So, name me albums with only one good song...

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On a happier note. One of the most well-entrenched lines in the whole debate on mp3s/Napster over the last couple of years was the bit about how 'consumers are tired of paying for albums full price for just one good song.' Which made me think -- okay, what albums? Favorite/typical examples? Anyone?

I was trying to think of a good answer to my own question in this case -- I'm not too sure I have one. Which is why I'm interested in others' takes -- and whether or not they think that really *is* an issue in the whole hoo-hah or just an easily dreamed-up axiom.

Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 2 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Shaggy immediately comes to mind. And I know more than one person who bought Natalie Imbruglia's album only to toss it out in disgust after a while - then again they deserve it for thinking Torn is a good song.

Ally, Wednesday, 2 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I think when reporters (and when I say this I mean general interest writers reporting on Napster, this argument is less common with music critics) write lines like this, they have in mind the people who will buy an album to get the hit single, since singles are not pushed by the record companies anymore (in the US anyway).

Nicole, Wednesday, 2 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

mccartney's debut with "maybe i'm amazed." it's probably one of his most loved solo songs and yet it doesn't appear on his best of. first the beatles, then wings, now this. fucker.

fred solinger, Wednesday, 2 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Alice Cooper's "School's Out"...the only good song is "School's Out"...I'm surprised such a great band produced such a poor album.

james e l, Wednesday, 2 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

While I'm not gonna pick on fred just for the sake of picking on him, I have to ask -- "Maybe I'm Amazed"? Ned said one good song.

Nicole, Wednesday, 2 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I'm usually pretty successful at deleting those stinkers from my memory. The only one that comes up right now is Chumbawamba's Tubthumper (guess what song).

Patrick, Wednesday, 2 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Don McLean: American Pie (so what if it's old? people are still buying it)

Ed, Wednesday, 2 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Llama Farmers - Yellow (quite good) from the mostly excreble Dead Letter Chorus cd.

philT, Wednesday, 2 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

nicole, along with "say say say," "maybe i'm amazed" is likely the only good song macca has recorded in his torturously long solo career.

fred solinger, Wednesday, 2 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I like 'My Brave Face' too. MacManus had a hand in that.

the pinefox, Wednesday, 2 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Primal Screams 'Exterminator' - though I'd be grateful if someone could tell me which was the good song.

Guy, Wednesday, 2 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Edwyn Collins - Gorgeous George. Nothing on the album sounds like "Girl Like You" in the remotest way, and I want to smack him for making me listen to it. I almost didn't post this in deference to "The Campaign For Real Rock", but the rest of the album undermines the message of that song so badly that it has to be immediately discounted. And to think I even bought his follow-up for $3.99 at the Record Exchange!

Dave M., Wednesday, 2 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

the Big Momma's House soundtrack. guess which song.... (w/Missy doin remix vocal hooks!!!!)

Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 2 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Spacehog. Totally regrettable.

Grim Kim, Wednesday, 2 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Gorky's Zygotic Mynci "Gorky5" is only really worth having for "Hush the Warmth" (and maybe "Catrin").

I think the whole debate in the original question is F***ing retarded. People who appreciate music want more than just one song... What many fail to appreciate is that an album is an artform in itself - a concept. With the availability of single tracks only, the album will die and we will never be able to appreciate this in the same way.

dog latin, Wednesday, 2 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Spain. Should have kept the mix tape my friend gave me instead of buying the whole damn CD.

Stevie Nixed, Thursday, 3 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

But, uh, dog latin, regardless of this can't there be albums with only one good song? (Answer: yes)

Josh, Thursday, 3 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Steve Reich - Music for 18 Musicians

K-reg, Thursday, 3 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Jesus & Mary Chain: Stoned and Dethroned. Of course, that song is in fact every track.

Sterling Clover, Thursday, 3 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

moloko - "the time is now" from "things to make and do"

fernando, Thursday, 3 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

The Band: Sailor! The Album: "Trouble"!! The track: "Glass of Champagne"!!!

(Actually "Jacoranda" was not too bad a track. Hang on, I'd better start again...)

The Band: Eighth Wonder The Album: I've forgotten, because I sold it pretty soon afterwards!!! The track: "I'm Not Scared" (The rest of the album filled with not- very-good fluffy pop stuffs, definately not produced by the Pet Shop Boys)

And finally, I suppose in 10 years time, a lot of people will be able to nominate... The Band: Toploader!!! The Album: "Onka's Big Moka"!!! etc., etc., ... Well, that's if they still think "Dancing in the Moonlight" is a good song of course...

