Albums where Side 2 sounds best played First...!

[Dave]

What albums do you have that sound better when you play Side 2 first? I have a few that sound a lot more cohesive when Side 2 is played first, then Side 1... They are:

Bobby Goldsboro THE ROMANTIC, WACKY, SOULFUL, ROCKIN', COUNTRY BOBBY GOLDSBORO -- I believe that the songs were really meant to be put on the album Side 2, first; least from what begins and ends this album on each side... At first I thought that this was a collection of out-takes and demo's... Some of the songs here even appeared on a couple of later albums as Goldsboro was notorious for having a few of his songs repeated again on the next album he made... There is no picture of Bobby other than the hand-drawn one on the front cover... And where you'd expect liner notes, you only see lyrics to a couple of the songs here and to a few Bobby never recorded (or perhaps never released)... Anyway "You're Entertainment For Me", the final song on Side 1 is a better closing piece than Side 2's "Three In The Morning"...

Bobby Goldsboro THIS IS BOBBY GOLDSBORO -- I've avoided compilations which just seemed to be "alternate versions" of original albums with a few substituted tracks... Ditto for SOLID GOLDSBORO and BOBBY GOLDSBORO'S GREATEST HITS of which lack certain songs I thought should've been included... However, THIS IS... seems to one of the purposeful and meaningful ones... Though I prefer the album beginning with "My Cup Runneth Over" on Side 2, while Side 1 ends with "Broomstick Cowboy", which ends this LP a lot better than Side 2's "Trusty Little Herbert", which is Side 1, Track 1 on ...ROMANTIC, WACKY, SOULFUL, ROCKIN', COUNTRY...

Cher CHER (which later got issued as GYPSY'S TRAMPS & THIEVES) -- I like this album beginning with Side 2's "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother" better than starting with "The Way Of Love"... I think Side 1 ends better with "When You Know Where You're Going Let Me Know" as the last track than Side 2 ending with "One Honest Man"... I really bought this for "Touch And Go" (written by Jerry Fuller), the next-to-last song on Side 2 and doesn't really sound right, put there...

Vikki Carr NASHVILLE BY CARR -- Sounds better ending with Side 1's final song "Everybody's Talking"... Side 2 starts off with "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down" which sounds like a much better "opener"...

Canadian Sweethearts CANADIAN SWEETHEARTS -- Yes, Side 1's "Blowin' In The Wind" ends the album better than "This Land Is Your Land", on Side 2, in my opinion... After-all John Davidson ended THE TIMES OF YOUR LIFE with "Blowin' In The Wind", too...

John Davidson EVERYTHING IS BEAUTIFUL -- Think the moody, maudlin and sad pastoral "Five O' Clock Shadow" sounds better when it closes Side 1, than it does ending the album... "Easy Come, Easy Go", which I first heard on my 3-Record various artist set, LOVE STORY & 30 OTHER GREAT LOVE SONGS, is the last track and Side 1 and I think ends this album on a much happier note...

Ben E. King I HAD A LOVE -- When I got this album I accidentally played Side 2 first ('cause that was how it got put in the sleeve by the previous owner and I didn't read the label before placing it on the turntable) but it "started" with Side 2's "Everybody Plays The Fool", and when I flipped it to Side 1, I found that "I Had A Love" which starts of th LP is best off heard as "Side 2's first cut"...! "No Danger Of Heartbreak Ahead" ends Side 1, but I like it ending Side 2 better... "You're Stepping On My Heart Tearing My World Apart" is the real final cut on Side 2 but it ends Side 1 OK...

So what records do you play backwards, as in Side 2 first, THEN Side 1?



Dave

 

[Mike Blakesley]

I think the only one I have like this is America's HAT TRICK. Side two starts off with the title song which is excellent, and side 1 starts with the awful "hit single" "Muskrat Love." On the original album cover the songs are just listed in a line across the top of the back cover - not divided up into "sides" - so I just put on the side with the title track first. I didn't know I was playing it wrong until I got the CD version...popped it in, and was stunned to hear "Muskrat Love" first.

 

[Yazmin_Salinas]

Some records I play starting from side 2, are:

*Myriam Hernández's first album

*Michael Jackson - Thriller

*Rick Astley - Whenever You Need Somebody

*Patricia Sosa's first album

*Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon

 

[Bobbyvox]

"Wildlife" by Wings (Paul & Linda McCartney).

 

[audiofile]

Baja Marimba Band's Fowl Play.

