"45:33" is a six-part composition by American rock band LCD Soundsystem. Commissioned by Nike, it was released digitally as a one-track studio album on October 17, 2006, as part of the Nike+ Original Run series. Initially, it was available exclusively through the Nike Music Store on iTunes.[1] New York–based creative lifestyle marketing and public relations agency Cornerstone helped the musical efforts and coordinated the track.[2] A CD re-release with three bonus tracks was issued by DFA Records on November 12, 2007, with the "45:33" composition also receiving a vinyl release.[3] An eight track remix CD entitled 45:33 Remixes was released September 2009.
The composition was recorded between July and September 2006 at DFA Studios in New York City.[4] The publicity for "45:33" described it as being designed to accompany jogging workouts, "to reward and push at good intervals of a run." An early statement detailed that the composition had been refined after several runs on the treadmill.[1]James Murphy later admitted that this was entirely a lie on his part, and that he does not actually jog. He stated that he wanted to make a long-form record like E2-E4 by Manuel Göttsching and used the opportunity provided by Nike to do so.[5] The artwork of "45:33" also resembles that of Göttsching's work.[6]
Parts of "45:33" were later used on the album Sound of Silver, in particular the track "Someone Great", which appears on "45:33" as an instrumental section later distinguished as track 3. The complete track was also released for registered Nike+ users in late March 2007 as a gift of appreciation when Nike+ logged its 10 millionth mile. The composition was available to be sold by Nike via iTunes for six months. The actual length of the composition is slightly longer than 45:33; the title is instead a reference to the two common vinyl speeds, 45 and 33 RPM.[1] The composition has been described musically as progressive electronic,[7]disco,[8]funk,[9] and synth-pop.[9]
For the last series of concerts at Terminal 5 and Madison Square Garden, LCD Soundsystem performed "45:33" in full during the second set, with "Sound of Silver" replacing Part 3. Part 3 was saved until their performance of "Someone Great".[10] On the digital release of the concert, the 45:33 tracks were titled: "45:33 Intro", "You Can't Hide / Shame On You", "Out In Space" and "Ships Talking".
DFA Records announced that "45:33" would be re-released on November 12, 2007.[3] It was made available on CD and vinyl through DFA and EMI.[11] The re-release featured three bonus tracks, "Freak Out/Starry Eyes", James Murphy and Eric Broucek's dub remix of "North American Scum", and "Hippie Priest Bum-out",[12] all of which were B-sides from European versions of Sound of Silver singles.[13] These three tracks would also be made available together separately on the Confuse the Marketplace EP, released on December 11, 2007.[13] "45:33" was re-released as a limited edition white-label vinyl on May 26, 2015.[14][15]
"45:33" received critical acclaim. On the review aggregator website Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average out of 100 points, the album received an average critic score of 86, based on 25 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[16]Manuel Göttsching was, however, critical of the composition, despite it being inspired by his own work, stating: "Musically, there is nothing related to E2-E4 – it's just a 'megamix' of his work."[25]
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