One example does not a watertight case make. I'm sure that in ten minutes, I could come up with a list of counter-examples to all those you mention above (maybe not with festivals or football teams though).

I'm sure it's been mentioned on a podcast before - or maybe I read it somewhere else - but the trend for albums to be longer now is due to the space available to them. When CDs first came out, the perception was that people would want to feel they were getting their money's worth, so albums were "padded out" to better fit the 72 minutes available.

... which has been driving me mad for years.

Lets put it into more context.
War and Peace as directed by King Vidor 208 minutes. Long, but its an adaptation of War and Peace.
Harry Potter and Deathly Hallows pt 1 148 minutes. However it is part one of two adaptations of an already over long book.

My theory is simple. With so much stuff available either for free (or 2nd hand and extremely cheap online) certain people with a track record of producing hits, whether in books, films or music, are indulged because the quality doesn't matter as much as the profit. That has always been the case but as the profit margins of almost every creative industry have fallen to the extent that they have over the past few years absolutely no one is going to take a red pencil to the a work which, good bad or indifferent, will be a guaranteed money maker.

Hepworth told an instructive story on one of the podcasts once. Thriller was getting its first playback at the record company, everyone was excited, sure it was a hit, but Quincy Jones said it needed more work and Billie Jean and Beat It duly were written. Given that Off The Wall was a big hit previously, the chances that Thriller wouldn't sell were pretty remote. But would anyone nowadays take a decision like that? Hold back a guaranteed hit because it needs more work? I doubt it.

Fourteen years after the season that you refer to, Aston Villa won the 1980-81 English First Division title using only FOURTEEN players in the process. An aastonishing feat.

Never did catch on. Not the same after Bloatius replaced Detritus and Citius copped off with Yuki.

Nevermind, there will be a deleuxe boxed-set available soon with demo recordings, discarded tracks and a DVD of the falling out and meeting with their accountants. Christmas is coming? Oh so it is.

As for football there are now more matches because of the Champions League/Europa League and the fitness of the players makes the games faster and more exhausting, leading to more injuries.

Two of my favourite albums of this year were fairly brief, so although I agree with the general point there are always exceptions

and more to tracks.

A 40 minute LP is digestable, complete with a half-time break. A 70-minute sprawl is perhaps too long for regular sustained concentration.

On a related note, what about live albums?

Back in the day EL&P, Yes, Santana, The Band all released triple live sets which were regarded as the ultimate indulgence. 6 x 20 minute sides = two hours.

The Grateful Dead (and I'm sure many others) now habitually release 3 CD sets of complete single shows. Running time? Well over 3 hours and they've released dozens of the buggers. 3CDs equates to a 5LP set - 10 sides! I can only think of Springsteen who released a 5 LP live set onto the mass market.

I guess the triples of the past were mainstream releases, expected to sell in large numbers and chart. Today, they're collectors items for obsessives, sold over the Interweb.

released a 10-LP live boxed set onto the mass market.
It's this, "The Sun Bear Concerts"

...and I'm listening to it at the moment.

You make the jump from protobionts to prokaryotes and before you know it, large multicellular organisms are wandering around complaining about U2 and Harry Potter ... complexity, eh?

A certain paper when reviewing albums tells you which tracks to download from the album rather than buying the whole album and because of the ipod and itunes people compile their own playlists of their favourite tracks.
Given this freedom in the era of The White Album, for example,how many people would have downloaded Revolution Number 9,Wild Honey Pie etc ? although there is more bloat there is also more choice which negates this to some extent.
In short, some albums are worth buying in full, not many though, with others it's better to cherry pick the best tracks from them but it's all personal choice, and spotify clouds the issue further since it gives you even greater choice I only download tracks I want to play on my ipod now.

have irrefutably got smaller. I blame Health & Safety, or that Jamie bloke maybe. Personally I love a big fat lump of floury suet in my stew.

Would be ready to use as soon as you switched it on.

