Just speaking for vinyl, I was always impressed with the Mirage sequencing and I loved the 2 closing songs. They left me in a tranquil mood.

Michele

^^ That is why I voted for the white album as well. Sometimes I'm not in the mood to listen to say Songbird or some of the more raucous songs on Tusk - But, I always have the white album CD in my car.

I think most of their album song orders are well thought out. It's not so much the order that kills it at times. I think it has more to do with weak songs.

I'm torn between the white album and Rumours.

For the White Album, Blue Letter to World Turning is an incredibly strong showcase of tracks, and the duds on the album aren't as bad as the downright stinkers found on Tango courtesy of Stevie.

Rumours is perfectly sequenced, but I sometimes think Never Going Back again - Don't Stop doesn't flow as well as the rest, although this is probably my all-consuming hatred for the latter song speaking. I love Silver Springs inbetween Songbird and The Chain though.

The Dance, without a doubt. Espeically they have the last three or four songs. The energy at the end is phenomenal, I only just wish they would have had and ended the CD with Songbird. Same way I wish Rumours ended with Songbird. I'm never in the mood to listen to Songbird when it comes on when I'm listening to the Rumours CD, so it usually gets skipped over. Beautiful song, or not.

I think all of the albums are sequenced pretty well. Didn't Stevie sequence most of them?

Not Rumours.. I think Ken did that, according to his book, didn't he? I can't quite remember and I can't flip through it cause I only have it as an ebook on my Kobo.

Ken said Judy did it. Stevie doesn't say that.

Michele

Totally agree. And if cds were around in 77 the sequencing would have been different.

The sequence of tracks on Tusk is often disturbing, but then that was probably the point. You can listen to those first five tracks and get a pretty good idea of the range of the album. As much as I would have chosen a different opener, it was clever to begin with Over and Over--the apotheosis of California easy-listening pop--and then move to "The Ledge," which is just outright bizarre. "Think About Me," which follows, seems to synthesize the approaches to both of the previous songs--a poppy melody and vocal underpinned by crunching, rowdy guitars and spirited drum work.

Still, I would have loved to see the song "Tusk" open the record.

Perhaps it's a generational thing, but I've never put much stock in album sequencing. For live shows/concerts, it's more important. :cool:

I think the '75-87 era just sucked at album sequencing. Rumours is about the closest to "just ok"; and the 1975 album is barely passable. The rest need some serious rethinking.

The Dying Art of The Album

NPR recently released its list of 150 greatest albums made by women. Among the top twenty are Fleetwood Mac's Rumours and Patti Smith's Horses, with Blue (Joni Mitchell) sitting at the number one spot. One pop, one distinctly punk, one a folk masterpiece peppered with the tiniest hint of the experimental jazz sound its creator would develop over time. The femininity of the artists is not, however, the only thoroughfare between the albums on this list. Over half the albums chosen by NPR were released between 1970 and 1989. In the span of two decades – not a notably long time when you consider how long it takes to make an album from inception to final mastered piece – the majority of long-lasting, critically acclaimed albums were made.

One of the things I desperately miss about an album are the slow-burners. Not everything is supposed to be a hit single and I quite honestly, for much of my life, have measured an artists talent by the way they are able to fill up the negative space on an album. Take Rumours. How the hell are you supposed to follow "Dreams"? How does one get from "Go Your Own Way" to "The Chain"? Fleetwood's answer is simple: Christine McVie's melodically and lyrically stunning "Songbird". It's not a hit, and it doesn't have to be. McVie was so often dwarfed by the ethereal fairy-child that was Stevie Nicks circa 1977, all gypsy lace, bell sleeves and otherworldly growl. But on "Songbird", McVie is anything but forgotten; the heartbreaking track won't allow it. When I asked Ailbhe whether she felt pressure to make every single release a "banger" she said:

There is pressure to make everything a banger, but I think that's a longstanding pressure on anyone who starts to do well. You have to keep upping the game. There are songs I have [as an artist] that I just am not going to invest in because they aren't 'single material'.


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