FEATURE:
Bang Out of Order
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The Importance of Great Album Sequencing
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ALTHOUGH I have featured this subject…
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once or twice, I think that it warrants inspection. I was listening to The Smiths’ final studio album, Strangeways Here We Come, and remembering why I loved it so much. Although I really love the album and can listen to it over and over, there is one thing wrong with it: the sequence of tracks. One might say that this is quite a big issue, as that pertains to the way the tracks are ordered. I think the strength of the album is such that, as it stands, one is invested, and you hear the quality. I am not second-guessing the band and producer Stephen Street, but I feel that the album’s best track, Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me, should be at the end. As it stands, the album ends with four of the weaker tracks – Unhappy Birthday, Paint a Vulgar Picture, Death at One’s Elbow an I Won’t Share You. I admit that the final track is pretty strong, though I think they could have been lifted higher in the order and Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me could have been the finale. There are other albums which I really like but I wonder whether all of the tracks are in the correct order. I think there is this formula that says one of the album’s best tracks should be at the start and you should end with the finest song – so that you build up to it and have that grand finale.
For Pop albums, you usually have a banger or big song at the top; many of the album’s singles will be in the first half and, usually, there is a bit of a drop as you go to the second half. That is not always the case. I hear so many albums that have wonderful material; I question whether the sequencing is right and whether a few tracks should have been rearranged. This might be me being picky, though every listener considers how an album flows and which tracks go where. Apologies if I repeat what I put in other features. I think that sequencing is one of the most important things when it comes to an album. So often, I hear albums that seem disconnected or top/bottom-heavy because of the way the songs are ordered. There is a theory that, in age of streaming where we often skip tracks after a few seconds, having an album begin with immediate and energetic songs hooks people in. I do feel sorry for artists who have to hold people’s attentions and, perhaps, write music that will keep their minds activated - rather than a type of song that they want to write. As we learn in this Rolling Stone article, making sure there is a low ‘skip rate’ is essential for many artists when it comes to albums:
“As a songwriter and producer, Warren “Oak” Felder’s resume encompasses hits from Nicki Minaj (“Your Love”), Usher (“Good Kisser”) and Alessia Cara (“Here”). He’s been in the industry for nearly 15 years and, until 2018, he had never heard anyone say “skip rate” in the studio.
“That word was not uttered,” Felder says. But it’s become increasingly common: “Now there are conversations we all have as songwriters — ‘yeah, we just want the skip rate of this song to be super low.'”
Skip rate indicates whether listeners make it through any 30 seconds of a song — after which a stream counts for royalty purposes — in a given playlist. And data like this, which comes from the streaming services, is quietly rewiring the album-making process, especially for young artists with commercial ambitions”.
As this insightful article explains, an album is like a story. You need to set up the premise and characters at the start; build suspense and move the story on for the middle, and then resolve with a satisfying conclusion. If an album has all the best songs at the start or finish, then that produces an uneven and disappointing listen. I think getting the start and end of an album right is paramount:
“You’ve done the hard work of actually writing the songs, now it's time order them in a way that demonstrates purpose and intent to listeners. This should be a fun, but considered process. It’s the final step before your album is mastered.
To get started, you might want to think about how people will listen to your album. Is it music for long car rides? The soundtrack to the pre-drink or after-party? A companion as you clean your apartment on a weekend afternoon? The answers to these questions can help provide a framework for your album’s sequencing. In some cases, lyrics will dictate song sequence.
Related to album sequencing, take note of the visual display of streaming. Album name, song titles, and album art are all tools that can used to bring listeners closer to your album. Ultimately, the music itself will make the biggest impact, but these seemingly small things still matter.
Like the process of creating music, there is no one way to sequence an album. But there are some useful guidelines worth considering. The first song on an album holds special significance. It should quickly set the tone for listeners and encourage them to stick around.
Aphex Twin’s 1992 landmark Selected Ambient Works 85-92 does a great job at this. Within the first second of opener “Xtal” we are introduced to the main sounds that shape the entire album: airy, dreamlike chords and drum machine patterns. The song moves along at an assured pace, slowly guiding listeners into headier atmospheres over the course of its five minute runtime. After a short ambient outro and three seconds of silence, the energy shoots right back up with the pulsing, but mysterious techno of song number two, “Tha.”
SAW was released 25 years ago, but it still works well in a streaming format. If you came across any one of it’s songs for the first time in a playlist, then checked out the album, you would be pleased to find out it delivers more of the same sound (in a good way).
On a completely different tip, Bon Iver’s 2007 debut For Emma, Forever Ago also makes a strong first impression. The campfire guitar strumming and intimate, raw recording quality of song one, “Flume,” quickly captures the isolated cabin environment where the album was was made. Once Justin Vernon’s wounded falsetto creeps in at the 20 second mark, we know we’re in for an emotional ride. The song ends with a 10 second silence, giving listeners enough time to recover, then returns to a similar sound palette (and vulnerable feeling) on song two, “Lump Sum,” albeit at a higher tempo and backed by a 4/4 beat to prevent the album from descending into an early despair.
Though the two albums described here occupy different sound worlds, they both tell listeners what to expect from from the first song, then follow through on that promise with the second song, while still demonstrating a range of material. Seems simple enough, right? On your own, listen to these songs in a reversed order, or start each album off from a song midway through—it’s hard to imagine them any other way.
So you’ve made it to the end of your album: how do you make it a memorable moment so listeners return to it again?
Some artists use the last song on an album to slow down and reflect. After eight songs of indie-dance on Sound of Silver, released in 2007, LCD Soundsystem frontman James Murphy brought out slow-building piano ballad “New York, I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down” to examine his love-hate relationship with his city.
Others use the final act for a moment of celebration. At the end of his 2011 album “We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves,” singer-songwriter John Maus went full epic with “Believe," a soaring haze of keyboards and vocals. Like the ending of a concert, here the big hit is saved for last, leaving listeners wanting more.
Whatever you chose to do, the final song on your album should enhance the themes and moods explored in it, either by contrast, excess, or absence”.
I do think that it is hard to get the balance right so that you can keep an album flowing, have an even distribution of quality and compel all listeners. I think the sign of a truly great album is not necessarily the strength of the music but the way that it is arranged. Of course, you need to have brilliant songs, though plenty of albums have been spoiled by arranging the tracks in an odd way or not considering the running order. I do love coming back to this subject, as there are albums that I like but feel I could love I if the tracks were sequenced better (that final album from The Smiths is a perfect example!). From this article that highlights albums that lose potency when heard on C.D. to this that lists albums that are prefect from start to finish, I think sequencing is so vital when it comes to the listening experience and how it is perceived. If the order is wrong then an artist could potentially spoil the flow and quality of an album. Get things just right and even an album that is quite average can be…
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TAKEN it to a new level.