Old Fart!!!!

Old Fart!!!!, Thursday, 3 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I'm truly worried now that "Say Say Say" is included in Fred's collection of "McCartney's Good Tracks". Lord have mercy.

I'm trying to think of more albums. It's a lot of pop albums though, that release one single that goes mega mega and then people buy it and the rest of the songs are toss. If they weren't toss, we wouldn't have so many one hit wonders. I reckon, despite her having hits, Christina Aguilera is a good example, Genie in a Bottle is the only worthwhile thing she's done and it's a good thing MP3s exist otherwise I'd never hear the song cos I refuse to buy an album.

Listening stations help with this too but few people actually use the listening station - and have you noticed that the stations seem to have every album in the store EXCEPT the ones with the top 40 singles? Hmmm

Ally, Thursday, 3 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

A bleedin' obvious answer, but an answer nonetheless - "Sgt. Pepper" - "A Day In The Life." Deserves a Search and Destroy to itself if one hasn't already been done.

Marcello Carlin, Thursday, 3 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Tortoise "Millions now living.." for Djed

Stevo, Thursday, 3 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Michael Penn's March - track - No Myth

Geoff, Friday, 4 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

gosh gorky's '5' has tons of great songs 'only the sea makes sense', 'frozen smile', 'let's get together', 'catrin', 'hush the wramth', 'tidal wave', etc... only regrettable choice may have been the russian polka number. and paul wrote all the songs you hum in your head, who goes around humming 'i am the walrus'? paul all the way for me.

keith, Sunday, 6 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I go around humming "I Am The Walrus".

Robin Carmody, Sunday, 6 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I go around screaming "I AM THE WALRUS!" to unsuspecting passerby.

Dave M., Monday, 7 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

LOVELESS ;)

grdrcr, Monday, 7 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

NADA SURF popular is a great track wit han even better video the rest of the lbum is unlistenable

anthony, Wednesday, 9 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Album - What You Gonna Do Artist - Intastella Track - (surprise surprise) What You Gonna Do

The rest is the most unlistenable, turgid crapola I've ever had the misfortune to pay for. And I can't sell it because there's a huge fuck off scratch on it, to boot. Bastards.

achilles_last_stand, Sunday, 13 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Blue Oyster Cult - "Imaginos" - The good song being the first, and the rest of the album consisting of AOR filler of the most tedious sort. Worth a quid, though.

x0x0

norman fay, Monday, 14 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

'Changing of the Guard' from Street Legal. But I'm the only person I know who thinks this is one of Dylan's best ever songs.

scott, Monday, 14 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

three weeks pass...
Destiny's Child-_The Writing's On The Wall_("So Good")...

Craig Dunsmuir, Tuesday, 5 June 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Beatles - Yellow Submarine soundtrack / 'Hey Bulldog' Eno - Here Come The Warm Jets / 'Cindy Tells Me' (oh, I'm probably wrong - this is me in my impatient pop fan mode. I'll give it another listen some time)

Nick, Tuesday, 5 June 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

That album by Primitive Radio Gods that had the single with the absurdly long title... _Rocket_. The song was "Standing Outside a Broken Phone Booth With Money in My Hand". It was the only palatable song on the album.

At one point I would have also listed _Our Little Secret_ by Lords Of Acid, but I listened to it again yesterday and it's completely wonderful. I must have been really cranky the last time I tried to listen to it or something...

Dan Perry, Tuesday, 5 June 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

six years pass...

Ah, here be that thread.

So by Peter Gabriel for "Don't Give Up."

Marcello Carlin, Friday, 6 July 2007 10:49 (eighteen years ago)

Wild Mood Swings by The Cure for 'Treasure'.

flowersdie, Friday, 6 July 2007 10:51 (eighteen years ago)

Biggest one that pops into my head is that Harvey Danger record with "Flagpole Sitta"

MC, Friday, 6 July 2007 11:56 (eighteen years ago)

Spooks: S.I.O.S.O.S.. "Things I've Seen" is one hell of a great rap single, but the rest of the album is completely and totally mediocre. The same good be said about that Gnarls Barkely album: "Crazy" is the only worthy tune on it.

Tuomas, Friday, 6 July 2007 12:13 (eighteen years ago)

X Post.

Marcello - but, but but Mercy Street and Red Rain! OK maybe not Red Rain, but Mercy Street!

Guilty_Boksen, Friday, 6 July 2007 12:23 (eighteen years ago)

I believe I said "Don't Give Up."