 

[Mike Blakesley]

*Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon

Some of those are pop records with no real thread so a wrong-order play wouldn't matter, but you must have to be reeeallly stoned to mess with Pink Floyd!

 

[Dave]

Thought of another one:

Mac Davis TEXAS IN MY REARVIEW MIRROR -- I think the previous owner put the record in the sleeve with Side 2 facing the side towards the front cover like the Ben E. King LP that I mentioned earlier; forgot to read the label before putting it on...

'Cause even though "Texas In My Rearview Mirror" starts off Side 2, it really DOES have the makings of a "Side 1, Track 1" tune, much like other artists who make the title of their records & CD's the "kick-off" track, including Mr. Davis... And the "original Side 1 starter", the Rockabilly-esque "Hooked On Music" sounds awkward starting the album so it sounds like a better beginning for the "second side"... The last song on Side 2 is a re-doing of "In The Eyes Of My People" that Mac originally did on his 2nd album, I BELIEVE IN MUSIC, as the next-to-last song on Side 1 of that album (before Side 1's finale, "Watching Scotty Grow")... "Secrets" is the next-to-last track on Side 2, and a little too climactic to end the record, so I'm glad to have played this in "reverse-order"... "Sad Songs", the final cut on Side 1, does just fine ending "my own Side 2"...!



Dave

 

[sbsugar]

The Guess Who - Road Food

 

[toeknee4bz]

FLAT AS A PANCAKE by Head East.




Tony

 

[Dave]

...Bobby Goldsboro THIS IS BOBBY GOLDSBORO -- I've avoided compilations which just seemed to be "alternate versions" of original albums with a few substituted tracks... Ditto for SOLID GOLDSBORO and BOBBY GOLDSBORO'S GREATEST HITS of which lack certain songs I thought should've been included...



Dave

Well, low and behold, I must'a run out'ta stuff to listen to... I went out and bought these two (and had to get TWO copies of GREATEST HITS as one was a later-pressing, while the original pressing had a better-quality cover (and found one without ring-wear or the cut-out hole punched into it) and surprisingly, it out-played the newer one, too... Luckily my SOLID GOLDSBORO album is a Mint copy...

Anyway I thought of playing GREATEST HITS, Side 2 first, which ends with the "Version One" of "Blue Autumn", which I don't like as much as when it was redone... However, the last song on Side 1 was "It's Too Late" which would end the album in an awkward way... Side 1 begins with "Honey", while Side 2's first track is "With Pen In Hand"... Which brings us to:

SOLID GOLDSBORO -- First song on Side 1 is "Little Things", last song, Side 1, is "Broomstick Cowboy"... Played it in that manner, and found "It's Too Late" starting off Side 2 is just as capable of starting off this record all-together, and "I Know You Better Than That" finishes the album OK, but somehow I like Side 1's final cut as a "closing number" better... --Maybe I'll play it this way permanently...!

And with the lack of "It Breaks My Heart", due to it not being a "Greatest Hit" like "If You Wait For Love" is, I play "It Breaks My Heart" off of my GREATEST HITS CD while I flip the record over... The lack of those two, and a few others, is why I no longer play Side 1 & Side 2 of my TENTH ANNIVERSARY ALBUM but play Side 3 and 4 for tracks missing from the CD (or couldn't find them on any other CD's for someone who can burn songs from CD-to-CD, but cannot do LP-to-CD, to put on; at least three more were possible to add)...



Dave

 

[Dave]

I used to find myself playing Bobby Goldsboro's Muddy Mississippi Line, Side 2, first... Somehow, the last song there, a re-working of "Broomstick Cowboy", with just Bobby on guitar and vocals, sounds like a good "closing to the first side", while the last on Side 1, "Time Good, Time Bad" still ends the album well, though a little bit funky, too...

The album begins with a remake of Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Lodi" and Side 2's opener is a rebel rousin', dawn-breaker, "Mornin', Mornin'", written by Dennis Linde, (also the author of "Burnin' Love", done by Elvis Presley)... Either song can start either side, but the Linde song is kind'a the right thing to start off this album and start off the day...!!!!!!



Dave

 

[seashorepiano]

Side two of J & K's Betwixt and Between opens with "Stormy" which, despite the detractors of that album around here, is a killer track.

 

[Dave]

Deep Purple FIREBALL -- Here the songs ARE "reversed"... That is when I bought this on cassette a long time ago, Side 2 was Side 1 and Side 1's songs were on Side 2, contrary to the other formats... Wonder why that was?

