Album tracks that stand out in a way that can be annoying

Was listening to McCartney II the other day and wow Temporary Secretary is annoying, I don't know if it's good or bad but it didn't go well with the morning paper and a cup of coffee (unlike, say, every song on McCartney (1970)).

Anyway, often enough I'll put on an album when reading (only when reading non-fiction! promise!) or when having guests over, sort of as a backdrop for conversation, not an unusual way to use music I imagine. when "listening" to music in this manner, I've discovered that many otherwise perfect albums are marred by tracks that stand out as noisy, uneven, experimental etc.

A good example could be "Crazy Beat" on Blur's Think Tank - an otherwise mellow and atmospheric record is interrupted by the worst, most insisting riff-based wannabe rock hit. However, not in all cases are these tracks poor, on Tusk there's a lot of Lindsey Buckingham jamming in the basement demo tracks (beginning with "What Makes You Think You're The One") that are great as long as you don't try to use them as background music.

So, finally, I would like to hear your examples of album tracks that stand out in a way that can be annoying when you're trying to enjoy an album maybe kind of like in the background.

"Something Big" from Eureka by Jim O'Rourke. those fucking chorus vocals. no NO !

"Caucasian Lullaby" from Slapp Happy's _Desperate Straights_.

the backing vocals on Nick Drake's "Poor Boy"

"Something Big" from Eureka by Jim O'Rourke. those fucking chorus vocals. no NO !

― flappy bird (spazzmatazz), Friday, March 13, 2015 2:41 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Reported

'Nothing Like You' on Miles Davis' Sorcerer (the Bob Dorough vocal feature)

D'Angelo '1000 Deaths' tbh

Those country songs on Volunteers by Jefferson Airplane.

Shot With His Own Gun by Elvis Costello is like a black hole in the middle of side 2 of Trust.

REM seem to have a bunch of these

Oh god, "Twisted" off Court & Spark sends me running for the FF

"Murder Mystery" on Velvets' third

"Something Happened to Me Yesterday", Between the Buttons
"Hit the Plane Down", Crooked Rain Crooked Rain
"Hot Dog", In Through the Out Door

the backing vocals on Nick Drake's "Poor Boy"

― example (crüt), Friday, March 13, 2015

Oh yeah, major buzzkill

"The Bob (Medley)", Roxy Music

"The Chain"

yup

love twisted on court and spark, tbh I have some love for nothing like you on that miles davis record too, agree they both stand out though

Shadows and light off of hissing of summer lawns stands out from the rest too, I'm always content to let the record end after sweet bird

Oh yeah, Shadows and Light I cut from my iPod/phone all the time. Obviously a fine thing but not my cup of tea

Sloop John B

actually twisted doesn't stand out that much really, twisted is slightly different in that it is not her songwriting but it doesn't stand out any more than raise on robbery imo. that whole album is one piece and flows magnificently

"The Baby Song"

"You're A Soldier" is another one by the Husker's, at least for me.

I like how this can change, with albums oft listened to-- the annoying song ends up ingratiating itself.

E.g. years ago was irritated by “Baptiss Blacktick” on Pavement’s Westing. (Why *that* song on *that* album would annoy me is unclear.) But eventually, couldn’t do without it.

Another is “I Can Hear the Grass Grow” on Fall Heads Roll; over time affection for it grew.

Then there are songs that have annoying beginnings— like the first minute & something of Roxy Music’s “Mother of Pearl” (which as a whole I love). Used to wish I could ff past it to the rest of the song (so different, like another song entirely); but eventually got that it wouldn’t be so beautiful without that transition.

That's also my experience - in addition to the Buckingham songs on Tusk, I eventually came to love the more experimental/noisy/funky jams on the first half of Sign 'o the Times (Housequake, It, Hot Thing) - hope the same will happen with 1000 Deaths which is really annoying me so far (when I'm not listening very attentively that is).

Also, interesting that Shadows and Light is mentioned from Hissing of Summer Lawns when the real annoying track, to me, is obviously The Jungle Line. It annoyed one of my friends so much that he never got through the record, he eventually gave me his copy - and once I got past Jungle Line I fell in love with that record.

"Butcher's Tale (Western Front 1914)"

actually twisted doesn't stand out that much really, twisted is slightly different in that it is not her songwriting but it doesn't stand out any more than raise on robbery imo. that whole album is one piece and flows magnificently

― marcos, Friday, March 13, 2015 11:24 PM

Yeah, annoying is subjective! Twisted reminds me of vocalese--something Manhattan Transfer would sing.

ELECTIONEERING

Meet Me In The Morning off Blood on the Tracks.

"The Baby Song"

― Master of Treacle, Saturday, March 14, 2015 12:53 AM (9 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I always liked "The Baby Song"! It was like a random The Who Sell Out insertion.

I first heard "Twisted" here, when I was a kid, and when I heard the Joni version I smiled because I'd known the song for years

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8Y-pKRTq0k

A thing I've thought about: How much how much tracks 'stand out' depend on placement on a record. For instance, I can't think that 1000 Deaths stand out on Black Messiah, because as track number two, the record hasn't had a chance to establish it's mood yet. For me, 1000 Deaths along with Ain't it Easy draws the border on the playground, that the rest of the record plays in. It's like Haunted on Beyoncé. In a way, it's different from most of the other tracks on the record, but as track number two, coming on the heels of Pretty Hurts, it rather establishes the boundaries of the record.

To me, the thing that stands out on Black Messiah is the whistling on The Door, though not in a bad way, particularly. But at that point, the whole record seems like it's gone into a haze or something, and all of a sudden, here's a pop-song with whistling.

