Best four-song run on an album?

My vote is possibly for the first four songs on the Walker Brothers' "Nite Flights". Failing that, the first four tracks on Plaid's "Double Figure".

i was thinking about this recently actually.

i think parklife has a pretty great run from "london loves" through to "magic america".

also, the first four tracks on wild gift by x.

Can It All Be So Simple -> Da Mystery of Chessboxin' -> Ain't Nothin' Ta Fuck Wit -> C.R.E.A.M.

New Order - Technique
Al Green - Call Me
Imperial Teen - What Is Not To Love

Led Zep III:
Gallows Pole -> Tangerine -> That's the Way -> Bron-Y-Aur Stomp

Low - Trust

In The Drugs -> Last Snowstorm Of The Year -> John Prine -> Little Argument With Myself

Good one - that Low run is what made me a fan.

One More Time -> Aerodynamic -> Digital Love -> Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger

"Peter Piper"
"It's Tricky"
"My Adidas"
"Walk This Way"

The Ruler's Back > Takeover > Izzo > Girls, Girls, Girls

Thin Lizzy Jailbreak:

The Boys Are Back In Town -> Fight Or Fail -> Cowboy Song -> Emerald

the first four songs on scott 3.

Slanted & Enchanted

Summer Babe - Trigger Cut - No Life Singed Her - In The Mouth Of A Desert

The second side of Sulk by The Associates.

Skipping - It's Better This Way - Party Fears 2 - Club Country

These are also impressive runs.

Prefab Sprout-Steve McQueen
Bonny - Appetite - When Love Breaks Down - Goodbye Lucille

Roxy Music-Stranded
Serenade - A Song For Europe - Mother of Pearl - Sunrise

^ otm was just going to post Stranded.

how about:
"It's No Game (Part 1)"
"Up the Hill Backwards"
"Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)"
"Ashes to Ashes"

One More Time -> Aerodynamic -> Digital Love -> Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger

that's the first one I thought of too. Totally unstoppable

KP, you and I seem to be cut from the same post-punk cloth, your choices are ace.

My pick is the first 5 tracks on The Chameleons "Script Of The Bridge": Don't Fall / Here Today / Moneyland / Second Skin / Up The Down Escalator

the v.u.
candy says/what goes on/some kinda love/pale blue eyes

Low - Trust

In The Drugs -> Last Snowstorm Of The Year -> John Prine -> Little Argument With Myself

― It would have been better with burger sauce (aldo), Saturday, 18 September 2010 15:15 Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

^^^this

KP, you and I seem to be cut from the same post-punk cloth, your choices are ace.

― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Saturday, September 18, 2010 4:41 PM (10 minutes ago)

Thanks. Most of the albums that first came to mind where from around that era. Either sides of Dare and The Lexicon of Love would be up there too.

Slanted & Enchanted

Summer Babe - Trigger Cut - No Life Singed Her - In The Mouth Of A Desert

― kornrulez6969, Saturday, September 18, 2010 3:57 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

inna slightly noisier/rockier 90s indie vein, Vee Vee offers:

Harnessed in Slums -> Nevermind the Enemy -> Greatest of All Time -> Underdogs of Nipomo

Sinead - The Lion And The Cobra

Jackie > Mandinka > Jerusalem > Just Like U Said It Would B

It Was Written

The Message --> Street Dreams --> I Gave You Power --> Watch Dem Niggas

pretty powerful suite

(cheats) I Am The Walrus/Hello Goodbye/Strawberry Fields Forever/Penny Lane

('songs') The Plateaux Of Mirror/Above Chiangmai/An Arc Of Doves/Not Yet Remembered

A 7" of yakety sax played four times

anyone for Stormcock, Godbluff and Ys?

One More Time -> Aerodynamic -> Digital Love -> Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger

― lol @ dog w/ sunglasses (Pillbox), Saturday, 18 September 2010 14:20 (3 hours ago)

Yeah this is amazing, obviously!