Marcello Carlin, Friday, 6 July 2007 12:26 (eighteen years ago)

radiohead AMNEASIAC

pisces, Friday, 6 July 2007 13:10 (eighteen years ago)

Brian Eno - Thursday Afternoon

stephen, Friday, 6 July 2007 15:01 (eighteen years ago)

the last missy elliot album, and the one before that (?)

That one guy that quit, Friday, 6 July 2007 15:02 (eighteen years ago)

Neil Young: Going Home (from Are You Passionate?)

kornrulez6969, Friday, 6 July 2007 15:16 (eighteen years ago)

I'm From Barcelona - Let Me Introduce My Friends (We're from Barcelona)
Camera Obscura - Let's get out of this country (Hey Lloyd..)
Barbarians - Are you a boy or are you a girl? (title track)

Kim Tortoise, Friday, 6 July 2007 15:56 (eighteen years ago)

but, but but Mercy Street and Red Rain! OK maybe not Red Rain, but Mercy Street!
-- Guilty_Boksen

Guiity, I'm with you on this. I don't find "Don't Give Up" one of the better songs on that record either. Always've loved "Mercy Street" mo'.

t**t, Friday, 6 July 2007 19:22 (eighteen years ago)

"Flowers by the Door" from Change Today? by TSOL

"Get Well Soon" from Songs Not Get Married To by Reggie & the Full Effect

I love both of these songs, but never care to hear the rest of the record ever again.

earlnash, Saturday, 7 July 2007 03:32 (eighteen years ago)

More constructively, Ride's Tarantula. 'Black Nite Crash' being an absolutely storming opener, the rest being too dismal to contemplate. Could be a theme worth its own thread: bankrupt bands somehow scoring a bullseye.

Ismael Klata, Monday, 12 April 2010 06:40 (fifteen years ago)

Couple albums come to mind...

Icicle Works' clumsily-titled If You Want to Defeat Your Enemy Sing His Song. "Understanding Jane" is such a massive TKO knock-out of a song that there's just no way the rest of the album could keep up with it.

Delays' Faded Seaside Glamour falls into the same category. "Nearer Than Heaven" is such a terrific song that I've completely forgotten about the rest of the album.

Elvis Telecom, Monday, 12 April 2010 06:50 (fifteen years ago)

White Town Women In Technology
Track 4 - "Your Woman"

billstevejim, Monday, 12 April 2010 07:08 (fifteen years ago)

The Michael Jackson album with "You Rock My World."

billstevejim, Monday, 12 April 2010 07:10 (fifteen years ago)

Oasis Be Here Now
Track 1 - "D'Ya Know What I Mean"

billstevejim, Monday, 12 April 2010 07:15 (fifteen years ago)

http://www.mixmatters.com/hot/images/mobb_deep_blood_money.jpg

he might have even have gone in. (a hoy hoy), Monday, 12 April 2010 07:48 (fifteen years ago)

The title track of "The Fact of Life" by Black Box Recorder. All the other songs on that album sound like those parody songs from "Not The Nine O'Clock News".

Convenience Fish (snoball), Monday, 12 April 2010 07:57 (fifteen years ago)

The Walkmen - Bows & Arrows

"The Rat"

Totally agree with this. Also: "Carry the Zero" from Keep it Like a Secret (Built to Spill) and "Grip Like A Vice" from Proof of Youth (The Go! Team)

monster_xero, Monday, 12 April 2010 08:18 (fifteen years ago)

"Carry the Zero" from Keep it Like a Secret (Built to Spill)

As someone who spent a while putting "Sidewalk" on every mix I made, this makes me sad
(though I haven't listened to "Sidewalk", "Carry the Zero" or anything else off the album since a couple of years after it came out, so maybe you're right)

falling while carrying an owl (a passing spacecadet), Monday, 12 April 2010 09:39 (fifteen years ago)

Nah you are v wrong. It's not quite up there with Perfect but it's still a damn solid album, no reason to pick Carry the Zero over any of the others, good though it is.

the big pink suede panda bear hurts (ledge), Monday, 12 April 2010 09:44 (fifteen years ago)

I love that whole damn record, but at the very least Temporarily Blind is miles above Carry the Zero.

trained to identify threads and then kill or destroy them (kingkongvsgodzilla), Monday, 12 April 2010 09:50 (fifteen years ago)

Sidewalk too.

trained to identify threads and then kill or destroy them (kingkongvsgodzilla), Monday, 12 April 2010 09:51 (fifteen years ago)

The Replacements - Don't Tell A Soul, for Achin' To Be. That Marcy Playground record for Sex and Candy. That Fastball record for The Way.

ithappens, Monday, 12 April 2010 09:57 (fifteen years ago)

DTAS has "Talent Show" FFS

President Keyes, Monday, 12 April 2010 13:52 (fifteen years ago)

I'll Be You 4EVA! That is a killer song. The rest, not so good.

kornrulez6969, Monday, 12 April 2010 14:10 (fifteen years ago)

The Walkmen - Bows & Arrows

"The Rat"

Totally agree with this.

crazy talk!!

