Fun Stuff > BAND
What makes a great album great?
BiCoastal Kid:
I certainly agree. If track ordering had been diferent from the start, we would efinately view our favorites differently.
However, I like to view albums as they are because I like to think that the artist/group arranged them in just that way to achieve their desired effect. I'm a very arty-fartsy person like that, because I realize that a lot of the time it's nothing like that. :-\
almost thursday:
i think track order is significant too. if done correctly it makes the record seem fuller. for one thing, i think the right running order can make the difference between an album being just a collection of songs and being oebn long, cohesive work.
nescience:
I'm not saying you should try to re-arrange the album from the way it was originally intended and only attempt to enjoy it as such. Certainly we have the convenience and perhaps even obligation to enjoy long-form pieces primarily in their given form. As I said, we can even accept that some albums were even conceived in a linear fashion, which likely gives us the prerogative to follow that linear progression in passing judgement on the album. I'm just saying that often you can appreciate different nuances of the songs on an album when you hear them in a different context, whether you change that context or the artist does.
I seem to remember at least a few albums where I found import releases of the albums that featured subtle rearrangement of tracks (not just tacking "bonus tracks" at the end) and I enjoyed having listened to those artist reinterpretations. I think one is Les Rhythmes Digitales' Darkdancer and one is definitely Drums and Wires but I can't recall the others that I'm thinking of. Anyway, I think it's limiting to say that Song X on an album only should only ever go right before Song Y and after Song Z just because the artist made it so, though in an album format I will often listen to it as such.
Again I say, give it a try. Even try it on a concept album with a stronly predefined narrative! It is an ear-opening experience.
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