Other nominees:

Gorky's Zygotic Mynci - Barafundle: Diamond Dew, Barafundle Bumbler, Starmoonsun, Patio Song

Beach Boys have at least two:

Sunflower - Tears In the Morning > All I Want To Do > Forever > Our Sweet Love
Today! - the whole of the second side (save that stupid skit at the end)

The Sunlandic Twins:
i was never young >> wrath pinned... >> forecast fascist future >> so begins our alabee

or maybe In Sides:
girl with the sun in her head >> petrol >> the box part I >> the box part II

this is hard.

this one is probably just me but Throwing Muses "University" had a stellar run with:
bright yellow gun >> start >> hazing >> shimmer

The first four from nearly any New Pornographers will work here:

Twin Cinema > The Bones Of An Idol > Use It > The Bleeding Heart Show

Mass Romantic > The Fake Headlines > The Slow Descent Into Alcoholism > Mystery Hours

The Electric Version > From Blown Speakers > The Laws Have Changed > Loose Translation <---- a little iffy, it skipped right to Chump Change it would be perfect

Also, Belly's "Star" has Slow Dog > Low Red Moon > Feed The Tree > Full Moon, Empty Heart, which is just, like, put those four on repeat and never leave the house again.

bad moon rising lodi cross-tie walker sinister purpose

angel > risingson > teardrop > inertia creeps

I like these..
Disarm, soma, geek usa, mayonaise
Just, my iron lung, bulletproof, black star
Cups, push upstairs, jumbo, shudder/king of snake
Gigantic, river euphrates, where is my mind, cactus
Cry me a river, rock your body, nothin else, last night

The daft punk one still dominates

I think my favorite six-song run is Evenings of Damask, The Sea Beasts, Iscariot, Nijinsky Hind, The Pilgrim's Tale, The Misty Coast of Albany.

Also
Run to the sun, baby doll, am I high, rock star
Napoleon says, consolation prizes, rally, long distance call
Beat it, billie jean, human nature, pyt
...
Animal, love bites, pour some sugar on me, armageddon it

this thread has me cranking some jailbreak. loving it.

i think you could chop up Pink Flag into any consecutive four-song chunks and come up w/a winner.

^^ agreed

speed trials -> alameda -> ballad of big nothing -> between the bars

Either/or .. good one

so many great possible choices, some of which are album sides:

(FTW?) Heart And Soul/Twenty Four Hours/The Eternal/Decades

Hey Pocky A-Way/It Ain't No Use/Loving You Is On My Mind/Africa

Mr Tambourine Man/Gates Of Eden/It's All Right, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)/It's All Over Now, Baby Blue

more personal faves:

Doctor Robert/I Want To Tell You/Got To Get You Into My Life/Tomorrow Never Knows*

When A Man Needs A Woman/Passing By/Anna Lee, The Healer/Little Bird (fave Beach Boys sequence)

Chanson d'O/Le Martien/Mer/Oui, Je Dis Adieu

*(also strong: Eleanor Rigby/Love You To/I'm Only Sleeping/Here, There And Everywhere)

Also, Belly's "Star" has Slow Dog > Low Red Moon > Feed The Tree > Full Moon, Empty Heart, which is just, like, put those four on repeat and never leave the house again.

whoa, I came here earlier just to post this, but I couldn't decide whether to go with the run you posted or Low Red Moon > Feed The Tree > Full Moon, Empty Heart > White Belly. I still can't decide actually.

angel > risingson > teardrop > inertia creeps

― mookieproof, Saturday, September 18, 2010 3:13 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

God that is SO otm.

