Best opening track sequence to an album

[Kosh]

Gomez: Bring it on is indeed a class apart from its fellow so called indie classics. I was fortunate enough to see Gomez at V98, and they were awesome. I saw them again around 2000 at a gig in Newcastle, again they were truly mesmeric. I gave the album a spin just this week. It's perfect for me, a true underrated masterpiece of low-fi loveliness. Top mention by those who called it.

 

[Machiavelli]

I was going to suggest this.

I'd add

The Stone Roses
1. "I Wanna Be Adored"
2. "She Bangs the Drums"
3. "Waterfall"


Elliott Smith's Figure 8
1. "Son of Sam"
2. "Somebody That I Used to Know"
3. "Junk Bond Trader"
4. "Everything Reminds Me of Her"

Vanishing Point - Primal Scream
1."Burning Wheel" – 7:06
2."Get Duffy" – 4:09
3."Kowalski" –

Son of Sam might just be his best track, but I really like the first six tracks of XO: thoughts?

 

[Machiavelli]

Great shout on the FNM album- you are right, the tracks after the opening 4 are fairly mediocre.

What's going on seagully and SHC? I haven't heard this album for yonks, but I still remember Woodpecker from Mars.

 

[Machiavelli]

Standing on a beach - The Cure


1. "Killing an Arab"
2. "10:15 Saturday Night"
3. "Boys Don't Cry"
4. "Jumping Someone Else's Train"
5. "A Forest"


Not a bad line up, especially if you like the Cure.

Standing on a Beach is cheating: tis a greatest hits album. That's a good first five though.

 

[Machiavelli]

Massive Attack Mezzannine
1.Angel
2.Risingson
3.Teardrop
4.Inertia Creeps

Primal Scream Screamadelica
1.Movin On Up
2.Slip Inside This House
3.Don't Find It Feel It
4.Higher Than The Sun

Interpol - Turn On The Bright Lights
1.Untitled
2.Obstacle 1
3.NYC
4.PDA

For me, this is the good, the bad and the unknown.

 

[Machiavelli]

The Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers

1. Brown Sugar
2. Sway
3. Wild Horses
4. Can't You Hear Me Knocking
5. You Gotta Move

Very good. But that's five.

 

[Mackenzie]

Standing on a Beach is cheating: tis a greatest hits album. That's a good first five though.

OK how about.....

Strong Persuader - Robert Cray Band

1."Smoking Gun"
2."I Guess I Showed Her"
3."Right Next Door (Because Of Me)"
4."Nothin' but a Woman"

 

[Machiavelli]

OK how about.....

Strong Persuader - Robert Cray Band

1."Smoking Gun"
2."I Guess I Showed Her"
3."Right Next Door (Because Of Me)"
4."Nothin' but a Woman"

Got to say a resounding NO to this. My first attempt is:
Tom Waits -- Small Change (arse: because of the fifth track, gotta go five):
1. "Tom Traubert's Blues (Four Sheets to the Wind in Copenhagen)" 6:39
2. "Step Right Up" 5:43
3. "Jitterbug Boy (Sharing a Curbstone with Chuck E. Weiss, Robert Marchese, Paul Body and The Mug and Artie)" 3:44
4. "I Wish I Was in New Orleans (In the Ninth Ward)" 4:53
5. "The Piano Has Been Drinking (Not Me) (An Evening with Pete King)" 3:40

 

[Ceej]

Elvis Costello and The Attractions - This Year's Model

No Action
This Year's Girl
The Beat
Pump it Up

......and then the rest of the album. Genius!

 

[big nuts]

Tijuana Lady - just had to put that on. What a tune. That crackly vinyl sounding starting, the strumming Spanish guitar, that opening melody, it's like a little magical cloud taking you on a drifting puff of musical wonderment. Remember when this was first released and being amazed they'd recorded in their garage. It really was not like anything else out there at the time.

Me too listening to it as we speak, fantastic track. Can't believe it is sixteen years since it's release.

 

[big nuts]

Going to also add to my previous three

Gold by Ryan Adams
1.New York, New York
2.Firecracker
3.Answering Bell
4.La Cienega Just Smiled

LCD Soundsystem
1.Get Innocuous
2.Time To Get Away
3.North American Scum
4.Someone Great

Air Moon Safari
1.La Femme d'Argent
2.Sexy Boy
3.All I Need
4.Kelly Watch The Stars

Bloc Party - Silent Alarm
1.Like Eating Glass
2.Helicopter
3.Positive tension
4.Banquet

Charlatans Tellin' Stories
1.With No Shoes
2.North Country Boy
3.Tellin' Stories
4.One to Another

 

[Seagull Crow]

Ten by Pearl Jam
1. Once
2. Even Flow
3. Alive
4. Why Go
5. Black

The intro riff to the album that finds it way to the end of the last song (Release) also makes for a nice arc.

 

[Bold Seagull]

Charlatans Tellin' Stories
1.With No Shoes
2.North Country Boy
3.Tellin' Stories
4.One to Another

You don't need the others now!

 

[big nuts]

This is another great opening salvo

White Blood Cells - White Stripes
1.Dead Leaves & The Dirty Ground
2.Hotel Yorba
3.I'm Finding it Harder to be a Gentleman
4.Fell in Love With a Girl

Velvet Underground & Nico - The Velvet Underground
1.Sunday Morning
2.I'm Waiting for the Man
3.Femme Fatale
4.Venus In Furs

In It for the Money - Supergrass
1.In It For The Money
2.Richard III
3.Tonight
4.Late in the Day

Surprised nobody has mentioned Never Mind The Bollocks yet either, great opening four tracks.

 

[Nitram]

Any of Springsteen's three consecutive albums and actually a good argument for the longest run of music with no fillers.
Darkness on the edge of Town
Born to run
The River

 

[GT49er]

OK - one album where the first three tracks can knock you sideways (and the rest of the album is a bit of a disappointment) - the Steve Miller Band - Number 5 (yes, it was their fifth album)........'Good Morning', 'I Love You' and 'Going to the Country' - if you can find three more make-you-happy tracks than those, let me know.

 

[studio150]

Blitzkreig Bop/Beat on the Brat/Judy is a punk/I wanna be your boyfriend

Is there a better first 8 minutes on an album?

 

[keaton]

My own addition to this fine collection is: The Longpigs, The Sun is Often Out
1. Lost Myself
2. She Said
3. Far
4. On and On.

I listened to that the other day. That is probably the ultimate in tale off of quality after the fourth track

 

[Bold Seagull]

I listened to that the other day. That is probably the ultimate in tale off of quality after the fourth track

I would agree, although for me Dozen Wicked Words saves the back end a little bit.

 

[Bold Seagull]

In It for the Money - Supergrass
1.In It For The Money
2.Richard III
3.Tonight
4.Late in the Day

Not so sure I Should Coco wasn't a more impressive opening…tough call
1.I'd Like To Know
2.Caught by the Fuzz
3.Mansize Rooster
4.Alright