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Is a great album great purely on the quality of the tracks on it or can it be greater than the sum of its parts ? I couldn't imagine dark side of the moon in any other order but rumours for example I don't think it would make a big difference .
Try listening to Helter Stupid by Negativland backwards and see how it sounds.
Yes and no.
Side 1.
Good song.
Decent song.
The one the drummer wrote.
Filler.
The long, progish one the keyboard player loves.
Side 2.
Quite good song.
The slightly odd/amusing/ambient one.
The medley/experimental one that goes on for ages.
The one the bassist sings that turns out to be everyone's favourite.
Sequencing makes a great difference to the feel of an album. Getting it right is an art - just like putting together a mixtape/playlist compilation or a DJ setlist.
Pretty much what Rusty sed but swapping Decent song with The one the bassist sings that turns out to be everyone's favourite.
Seems to make more of a difference on albums on the rock and hip-hop spectrums than most others. I’m a big album fan, don’t listen to individual tracks that often. There’s just something about a well sequenced album, but I’m unable to describe it.
Track position is very important. Love listening to a full album that's sequenced well. Guess that's what everyone does with vinyl.
IME track 4 is usually the strongest, closely followed by track 7*.
*except when it is track 6 or track 8
Metal Heart is track 3. Or 5 on the original version.
Jus sayin....
Also babelogue has to come before rock’n’roll ****...
Depends a lot on the album, innit?
Some are like a journey where song placement is part of a larger arc (whether strictly narrative or not probably depends on how you feel about proggy concept album stuff).
Some are just a collection of cracking songs.
Some bands plan this out very carefully, even with unrelated tracks. It was even more important with vinyl. Something like the B side of Abbey Road wouldn't work if it was random. Even the non-segued tracks in in a specific order.
"Hells Bells" HAD to be the first song on Back In Black.
I actually know a fact about this.
As a needle gets closer to the centre of a record its angled slightly off rangent and distorts
So... Typically for a rock album a side starts heavy and has a balled/quiet one towards the centre of the side.
Not relevant anymore but we still see the same layout with a punchy one halfway in.
Now everyone will list all the albums that do not follow this pattern.
The concept album ie sgt peppers are specifically in the order we see
Hells Bells” HAD to be the first song on Back In Black.
Yeah, but for a very different reason.
I remember listening to an interview with some artist saying how they use to spend time putting the tracks in the order they would want you to listen to them but with the advent of iTunes they no longer bother as a lot of people just download the 2 or 3 tracks they like, also people put music on random that is doesn't really matter anymore.
I think some albums are like books. You can enjoy an individual chapter, but they make most sense as part of the larger story.
Metal Heart is track 3. Or 5 on the original version.
Jus sayin….
Not on my version it ain't - MH is the first track. 3 is Up to the Limit and 5 is Screaming for a Love Bite (also great tracks).
That is assuming we are talking the album by 80s seminal German metal band Accept?
Then there’s the one track that gets skipped over when playing the whole album, or left off a taped copy or when ripped onto a computer, because it’s appearance on the album is inexcusable, and I’m looking directly at you, Dire Straits, for including ‘Industrial Disease’ on ‘Love Over Gold’; that track completely wrecks the flow of the album, which is otherwise the best album the band released, it’s certainly one of the best recordings and productions I’ve heard, it’s never needed remastering, and the original vinyl mastering by Bob Ludwig at Masterdisc is outstanding.
Without a doubt ..cant imagine ( as an example) ..Los Endos..on Trick of The Tail ( Genesis ) being anywhere else 😁
...oh ..and have to completely disagree with C/Zero regarding Love Over Gold being Dire Straits best album that award goes to " Making Movies"..superior in every way!( but then thats just my opinion )
With Industrial Disease ..probably a case of where it could physically "fit " onto vinyl ( which is how it was originally released )..but it does follow on from two lengthy ( plodding ) tracks.