Which albums sequence their best song in the middle of a side?

April 24, 2009 9:06 AM

Which albums sequence their best song in the middle of a side?

By "best", I mean "its biggest hit" or "the one most people associate with the album". Using Who's Next as an example: "Won't Get Fooled Again" or perhaps "Baba O'Riley" - even though I prefer "Bargain" to both of them.

Likewise: "Dancing in the Dark" was the first single from Born in the U.S.A. - but it's not what people remember the record for now.

A perfect example would be "Jessie's Girl" appearing as track 2 on Working Class Dog.

posted by Joe Beese to Media & Arts (29 answers total)

Not quite sure what "middle of a side" means, but I'm taking it to mean, "not the first song on a side of the vinyl album."

In that case, "Stairway to Heaven" is track4 on Led Zep IV, which I believe makes it the last song on side one.
posted by drjimmy11 at 9:10 AM on April 24, 2009

Response by poster: "Middle" meaning "in between the beginning and the end". So no Zoso.

I guess "side" may an increasingly obsolete concept once you get into the CD era.
posted by Joe Beese at 9:15 AM on April 24, 2009

On the three singles released from Pink Floyd's The Wall, 5 of the 6 songs were sequenced in the middle of a side.
posted by googly at 9:19 AM on April 24, 2009

Perhaps "Money" from the Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon, though I've never been too crazy about the song.
posted by alligatorman at 9:20 AM on April 24, 2009

In Utero by Nirvana.
posted by fire&wings at 9:24 AM on April 24, 2009

Albums don't have "sides" any more, but Porcupine Tree's last 2 albums (Deadwing & Fear of a Blank Planet) both had serious tours-de-force right in the middle of the CD's, surrounded by lesser songs on both sides.

I think they're carefully constructed this way. Their albums build up to a frenetical peak, and then trail gently off.
posted by Devils Rancher at 9:37 AM on April 24, 2009

Evenflow, Alive, and Jeremy all are in the middle of Pearl Jam's Ten. (I don't even listen to Pearl Jam, why did I even think of that first?)
posted by not_on_display at 9:37 AM on April 24, 2009 [1 favorite]

Richard Harris/Jimmy Webb's "MacArthur Park" is in the middle of that... epic... album. I think you'll find a LOT more examples if you google-google-google.
posted by not_on_display at 9:41 AM on April 24, 2009

R.E.M. - "Everybody Hurts" and "Man on the Moon" are not at the beginning or end of sides.
Pavement - "Cut Your Hair" is like the 4th track on Crooked Rain Crooked Rain
Joni Mitchell - "Help Me" and "Free Man in Paris" are tracks 2 & 3 on side one of Court and Spark.
Police - "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" is cut 2 on Ghost in the Machine
Beatles - "Let It Be" and "Long and Winding Road" are in the middle of side 1 & two respectively

etc. This is just albums that I have listened to recently. I think this actually happens as often than not.
posted by aught at 9:43 AM on April 24, 2009 [1 favorite]

"Middle" meaning "in between the beginning and the end".

Do you mean to exclude the end of side A and the beginning of side B in the vinyl or tape version (for instance, tracks 6 and 7 of a 12-song album)? Because if so, a lot of people are going to be unfamiliar with where those divisions are. Or do you just mean: not the first or last song on the album? If so, then you don't really mean "side."
posted by Jaltcoh at 9:48 AM on April 24, 2009

Live's album Throwing Copper has the weird song "The Dam at Otter Creek", and then their singles "Selling the Drama", "I Alone", and "Lightening Crashes" follow.
posted by goethean at 9:55 AM on April 24, 2009

(Obviously, it's the middle sips of this McDonald’s vanilla milkshake that are the most delicious.)
posted by applemeat at 10:11 AM on April 24, 2009 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: Jaltcoh: "Do you mean to exclude the end of side A and the beginning of side B in the vinyl or tape version""

I do mean to exclude them. Putting "Stairway to Heaven" at the end of side 1 of the LP gives it an emphasis it would not have if it appeared one track earlier. The search is for those comparatively rare albums that forewent putting their strongest songs where they would likeliest be noticed.

I belatedly realize that the young 'uns may have no idea what the fuck I'm talking about... but not much I can do about that.

Pink Floyd is cheating a bit - since, in theory, the albums are one extended composition. But considering the banding of the vinyl, they satisfy the conditions of the question.