Wishes he picked a cooler name. Fat. (will), Monday, 12 April 2010 14:15 (fifteen years ago)

i kept that far corporation album for years just so i could hear stairway to heaven when i felt like it. would have preferred to own the 12 inch of stairway, but i never saw one.

scott seward, Monday, 12 April 2010 14:33 (fifteen years ago)

Don't Tell A Soul has a lot of good songs. It's the production that's kind of weak.

My vote goes to Wax's 13 Unlucky Numbers, for "California."

Ervin "Death Grip" Michaels (res), Monday, 12 April 2010 14:40 (fifteen years ago)

That Fastball record for The Way.

"The Way" may not even be the best song on the album. "Fire Escape" is pretty good, as was the second single, whatever it was called.

Obama, Wellstone and Darwinfish, Attorneys (Pancakes Hackman), Monday, 12 April 2010 14:46 (fifteen years ago)

I was thinking the Wax album also..

The Marcy Playground album has "St Joe On The Schoolbus" and "Sherry Fraser." I haven't heard the rest, but I liked all 3 singles from that album even though the other 2 hardly got airplay.

Every song on Keep It Like A Secret is good.

billstevejim, Monday, 12 April 2010 14:46 (fifteen years ago)

"Give My Regards To Broad Street": "No More Lonely Nights"
(Contains several great songs, but they are all pointless covers)

"Not Such A Bad Boy" and "No Values" were previously unheard songs. Both are good, but are not as good as "No More Lonely Nights."

Obama, Wellstone and Darwinfish, Attorneys (Pancakes Hackman), Monday, 12 April 2010 14:47 (fifteen years ago)

Was going to say Squeeze's 'Domino', but remember it had two: the title track and 'Sleeping With A Friend'. The rest is a mix of mediocrity and utter crap.

PaulTMA, Monday, 12 April 2010 14:48 (fifteen years ago)

1st Junior Senior album - the single
1st CSS album - the single

abanana, Monday, 12 April 2010 14:52 (fifteen years ago)

xpost On the Go! Team Proof Of Youth, "Titanic Vandalism" is a better song than "Grip Like A Vice" so there ya go...

People should be exempt for posting here unless they're actually familiar with the entire album because this is getting annoying.

billstevejim, Monday, 12 April 2010 14:53 (fifteen years ago)

oops CSS had another single that did well. i meant "Let's Make Love etc."

abanana, Monday, 12 April 2010 14:55 (fifteen years ago)

There are about 9 great songs on that CSS album.

billstevejim, Monday, 12 April 2010 14:56 (fifteen years ago)

More constructively, Ride's Tarantula. 'Black Nite Crash' being an absolutely storming opener, the rest being too dismal to contemplate. Could be a theme worth its own thread: bankrupt bands somehow scoring a bullseye.

This was my answer.

I just wish he hadn't adopted the "ilxor" moniker (ilxor), Monday, 12 April 2010 14:59 (fifteen years ago)

the bit about how 'consumers are tired of paying for albums full price for just one good song.'

I really hate this argument. A lot of my favourite songs are deep cuts that feel more 'representative', I suppose, of the album than the hit singles. Even if I get an album off rapidshare/whatever, I'll usually listen to it all the way through the first couple of times to get a feel for it. I think a lot of the people who make the 'one good song' argument on the internet are boingboing fans who think Jonathan Coulton is the future of music.

fukkin magnets (ecuador_with_a_c), Monday, 12 April 2010 15:01 (fifteen years ago)

Pulp-It (Blue Girls)
Billy Mackenzie-Outernational (Baby)
New Order-Movement (Dreams Never End)
Belle & Sebastian-Story Telling (Scooby Driver)
Brian Wilson-That Lucky Old Sun (Midnights Another Day)
David Bowie-Black Tie White Noise (Jump They Say)
Rufus Wainwright-Release the Stars (Going to a Town)
Kate Bush-The Red Shoes (Moments In Love)
Blur-Leisure (Sing)
Prefab Sprout-The Gunman & Other Stories (Cornfield Ablaze)

Kitchen Person, Monday, 12 April 2010 15:09 (fifteen years ago)

