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=> GENERAL DISCUSSION => Topic started by: ggw on June 01, 2004, 12:59:00 pm
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Twelve of the Best Track One, Side Ones
You've gotta respect a band that starts an album with a hot track. The rest of the album could well go down the shitter, but if they start out with a rip-roaring zinger, they own your ass for the next fifty to sixty minutes. It's a fine art, the proper starting of an album, and when you get right down to it, you've either got it or you don't. Perhaps, as the saying goes, you should "save the best for last", but when you do so you stand to lose your listeners before they even get that far. Even the boys of High Fidelity knew the score, rattling off a "track one, side one" list of their own, even if it was a bit predictable and heavy on the classics. We, on the other hand, have chosen musical paths less traveled, just to make things more interesting.
So, in honor of those who know the road to victory begins at the top of the order, I bring you this list of favorite track one, side ones.
Menthol's "USA Capable" (from Menthol)
An absolutely blistering opener on an album most people wouldn't know if it fell on their head. Menthol is a Champaign-Urbana-based power trio that combines snappy new-wave power-pop with MENSA-strength lyrics to create a dynamite sound somewhere between Pezband and Loudon Wainwright III. "USA Capable" is a fierce, fiery three-minute corker that buzzes with perhaps the greatest fuzzed-out guitar riff of all time, and lyrics about heroes and "crash pad mattress(es)". As opening statements go, it's top-fucking-notch.
David Bowie's "Watch that Man" (from Aladdin Sane)
Perhaps not the most obvious Bowie selection, but if we were going for obvious, Nirvana and the Velvets would both be on this list. However, "Watch that Man" is the blinding opener of what may be Bowie's most misunderstood record. It's not total trash-glam a la Ziggy Stardust, or as cocaine-depressed as Low, but its brilliant mix of uptempo rockers and meditative lows makes it the comedown record to beat all comedown records. The raucous chorus and steamrolling guitars give it some edge, but Bowie's carefully plotted lyrics and suave delivery give it depth beyond its throwaway glam façade.
Pulp's "The Fear" (from This is Hardcore)
While it's not the album Jarvis Cocker and Co. are famous for (that would be Britpop apex Different Class), This is Hardcore includes the finest lyrical assessment(s) of superstardom of all time, with "Help the Aged" and "A Little Soul" ringing particularly relevant bells. Most albums that revolve around themes of paranoia and porn at least start out cheerfully, but as Cocker sullenly states as "The Fear" opens, "this is the sound of someone losing the plot / making out to be okay when they're not." The depth of his afflictions becomes crystal clear, and with fifty minutes left to go, you're sucked headlong into his world of compelling madness.
The Who's "Baba O'Riley" (from Who's Next)
This one's pretty much a gimme. Who can resist "Baba O'Riley"'s cascading synth lines and bashed-out power chord bluster? In many respects, Who's Next is the Who's most bloodthirsty album -- a vicious tour de force of windmill guitars, manic pummeling and Roger Daltrey's histrionic wail -- and its arena-sized opener is the band's most compelling call-to-arms since "My Generation".
Guided by Voices' "Teenage FBI" (from Do the Collapse)
Far and away the most chastised release in the gynormous GBV canon, Do the Collapse scored Pollard the only two pseudo-radio hits of his career -- slow-burning ballad "Hold on Hope" and the ass-whomping, synth-aided opener "Teenage FBI". Producer Rik Ocasek polished the tune until it shone so brightly you could practically see it from outer space, and its sweet-and-crunchy mix of sugary hooks and crashing guitars makes it utterly unforgettable, even if Big Poppa himself isn't all that fond of it.
Brian Eno's "Needle in the Camel's Eye" (from Here Come the Warm Jets)
Perhaps the definitive statement of the glam-rock era (did glam-rockers actually make statements?), "Needle in the Camel's Eye" may also be the greatest three minutes of Brian Eno's career. It's an insistent, surging number with a guitar line so hot it's practically flammable, and Eno's vocals pitched just on the right side of irritating. The fact that it's been covered by every bad bar band (and a clutch of great bands) is merely a testament to its everlasting vitality and vulnerability.
Beulah's "Score from Augusta" (from When Your Heartstrings Break)
The sweetest, most swoon-worthy pop record of the last decade begins with this sublime tune, which cribs beautiful bits from Van Dyke Parks, Brian Wilson and Ray Davies. It's not quite the best track on the record, but its sumptuous orchestral grandeur foreshadows everything that follows, and established Beulah as far more than another weak branch of the Elephant 6 family tree.