But anyway, I'll take Side 2's "The Mule" and Side 1's "Anyone's Daughter" as the first and last track of this album (as opposed to Side 1 starting off with "Fireball" and Side 2 ending with "No One Came"), any day...!!!



Led Zeppelin LED ZEPPELIN -- I had this on 8-Track first, whch started off with "Your Time Is Gonna Come" and ended with "Dazed and Confused", which I strongly prefer over "Good Times, Bad Times" (the real Side 1 album opener) and "How Many More Times" (the real last song on Side 2) starting and ending this album, respectively... The Cassette, as well as LP copies I have seen, revealed the original order...



Somehow, someone at Warner Communications, when programming one of these outside the usual LP and LP/Cassette format, screwed up...




Slightly Off Topic: If you've ever heard Peaches & Herb's Two Hot and Chic's Risqué on 8-Track, you'll find the song-order (due to the sometimes rearranging of songs to fit each "Program" on 8-Track tape) is a lot better than the LP's... That is each start off with a better "First Track" and ends with a better sounding "Last Track" than their Vinyl or Cassette counterparts...

In particular: "Love It Up" beginning the Peaches & Herb and it ending with "Reunited", as opposed to "We've Got Love" (Yeah, why THAT one?) being first on Side 1, which can't even end with a decent song ("All Your Love (Give It Here)"...???) and Side 2, which at least starts off with "Love It Up", but then goes to "Four's A Traffic Jam", and mysteriously its last track is "Easy As Pie"... (Not quite an "easy-sounding final say"...) And Chic's Risqué ends with "Can't Stand To Love You", while "When You Hear The Song, Will You Cry?" as a next-to-last track on the LP/Cassette counterparts sounds too "final"...



Dave

 

[Dave]

Bobby Goldsboro THE ROUND-UP SALOON -- Well, the Side 2 on this, I played after playing Side 1 of the album he made before it, Bobby Goldsboro on Curb records... I, then played Side 1 of Round-Up... and Side 2 of the S/T album afterwards...!



Dave

 

[Dave]

Hey, I forgot aaaahhhhlllll about this one: Gallery Nice To Be With You...!!!

I knew from the time I first saw this album that Side 1 should be played last... That's the side featuring their greatest hit, "Nice To Be With You", followed by the Carla Thomas hit, "Gee Whiz"... Two perfect "shut down" tracks...!

"I Believe In Music" (originally written/recorded by Mac Davis) starts off Side 2 and equally got a good share of radio play and chart success... I think I like it starting off this album, too, while the last track, "Big City Miss Ruth Ann" seems to be a better coda for the first side played, as opposed to ending the album, altogether...



Dave

Gallery -- NICE TO BE WITH YOU

Side 1: There's An Island/Louisiana Line/Someone/Ginger Haired Man/Nice To Be With You/Gee Whiz

Side 2: I Believe In Music/Lover's Hideaway/You're Always On My Mind/He Will Break Your Heart (Better-known as "He Don't Love You, Like I Love You") /Sunday And Me/Big City Miss Ruth Ann

 

[rickster]

Yeah, Baja Marimba Band's version of "Along Comes Mary" is KILLER, and a GREAT side two opener. That's probably the best cover version of any tune I've ever heard. It ROCKS. It got a little airplay, but it should have been a smash. Julius' last marimba break on that tune still gives me chills , and if you listen REALLY closely , you can hear somebody in the studio yelling out immediately after it. WHEW !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Dave]

Here's one I just remembered that I completely forgot: Show And Tell, by the late-Al Wilson...

"What You See (Is What You Get)" (Not to be confused with the similar-titled one by The Dramatics) is what I think should start-off the album... (Which it did; I forgot to see what Side the record was on when I placed it on the turntable for the first time...)

And "A Song For You", while not ending either side in a more preferable way, gets my nod as the ideal last song for Side 1... (--Yes, if you hear a song like "Broken Home", the last song on Side 1 ending "Side 2", you may see why!)

"Show And Tell", Wilson's only big hit, I think opens the "second side" just fine, if it is a Side 1/Track 1 that made an impact on the charts for its own sake... (Anyway, Johnny Mathis covered it as the last song on Side 2 of his then-also current release, Killing Me Softly...)