"New Order-Movement (Dreams Never End)"

oh kitchenpaws...

i'm too sleepy to argue though.

scott seward, Monday, 12 April 2010 15:15 (fifteen years ago)

Isn't that the Blur album with "She's So High" and "There's No Other Way"? although neither of those are as amazing as "Sing" they're still not bad at all

billstevejim, Monday, 12 April 2010 15:24 (fifteen years ago)

I strenuously disagree with you that song x is the only good song on album y.

kornrulez6969, Monday, 12 April 2010 15:27 (fifteen years ago)

I'm happy we agree to disagree.

billstevejim, Monday, 12 April 2010 15:31 (fifteen years ago)

And I would not bother arguing if I didn't think they were shit choices for answering the question.

billstevejim, Monday, 12 April 2010 15:32 (fifteen years ago)

breeders - last splash

iir the 90s c

Big Fate (as Alvin 'Xzibit' Joiner) (history mayne), Monday, 12 April 2010 15:33 (fifteen years ago)

And with that, I give up. This question sucks anyway.

billstevejim, Monday, 12 April 2010 15:34 (fifteen years ago)

X Post

Yeah that's the album. I never really need to hear There's No Other Way again, it's not that they're awful I've just been to too many indie clubs in my life. The rest of the album is pretty forgettable. Sing is such an amazing song that seems out of place in the middle of the album. It showed what they were capable of but made the other songs seem even more average at the same time.

Kitchen Person, Monday, 12 April 2010 15:34 (fifteen years ago)

graham kills it on 'she's so high'

Big Fate (as Alvin 'Xzibit' Joiner) (history mayne), Monday, 12 April 2010 15:35 (fifteen years ago)

Kate Bush-The Red Shoes (Moments In Love)

waht

breeders - last splash

INSANITY.

Obama, Wellstone and Darwinfish, Attorneys (Pancakes Hackman), Monday, 12 April 2010 15:37 (fifteen years ago)

I almost can't think of a song off of Last Splash that is not k-classic.

Obama, Wellstone and Darwinfish, Attorneys (Pancakes Hackman), Monday, 12 April 2010 15:38 (fifteen years ago)

I strenuously disagree with you that song x is the only good song on album y.

Thought you were talking about Ornette Coleman/Pat Metheny record for a second there.

Kevin John Bozelka, Monday, 12 April 2010 16:11 (fifteen years ago)

Oh and the ultimate example is T.S. Monk: House of Music ("Bon Bon Vie")

Kevin John Bozelka, Monday, 12 April 2010 16:12 (fifteen years ago)

Ramones - Animal Boy (Bonzo Goes to Bitburg, or whatever it was called that week)
Thin Lizzy - Thunder and Lightning (The Sun Goes Down)

Will revisit the Marcy Playground and Fastway albums in the wake of the defences further up. I couldn't so much as remember another track of the former, which I listened to a fair bit back when; and the only one that stuck in my mind from the latter apart from The Way was Charlie the Methadone Man, whcih was horrible. But I still think DTAS is pretty horrid apart from Achin' To Be.

ithappens, Monday, 12 April 2010 16:51 (fifteen years ago)

the Clash - Cut The Crap (This is England)

Snop Snitchin, Monday, 12 April 2010 18:21 (fifteen years ago)

Can anybody around here back me up about Love - False Start? The Everlasting First is absolute perfection, and then.....

kornrulez6969, Monday, 12 April 2010 18:39 (fifteen years ago)

People should be exempt for posting here unless they're actually familiar with the entire album because this is getting annoying.

I'm sorry, we'll all work harder to tailor our tastes to better suit you.

he's always been a bit of an anti-climb Max (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Monday, 12 April 2010 18:58 (fifteen years ago)

People should be exempt for posting here unless...

Maybe a GOP-style purity test?

kornrulez6969, Monday, 12 April 2010 19:09 (fifteen years ago)

breeders - last splash

iir the 90s c

― Big Fate (as Alvin 'Xzibit' Joiner) (history mayne), Monday, April 12, 2010 11:33 AM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

leave already

i'm so j0rd with the u.S.a (Whiney G. Weingarten), Monday, 12 April 2010 19:13 (fifteen years ago)

Whatever album Bloc Party had "Banquet" on.

kelpolaris, Monday, 12 April 2010 19:22 (fifteen years ago)

Manic Street Preachers - Know Your Enemy (Found That Soul)

(Although this is really in the category of "I don't like them, but this song kills me.")

Hideous Lump, Tuesday, 13 April 2010 03:35 (fifteen years ago)


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