Badly Drawn Boy's "The Shining" (from The Hour of Bewilderbeast)
By the time Damon Gough got around to releasing his first proper album, his musical persona was mired in myth and whimsy. He was best known at the time for slices of lo-fi brilliance and shamefully shambolic gigs -- characteristics that made this gorgeous, quasi-orchestral number, which opens The Hour of Bewilderbeast, such an eye-opening surprise. It's stately, it's charming, and coming from a troubadour best known at the time for his questionable disposition and wooly hat, a wondrous revelation indeed.
Urge Overkill's "Sister Havana" (from Saturation)
Before Saturation, everybody looked at Urge Overkill as all show and no go -- a trio of fashion-frenzied Chicagoans whose records chalked up two or three good tracks, but never really delivered a knockout punch. "Sister Havana" changed all that. Not only is it the best guitar-driven slab of the nineties, but its placement in the opening slot was a stroke of genius, sucker-punching listeners into delving into the remaining eleven songs with an impassioned, velvet-clad fervor that would make Quentin Tarantino proud.
Mos Def's "Fear Not of Man" (from Black on Both Sides)
Most modern-day hip-hop albums begin with some overblown intro or bad skit. Such was not the case when Black Star's mighty Mos Def dropped his solo debut in late '99. Confident, brooding and tripped out on a major jazz tip, "Fear Not of Man" mapped out Mos's plan with frightening accuracy, planting his big Brooklyn feet in classic soil and showing legions of sucker MCs that mind-bending rhymes, not farcical skits, make for instant street god status.
The Mendoza Line's "The Big Letdown" (from I Like it When You're Not Around)
Another odd choice, but perhaps the ultimate in irony-laced opening gambits. "The Big Letdown" is anything but -- a joyous, triumphant orchestral pop masterpiece driven by a snappy beat and a cavalcade of guitar, voice and organ. Of course, the rest of the album doesn't quite live up to this hallowed beginning, making the song's title strangely prophetic if not a completely truthful statement. It's still far and away the Mendoza Line's finest hour, but nothing shines quite so brightly as its first three glorious minutes.
Weezer's "My Name is Jonas" (from Weezer (Blue Album))
Sure, everybody remembers the hits from this now classic record -- "Undone (The Sweater Song)", "Buddy Holly" and "In the Garage" -- but the buzzy, chiming pop-rock charmer that kicks off the record is even better. Technically, it's the first song of the Weez's illustrious career, and as such, it has served as the template for everything they've done since.
-- Jason Jackowiak
http://www.splendidezine.com/departments/tdlt/tdlt53104.html (http://www.splendidezine.com/departments/tdlt/tdlt53104.html)
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Here's mine:
1) Joy Division -- Disorder (from Unknown Pleasures)
2) Sugar -- The Act We Act (from Copper Blue)
3) The Stooges -- 1969 (from the Stooges)
4) Husker Du -- Something I Learned Today (from Zen Arcade)
5) New Order -- Fine time (from Technique)
6) My Bloody Valentine -- Only Shallow (from Loveless)
7) PJ Harvey -- Rid of Me (from Rid of Me)
8) Depeche Mode -- Black Celebration (from Black Celebration)
9) The Jesus and Mary Chain -- Just Like Honey (from Psychocandy)
10) The Germs -- What We Do Is Secret (from MIA)
11) Heatmiser -- Get Lucky (from MIC City Sons)
12) Sonic Youth -- Schizophrenia (from Sister)
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That whole Menthol album is great. I really recommend the whole thing to anyone who can find it...
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Trying not to touch stuff that's already been covered:
Fugazi - Facet Squared (In on the Killtaker)
Sebadoh - The Freed Pig (III)
Yes - Heart of the Sunrise (Fragile)
XTC - Respectable Street (Black Sea)
The Kinks - David Watts (Something Else by the Kinks)
Rolling Stones - Paint It Black (Aftermath [US])
They Might Be Giants - Ana Ng (Lincoln)
Ted Leo - Biomusicology (The Tyranny of Distance)
Talking Heads - Thank You For Sending Me An Angel (More Songs About Buildings and Food)
The Secret Machines - First Wave Intact (Now Here Is Nowhere)
The New Pornnographers - Mass Romantic (Mass Romantic)
Modest Mouse - 3rd Planet (Moon and Antarctica)
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here goes...(I do agree with a bunch of previous picks, but I'll only borrow my #1)
1. MBV - Only Shallow (Loveless)
2. Television - See No Evil (Marquee Moon)
3. New Order - Age of Consent (Power Corruption & Lies)
4. Delgados - Light Before We Land (Hate)
5. McLusky - Lightsabre Cocksucking Blues (Do Dallas)
6. Burning Spear - Marcus Garvey
7. Mercury Rev - Empire State (See You On the Other Side)
8. Velvet Underground - White Light
9. Gang of Four - Ether (Entertainment!)
10. Naked Raygun - Soldier's Requiem (Jettison)