Dave

Al Wilson -- SHOW AND TELL

Side 1: Show And Tell/I'm Out To Get You/Queen Of The Ghetto/Touch And Go/My Song/Broken Home

Side 2: What You See (Is What You Get)/Love Me Gentle, Love Me Blind/Moonlightin'/For Cryin' Out Loud/A Song For You

 

[JOv2]

...Baja Marimba Band's version of "Along Comes Mary" is KILLER...

Be sure to give Cal Tjader's a listen -- you'd probably dig it.

As for the topic, though I can't match Mr. Dave for volume, here's one I've listened two in reverse-flip order since I first acquired a used LP back in '85.

The Kinks -- Face To Face ['66]

The UK/CD (mono!) reissue includes period singles, Big Black Smoke and Dead End Street which complement the 14-track UK LP quite well. Casual listeners will immediately recognize the hit, Sunny Afternoon.

 

[Dave]

I just remembered another one here that I've had long, long ago... Three Dog Night Cyan...

"Happy Song" which starts off Side 1 is really better sounding beginning Side 2...! Especially followed by the "be young while you can" frolics of "Play, Children Play"...

"Into My Life", a gospel revelation, soul-searching ballad sounds too depressing to end this album with...

So consequently Side 2's intro, "Shambala" really should begin Side 1 (and after-all this B.W. Stevenson-written song was a hit for these guys), and the R&B weeper "Singer Man" sounds best as a second song for the first side...

While at the same time, "Ridin' Thumb" (a Seals & Crofts song before they hit it big with "Summer Breeze" and "Diamond Girl", shortly after starting off as The Dawnbreakers) sounds like a more optomistic way to end this outing...

Somehow the 8-track of this album that I'd owned before getting it on vinyl had the songs in the opposite order; what would be "Side 2" on LP & Cassette format, played first...

Although at this point, Three Dog Night was doing their best hiding the internal pressures of being on the verge of breaking up... In which case this album, after which a couple more LP's featuring new line-ups followed, was the original group's last...


Dave

Three Dog Night -- CYAN

Side 1: Happy Song/Play Children Play/Storybook Feeling/Ridin' Thumb

Side 2: Shambala/Singer Man/Let Me Serenade You/Lay Me Down Easy/Into My Life

 

[bob knack]

Hey JO,

I think that's the Tjader with Yellow Days and Trick or Treat. BMB did Yellow Days nicely and they should have done Trick or Treat.

 

[Mike Blakesley]

Three Dog Night's "Ridin' Thumb" -- is that the Seals & Crofts song, included on one of their earliest albums? If so - good tune!

 

[Moritat]

The first album I thought of was Trout Mask Replica by Captain Beefheart. Of course its a 2 record set, but I always thought sides 2 and 4 should be played before 1 and 3. Frownland starts off side one. Its a short quick shock to your ears, and its no where as listenable as Pachuco Cadaver which begins side 2. Two also has such ditties as Neon Meate Dream Of A Octafish and My Human Gets Me Blues (one of the Captain's best), and its just better to hear side 2 first. With Beefheart, a more "listenable" side is preferable to the ears for starters. As far as my feelings on sides 3 & 4, I believe side 4 is better to start off with than side 3. I think Orange Claw Hammer (which opens side 4) is a far better opener that the instumental Hair Pie Bake 2 (which opens side 3). Again, side 4 is more listenable than side 3, and you have to get your ears adjusted before you're ready to hear When Big Joan Sets Up which lurks on side 3.

The other lp where I feel side two is better to open with would be Claudine Longet's first lp. Wanderlove & Hello Hello make for great opening songs when listening to that lp.

 

[Dave]

Three Dog Night's "Ridin' Thumb" -- is that the Seals & Crofts song, included on one of their earliest albums? If so - good tune!

Yes, I believe it is although I am not sure if it is the first or 2nd--and I've always seen them packaged together as Seals & Crofts 1 & 2...



Dave

 

[A&Mguyfromwayback]

My sister always used to play Tower Of Power's BUMP CITY side 2 only, and I'd make her play side 1 occasionally because I couldn't stand not hearing the whole album.....

 

[Dave]

If not for "Does She Do It Like She Dances?" beginning Side 1 and ending Side 2, then The Addrisi Brothers S/T LP on Buddah (or as the T-Shirt one of 'em is wearing says, FLYING ADDRISI) then this is also an album I would play the second side of first...

Then it would end with "Baby, Love Is A Two-Way Street"; perfect for ending the LP, as a whole, as it is the perfect way for just ending the first side...



Dave