Greatest album openers

[jpgray]

For me the all-time best is for Soft Machine's Volume II; "Pataphysical Introduction Part 1" sets the spirit for the album perfectly.

[BigMcLargehuge]

1. I have two -

I am the Sea, the opening track to Quadrophenia.

The segment from The Smothers Brothers program just before The Who plays My Generation that opens The Kids Are Alright.

[Chemical Bill]

52. Roger from Oz...

The guy who plays the sloppy drums.
My friends call me Keith, you can call me John (was it John, I forget).
I'd rather call you Roger.

I love that Smothers Brothers thing.

Bill

[Taverner]

2. Intro/Sweet Jane on Lou Reed "Rock and Roll Animal"

That guitar jam makes the album...in fact the rest of the album never lives up to that intro.....

[XNASA]

3. "Remake/Remodel" - Roxy Music

Any half-assed idiot knows that.

[Susang]

26. You would say that

I guess that makes me a fully assed idiot since I picked Bowie. :hi:

[XNASA]

36. That Roxy song is not only the album opener.....

It was the opening album.

:hi:

[RandomKoolzip]

4. "Why Won't You Stay?" from American Music Club's "Everclear" album.

Shows total balls by opening up the record with the slowest possible song.

Also:

"Yellow Number Three" by the Wrens; album: "Secaucus"....a skittering, far-beyond uptempo herkyjerky rush of adrenalin, filled with more minor-to-major changes than you can stand and a gorgeous melody, and over in about a minute.

"Search" by the Minutemen; album: "The Punch Line"....those jazz chords played at punk tempos must have been totally disorienting to the first time listener and the more orthodox punkers.

"A Salty Salute" by Guided by Voices; album: "alien Lanes".... A victory call: "Disarm the settlers/the new drunk drivers/have hosited the flag.....the club is open/the club is open." Also makes a killer concert opener.

"Black Sabbath," Black Sabbath, "Black Sabbath." States their aesthetic case quite well....a thunderclap, then the heaviest POSSIBLE riff (a tri-tone!) played at a pace just slower than "dirge," and Ozzy shreiking about losing his soul to Satan. They couldn't have picked a better song to announce their intentions.

"Uncle Phranc," by Team Dresch; album: "Captain, my Captain"....A rush of distortion and martial snare, and these words: "My mom says she loves me, yes yes yes she does..." it ends with 'AND THAT'S EMOTIONAL BALCKMAIL!" just a terribly exciting piece of music.

[fudge stripe cookays]

41. I actually wished they'd opened with "Crabwalk"

Nothing like being in the middle of a serious dreamy make-out session with the (then) man of my dreams, and having that raucous song show up in the middle of it.

Even when I put the CD player on random it would screw me over. Damn that "Crabwalk."

[RandomKoolzip]

50. You made out to "Everclear?"

Wow. I only put that album on when I'm too happy and I need to come down from it. It's like instant bad mood (but I love it.)

Although, yeah....it is pretty dreamy.....

[fudge stripe cookays]

51. Yeah,

he told me we could slit our wrists when we were done if I wanted.

:P

[Ohio Joe]

5. Middle of the road

from The Pretenders Learning to Crawl album.

[datasuspect]

6. intro to station to station

the way it crashes into him moaning . . . "the return of the thin white duke . . ."

[Monkey see Monkey Do]

7. "Gloria" on Patti Smith's "Horses"

"Jesus died for somebody's sins, but not mine."

[ksilvas]

8. So there was this band called "Accept"

They were a german metal band back in the heyday
of 80's metal. The album was "Fast as a Shark"
the opening song was the same name.
It started out with some german nursery rhyme sung
by a women on faux scratchy vinyl then,
the needle scratches horribly across the song,
enter fast metal guitar shredding, shrieking vocals, mayhem
ensues, german style. Classic opening from the genre.

[RandomKoolzip]

11. That's a great song.

I posted a thread about Accept's "Balls to the Wall" album a few days ago. Underrated band, for sure.

[LynneSin]

9. Led Zeppelin I - Communication Breakdown

It's like LZ was announcing themselves as the next big supergroup of the 70s and they were!!!

[RandomKoolzip]

10. Yeah, except the album opened with "Good Times, Bad Times."

[asthmaticeog]

12. Oh, SNAP!

[RandomKoolzip]

13. Hey, what did Chicago call their XVIIth album?

[asthmaticeog]

15. "Citizens on Patrol."

[RandomKoolzip]

16. WRONG! It was "Nerds in Paradise." And this coming from a Chicago fan!

:rofl:

Okay, here's a harder question: What was the name of Chicago's Vth album?

[asthmaticeog]

19. "Electric Boogaloo."

