Is there a thread for playing God?

I'm reviving this thread to play god. I'll start with Radiohead because I'm one of their stans in here and I feel like there's too many wasted potential in their b-sides.

The King of Limbs

I would've preferred a 10 track album. Having two more tracks would make it feel more like an album to me. Kid A and In Rainbows felt consistent... not too much of a good thing, just enough to feel satisfied. TKOL lasts barely 37 minutes

So my solution? add Staircase and Supercollider which are, in my humble opinion, the best from the leftovers and the only songs that would actually fit in the album. I'd personally cut Supercollider down to 5 minutes instead of 7 but that's me being picky.

Also the tracklist could use a little re-arrengement. It kind of drags by starting all jittery and then ending all mellow. Previous Radiohead albums have all been winners in part thanks to their balanced mood in the tracklist.

Give this one a try, I swear it improves the experience from 14% to 35% (your mileage may vary):

1. Lotus Flower
2. Feral
3. Staircase
4. Little by Little
5. Codex
6. Give Up the Ghost
7. Supercollider
8. Morning Mr Magpie
9. Bloom
10. Separator

Also, just a thought: '4 Minute Warning' from the In Rainbows leftovers would have fared better if kept in the fridge and released for TKOL. It kind of makes sense thematically and musically with the other songs in the album. It kind of predates the more mellow mood of TKOL.

Amnesiac

The Kid A / Amnesiac era has such amazing b-sides. You could argue Amnesiac was a b-side album and in parts it definitely feels like it. This one is in serious need of a rearrangement imho and the b-sides from the era definitely allow it.

There is actually a Stylus 'playing god' article about this album already! - http://stylusmagazine.com/articles/playing_god/radiohead-amnesiac.htm - and I agree with it for the most part. At the time thAT article was published Nude was still unreleased, and he picked a live version of Spinning Plates too. The live version of Spinning Plates would, in fact, been a much better addition than its final form but it feels a little bit like cheating picking up unreleased or live versions when playing god.

I actually love having the final 'playing god' playlist in my itunes and it breaks the mood completely to have a live track in there. Also he left out 'Fog' which is one of the best b-sides of the era next to Worrywort. So from that article I picked the same tracklist with two slight changes; 'fog' instead of 'nude' (which coincidentally share a similar mood so it doesn't ruin the flow) and I decided to remove Spinning Plates completely.

1. Packt Like Sardines in a Crushed Tin Box
2. Pyramid Song
3. You and Whose Army
4. I Might Be Wrong
5. Fog
6. Cutooth
7. Worrywort
8. The Amazing Sounds of Orgy
9. Kinetic
10. Life in a Glasshouse

Hail to the Thief

Actually Thom Yorke himself once played god with this one and posted an alternate tracklist to it in the band's blog. Here's his version:

there there
the gloaming
sail to the moon
sit down. stand up
go to sleep
whereiendandubegin
scatterbrain
2+2=5
myxomatosis
a wolf at the door

He solves two of the album's main problems. It's length is one of them. The album really benefits from cutting a couple of songs off of it and specially if one of the songs is 'We Suck Young Blood'. That's the second one.

I have a couple problems with his alt tracklist, though: A) He rearranged the tracklist in a way that you lose the opening one-two punch of '2+2=5' and 'sit down' which is one of my favorite moments in the album. B) He removed 'Backdrifts' which is one of the few fun, light moments in the album and a personal favorite of mine. I also kind of hate 'go to sleep' except for Johnny's solo at the end of it but I'm always bored by the time it arrives. I'd much rather have the b-side 'I am a wicked child' as a substitute, it kind of has the same country-rock feel only more kraut. It's not very remarkable but it gets the job done. Also love 'the gloaming' so throwing it in there to balance some of the removals on the bottom half. You can easily take them out if you want for a 10 track album. Here's my take then:

1. 2+2=5
2. Sit Down Stand Up
3. Sail to the Moon
4. Backdrifts
5. I Am A Wicked Child
6. Where I End and You Begin
7. Gagging Order
8. The Gloaming
9. There There
10. Myxomatosis
11. Scatterbrain
12. A Wolf at the Door

There's a vast amount of agreeable choices in the Stylus 'playing god' section. I really miss the Stylus features. I have yet to bump into an ezine that has feats like 'playing god' or 'seconds' or 'the singles jukebox' or even their random 'top 10's. They were all brilliant in their own way.

I don't think they ever did one for Mellon Collie. I need to do one for that right away.

Here's a Doctor Casino remake at the top of thread.: "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness" by the Smashing Pumpkins

Here's my take on Mellon Collie, then. This is an overtly ambitious album, I could use less of those sappy ballads and more of the vulnerable and awesome b-sides from the sessions.

It's kind of messy trying to rearrange this one... my temporary solution is to divide the album in 4 sides, 5 tracks each 'Tusk' style. A and C are more 'rock' and B and D more delicate (not completely though to keep a contrast here and there),

There's 28 tracks in here and I'm getting rid of 10 of them and I'm then adding 2 highlights from the b-sides (pennies and set the ray to jerry) in the mix. It's definitely hard to decide which ones to leave off. I'll have to revisit this one later and justify my choices. This is what I have so far:

A side

1. Where Boys Fear to Thread
2. Bodies
3. Muzzle
4. 1979
5. Here Is No Why

B side

1. To Forgive
2. Pennies
3. Thirty Three
4. Thru The Eyes of Ruby
5. We Only Come Out at Night

C side

1. Set the Ray to Jerry
2. Love
3. Zero
4. Bullet With Butterfly Wings
5. Jellybelly

D side

1. Galapogos
2. Stumbleine
3. Porcelina of the Vast Oceans
4. Lily (My One and Only)
5. Tonight Tonight

Come to think off it I would gladly cut half of the singles gladly. Namely: Zero, Bullet With Butterfly Wings and Tonight Tonight, but it's hard to imagine the album having the same sort of impact at the time without them and I had to keep them. Thirty Three and 1979 were great as singles. Muzzle should've been a single.