Best First/last Song On A Studio Album

[johnerwin]

Matt usually has some pretty strong intros and exits to albums so I was just wondering which ones you find the best (not necessarily as a song themselves, but how they work well at the start or end of an album).

 

First..

 

Alabama Motel Room

Deep Six

Giant

Man of Action

Pledge of Allegiance

Put Out Your Lights

Champions of Nothing

Last Parade

 

Last..

 

The War is Over

Change of Season

Running for Home

Sort of a Protest Song

House of Smoke and Mirrors

Ex-Parts of the Blue Mountain Symphony Orchestra

True Love Will Find You in the End

Empty

[Devil On Rollerskates]

Wow this is difficult, but I don't wanna cop out by giving too many answers (I could easily go with half of each list lol).

 

Beautiful Midnight FTW for MGB (Giant and Running For Home) and Champions Of Nothing and Empty's Theme Park for MG solo.

[here is no why]

Man of Action

 

and

 

House of Smoke & Mirrors

[AnOceanPearl]

Giant

Sort of a Protest Song

[RileyLewis]

Unbelievably tough. I will also have to split up between MGB and solo.

 

MGB:

 

Giant

Change of Season

 

Solo:

 

Champions of Nothing

Empty's Theme Park

[Vance]

that is tough. especially considering the amount of extremely good songs he has closed albums with.

My picks are Champions of nothing and Running for home. However Giant and Sort of a protest song...and House of smoke and mirrors are too hard to overlook.

[Manchalivin]

MGB: Giant

Change of Season

 

MG: Last Parade

Empty's Theme Park (I was going to pick House of Smoke and Mirrors but this song is more specifically good as a closer)

[ccf23]

Champions/HOSAM

 

followed closely by:

 

Pledge of Allegiance/The War is Over

[c0micb0y]

If we're talking about appropriately opening and closing the album said tracks are featured on, I would go with

Pledge of Allegience and House of Smoke and Mirrors.

 

As for worst (or least favourite), I'd go with Alabama Motel Room. I can't even listen to True Love will Find You in the End anymore, as far as I'm concerned She's in it for the Money is the last track on Hospital Music.

[alex_madf3rit]

Giant and Running for home/Change of Season

[bishopx]

This is freaking hard....I love all of these songs....

 

MGB - Giant/Change Of Season

 

MG - It's a tie between Last Parade/HOSAM and Champions/Empty's Theme Park

[jnak00]

Giant and Empty's Theme Park. Tough call though, especially on the last song.

[Shortcut To Moncton]

My order:

 

Man of Action

Giant

Champions of Nothing

Pledge of Allegiance

Last Parade

Alabama Motel Room

Deep Six

Put Out Your Lights

 

Last three aren't the greatest songs.

 

 

And...(damn these are better songs)

 

Sort of a Protest Song

House of Smoke and Mirrors

Change of Season

The War is Over

Running for Home

Empty

[IamNick]

Well fuck this! Ok I'm going to have to choose House of Smoke and Mirrors because it's one of my top 3 favourite MG(B) songs, but after that it's really hard to choose...

[RileyLewis]

I wish more artists put effort into approriate opening and closing songs. Openers need to get you pumped up, and closers need to pull at your emotions and preferably have an epic climax/sound!

 

I would honestly change my vote for the opener to Pledge of Allegiance if the album version was as awesome as the live band version. Not to say the original isn't great, it is. But in a more laid-back way. The live version definitely is a better "pump you up" type of song.

[Devil On Rollerskates]

I wish more artists put effort into approriate opening and closing songs. Openers need to get you pumped up, and closers need to pull at your emotions and preferably have an epic climax/sound!

http://www.nearfantastica.com/bored/index.php?

I would honestly change my vote for the opener to Pledge of Allegiance if the album version was as awesome as the live band version. Not to say the original isn't great, it is. But in a more laid-back way. The live version definitely is a better "pump you up" type of song.

 

Totally agreed. I actually didn't feel Pledge Of Allegiance really stood out the first few times I listened to Avalanche, but then I heard a live bootleg and it totally blew me away. After that I gained a new appreciation for that song. Same deal with A Long Way Down.

[rebellious_L]

I love Man of Action as a opener and as much as I love Change of Season I think I will have to pick Empty's Theme Park as my closer. Worst combo: Pledge of Allegiance and True Love..., not because Pledge of Allegiance is a bad song, I actually like it a lot more than some other songs on that list, but it fails as an opener for me.

Edited November 1, 2009 by rebellious_L

[johnny]

Sticking with the MG/MGB theme, just because it's so damn hard to begin with...

 

MGB: Man of Action/Running for Home

 

I was going to listen to RFH and SOAPS to determine it, but when the 'After this there's just the circus" comes in, it sealed it.

 

MG: Champions of Nothing/True Love Will Find You In The End.

 

I like all the choices, but when these two are paired together with the rest of the album in between, I can't think of a better pairing. It's really a journey to listen to all of that and they just work. My 2 cents.

 

Also, is Hopeless included in Ex-Pats or is it just Ex-Pats alone? Not that it matters for me now...

 

Edit: fail on the copy of half the songs...

Edited November 10, 2009 by johnny

[eclipse]

Deep Six. Don't think it's the best, but it's my personal favorite.

 

Closer would be SOAP. The coda seems conclusive and right.