[RandomKoolzip]

21. Wrong! It was "Bron Yr Aur Butt Cancer."

Okay, now for the lightning round:

What was the name of the VIIIth album Chicago ever put out?

[asthmaticeog]

25. "Spanked Schoolgirl Enema VIII: Detention in Brown"

[RandomKoolzip]

29. FINALLY! A correct answer!

:bounce: Yay asthmaticdoesntknowanythingaboutthebandchicagoeog!

[Taverner]

17. Depends on the US or UK version

The initial US version had the sides switched, so it actually DID open with "Your Time is Gonna Come"

ZZZZZZZZZZZZAP!

[RandomKoolzip]

20. Yeah, except Lynne's choice was "Communication Breakdown."

ZZZZZING! ZANG! ZOOOOOOOM!!!!!

[LynneSin]

27. FUCK!!!! Did I just do that

I was actually listening to Communication Breakdown on my MP3 player so for some reason that was stuck in my brain!

[Left Is Write]

47. If we're talking about Led Zeppelin...

In Through The Out Door - In The Evening

[Initech]

14. Breathe from Dark Side Of The Moon

[asthmaticeog]

18. "Clash City Rockers"

From the US version of the Clash's debut LP. A way, WAY better opener, IMO, than "Janie Jones" on the UK version.

"To Hell With Poverty!" from the Go4 EP "Another Day Another Dollar" and "Four Enclosed Walls" from PiL's "Flowers of Romance" are contenders, as well.

[Fenris]

31. "Janie Jones" was way weaker.

I never quite got the layout of the UK LP. The US version was ordered better, plus it had "I Fought The Law..." "Complete Control," and "White Man in Hammersmith Palais," a song which pretty much made that whole record. Frankly, "Deny" "Cheat" "48 Hours" and "Protex Blue" don't do much for me.

[RandomKoolzip]

34. In total agreement.

I always though the US version was superior in just about every way. My only quibble was that it didn't have "1977" on it.

[asthmaticeog]

38. Agreed on all counts,

especially as regards "White Man in Hammersmith Palais," which is pretty much my favorite Clash tune.

It's a rare thing, by my reckoning, when the US version of an album so handily dusts the UK version.

[progmom]

22. hey jpgray?

can you define "album openers"?

[RandomKoolzip]

23. I'll do it for him:

Top row, second to the right.

[Misunderestimator]

42. I use these...

[progmom]

43. as if...

you could ever stop biting your nails. :P

[Misunderestimator]

44. Hey...

It's better than smoking, jerk. :P

[progmom]

46. smoked jerky?

[Magrittes Pipe]

53. Sex Beat

The Gun Club, "Fire of Love"

[Susang]

24. Future Legend/Diamond Dogs from Bowie's Diamond Dogs

Sets the mood perfectly.

[datasuspect]

30. damn

you're right



future legend

And in the death
As the last few corpses lay rotting on the slimy thoroughfare
The shutters lifted in inches in Temperance Building
High on Poacher's Hill
And red mutant eyes gaze down on Hunger City
No more big wheels

Fleas the size of rats sucked on rats the size of cats
And ten thousand peoploids split into small tribes
Coveting the highest of the sterile skyscrapers
Like packs of dogs assaulting the glass fronts of Love-Me Avenue
Ripping and rewrapping mink and shiny silver fox, now legwarmers
Family badge of sapphire and cracked emerald
Any day now

The Year of the Diamond Dogs

[sundog]

28. Eagles "Hotel California"

kind of a concept album

[RandomKoolzip]

32. A concept album?! About what? Snorting coke?

[WritingIsMyReligion]

35. About 70s fame and life, I believe.

"Hotel California" (the single) is about the price of fame, specifically. Good album, that one.

:thumbsup:

[sundog]

48. it opens with hotel california & ends with the last resort

[ghostsofgiants]

33. Propagandhi's "A Speculative Fiction" from "Potemkin City Limits" is great

That's the only one I can think of right now, mostly because it's all I've been listening to all week.

[Burma Jones]

37. Miles Davis, Kind of Blue - So What?

also,

Pink Floyd - Animals - Pigs on the Wing, part 1
Pink Floyd - Meddle - One of These Days

[fudge stripe cookays]

39. "Myrrh" on Heyday by The Church

Great driving song!

fsc

[peekaloo]

40. Welcome to the working week

My Aim is True.

I know it don't thrill you, I hope it don't kill you.

[anarch]

45. I just use a box-cutter...if I can't tear the plastic off with my hands

I like "O My Soul" on Big Star's second album.

[kwassa]

49. Rocks Off, Exile on Main Street, The Rolling Stones

and the song starts, as most of them do, with Keith Richard's crunchy guitar break.

[Cocoa]

54. Baba O'Reilly