Agree, but once you've heard the record through a couple of times maybe you begin to think it stands out? Anyway, if you were to put on Black Messiah as a sort of background music to inspire, say, a romantic evening, you'd probably have to skip 1000 Deaths or at least pause from conversation for a while?

"Girls" on Licensed to Ill

Definitely - though also a good example of a track that stands out in a way that can be annoying even if it's maybe a great track in other situations.

Was listening to McCartney II the other day and wow Temporary Secretary is annoying, I don't know if it's good or bad but it didn't go well with the morning paper and a cup of coffee (unlike, say, every song on McCartney (1970)).

Ban

I don't think I'd ever put Black Messiah on as background music for romance? Too much death and smoke on that album, incredible as it is. Does it work like that? I mean, I've played it for girls, but like, to play them good music, not for background.

Anyway, Pearl Jam seem to be the kings of the annoyingly-placed album track. Always hated the way No Code starts off with the pretty, melancholic 'Sometimes' before being totally disrupted by average hoary rocker 'Hail Hail'. Vitalogy is full of these too.

A thing I've thought about: How much how much tracks 'stand out' depend on placement on a record. For instance, I can't think that 1000 Deaths stand out on Black Messiah, because as track number two, the record hasn't had a chance to establish it's mood yet. For me, 1000 Deaths along with Ain't it Easy draws the border on the playground, that the rest of the record plays in. It's like Haunted on Beyoncé. In a way, it's different from most of the other tracks on the record, but as track number two, coming on the heels of Pretty Hurts, it rather establishes the boundaries of the record.

To me, the thing that stands out on Black Messiah is the whistling on The Door, though not in a bad way, particularly. But at that point, the whole record seems like it's gone into a haze or something, and all of a sudden, here's a pop-song with whistling.

― Frederik B, Saturday, March 14, 2015 2:47 PM (4 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Black Messiah is great great great, but the sequencing is a little strange. I find myself skipping to track 3 and then going back to the first two songs at the end for some reason.

xp: I revisted early PJ recently and was considering adding a Vitalogy track to this thread, but couldn't make up my mind. That record may have an entirely different problem.

Beside You by Van Morrison always grates on me.

Twisted is the first song I got into on C&S before falling in love with the rest of the album. I don't mind it as a palette cleanser at the end of the album.

Electioneering OTM though.

I've always liked how PJ albums volley back and forth between barnburners and melancholy ballads/dirges.

although i dig it andmoreagain is the first thing i thought of

"Hippy Boy" on The Gilded Palace of Sin. I've listened to that record hundreds of times; I might have heard "Hippy Boy" twice.

I've always liked how PJ albums volley back and forth between barnburners and melancholy ballads/dirges.

sebadoh's even more bipolar. Haven't listened in a while; that extreme schizoness used to annoy me; if I listened more often maybe would come to like it.

Nobody's mentioned "Money" yet?

(obligatory 'pink floyd rules')

The king of all these is surely the eyeball-clawing "Mother" smack dab in the middle of Synchronicity.

i can listen to Black Messiah all the way through, but it does get a little bit exhausting just cause there's so much going on in each track. and the fact that there's so much going on means that its virtues are wasted when plugged as background music. so, currently i just select a few tracks to listen to at a time. i really don't like Sugah Daddy all that much though.

Money is a terrific example of this. a song that's both severely irritating & disruptive to the flow of the album.

"I Don't Wanna Be a Soldier Mama I Don't Wanna Die" from Imagine

If its potentially annoying to even the most ardent fan and is completely unlike anything else on the album to the point you can't understand how it even came to be, much less find space on an album, then I think that will do.

however some of these - like "The Baby Song" - can be very short and somewhat incidental, the real problems begin w/ the 3 min epics

'Mind Gardens' on The Byrds' Younger Than Yesterday

Oh, fuck - Student Demonstration Time, of course

"Money" is otm. adding "Ignoreland" from Automatic. maybe it's not as bad a song as I think, but its placement on the album is ghastly

"Good Vibrations" on Smiley Smile a rare instance of a great song that still disturbs the flow of an album

^ yes. always felt this would have been a classic if they'd replaced GV with something a little less tremendous.

never had a problem with ignoreland, personally, but plenty of people hate it.

the American CD of Meat Is Murder has How Soon Is Now in the middle whereas the original vinyl and tape didn't and much as i love it *it has no place there*.

The Velvet Underground's The Murder Mystery

Let's Spend the Night Together and Lady Grinning Soul screw up the end of Aladdin Sane, which is nearly perfect to that point.

Maxwell's Silver Hammer wins this surely.

Won't hear a word said against Lady Grinning Soul.

otm x2

Frontier Psychiatrist

never understood why people hate maxwell so much when abbey road (and white album/MMT etc) are full of 'silly' songs like that. why does maxwell get the most hate?

Streets Of Fire on side 2 of Darkness On The Edge Of Town

never understood why people hate maxwell so much when abbey road (and white album/MMT etc) are full of 'silly' songs like that. why does maxwell get the most hate?

― why dont u say something or like just die (dog latin)

It's a painstakingly constructed plodding folly, whereas songs like Octopus' Garden or Mean Mr Mustard are hazy psychedelic fragments which fit in well with the blissed-out flow.

Like, it's deliberately wacky rather than playfully silly.

unlike yellow submarine, octopus's garden, rocky raccoon, piggies...?

not that people are particularly fond of those, but it seems it's maxwell that gets held up as the worst of the bunch.

I'm not a huge fan of any of those songs, but all of them sound more charming and less ham-fisted (not to mention less jarringly sequenced) to me, yes.

"Butcher's Tale (Western Front 1914)"

Came here to post this one. I do like this song, but it's definitely jarring.