- Presto would be greatly improved by losing Superconductor and Hand over Fist, which would take it from 52+ minutes to about 44 minutes (and you can scratch Scars if you want to go lower.
- Roll the Bones is only 48 minutes and would be much better as a 4 song EP.
- There are a few songs you could ditch to get Counterparts down from 54:24 to about 40 minutes. I'd go with Nobody's Hero, The Speed of Love and Cold Fire (which would take it under 40 minutes).
- T4E is about as long as Counterparts. I'd lose Dog Years and Carve Away the Stone.
- Vapor Trails is a bloated 67+ minutes. I'd get rid of Ceiling Unlimited, How It Is, Secret Touch and Sweet Miracle.
- S&A could lose most of its back half (pretty much everything after Hope) to get down below its 63 minute run time.
- Clockwork Angels probably needs to be what it is because of the story, but I'd be fine with a 3-song EP (Caravan, BU2B and Headlong Flight).
Holy moly, that’s a bad take to me. In pretty much all instances, you’re taking at least one of my absolute favourites out of it.
Presto: Dump War Paint and Scars. Under no circumstances should you lose Hand Over Fist
Roll the Bones: There are 7 great songs on the album, so cutting it down to 4 would be a great loss. Trim Face Up, Big Wheel and Neurotica though. Even though I have a guilty pleasure for Neurotica.
Counterparts: Speed of Love can definitely go, but I’d dump Alien Shore and Between Sun and Moon before the others you listed. Sun and Moon is still awesome though.
T4E: Title track, Driven, Time and Motion, Resist, Limbo. If you’re not one of these, you’re not needed.
VT: Now here’s a tricky one. Peaceable Kingdom, Stars Look Down and Nocturne are pretty much the ones that I can remove at all. I love his album.
S&A: Yeah, you’re right, the back half isn’t as strong as the front, and yet, I can’t think of anything more than Good News First that I actually would cut off of this one.
CA: I mean, pretty much only BU2B2 counts as a clunker here. Halo Effect could also go if we really need to trim this one down.
Alright, I'll play along....
Presto - Get rid of Stupidconductor and Hand Over Fist that brings the runtime down to about 43 minutes.
Roll the Bones - get rid of Roll the Bones and Neurotica which makes it roughly a 38 minute album
Counterparts - get rid of Stick it Out and Between Sun and Moon and the album would be perfect at about 45 minutes
Test for Echo - Eliminating Dog Years and Carve Away the Stone would make the album about right. Carve Away the Stone already feels like an afterthought track, even though it's fairly decent.
Vapor Trails - Chop out Peaceable Kingdom, The Stars Look Down, How It Is, and Nocturne, which puts it at roughly 48 minutes.
S&A - get rid of Workin Them Angels, The Larger Bowl, and Good News First, which leaves the album at about 49 minutes
Clockwork - take out Wish Them Well, BU2B2, and The Wreckers. That only brings it down to about 54 minutes, but I wouldn't want to widdle it down anymore than that.