Here on The Afterword we have a lot of time on our hands. We’ve had threads about albums with great opening salvos, albums where one side always gets played at the expense of the other and albums that finish with a bang.
But, after living with the new Janelle Monae album for a week, I’m coming to the conclusion that it falls into the category we might call a “Jaffa Cake” album – that is to say I’m seriously underwhelmed by the first four tracks and the last four tracks but it does have “a smashing bit in the middle”.
Now, this is a curious thing as, when albums are front loaded with bangers this is usually quite deliberate (it seemed to reach epidemic status in the early days of cds when there was no imperative to distribute the gold democratically between two complementary sides) and choosing to finish your opus on a high is clearly an attempt to emulate the dynamic of the live concert performance.
But pop music’s been around a while now and, offhand, I can’t think of too many albums with this pattern, which suggests it’s not something an artist might do deliberately (and, to be fair to JM, I suspect kicking off with the gentle Wilsonesque overture Dirty Computer and finishing with the upful anthemic Americans was an attempt at something more familiar).
Indeed, the best example I can think of is The Clash’s treble album Sandinista! where sides 1, 5 and 6 are easily the weakest, so you find yourself reaching for the middle disc first.
After that I might mention Saint Etienne’s So Tough, whose hits, Avenue, You’re In A Bad Way and Hobart Paving snuggle up together in the centre of the bed – not a terrific specimen of the species as I like the opening track Mario’s Cafe and (look away Tiggs!) To Pimp A Butterfly which takes six minutes to get warmed up and then dribbles to an end with his Tupac chit chat and wee poem (which is fine the first couple of times, but you do tend to click off after that). But then, TPAB is more of a sprawler than a proper Jaffa Cake.
I also tried to shoehorn Frank Ocean into this category, partly for controversy clicks, but mainly because then it would be a “smashing Orangey bit in the middle”, but while the Pilot Jones -> Lost bit is probably my favorite part, I think it’s a stretch to count it here.
But I know YOU are itching to join in with your example of the quintessential “Jaffa Cake” album, so let’s have it, Afterword!
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Stephen G says
Sound Affects possibly, with the middle three songs (Start; That’s Entertainment; Dreamtime) containing the two best-known songs from the album
fishface says
Poison’s Open Up And Say….Ahh contains the superb couplet of Look But You Can’t Touch and
Mama’s Fallen Angel smack bang in the middle.
Not even jaffa jam thick, more the razorblade thin bit you get in a bakewell slice.
Neela says
Wow!
A: Is this the first ever AW mention of Poison?
B: Is this the last ever AW mention of Poison?
I have some of their albums on vinyl. Haven’t played them in ages and don’t think I will. Don’t want to break the heart of twelve year old Neela.
Gary says
Atom Heart Mother. You can skip the silly drivel that is the opening title suite, and likewise closing suite Alan’s Psychedelic Breakfast. But the middle chunk of If, Summer ’68 and Fat Old Sun is spiffing.
Martin Hairnet says
I agree that side one is thin gruel, but I love the whole of side two, Rice Krispies and all. So for me, this is more of a chocolate digestive than a Jaffa Cake kind of album.
retropath2 says
Bollox, side 1 is a rare feast, with only scatterings of joy amongst the drivel of side 2. And they involve the same brass section.
DrJ says
I didn’t get the AHM title track until I heard this sensational live version off the recent boxset/compilation. Right at the end you hear Rog saying “that was good” – he’s surprised himself.
Rigid Digit says
Primal Scream – Screamadelica
Movin On Up is a fine start, but Come Together and Loaded in the middle – there’s the smashing Jaffa orangey bit
SteveT says
Agrees
Barry Blue says
The Jam – The Gift.
Shit sandwich
Tiggerlion says
The first track on To Pimp A Butterfly is the worst and I can understand why you skip the last, even though it is a neat summation and tying up of loose ends. I find, generally, that spoken word pieces don’t bear a lot of repetition. That doesn’t mean they are less valuable, though.
