Re-sequence the album!

Remember that all things are not equal on an LP. At the start of the record there is more space so the signal can be hotter with less distortion. It's hard to fit a 'big' closing tune on the inner tracks of an LP.

 

Haven't worked out a sequence, as per the theme of thread, because my playlist includes alternate versions and some unreleased cuts, but I feel the title track should open Dylan's New Morning.

 

Heresy? From day-one I didn't think Radiohead's In Rainbows was sequenced very well. So, in keeping with the OP's premise, I did use the 2nd disc of the release (since it came with my deluxe set) to create an album that flowed better, moving from slower numbers to more upbeat numbers with ease, also keeping into account the keys the songs were in, including song length, instrumentation, etc. This is my track listing from about a week after it was released and it remains the same to this date. One of the few albums I felt a real desire to do this to.

Bodysnatchers
All I need
15 Steps
Nude
Wierd Fishes/Arpeggi
Faust arp
Reckoner
Bangers n' Mash
Last Flowers
Jigsaw Falling Into Place
Videotape

 

U2's Achtung Baby was one of the few albums U2 almost played in its entirety live (Acrobat has never been played live) when they toured behind it during Zoo TV 92-93.

I think I like the live sequence of tracks over the album track listing, and I'd throw the more radio friendly songs up front and the more somber songs towards the end:

1. Zoo Station
2. The Fly
3. Even Better than the Real Thing
4. Mysterious Ways
5. One
6. Until the End of the World
7. Ultraviolet (Light My Way)
8. Tryin' To Throw Your Arms Around the World
9. So Cruel
10. Who's Gonna Ride Your Wold Horses
11. Acrobat
12. Love Is Blindness

 

Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, & Thyme

Take "Big Bright Green Pleasure Machine" and "A Simple Desultory..." and move them to spots 10 and 11, just before "Silent Night" and then stop listening after song 9.

 

Michael Jackson's "Thriller" LP: Beat It, Billie Jean, Human Nature, P.Y.T.(Pretty Young Thing).

 

My reimagined Duke is similar to that except the sides are reversed, I had Man of Our Times after Guide Vocal and before Turn it On Again and I dropped Misunderstanding as well as Please Don't Ask and replaced them with the b-side Open Door.

 

I've probably said this elsewhere, but I also hate how most R&B albums from the 80s and 90s are sequenced like this.

 

I actually think this is a decent idea. Well done.

 

Yes, those are all from side two of Thriller, but side one had three hits of its own. What makes the Smithereens album unusual is that all the hits are from the 2nd side, and no singles at all were released from side one.

 

I disagree — but you gave me a good laugh anyway!

 

I've done something kind of similar with Dylan's Street Legal, keeping the opening tracks on each side but moving the remaining tracks on side 1 to side 2 and vice versa, thus:

Side 1
Changing of the Guards
Señor (Tales of Yankee Power)
True Love Tends to Forget
We Better Talk This Over
Where Are You Tonight? (Journey Through Dark Heat)

Side 2
Is Your Love in Vain?
New Pony
No Time to Think
Baby, Stop Crying

Not sure how this shakes out timing-wise as far as LP sides, but I've used this sequence for every cassette/CDR copy of SL I've made for myself since its release. Much improved flow & momentum. Makes all the difference in the world to my ears!

 

Thanks. I find the album more enjoyable this way.

 

Four of the seven Top Ten singles (Billboard Hot 100) from Brooce's Born in the USA came from its 2nd side:

"Dancing in the Dark" #1
"My Hometown" #7
"I'm Goin' Down" #9
"Glory Days" #9

Of course, this was all pre-Soundscan, so feel free to take the above with a grain of salt.

 

like your idea,and i'm sure you know Wild Horses was played after UTEOTW,and not Ultraviolet.
i never understood why Horses was dropped from the set list and replaced by NYD.
those 2 AB songs worked brilliantly together.

 

I'm actually a big fan of the cassette line-up of "Ummagumma"!

DISC ONE
1) Sysyphus
2) Astronomy Domine [live]
3) Grantchester Meadows
4) Several Species Of Small Furry Animals
5) Careful With That Axe, Eugene [live]

DISC TWO
1) The Narrow Way
2) Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun [live]
3) The Grand Vizier's Garden Party
4) A Saucerful Of Secrets [live]

I love this line-up - forget the 'divided we conquer' concept album. Besides, the live tracks aren't continuous (and the audience isn't very audible) so inserting them between the studio tracks works well.

 

The Stooges first album starts off with the brilliant one two punch of "1969" and "I Wanna Be Your Dog" then kills the excitement entirely with the ten minute dirge of "We Will Fall". Now I actually rather like "We Will Fall" but it shouldn't be track 3. It would work so much better as the final track on the album.
Here goes -
A1 - 1969
A2 - I Wanna Be Your Dog
A3 - Not Right
A4 - Little Doll
A5 - Ann (the extended version if that's allowed...)
B1 - Real Cool Time
B2 - No Fun
B3 - We Will Fall

Nico's Chelsea Girls has a similar problem with the drone of "It Was A Pleasure Then" bogging down the album in the middle. Again, this would work so much better as the final track, as a sort of haunting coda to the album, after the "Eulogy To Lenny Bruce". Just keep rest of the song order the same, but move "IWAPT" to the end.

