Sequencing

Listened to BOSSANOVA by the Pixies the other day for the first time in a while and was reminded again that the sequencing of that album is as responsible as anything for why it was considered so disappointing. They could've gotten away with opening the album with the enjoyable but non-essential "Cecelia Ann," but they needed to really nail the second track to make it work. Instead, they threw in the complete throwaway, borderline-unlistenable "Rock Music," as if they were daring people to give up on the album before it even really got started. Most people did.

Any other albums completely torpedoed by terrible sequencing?

Sandinista! (sort of)

Fishbone: Truth and Soul

Really? I've always liked the way Truth and Soul is sequenced.

I think the first Velvet Crush album buries its best, hookiest tracks on what would have been side 2 on vinyl.

In my childhood I always thought of MEAT IS MURDER as a poor Smiths album, but now I think that the problem is sequencing. Get rid of the title track altogether and reprogram the tracks in the following order and it becomes a much better album, IMO.

1 I Want The One I Can't Have
2 Rusholme Ruffians
3 Nowhere Fast
4 What She Said
5 How Soon Is Now
6 Barbarism Begins At Home
7 The Headmaster Ritual
8 That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore
9 Well I Wonder



Post Edited (09-18-07 14:42)

I love "The Cutter" as the opening track on Echo & the Bunnymen's PORCUPINE, but one day I accidentally listened to it with "In Bluer Skies" first (instead of the last track on the album), then the rest of the album in its established form with "Gods Will Be Gods" as the closing track, and kind of felt like the album worked even better in that sequence.

Michael Toland wrote:

> Really? I've always liked the way Truth and Soul is sequenced.
>
> I think the first Velvet Crush album buries its best, hookiest
> tracks on what would have been side 2 on vinyl.


Love the whole album, but have always thought the stronger material is on side 2--One Day, Subliminal Fascism, Slow Bus Movin' (Howard Beach Party), Ghetto Soundwave...

The Curtis Mayfield cover is great, but I wouldn't have opened the album with it.

****

Looked up the Fishbone TP entry...clearly the reason this LP came to my mind (stuck in my head all these years)...but that doesn't make it any less true.



Post Edited (09-18-07 23:17)

As observed elsewhere, every Blondie album post-EAT TO THE BEAT kicks off with at best a time-waster and at worst a potential album killer.

None of them killed the entire album (Heck, given that it was on THE HUNTER, "Orchid Club" wasn't even that bad compared to the rest of the thing), but after a career of stellar album openers like "X-Offender," "Hanging on the Telephone" and "Dreaming," it seemed like an odd decision to start shooting yourselves in the foot before the album even gets started.

You couldn't have redeemed Bossanova no matter what order you put the songs in. Other than the cover art, it's a big disappointment of a record. I personally used to blame the production, including the overly metallic guitars and false dynamics, but really there just are no songs there. Rock Music is really the only song on the whole record I get off on. (Black Francis in full death-metal scream mode is a beautiful thing.)

I am trying to think what it means for sequencing to be the culprit for a bad album? Would an album have to consist of all good songs but be ruined by the order in which they appear?

On an album with only a handful of good songs, is it better for the good ones be sprinkled throughout, or consolidated into a time-block of crap? This dillema particularly applies to double albums. Zen Arcade for example has about 7 consecutive punk-noise songs which are difficult to take. If you accept the fact that you are doing a double album is this the best way to arrange things? Same thing with side 6 of Sandinista. I would say it is good to have a throwaway "experimental" side which can be easily ignored so that you can have at least one or two kick-ass sides. So I can't really penalize the sequencing on those two baggy monsters.

Liz Phair's Whitechocolatespaceegg is an example of an album where I hate an entire side of the album (I have it on cassette), but enjoy every song on the flip side (the B side). This type of problem is particularly obnoxious in the cassette format, where you have to rewind for 5 minutes after you hit the end of the good side.

The sequencing on rap albums drives me bonkers. Please please stop putting "skits" on your records, rappers -- they really suck. Those dreadful classroom interludes destroy any momentum The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill acquires. Prince Paul's A Prince Among Thieves is another one that really kills me. There are 35 tracks on the record but only 18 songs. Most of the actual songs are excellent. However, between each song there is a 1-2 minute skit. Supposed to be a "rap opera" of some kind. hmmm...



Post Edited (09-18-07 22:53)

>
> Liz Phair's Whitechocolatespaceegg is an example of an album
> where I hate an entire side of the album (I have it on
> cassette), but enjoy every song on the flip side (the B side).
> This type of problem is particularly obnoxious in the cassette
> format, where you have to rewind for 5 minutes after you hit
> the end of the good side.
>


shoulda flipped and fast forwarded instead of rewinding. takes less time that way...

Since pop music was initially meant to be heard on singles...
Hey, what was the first "sequenced" LP, was it Sgt Peppers?

Now there are bands who agonize over sequencing for months, even holding up a release.

There are the formulas for sequencing such as putting the hit as track two or at the end of Side 1.

Can you imagine Dark Side in a different sequence ?
Seems you could shuffle the Buzzcocks LPs or Double Nickels no problem.



Post Edited (10-04-07 03:47)

> Can you imagine Dark Side in a different sequence ...

Probably not, because we've gotten so used to it, the way it is. For all the thought & care that the Floyd obviously put into the album, in the end, it all depends on what album-oriented fans get used to hearing.

Most rock fans are used to hearing Led Zeppelin's "Heartbreaker" and "Living Loving Maid" together, as if they were one song. That's probably (in part) because the silence between them is so short that, back in the vinyl days, most rock radio DJs just let them play together, rather than risk botching the crossfade to the next song.

On the Led Zeppelin box set, Page omitted "Living Loving Maid" altogether, and sequenced "Heartbreaker" and "Communication Breakdown" in quick order. A big surprise, and an improvement, IMO.

Pretty much every Billy Bragg album seems haphazardly sequenced to me. It doesn't exactly detract from my enjoyment, but it is something I've wondered about.

TRUTH & SOUL works for me, although every Fishbone album is somewhat hit or miss.

On the flip, has there has been a better sequenced album the past 20-30 years than Matthew Sweet's GIRLFRIEND?

I like (not love) Matt Sweet's Girlfriend, but what do you find compelling about the sequence of the songs? Isn't it basically a collection of 3 minute guitar-pop songs with no segueways between songs? How would a random shuffle change the experience?

You think? Not to read too much into it, but this is a guy who was 25-30, going through a divorce, releasing his 3rd solo album, looking at the writing on the proverbial wall...

1. Divine Intervention (He needs help)
2. I've Been Waiting (He really needs help)
3. Girlfriend (He sees a girl who could help; he wants her to want him.)
4. Looking At The Sun (Wait. Why doesn't she want him?)
5. Winona (Well, maybe- ahem- "transferring" his affections will bring- ahem- some "clarity"...)
6. Evangeline (The dude loves punishment; works w/track 1)
7. Day For Night (Now the blinders are off- love stinks.)
8. Thought I Knew You (He means it stinks.)
9. You Don't Love Me (Come on! Give Matthew a break.)
10. I Wanted To Tell You (Okay, so now he can be the bad guy.)
11. Don't Go (He realizes being the bad guy was a bad idea.)
12. Your Sweet Voice (Now, he'll settle for not feeling completely worthless.)
13. Does She Talk? (Then again, jerks get the girls, right?)
14. Holy War (This is the oddball, though it works with the heavy-handed religious stuff.)
15. Nothing Lasts (Okay, he's accepted the fact he's better off alone. The cycle starts again.)

looks i'll be pulling that one off the shelf tonight