As for Dirty Computer, I’m increasingly satisfied with the last four tracks, excluding Stevie. After all the party bangers and ‘revolution’ of your ‘jaffa’ section, they are where the grown-up getting on with real life stuff kicks in.
I’ll get back to you when I’ve thought of another, possibly a Tom Waits.
ganglesprocket says
This might be a “impersonating what it’s like on an E when you’re coming up and then coming down man” thing but Underworld’s Dubnobasswithmyheadman seems quite Jaffa Cake. Dark and Long is OK but not great, MMM… Skyscraper I Love you is better then from Surfboy through to Cowgirl it’s just great. After that, River Of Bass, fine, kind of forgetable then M.E. which I don’t even remember how it goes.
And Rez isn’t even on it FFS
The Muswell Hillbilly says
The fact that Rez isn’t on it is the best thing about it. And Rez. I spent years convinced that I’d find it on there and being befuddled when I couldn’t.
But that may have been a being on an E when you’re coming up and then coming down man thing.
slotbadger says
‘M.E’ was the highlight of the album! A long bass-driven groove, so 90s it hurts a bit to hear it now and remember spliff-hazy student bedsits and yellowing copies of the NME
Barry Blue says
The Jam – Setting Sons: like the greatest cake ever but with terrible thin icing on the top (Girl On The Phone) and bottom (Heatwave)
Sewer Robot says
Weller’s band are appearing so often I’m thinking we should have gone for Jammie Dodgers instead…
Moose the Mooche says
Around The World in a Day.
At the beginning, the title track – at the end, Temptation, both of which sound like they were made up on the spot, and not in a good way. In between – Paisley Park, Pop Life, Raspberry Beret – yum yum!
Black Type says
Hmmm…I think ATWIAD is a great scene-setter (and he used it as such for the Parade tour). It’s a statement of intent – “Purple Rain 2 this ain’t”. And the orangey centre of this Jaffa cake is somewhat let down by ‘Tambourine’.
Moose the Mooche says
The understated one-man-minimalism of it I like, in the context of his widescreen colossus stature in 1984-5 (think the opening of Let’s Go Crazy).
that said, I hate that mid 80s DX7 bass more than almost anything.
Black Celebration says
I’m too time-poor today to read the other entries but All Mod Cons must be a contender.
Rigid Digit says
Wha? Are you a loony?
Starting with All Mod Cons and ending with Tube Station, it is prime orangey bit all the way through (on some days I even allow English Rose to pass muster)
Black Celebration says
Sorry @rigid-digit it was one of my little jokes based on the Jam themed entries so far.
Uncle Wheaty says
I love English Rose
dai says
R.E.M.;s Out of Time opens with their worst track ever Radio Song and the closer Me in Honey is one of the weaker tracks on the record. In fact side 1 closes with Endgame which is pretty much a nothing song and side 2 opens with the dreaded Shiny Happy People so that is 2 Jaffa Cakes for the price of 1.
bungliemutt says
But, but…… Me In Honey is great, as are Texarkana and Country Feedback, making Out Of Time more of a Sainsbury’s trifle of an album – i.e. bottom heavy on quality (crap shaving foam cream on the top, classy fruit and jelly on the bottom).
Black Celebration says
My serious nomination is OMD’s Architecture and Morality.
The opening New Stone Age features electronic screeches with ragged guitar strumming and frantic shouting. “Oh My God! What have we done this time?” they wail. Good grief, can they keep this up?
Then calmer OMD-by-numbers quite good song (She’s Leaving). And then:
Souvenir
Sealand
Joan of Arc
Joan of Arc (Maid of Orleans)
Souvenir was a huge single at the time and a tremendous tune with the fragile vocal from Paul Humphreys, who only steps up to the mic occasionally. This is followed by the majestic and perfect Sealand. There is no better track to play loud. Then there’s the Joan of Arcs, both top 5 singles and still remarkable-sounding songs considering they were high in the real pop charts at the time. The second one’s alarming extended intro and strange, off-the-beat (?) drum patterns had no business being on TOTP or Cheggers Plays Pop.
