How would you improve [X] album?

Just talking about Hail To The Thief on another thread, and it occurred to me there's a fantastic album in there, but only if one were to resequence it and maybe trim out a few tracks.

I was going to start this thread purely about HTTT but let's make it a bit wider - how would you improve an otherwise flawed rcord?

Wasn't this a long-running feature on Stylus?

First person to suggest editing The White Album down to a single disc gets an sb.

ithappens - yeah, it was. They did Wowee Zowee, 69 Love Songs and a bunch of others

First person to suggest editing The White Album down to a single disc gets an sb.

what about editing it down to zero discs?

Yep. Got all of it on my hard drive now, much better.

Wait, do hard drives have discs in them?

Cos then I don't think that would work Lex :/

Right, let's have a look at this Hail To The Thief of yours then...

2 + 2 = 5
Sit Down. Stand Up.
Sail to the Moon
Backdrifts
Go to Sleep
Where I End and You Begin
We Suck Young Blood
The Gloaming
There There
I Will
A Punchup at a Wedding
Myxomatosis
Scatterbrain
A Wolf at the Door

I'd like to this collaboratively, so pitch in where you like. Personally I think this record suffers from having too many "like" songs next to each other. 2+2=5 and Sit Down Stand Up are both intro tracks with big "kick-ins". They have the effect of cancelling out each others effect. Get rid, or move one of them to later in the album. Same with We Suck Young Blood and The Gloaming - two cold, minimal tracks shoved really close to each other. I find the stretch from tracks 3 through 6 quite difficult to get to. The tracks I'd be adamant about keeping are mostly grouped towards the end: from There There to A Wolf At The Door is pretty much quality. So let's keep those and begin with either 2+2=5 or Sit Down Stand Up (any strong opinions on which to keep?

Here's what mine looks like so far. Now to add back in some of the omissions and rearrange into something of a more consistent pace.

2 + 2 = 5 / Sit Down. Stand Up.
There There
I Will
A Punchup at a Wedding
Myxomatosis
Scatterbrain
A Wolf at the Door

Blood On The Tracks would be better if "Meet Me In The Morning" were removed. Never liked that song.

I also think Dark Side of the Moon sags a bit in the middle of side 2 with "Us And Them" being a trifle overlong and "Any Colour You Like" meandering somewhat.

I would kick Kanye and Jay-Z off Watch The Throne and give all those beats to a hungrier rapper

it must have been a really fascinating feature to read Stylus writers decide what forgettable songs they'd take off a bloated Magnetic Fields album

To be fair, I never thought of that album as bloated. I just thought of it as too much music, which is a different sort of thing. At least the outright indulgences are few and far between, and usually short. Now, "Use Your Illusion," those albums I've in the past edited down to one disc. "Stankonia/The Love Below" for sure, too. If I had the inclination I could probably do it for the new M83 as well. Or most double CDs of the CD era, for that matter.

There have been a bunch of albums that would have benefited from a different production approach.

First person to suggest editing The White Album down to a single disc gets an sb.

ditto for The River

Here's one:

Swap "Transcendental Meditation" on Friends with "I Went To Sleep" from 20/20. Both albums pretty much improved.

I'd like to this collaboratively

This is not going to work, not unless everyone has the same problem with the album that you do. Personally, I think this is the last well-sequenced Radiohead album and I wouldn't change a thing on it.

> Swap "Transcendental Meditation" on Friends with "I Went To Sleep" from 20/20. Both albums pretty much improved.

I long ago swapped "TM" for "I Went To Sleep" on my Friends playlist since it's such an obvious album closer, especially since it was recorded during the Friends sessions and far better fits the mood of the album. I never thought to put "Transcendental Meditation" on 20/20 though, but I think you're right, that would work. Actually, I should probably make 20/20 a repository for extraneous Beach Boys tracks...

I slightly resequenced Bat Out Of Hell, placing "2 Out Of 3 Ain't Bad" after "Paradise By The Dashboard Light" rather than before. Flows much better that way IMO.

Second Toughest in the Infants

Juanita/Kiteless/To Dream of Love
Banstyle/Sappy's Curry
Oich Oich
Cherry Pie
Pearl's Girl
Airtowel
Puppies
Stagger

*drools*

Cut "Home of the Brave" and 10 minutes from "Cop Shoot Cop" out of Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space.

-excise What You Need and Spoilt Victorian Child

-Couldn't Get Ahead between LA and Gut of the Quantifier

-SVC can be the A-side for Rollin Dany! (<--first of the Fall covers iirc?)

excise What You Need and Spoilt Victorian Child

*grimaces*

i do think that nearly every Fall album could be improved. just take the deluxe versions with the B-sides and singles and cut like 20-30% of the tracks.

eh What You Need is kinda dumbed-down C'n'C to me, and I dont know, I'm just not crazy about SVC; methinks I have some hidden birth defect or something...

TNSG is a fantastic album though; I've been revisiting it today, and the great tracks (of which there are many) are endlessly fascinating. Any album that ends on a run that consists of My New House/Paintwork/I am Damo Suzuki is pure twenty-four karat...

resequence Recurring by Spacemen 3 so the Sonic/Jason tracks are mixed up.

i would improve Blind Melon's self-titled debut album (RIP SHANNON HOON) by changing key lyrics in the lead single to . . .

and all i can do is read a book to stay awake
and enrich my life away
but it's a great escape

As the first track Who Loves the Sun overshadow the rest of the songs on Loaded. And add Ocean instead of Lonesome Cowboy Bill.

A1 Rock & Roll
A2 Sweet Jane
A3 Cool It Down
A4 Who Loves The Sun
A5 Ocean
B1 New Age
B2 Head Held High
B3 I Found A Reason
B4 Train Round The Bend
B5 Oh! Sweet Nuthin'

The Mollusk by Ween is already a pretty much perfect album but I have no idea how "Pink Eye (On My Leg)" made the cut instead of "Kim Smoltz", which uses the same melody and is maybe one of the best songs they ever wrote

in fact you could do this for every Ween album really

xp "Ocean" totally doesn't fit the mood of the album, dude

would improve both angel olsen phases and snail mail Lush by cutting out the back-loaded slow songs..the energy peters out so much that it is like taking the air out of a balloon.

It was recorded after the album came out, but if The 1975's I like it when you sleep ended with their cover of Sade's By Your Side it would probably be my album of the decade

Blood On The Tracks would be better if "Meet Me In The Morning" were removed. Never liked that song.

Swap out Meet Me In The Morning for Call Letter Blues from the Bootleg series 1-3 (Same melody, much more personal lyrics) and swap out Lily Rosemary for Up To Me and you have Bob's best album.

This Year's Model....swap out Living In Paradise for Big Tears.

By the way, how the hell did Big Tears not make the album? That is my favorite EC song ever.

and swap out Lily Rosemary for Up To Me and you have Bob's best album.

Including both "Up to Me" & "Shelter From the Storm" would be repetition... very similar melody, no?

(Also, it's hard to imagine that album without "Lily, Rosemary"!)