As I was walking the whippets just now, I remembered the those willful obscurantists R.E.M. did it on almost every one of their records during the classic I.R.S. period.
posted by Joe Beese at 10:18 AM on April 24, 2009

Prince's Purple Rain was conceived as a movie in addition to an album, so the album follows the movie's story arc. "Let's Go Crazy" is track 1, because the movie starts off with a bang with a nightclub scene. "When Doves Cry" is in the middle, because it represents the turning point in the film. "Purple Rain" is the climax of the film, so it's at the end of the album, too.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 10:23 AM on April 24, 2009

"Best" is pretty subjective. Especially now, years after LP sequencing stopped being meaningfull in any way.

It may be that a song that we think of as "the best one" now was considered a bit of a sleeper by the band or the label, and just jammed in there someplace.

For instance, I think "Oh Darling" is the best song on Abbey Road.
posted by Aquaman at 10:24 AM on April 24, 2009

Response by poster: Purple Rain's three biggest songs appear as the first track on Side 1 and the first and last tracks on Side 2 - so it's a perfect illustration of the norm I'm looking for counterexamples of.

On the basis of "extended composition", I would disregard "Alphabet St." as well.

Whereas "Kiss" - buried in the middle of Side 2 on Parade - is just what I'm referring to.
posted by Joe Beese at 10:33 AM on April 24, 2009

Paul McCartney's first solo album does this. There's only one song anyone remembers from it — Maybe I'm Amazed — and it's the second-to-last track on side 2. The last track is a dreadful, self-indulgent bit of instrumental noodling that's easily the worst thing on the (already pretty uneven) album. I know a song can't be 100% objectively bad, but this one comes pretty close.
posted by nebulawindphone at 10:42 AM on April 24, 2009 [1 favorite]

aerosmith, toys in the attic--walk this way, track 4(?) of 5, side 1.
posted by lester at 11:21 AM on April 24, 2009 [1 favorite]

Yesterday is the second-to-last song on the Beatles' Help!
posted by Jaltcoh at 12:03 PM on April 24, 2009 [1 favorite]

If you're interested in Prince, here's another: Raspberry Beret is in the middle of side 1 of Around the World in a Day.
posted by Jaltcoh at 12:04 PM on April 24, 2009

Using Who's Next as an example: "Won't Get Fooled Again" or perhaps "Baba O'Riley" - even though I prefer "Bargain" to both of them.

But "Baba O'Riley" is the first song on the album (the Vinyl Album anyway) and "Won't Get Fooled Again" is the last song on the album.

My example would Green Day's American Idiot which has its best song, "Jesus of Suburbia" as the second track on side 1.
posted by cjets at 12:21 PM on April 24, 2009

Ultravox's "Vienna" is the 8th of 9 tracks on the album of the same name.
"Ziggy Stardust", "Suffragette City", and "Rock and Roll Suicide" are tracks 9-11 on The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.
"Tainted Love" was track 2 on Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret.
"Damage" is track 4 on Yo La Tengo's "I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One"--of course, that's pretty subjective as to which is the best song.
posted by Kafkaesque at 12:48 PM on April 24, 2009 [1 favorite]

Green Day's "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)" was the biggest hit off Nimrod. Track 17 of 18.
posted by Jaltcoh at 1:10 PM on April 24, 2009 [1 favorite]

On the Cure's Disintegration the first single ("Fascination Street") is the last track on the first side, and the other 3 are in the middle of the first side. FStreet wasn't even released as a single in the UK AFAIK. Lovesong outsold FStreet in the US, but I'm guessing most people think of all 3 of the other singles as teh big singles of that album since FStreet came out well ahead of the album.
"Primary" is the second song on Faith. "A Forest" is the second song on side B of Seventeen Seconds.

I don't remember if "Mountain Song" was first on side 2 of Nothing's Shocking but apparently "Jane Says" was also released as a single (and I'm betting most people think of it as the album's definitive song) and was in the middle.

"Sweet Jane" and "Rock'n'Roll" are in the middle of VU's Loaded.

"Walk on the Wild Side" is at the end of side one of Transformer but "Perfect Day" is in the middle.

"Dirty Blvd" is in the middle of side 1 of New York.

"Girlfriend in a Coma" is in the middle of Strangeways Here We Come.
posted by K.P. at 1:59 PM on April 24, 2009

AC/DC Highway to Hell!

"Walk all Over You" on side one, and "Get it Hot" and "If You Want Blood" on side two.

Not to disparage the genius of "Beating Around the Bush" and "Night Prowler" Ending each side in order but...
posted by Max Power at 2:02 PM on April 24, 2009

Speaking of David Bowie, "Ashes to Ashes" was track #4 on the first side of "Scary Monsters...And Super Creeps".
posted by Vervain at 2:22 PM on April 24, 2009

Honestly, I think it's rarer to find an album in which the first song was, in the end, the most famous or popular to come off of the album. Nobody remembers Ten for "Once", Exile on Main Street for "Rocks Off", Automatic for the People for "Drive", or Sgt. Pepper's for that intro song.