Wait wait wait we're totally forgetting one of the best ever:

Money Changes Everything > Girls Just Wanna Have Fun > When You Were Mine > Time After Time

Whiskey & Water
Blood
City Sickness
Patchwork

Run Come Rally
Seventy-Two Nations
Zion Land
Know How You Stand

'DNA'
'Yah'
'Element'
'Feel'

I can take or leave Yah

One More Time -> Aerodynamic -> Digital Love -> Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger

― lol @ dog w/ sunglasses (Pillbox), Saturday, September 18, 2010 7:20 AM (seven years ago)

On Sight -> Black Skinhead -> I am a God -> New Slaves

Sick & Tired
Tomorrow
Rise & Shine
Beautiful One

Heart Skipped a Beat > Fantasy > Shelter > Basic Space
Sensitive > Rude Boy > In the House of Yes > Blush
Feel Like Makin' Love > Greatdayanmornin' / Booty > Untitled (How Does it Feel?) > Africa

Hello Mabel > Kama Sutra > Humanoid Boogie > Trouser Press

Pulling Mussels (from the Shell) > Another Nail in My Heart > Separate Beds > Misadventure

Utterance - Puff She Puff - Rockstone - Carbine
and from the same band, cheating a tiny bit:
Shine Eye Gal - Leaving to Zion - General Penitentiary - Guess Who's Coming to Dinner

When you were mine/time after time/she bop/all through the night
Or just side A, some days. (Money changes everything/girls...fun/wywm/tat)

Overcome - Ponderosa - Black Steel - Hell is Round the Corner
Esoterica of Abyssinia - Space Prophet Dogon - The Shining Path - The Flower

ahhh, you know, i could name scott walker's songs on "nite flights" or whatever but that feels like cheating. to me this is killer four song runs on records i don't necessarily listen to all the way through, all the time.

so for me that's "crystal ball". honestly i listen to "crystal ball" instead of "sign o the times" because it has more great songs on it than "sign o the times", but since it's six sides i don't listen to it all the way through. my favorite four-song runs on that record:

rebirth of the flesh -> play in the sunshine -> housequake -> ballad of dorothy parker

and

the ball -> joy in repetition -> strange relationship -> i could never take the place of your man

you know, sides one and four. sides one and three of the released "sign o the times" also work just fine.

Fast Robert > Mare's Nest > The Stench of Honey > Buds and Spawn

Can It All Be So Simple -> Da Mystery of Chessboxin' -> Ain't Nothin' Ta Fuck Wit -> C.R.E.A.M.

― haven't you people ever heard of theodor a-goddamn-dorno (bernard snowy), Saturday, September 18, 2010

11:59
Will anything happen?
Sunday girl - french version
Heart of glass

xp interesting that josefa picked a different run from the same album!

goes to show it's the best album.

Violator

Personal Jesus - Halo - Waiting For The Night - Enjoy The Silence

Neil Young - Tonight’s the Night:

Albuquerque/New Mama/Lookout Joe/Tired Eyes

This makes for the fourth REM album to appear in this thread, but: Belong -> Half a World Away -> Texarkana -> Country Feedback

West End Girls > Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money) > Love Comes Quickly > Suburbia

and could've switch out 'Suburbia' for 'Two Divided By Zero' ...

Help Me -> Free Man in Paris -> People's Parties -> The Same Situation

Moondance -> Crazy Love -> Caravan -> Into the Mystic

Girl Don't Tell Me -> Help Me, Rhonda -> California Girls -> Let Him Run Wild

Happy > She Sends Kisses > This Boy Is Exhausted > Hopeless

^^ yes

amnesiac, the first four tracks make it radiohead’s best album

as we're all loving current 93 atm,

all the world makes great blood -> the great, bloody and bruised veil of the world -> into the menstrual night i go -> dormition and dominion

can hardly think of a better possible run of music

"Me So Horny"->"Put Her in the Buck"->"D--k Almighty"->"C'mon Babe"

Untitled
Obstacle 1
NYC
PDA

4+4+2

Hardcore UFO's
Buzzards & Dreadful Crows
Tractor Rape Chain
Goldheart Mountaintop Queen Directory
Hot Freaks
Smothered In Hugs
Yours To Keep
Echos Myron
Gold Star For Robot Boy
Awful Bliss