25 years later, Windows 7 takes about 30 seconds to boot up and utilizes 16GB of hard disk space. And the 30 seconds is a noticeable improvement on previous Windows versions. Progress eh?

one reason given by the Booker judges for not giving William Trevor the prize for Love and Summer is because the book was "too slight" (i.e - 200 or so pages compared to Wolf Hall's 600+). The reason was stupid at the time and gets no better with the year that's passed. Trevor should have won it. Memo to publishers - better editors, literary merit is not judged by weight and how are you supposed to read bloody arthritic inducing doorstop books anyway ? Also, how many times do you hear football managers bleating on about "I need more players" and then never using them or selling them on at a loss (that would be you - O'Leary and Ridsdale). However, just to contradict myself - Cinema Paradiso (the director's cut and longer than the originally released version) is imeasurably better than the cinema version.

I recently bought a copy of Apple's Logic Audio software. They include three records which were produced using it. Now, I knew that the use of digital technology has greatly increased the number of tracks and effects that can be used, but it was only when I looked at these examples on the screen, that I realised how far it had gone. Spaceman by The Killers has 81 tracks. There are for example 8 bass tracks, mostly playing simultaneously. Do you really hear them, or is it just a general texture? If a couple were dropped would you notice?

By contrast, Kind of Blue was recorded on three tracks, with 7 microphones (2 for the drums and one each for the other players.)

It's a pleasant enough song, but if you'd told me before I'd heard it that there were 81 tracks, I think I would have expected something as complex as The Rite of Spring.

Man U. 1988-89 average home gate: About 37,000

Last season: about 75,000

Turnover 1988-89: No idea. Can't find it anywhere. It wouldn't have been a huge amount.

Turnover last year £286m

I wouldn't call this bloating. I'd call it success. Same as with Glasto.

Elsewhere, though, Archie's got a good point. I think phones and computers have caused the problem - the idea that something should contain absolutely everything you might need, plus a load more just to be sure.

So bloated I've stopped buying. Too much filler, not enough meat.

tick every box.
Time was there about 4 pizzas playing on the theme of ham, cheese,olives,mushrooms and pineapple oh and folded over.
Nowadays ever in the more restrianed Uk (hello you crazy yanks and your oreo pizza) that lot would't make the stuffing for the crust let alone the topping. And then there's the size....

is a wi-fi area on the London Underground

Sorry, been listening to too much I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue lately

Quality has declined whilst most of his movies regularly clock up three hours.
Same with James Cameron. Terminator was only 100mins....Avatar...oh god.

Shelby Lynne's Tears, Lies and Alibis clocks in at a very neat 37' 37".
Not that I disagree with your general point, although I do think more and more artists are realising that 40 odd minutes of pure high quality music is better than that plus 30 minutes of filler.

...is the one that Time Out pointed out in their TV review of Annie Hall, some time in the 1990s. The review highlighted the scene (it's not on YouTube, sorry) where Alvy Singer can't focus on Alison Porchnik, so distracted is he by the possibility that John F. Kennedy (47 years ago today, kids) was the subject of a conspiracy, as evidenced by the presence of a second gunman; leading to the immortal line, "You're using this conspiracy theory to avoid sex with me!" Anyway, the point was that Woody Allen took about a minute to make the same point as the entire plot of Oliver Stone's three hour JFK.

Here's the dialogue:

http://anyclip.com/annie-hall/jfk-conspiracy/

if we compare like for like, the current Penguin printing of The Spy Who Came In From The Cold is 272 pages according to Amazon, while the latest novel from the TTSSH is 320 pages. Longer yes, but not by any significant margin.

These days some things are far more direct, efficient and useful.

Poor old J R Hartley wouldn't have had to stagger geriatrically around the bookshops of Guildford anxiously trying to find his stupid book before he dies of pointlessness.

You know how long you have to wait for your train/bus/tube. This used to be a mystery (particularly to BR/LT employees).

Cinemas are much more comfortable.

Businesses no longer require you to write a letter. Even if putting it in writing is required, an email takes mere moments - not 2 days.

Missing a TV programme or a match doesn't mean that you may never see
it again.

Fathers are now present at the birth of their children.

Pubs don't close at stupid times.