This is a very specific subject, but it's one that intrigues me, and it's one that the late StylusMagazine.com covered in their series of columns entitled "Playing God" where writers would re-sequence revered albums in an effort to improve them.

With that in mind, I was driving back from a client yesterday and jamming out to some tunes, when the question crossed my mind:

"What songs are misplaced in the middle of their respective albums simply because they're so epic that there is no possible way that they can be followed?*"

Three immediately come to mind (and this was also influenced by my attendance at the show on Sunday)

TV On The Radio - "Wolf Like Me"
LCD Soundsystem - "All My Friends"
OutKast - "B.O.B."

I know it's sort of a convoluted question, but I was interested in soliciting others' thoughts on this.

*Exception goes to tracks and albums whose initial print was on vinyl, where you could pace an album differently to account for the sides. So "Stairway" doesn't count.

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I thought this for many of the Pearl Jam CDs.

Betterman is track 11 on Vitalogy. While I have sickened of hearing this song, it was better then about everything else on Vitalogy, with the exception of Corduroy.

Release opened about every concert for 8 years and is the last track on Ten.

Rearviewmirror is a personal favorite and falls at track 8 on Vs.

Do the Evolution is 7th on Yield.

long live stylus

agreed re: "wolf like me," especially as (imholol) the rest of the album is garbage.

from the borderline "skeletons in the closet" file, the following are examples of terrible and excellent sequencing...

lifetime jersey's best dancers - the first four or five songs are brilliant and the rest are filler (but great filler). they could have separated the jams to make this even more of a classic.
rival schools united by fate - the whole album is an awesome build up to "so down on," then "hooligans for life" teases you into thinking there's going to be even more awesome, but it's actually just a great parting shot.

"Slave" on Weezer's "Maladroit" comes to mind.

"The Brews" on NOFX's "Punk in Drublic".

Great call.

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It's a bird, it's a plane, it's a goddamn shame.

http://www.TheCommittedIndian.com/

"Night On Earth" is out of place in the middle of the Bouncing Souls' Hopeless Romantic.

_________________
It's a bird, it's a plane, it's a goddamn shame.

http://www.TheCommittedIndian.com/

Dammit. Now I have to go do work to find more...

I cant see you as a Pearl Jam fan.

'Walk On' by U2 is track four on "All That You Can't Leave Behind", but it's got that epic closing track feel to it...heck, they even ended their live shows with it during the tour for the album...definately would have been a better closer than 'Grace'...

'Immortality' is clearly the best song on that record, and no song mentioned from Vitalogy is the one that won them a Grammy.

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I'm not nearly as big a fan as a lot of you guys are, but I definitely enjoy the majority of their work. The depths and depravity of my musical tastes can be quite shocking to the uninitiated.

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It's a bird, it's a plane, it's a goddamn shame.

http://www.TheCommittedIndian.com/

i always thought that with Ace of Base, on thier "The Sign" release, rather than having "The Sign" as track #4, it would have better fit in the #7 hole, between "Dancer in a Daydream" and "Wheel of Fortune". the structure and rhythm of the song would have made that a natural fit, and allowed the listener to easily transition between the smooth techno feel of "Dancer", and the natural evolution to the harder beats of "Wheel". that one simple change probably made the difference between going platinum 10 times and maybe being able to take it up in the 12-15 range. we will never know, and that has always nagged at me.

Therein lies the beauty of the mp3 era; you can change that up on your iPod if you so desire.

_________________
It's a bird, it's a plane, it's a goddamn shame.

http://www.TheCommittedIndian.com/

"Bad" is the 7th song on Unforgettable Fire and always seemed to me like a perfect album closer.

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“Mmmm. Move over, eggs. Bacon just got a new best friend - fudge.”

Good call...although I think MLK is still a good album closer nonetheless...

Driving home from work today got me thinking about their other albums and how they closed them...

...Atomic Bomb had the perfect closer in "Yahweh"
Pop...well...let's not talk about "Pop"
Zooropa had "The Wanderer" featuring Johnny Cash...probably the best choice to close that album...
Achtung Baby closed with "Love is Blindness"...perhaps they could have closed with "...Wild Horses", but Blindness is still a good song to end it...

I'll stop for now...keep you wanting more...

Maybe one of the worst closing songs ever was Everyday Glory on Rush's Counterparts album. Just brutal.

One album I can think of that might be perfect (at least to my ears) is REM's Life's Rich Pageant