sense somehow, at least while the song's on.

Funkadelic's "Maggot Brain" -- 10:18
This achingly beautiful track lays one of the most emotionally expressive electric guitar solos I have ever heard over a gentle, undulating arpeggio. To quote the spoken word intro, "I have tasted the maggots in the mind of the universe, and I was not offended. I knew that I had to rise above it all or drown in shit." Rise, baby, rise.

Sonic Youth's "The Diamond Sea" -- 19:35
Can love last forever? Can a song? Sonic Youth tackles both questions in what many consider their finest track ever.

The Orb's "Blue Room" (single mix) -- 39:58
Okay, The Orb (and electronic music in general) were known for long songs, but this one -- if memory serves, the longest song ever to score a spot in the UK charts -- takes the biscuit. The album version, by contrast, comes in at a relatively conservative 18 minutes.

Nick Cave's "O'Malley's Bar" -- 14:28
Even for the prince of darkness, this track from the aptly named Murder Ballads is unusually violent. Its quarter-hour duration leaves time for a dozen killings, all explicitly detailed. We hate to think what would have happened if it was any longer.

Brian Eno's "1/1" -- 16:30
From the Ambient 1: Music for Airports album, this piece balances a simple, oft-repeated piano line against various synthetic sounds. There's very little progression and none of what you'd call real melody, but if you give yourself up to it, the piece has a strange calm center. Just like your typical airport.

Bob Dylan's "Desolation Row" -- 11:22
It's Dylan's longest ever song, and he manages to jam-pack a full four-year college curriculum's worth of cultural references into it. Cinderella, Bette Davis, Cain, Abel, the Hunchback of Notre Dame, Ophelia, T.S. Eliot, Ezra Pound...Dylan says "nobody is escaping to Desolation Row", but everyone who's anyone is in this song.

Red House Painters' "Make Like Paper" -- 12:02
"Leaves make like paper, all over the ground." You could rake them all up in the time this track takes. Still, wouldn't you rather get swept up in its long, reverberating guitar solo and wistful vocals?

The Liars' "The Dust Makes Mud" -- 30:04
I have a confession to make. I have never listened to this song all the way through. I play the album about twice a week. I try every time. I fail. Maybe you have time to listen to the same four seconds repeated for a good 22 minutes. Not me. I've got stuff to do. Don't you?

Lard's "Time To Melt" -- 31:53
From the Power of Lard EP -- the first and best teaming of Dead Kennedy Jello Biafra and Ministry's Al Jourgensen and Paul Barker (as well as Revolting Cocks drummer and heroin addict Jeff Ward). It's pure, primal, Sabbath-channelling sludge-core. The scary thing isn't so much that these guys recorded a thirty-two minute song -- it's that they actually performed it live (including once at a New Year's Eve show, if memory serves).