Your favorite one-two punch on any album

The two songs that come one right after the other that make you just happy to be alive.

My answer might change hourly but as I sit here listening to ‘Dare’ (something I haven’t done in over twenty years if I’m being honest), “seconds” into “love action” just are pure bliss. Buried in the middle of side two, I might add!

Ah, like how "Sgt Pepper" goes into "Little Help From My Friends," or Led Zep's "Heartbreaker" goes right into "Livin Lovin Maid"? Well of course, it's got to be "Trouser Press" into "My Pink Half of the Drainpipe"!

The first thing to mind? The brutal whiplash of "Shoo Be Doo/Candy-O" on "Candy-O" by the Cars. This was so magical to me that I discounted The Cars for decades since nothing else was crafted to this standard.

Former TP subscriber [81, 82, 83, 84]

[postpunkmonk.com]
For further rumination on the Fresh New Sound of Yesterday®

I'll raise you one:

Where the Streets Have No Name
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
With or Without You

I always thought the transition from Need you Tonight to Mediate was pretty clever, especially the video.

On Joe Jackson's Look Sharp!, I love how "Happy Loving Couples" seems to be set to fade out, with JJ singing the line "You ain't no friends of mine" repeatedly ... until the engineer cuts in on the talk-back to tell him, "Right, that's enough," before the guitarist slams into "Throw It Away."

The Kings open their debut album The Kings Are Here with "This Beat Goes On" and "Switching to Glide." Two great tunes that go great together ... by design.

The entire debut album from The B-52's makes me happy to be alive, but the opening one-two punch of "Planet Claire" and "52 Girls" triggers instant joy. Both my siblings feel the same way about that album and that opening pair ... even though my sister always has been a little bit disappointed that her name isn't included as one of "the principal girls of the U.S.A." (I've pointed out that the band gets through only 24 names in that song, so I'm sure they would've gotten to hers if they'd had more time.)

The same can be said of Thomas Dolby's The Golden Age of Wireless -- at least its first American release. That album got messed with more times than should be allowed by law, but on the Harvest U.S. issue, "Europa and the Pirate Twins" followed by "Flying North" constitutes a great opening pair.

Devo's debut album opens with one of their most slamming songs ("Uncontrollable Urge"), and then gets right into one of the most remarkable covers any band has ever done ("Satisfaction").

Here's one I plan to include in my program this week: The Hoodoo Gurus' "On My Street" followed by "Party Machine." Probably my all-time favorite album-closing two-fer (from Blow Your Cool).

And Ira, I'll see your U2 bet with my favorite Bowie trifecta: "Hang Onto Yourself," "Ziggy Stardust" and "Suffragette City."

That's all I have for now.

"Station to Station"
"Golden Years"

I was listening to Born Sandy Devotional the other day and thought the transition from the chaotic "Lonely Stretch" into the calm beauty of "Wide Open Road" was pretty awesome. And now there's a thread for me to express that thought, so thank you Bip!