Veedon Fleece: Linden Arden Stole the Highlights, Who Was that Masked Man? Streets of Arklow, You Don't Pull No Punches (But you don't push the river)

The Grants > Did You Know That There's a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd > Sweet > A&W

I Got the Blues - Sister Morphine - Dead Flowers - Moonlight Mile

Hulloder > Dada Was Here > Thank You Pierrot Lunaire > Have You Ever Bean Green?

as it happens, the four best songs ever recorded are also a four-song run: Three Babies / The Emperor's New Clothes / Black Boys on Mopeds / Nothing Compares 2 U

This reminds me how long my music listening has been depressingly removed from “whole albums, in order”

Offhand:

- The last tracks on Behaviour and the first tracks on Very
- The first and last tracks on The Rising (I know it’s not well-loved but it’s a personal sentimental favourite)
- Little Star / Hopefully Yours / Murder in Maryland Park / I See You Again or any four song segment of that album

4+4+2

Hardcore UFO's
Buzzards & Dreadful Crows
Tractor Rape Chain
Goldheart Mountaintop Queen Directory
Hot Freaks
Smothered In Hugs
Yours To Keep
Echos Myron
Gold Star For Robot Boy
Awful Bliss

― DACA Flocka Flame (Hadrian VIII), Tuesday, 23 October 2018 18:42 (four years ago)

this is such a good answer

so many but the first four tracks on roman candle by elliott smith destroy me

The 2nd side of Rust Never Sleeps.

Side one of John Prine's first album.

Suede - We Are The Pigs > Heroine > The Wild Ones - Daddy's Speeding

Saint Etienne - Avenue > You're In A Bad Way > Hobart Paving > Leafhound (ignoring the 20 second Memo To Pricey interlude there)

Broadcast - Papercuts > You Can Fall > Look Outside > Until Then

Kylie - More More More > Love At First Sight > Can't Get You Out Of My Head > Fever

Sylvester - All four songs on Stars

Broadcast - Papercuts > You Can Fall > Look Outside > Until Then

The 3 songs before "Papercuts" are pretty amazing as well.

Maybe it would be more of a challenge to pick an album with 4 great songs in a row and nothing else that’s very good.

I've been trying to think of examples of this. Somebody already listed the only four songs from Rain Dogs that I like, except for "9th and Hennepin".

A couple of times Tori Amos really rallied at the end of very lengthy and not-entirely-satisfactory albums and came up with amazing four-song conclusions:

Another Girl's Paradise / Scarlet's Walk / Virginia / Gold Dust
Beauty of Speed / Almost Rosey / Velvet Revolution / Dark Side of the Sun

I like other songs from these records, but with each subsequent song in these closing quartets, it feels like she is raising her bets and pulling off a victory.

Cocoon > It's Not Up To You > Undo > Pagan Poetry

Too High > Visions > Living for the City > Golden Lady
Did I Hear You Say You Love Me > All I Do > Rocket Love > I Ain't Gonna Stand For It

More Lana — a six-song run, as good as any I know:

Black Bathing Suit > If You Lie Down With Me > Beautiful > Violets for Roses > Dealer > Thunder

The 2 of Us / Black or Blue / The Asphalt World / Still Life

Here's five:

Sailin' On/Don't Need It/Attitude/The Regulator/Banned In D.C.

Then you get a dub instrumental, so you can catch your breath.

Several Ariana sequences have been listed here already, but this has to be one of the best closing runs on a modern pop album:

Bad Decisions > Touch It > Knew Better / Forever Boy > Thinking Bout You

lilia > trem de doido > nada sera como antes > ao que vai nascer

a-side of "master of reality"

"The Hanging Garden"
"Siamese Twins"
"The Figurehead"
"A Strange Day"