In fact Born in the U.S.A. is one good example of first track becoming the seminal track on the album, regardless of how well "Dancing in the Dark" did. I guess Nirvana's Nevermind is another example (for "Smells Like Teen Spirit") and Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited for "Like a Rolling Stone".
posted by hiteleven at 2:50 PM on April 24, 2009

Derek and The Dominos/Clapton: Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs places "Layla" as the second last song on the last side of the album. Though I'd argue that there's very little you could do to lessen the impact of that song no matter where you put it.

Cream: "Sunshine of your Love" is track 2 on side 1 of Disraeli Gears

AC/DC: "You Shook Me All Night Long" is on side 2 track 2 of Back in Black

Van Halen: "Panama" is track 3 on side one of 1984

"Ain't Talkin' Bout Love" is track 4 on Van Halen

Dire Straits: "Money For Nothing" is track 2 on Brothers in Arms

Jimi Hendrix: "Machine Gun" is track 2 on Band of Gypsys

On the opposite end of the spectrum, The Rolling Stones obviously knew "Gimme Shelter" and "Brown Sugar" were pretty hot shit since they put them right up front on their respective albums.
posted by wabbittwax at 10:41 AM on April 25, 2009

Aquaman said: "Best" is pretty subjective. Especially now, years after LP sequencing stopped being meaningfull in any way.

My post doesn't really answer your question, but it adds some things to think about.

Not that any of these conventions are "meaningful," but the "industry" has traditionally pushed for certain sequencing forms. Before linear, digital media (when albums had two sides), the first track on either side was generally something with some jump, with another strong track in 2 or 3, and then the filler was jammed between that and the typically more "ballad-y" last song on either side (side one outro being typically weak, while the side two outro often strong or idiosyncratic). But the first songs on both sides, and last songs on the second side generally followed the "strong in" and "strong out." This often meant that the sleepers, or songs longer than 4 minutes were packed in the middle. Of course this wasn't very critical for bands that didn't have to make an impact (people generally gave Beatles albums a few listens by the late 60's, so they could break conventions, etc.). But debut albums for bands, or albums by bands without particular recognition stick pretty tightly to these conventions. So pointing out that heavyweights didn't follow the conventions isn't that surprising.

You should consider that in the LP era, especially early in the AOR era, there were also practical reasons for this: remember that with vinyl, grooves compress the waveforms as you get tighter toward the center, and the grooves per-minute are changing, so the fidelity changes dramatically (to a nerd-ear). So the fidelity at the first track was going to be much higher quality than the final. That was part of the rationale for keeping hits at the beginning of both sides of a recording (for AOR radio). A song in the last position could wear out pretty fast and sound like crap.

Since the advent of CDs (and before the fracturing of sequencing by so much downloading), label folks would pressure for two typical sequences - 1, 3, 5, and the 1, 4, 5. 1, 4, 5, was more common if the obvious "impact" single was in the 1 position, and likely to hold folks through. This is in the 90's, pushing into the 00's. The singles would be front loaded, and typically in those positions. It was also common to have a strong but non-single song (often "critics bait") in the 4 position of the 1, 4, 5 or the 3 position of the 1, 3, 5. It is my experience that they don't care much after 5 or 6. That is why so many albums slowly die these days. But for many bands, the bands pack their favorite songs (which often have the longest lifespan but no single potential) between the 1, 3, 5, or at the end, where the folks who have to approve things don't really attend. In pop/rock, they still try to end with something tacked at the end that leaves an impression. Too often these days, this is thirty songs later, all of which are way too long anyway (5-6 minutes each -- sigh).

If you look at CDs from that era (say, 1990-2005 and on), you'll see how remarkably consistent that sequencing is.

In both LP and CD conventions, it has also been common, if the first song is short and sets a tone, it would come before what would be the "strong in" convention.

I'm not saying I have any fondness for these rules; I was just a victim to these kinds of rationales. And I am a sequencing freak.

For my on-topic examples of a "best" albeit "unintentional hit" sequenced oddly, "Passenger" on Iggy Pop's Lust for Life is the last song on side one. But it was originally a B-side to an inferior song ("Success").

Per intentional hits, The Kinks' "Lola" and "Apeman" were the two singles from "Lola versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One." The former was smack dab in the middle of side one, the latter smack dab in the middle of side two.

Normal disclaimers apply: I am not a doctor or a lawyer, etc. Nor do I sequence anything anymore. Not even my answers, apparently.
posted by dirtypants at 12:27 AM on April 28, 2009 [1 favorite]