 

As did I. I actually thought it worked better with Side 2 first!

 

I re-sequenced Genesis' And Then There Were Three many years ago, but I can't remember exactly how I did it! Going to have to mess around with it again.

 

The greatest example of a re-sequencing of a album as far as I'm concerned was made by CBS Records in the UK for the cassette releases by some guy who was meant to be the Future of Rock & Roll

IIRC, to begin with Greetings From Asbury Park had "Lost In The Flood" split into 2 parts. Otherwise I think the running order was the same,

The Wild, The Innocent & the E Street Shuffle went one further and had Rosalita and Sandy swap places.

Then the coup de grace on Born To Run, She's The One swapped places with 10th Avenue Freeze-Out and Born To Run itself came in two parts. Honestly you've never heard a better saxophone solo until you hear it split into two sections.

And all they saved was a couple of inches of tape.

 

When I tinker with albums I break most of the rules that you've established. Sometimes I edit, often I add.

 

Helen Reddy's Greatest Hits LP actually isn't in chronological order. - If it was it would have been...

Side One
I Don't Know How To Love Him
I Am Woman
Peaceful
Delta Dawn
Leave Me Alone (Ruby Red Dress)

Side Two
Keep On Singing
You & Me Against The World
Angie Baby
Emotion
Ain't No Way To Treat A Lady

Doesn't change the ending but if they held out one more year they could've stuck I Can't Hear You No More on it to ends things on an uptempo note....

 

I wouldn't call this heresy, although the Led Zeppelin album I've long thought was in need of re-sequencing is Presence, and I would do something like this:

Side 1
1. Nobody's Fault But Mine
2. Royal Orleans
3. Achilles Last Stand

Side 2
1. Candy Store Rock
2. Hots On For Nowhere
3. For Your Life
4. Tea For One

The reason I prefer this song sequence is partly because, like Yes (who I think Zep were listening to quite a bit), putting a magnum opus like "Achilles Last Stand" as the opener makes the album seem top-heavy, and then following that up with the much slower paced "For Your Life" stops the momentum generated dead in its tracks. In fact, you could probably make a minor fix by simply swapping around the relatively upbeat "Royal Orleans" with "For Your Life" to avoid that latter problem. However, by opening with a strong rocker like "Nobody's Fault But Mine" and making "Achilles" the centerpiece (much like "IV" did with "Black Dog" and "Stairway to Heaven" respectively), I think you end up with a Side 1 that flows much better.

Likewise, the punchy "Candy Store Rock" kicks off Side 2 fairly well (don't think I'd want this as a Side 1 opener though), and most listeners would expect "Hots On For Nowhere" to come next, but I'd say here is where you could insert the moody "For Your Life" as a deep album cut of sorts. "For Your Life" is definitely, for me anyway, one of Zep's odder tracks that I think works better when placed late in the album rather than coming at you right after "Achilles"; technically, I suppose "Achilles" could also work as the grand finale (just as Roger Thornhill did with "Stairway"), but I've always felt that "Tea For One" was an effective closer, and coming after "For Your Life" merely accentuates its after hours atmosphere (imho, of course!).

 

Up on Cripple Creek
Look Out Cleveland
Across the Great Divide
Jemima Surrender
Unfaithful Servant
Rocking Chair

King Harvest
Rag Mama Rag
Jawbone
When You Awake
The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down
Whispering Pines

 

cheatED:

"Smash Hits" - The Jimi Hendrix Experience
UK:
S1T1. "Purple Haze" [mono]
S1T2. "Fire" [mono]
S1T3. "The Wind Cries Mary" [mono]
S1T4. "Can You See Me" [mono]
S1T5. "51st Anniversary" [mono]
S1T6. "Hey Joe" [mono]
S2T1. "Stone Free" [mono]
S2T2. "The Stars That Play With Laughing Sam's Dice" [mono]
S2T3. "Manic Depression" [mono]
S2T4. "Highway Chile" [mono]
S2T5. "The Burning Of The Midnight Lamp" [mono]
S2T6. "Foxy Lady" [mono]
+
US:
S1T1. "Purple Haze"
S1T2. "Fire"
S1T3. "The Wind Cries Mary"
S1T4. "Can You See Me"
S1T5. "Hey Joe"
S1T6. "All Along The Watch Tower"
S2T1. "Stone Free" [fake stereo]
S2T2. "Crosstown Traffic"
S2T3. "Manic Depression"
S2T4. "Remember"
S2T5. "Red House"
S2T6. "Foxey Lady"
=
EDitED CD-R:
T1: "Hey Joe" [mono]
T2. "Purple Haze" [mono]
T3. "Stone Free" [mono/of course!!!]
T4. "Can You See Me" [mono]
T5. "Remember" [mono]
T6. "The Wind Cries Mary" [mono]
T7. "Fire" [mono]
T8. "Foxey Lady" [mono]
T9. "Crosstown Traffic"
T10. "Manic Depression" [mono]
T11. "The Burning Of The Midnight Lamp" [mono]
T12. "All Along The Watchtower"
T13. "Highway Chile" [mono]
T14. "Red House" [UK/mono]