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Changing the order of tracks and/or skipping some

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David_D View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote David_D Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: Changing the order of tracks and/or skipping some
    Posted: June 07 2025 at 09:50

Although I'm not fond of listening to albums with some original tracks replaced by other ones, or other tracks added, I've been experimenting much with finding "optimal" order of the albums' original tracks. In the case of post-1970s and longer albums, I'm also often skipping some tracks when listening to my "optimal" version.

Some examples of my listening order to my personally optimal versions are:

Yes - Fragile (LP): side 2 ;; side 1
Caravan - Grey and Pink (LP): side 2 ;; side 1
Comus - First Utterance (LP): side 2 ;; side 1
Black Sabbath - Paranoid (CD): 2,1,3,4 ;; 5,6,8,7
Eskaton - 4 Visions (CD): 1,2 ;; 4,3
Metallica - Master of Puppets (CD): 1,2,4 ;; 5,6,7
Pink Floyd - Animals (CD): 1,3,4 ;; 5,2
Porcupine Tree - Coma Divine (CD): 2,3,4,6 ;; 5,8
Steel Mill - Green Eyed God (CD): 1,3,4,2 ;; 7,5,6,8
Taal - Skymind (CD): 1,4 ;; 5,6
;; indicates a short listening break between two halfs of an album

Sometimes I return to listening in the original order of tracks.

Have you tried something like that?


Edited by David_D - 8 hours 30 minutes ago at 05:27
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote I prophesy disaster Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 07 2025 at 11:14
I don't see the point of changing the order of the tracks on an album. I feel that if I play an album in the wrong order too often, then I will be creating an incorrect memory of the album, making the album sound wrong when played in the correct order. I do sometimes skip the less appealing tracks of an album when I don't really have the time to play the full album. However, I do try not to make a habit of doing this, to avoid creating an incorrect memory of the album. But there are albums that I simply stop playing before the final track, and I'm not really concerned about doing this.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote AlanB Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 07 2025 at 12:09
When I bought my first copy of Argus by Wishbone Ash it was on cassette. For some reason I don't understand, sides one and two were reversed and for years I thought the album started with The King Will Come and ended with Blowing Free. That actually made sense to me because The King Will Come is an obvious opener for live shows and Blowing Free was often the show closer or encore. It was only when I replaced my cassette with a vinyl copy that I realised that Time Was was the opening track but I still think the cassette order of songs is better.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote fredyair Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 07 2025 at 16:58
Pink Floyd Wish You Where Here, I prefer to listen to Shine On You Crazy Diamond parts I to IX and then the short songs.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote David_D Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Yesterday at 05:19
Originally posted by I prophesy disaster I prophesy disaster wrote:

I don't see the point of changing the order of the tracks on an album. I feel that if I play an album in the wrong order too often, then I will be creating an incorrect memory of the album, making the album sound wrong when played in the correct order.

It's not like that I listen to both the original and "my" version. It usually starts with that I dislike or am not satisfied with the original, and when I find one I like, I keep listening to it. Unless, I sometimes decide to return to the original version or listen to a new, maybe less modified, one.

Edited by David_D - Yesterday at 06:41
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote wiz_d_kidd Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Yesterday at 06:29
Sometimes listening to things out of order or out of context makes them sound different. I often listen to shuffled playlists and a song will come up that seems new and unfamiliar, but it's just a sleeper that finally got its time in the spotlight after hiding amongst other tracks on the album.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote moshkito Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Yesterday at 09:00
Hi,

Amon Duul 2 - Wolf City. In the original LP, the title track opened the album. Later a different version had Surrounded by the Stars as the opener which was the beginning of the original side 2 of the LP. I think the change was done because Surrounded by the Stars was heard and played a couple of times, thus, it was better known.

Caravan - The New Sinfonia. It was not complete, and it was not in the correct order. The remastered version has the complete show in order.

Edited by moshkito - Yesterday at 09:02
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote BasedProgger Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Yesterday at 09:37
None of these are "optimal"

Emerson, Lake & Palmer - Tarkus: skip side 2
Yes - Close to the Edge: 3, 2, 1
King Crimson - THRAK: 1, 2, 13, 8, 4, 5, 6, 10, Inner Garden KC50, 3, 14
Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here: the short songs then Shine On You Crazy Diamond
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote cstack3 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 hours 47 minutes ago at 00:10
Originally posted by moshkito moshkito wrote:

Hi,

Amon Duul 2 - Wolf City. In the original LP, the title track opened the album. Later a different version had Surrounded by the Stars as the opener which was the beginning of the original side 2 of the LP. I think the change was done because Surrounded by the Stars was heard and played a couple of times, thus, it was better known.


Very nice, M! I agree! Wolf City is one of my favorite releases from the 1970s from any genre! RIP Lothar Meid!

https://knowyourbassplayer.com/2020/10/27/lothar-meid/

Edited by cstack3 - 13 hours 46 minutes ago at 00:11
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Dellinger Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 hours 3 minutes ago at 01:54
I guess it's not the most popular opinion to consider these changes, but having my IPod and ITunes, and having my compilations of favorite music in them, sometimes I do like to make lists very close to the albums, but with a few changes. Sometimes it's just including live versions instead of the original ones. Some quick ones I might think. 6 Wives of Henry the VIII, I prefer to listen to it in the chronological order in which Henry was with each one of them. Perhaps even mix my favorite versions between the original and the Hampton Court Palace concert, and adding the Tudorture and Tudorrock songs. I also like adding a few of the re recorded songs from the Arthur album to complete the story on that one (Camelot, The Holy Grail, and Excalibur). Related to 6 Wives, on Fragile I like to change Ricks solo spot for Catherine of Aragon, which I understand was what he intended to use on the album, but wasn't able because of his record contract, and which features the whole Yes lineup anyway (except for Anderson, being an instrumental song).
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote David_D Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 7 hours 20 minutes ago at 06:37

^ It's not like we're talking much about original albums here, but quite an interesting and very experimenting approach.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote David_D Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 5 hours 57 minutes ago at 08:00

About Wolf City and as it's documented on Discogs, the first track on the original release was actually "Surrounded by the Stars" - but not on the American where side 2 became side 1 on the vinyl itself, while the cover stated the opposite and thus like originals in other countries, including Canada.

Maybe it's because I'm used to it, but I think of the original non-American tracks order as the best one, while I actually own a copy of the American original LP release.



Edited by David_D - 3 hours 32 minutes ago at 10:25
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote moshkito Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 59 minutes ago at 12:58
Originally posted by David_D David_D wrote:


About Wolf City and as it's documented on Discogs, the first track on the original release was actually "Surrounded by the Stars" - but not on the American where side 2 became side 1 on the vinyl itself, while the cover stated the opposite and thus like originals in other countries, including Canada.
...


Hi,

The first version I had was an import, and the title track was the opening cut on the LP.

At the time I had some notes about the American versions of a lot of albums and how bad they were, and in essence, were copies taken from a trash bin in NY or LA. This was the case with Sgt Pepper's for example, and later DSOTM as well. And we, at the time, were buying mostly IMPORTS from Moby Disk, Tower and the Warehouse at UCLA, the places in LA that had the most imports. The UCLA Warehouse was also magnificent for soundtracks, and a lot of jazz.
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