We round off things with the moody industrial-sounding instrumental title track, with gorgeous engine braking sounds, the perky Georgia (familiar to Mid-Morning Matters listeners) and The Beginning and the End.
The quality is good throughout but there is a definite smashing orangey bit in the middle.
slotbadger says
“Architecture and Morality, two equally hot but differently shaped potatoes”
Moose the Mooche says
If A & M was potato, it’s be a potato waffle. Geometric shape, but nicely fluffy inside.
MC Escher says
This thread is yet another example of why the LP as a format is dead in the water.
It always was an enormous con-trick by the biz, though: was there ever any real need to put 10-14 songs together and release it as one artistic statement? Other than the need to maximise profit once the labels realised that people would actually pay a significant premium for the privilege of getting seven or eight average songs in between the hits?
There is a teeny tiny number of counter examples where every track is indispensable. If you sit down and really admit it you’ll agree that the singles chart has always been at the apex of musical evolution, and that your cherished albums are just overblown and overlong exercises in “will this do”-ism.
And now we have downloads there is no reason to buy them. Yes, I bought Dirty Computer, purely for the convenience of getting all the new songs in one go, but I fully expect to delete at least four of the songs after a good few listens.
Black Celebration says
I don’t agree with that. In my example just up there – I think Sealand is one of OMD’s very best pieces. It would have never worked as a single though, not in a million years. There are countless examples of confirmed “non-singles” that are absolutely grrreat.
Too many Bowie examples to list.
MC Escher says
But do you think Sealand is better than the singles off that album? I don’t.
And I still think we’re kidding ourselves if we think that 99% of albums have many non-essential tracks.
Black Type says
It’s a bit of a tall order to make every song ‘essential’, and anyway, one person’s ‘essential’ is another’s ‘passable’.
Black Celebration says
Sometimes I do think Sealand is the best song the album, yes. As with all great albums, every song has a part to play.
Black Type says
Singles and albums are two different drugs: one is for the instant high, and the other is slow release.
deramdaze says
Of course, in the Golden Age there was the 45 and the L.P. and never the twain shall meet.
But, again, of course, that was the Golden Age.
I’ll, of course, get me coat.
Black Celebration says
Crikey – I haven’t mentioned Depeche Mode yet. Their biggest album was Violator and the inclusion of Personal Jesus was commercially necessary yet I think the album would have survived without it. Triffic though it is, it doesn’t quite fit in with the rest of the songs and the band had moved on a bit since it was released as a single several months before the album came.
Kaisfatdad says
An utterly ingenious idea for a thread, Sewer.
A musical exploration inspired by the bad boy of the biscuit world! You are the uncontested Cookie Monster of the AW.
This one really takes the confectionery.
Tiggerlion says
It’s not a biscuit. It’s a cake. 😀
retropath2 says
As in cakes go hard with exposure to the elements and biscuits soft. (So where does that leave King Biscuit Boy, say I.)
Pessoa says
I stand by the Happy Monday’s ‘Bummed’ , but the track sequencing is odd: the opening song ‘Country and Western’ is an oddity , the last track ‘Lazyitis’ is throwaway , and its heart ( ‘Wrote for Luck’) is stuck on the middle of side 2.
Sewer Robot says
I did think of Bummed, and for the same reasons (!).
Maybe albums where the bonkers track listing nearly ruins it is a whole different category? F’rinstance, I’ve never been able to accept Never Mind The Bollocks as an album at all, largely because you just can’t have Anarchy as track 2 on side 2.
YOU JUST CAN’T!
Moose the Mooche says
it should have been track 2 on side 1, track 1 being a wafty instrumental prologue played on dulcimer and pan-pipes.
Pessoa says
You mean in the same way ‘It’s On’ by contemporaries Flowered Up had that pan pipes intro? Dunno about no dulcimer.