Weightiest track?

[BewlayBrother]

I've struggled with this question for years, and can think of no one more enlightened than the VC community to ease my tortured mind.

 

What's the most important track number? The one where you put the awesomest, most kick-ass, most important, super coolest song on the entire album? In my mind it's a three-way tie between 1, 2, and 4.

 

Some of my favorites (It was difficult, but I stuck with one per band):

 

1 - Misunderstood, Gimme Shelter, Five Years, I Saw Her Standing There

2 - Doctor Rock, Hotel Yorba, Deep Red Bells

4 - Youth Decay, The Bleeding Heart Show

[remphish1]

I usually think the first track is the most interesting because bands want to get your attention. Once they got your attention then they hit you with a rock song on track 2!

 

Ie...

Radiohead the Bends Track 1 Panet Telex, 2 The Bends

OK Computer Airbag, then the rock of Paranoid Andriod

 

With Wilco Casino Queen is pretty rocking!

[jhh4321]

I would say the most important track is somewhere in the middle. It is important to keep attention and an awesome track somewhere in the middle of a record can hold listeners out until the end.

[napoleon]

2. sweet jane

 

need i say more?

[cryptique]

A friend and I talked a lot about this many years ago, and we agreed that track 2 is the most important track on an album.

 

There are exceptions, of course, but in general, that's the track where we decided the strongest song should reside.

[Lammycat]

2. sweet jane

 

need i say more?

The first think I thought of was VU, as well. I was thinking "Heroin," though.

[MattZ]

3

[quarter23cd]

Theoretically, they should all be good. But, yeah, I'd say that I tend to look at #2 if only for the fact that I always expect the leadoff track to be a "grabber" (or an intro, I suppose), but if track #2 is a letdown it is a bad omen for the rest of the album and hard to recover the momentum.

[BewlayBrother]

If the consensus for track two holds up, then things are looking good for Icky Thump.

 

Vinyl, of course, throws a whole other wrench into the works...

[a.miller]

I'm almost done recording my first album (yippee!!) and am having serious thoughts on how to track it. This question perpetually bounces around my head. I kinda feel like the very first track really needs to grab people. period. The second track can be a sort of "setup" for the rest of the album. Or....it could be something totally different. See...perpetual bouncing

[MattZ]

To expand on my thoughts from above:

 

Track 1 is the catchy poppy track to get your attention.

Track 2 is the deeper slower groove track to show you that we aren't all sugary or poppy (a la Dear Prudence).

Track 3 is the uppercut punch that knocks you out cold.

 

So, I vote for 3.

[bobfrombob]

Vinyl, of course, throws a whole other wrench into the works...

first track on the second side was a huge deal

[quarter23cd]

#2 theory, as applied to Wilco (my ratings, scale of 1 to 5):

 

Casion Queen: 3

Far Far Away: 4

She's a Jar: 5

Kamera: 3

Hell Is Chrome: 4

You Are My Face: 11

 

Conclusion: #2 theory may be flawed, as the albums here with the strongest #2 tracks are not my favorite Wilco albums overall. Interesting.

[cryptique]

To expand on my thoughts from above:

 

Track 1 is the catchy poppy track to get your attention.

Track 2 is the deeper slower groove track to show you that we aren't all sugary or poppy (a la Dear Prudence).

Track 3 is the uppercut punch that knocks you out cold.

 

So, I vote for 3.

In my opinion, you have tracks 2 and 3 reversed. 2 should grab you by the short-n-curlies and let you know that you're in for a helluva ride (and that the opener was no fluke); 3 is the slower groove to let your sore pubes heal a bit.

[Lammycat]

Track 1 is the catchy poppy track to get your attention.

Track 2 is the deeper slower groove track to show you that we aren't all sugary or poppy (a la Dear Prudence).

Track 3 is the uppercut punch that knocks you out cold.

The first thing I thought of when I read this was the new Son Volt album, which begins with the soft and lilting "Slow Hearse" and right into the horn-savvy and boppin' "The Picture."

 

Of course, there are always exceptions I suppose.

 

I'll go with a smarmy answer: the weightiest track on an album is the weightiest track on an album, wherever it may lie.

[BewlayBrother]

first track on the second side was a huge deal

Especially taken in the context of the last track on the first side (see Abbey Road: I Want You -> Here Comes the Sun)

[bobfrombob]

Track 5 is consistently pretty strong:

 

Pick up the Change

Forget the Flowers/Kingpin

I

[tongue-tied]

i also like the albums that open with a bold statement, which wilco has done a few times. Misunderstood, IATTBYH, ALTWYS all aren't poppy tunes, but great signifyers of what the album contains. Grandaddy opened up Sophtware Slump with an 8+ minute track, which is fairly gutsy and one of the best things they did. The second track being catchy though is very very common. I'm listening to London Calling now, I think more bands should sequence their albums that way, were every track is goddamn amazing.

[dannygutters]

2. sweet jane

 

need i say more?

 

#2 is also Love In Vain, woot.

 

If the consensus for track two holds up, then things are looking good for Icky Thump.

 

Vinyl, of course, throws a whole other wrench into the works...

 

Intrestingly enought track 2 is less 'rockin' than the track 1 but not as laid back as a sweet jane or love in vain.

[anodyne]

3 7 and 9

[MattZ]

The first thing I thought of when I read this was the new Son Volt album, which begins with the soft and lilting "Slow Hearse" and right into the horn-savvy and boppin' "The Picture."

 

Come on. Slow Hearse doesn't qualify as a song. That's more of an introduction. The Picture is the first song.

[cryptique]

Come on. Slow Hearse doesn't qualify as a song. That's more of an introduction. The Picture is the first song.

We're talking about tracks, not songs. "Slow Hearse" is the first track.

 

 

 

 

Yes, I'm just being a jerk regarding a technicality.

[tongue-tied]

with few exceptions, i have a strong dislike for introductions. like the horn intro on modest mouse's GNFPWLBN, it's only a few seconds, but completely unnecessary. starting with the guitar of 'World at Large' would have been ten times better. Just listened to Gruff Rhys's Candylion, "This Is Just The Beginning" is likewise useless fluff.

[Mr. Heartbreak]

The track 2 theory doesn't work too well for the first couple Steely Dan albums:

 

Dirty Work

Razor Boy

 

Great tunes, but there are much better ones on those records. Doesn't work well for some of my favorite FZ albums, either:

 

I Ain't Got No Heart

Can't Afford No Shoes

 

I think different artists from different times just have different ideas of tracking.

 

Same thing with the Stones. Who thinks Sway is the best song on Sticky Fingers, or that Love In Vain is the highlight of Let It Bleed?

 

Not me.

[dannygutters]

Same thing with the Stones. Who thinks Sway is the best song on Sticky Fingers, or that Love In Vain is the highlight of Let It Bleed?

 

Not me.

 

It is!