Silly one for Friday night, but humour me. There are as many different ways to kick off an LP as there are ways to sink a cat. I’ve had a go at listing a few. Didn’t think too long about examples (which, I think explains the bias to the 1990s). Maybe you can think of some more, or better examples of the categories I’ve suggested. By all means junk the A to Z element – it’s just a way to get the ball rolling. I will put the larger part in the comments ->
The A to Z of Album Openers
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A Statement Of Intent:
It could be just a line – one thinks of Grace Jones on Hurricane
“This is my voice, my weapon of choice”
or
“You are now about to witness the strength of street knowledge”
on N.W.A.’s Straight Outta Compton, but the one that seems to capture what I’m getting at is Burn It Down on Searching For The Young Soul Rebels.
First, we get the rejection of all options on the radio dial followed by an order to “burn it down” (the music, we presume) then a list of Irish writers to challenge a lazy stereotype, although, in terms of burning things down, the lyric seems more aimed at kicking Paddy into action than dissing the lazy accusers.
Business As Usual:
From the old days when you’d committed sizeable wedge to the latest release from a loved artist and there was a moment of apprehension that they might have gone all experimental or something. An example might be Burn, the first new album by the revamped Deep Purple. Is this still going to be the band I love? Drop the needle on the first track and that opening riff kicks in a most reassuring manner.
Cocking About:
Ryan Adams’ Heartbreaker album could kick into life beautifully with To Be Young… (and it bloody does almost every time I play it!), but the first time you put it on you’re subjected to a conversation about
Morrissey album tracks. Initially kinda cutesy, this does not stand up to repeated listens.
Do You Like Our New Direction?:
The opposite to Business As Usual.
Our heroes are pleased you liked their previous work, but you already bought that, so now they need to show you what else they can do. “Dude”, they protest, “we conquered guitar pop with OK Computer. Time to move on”.
Blur have a new album out and chirpy poppy mock-Cockney Damon tells us the first one is “about MDMA”(*cough*). Granted, we’re not expecting the Theme To S Express, but we’re also not ready for all the lights going on and the knees up being declared over when some of us only just got here for the Union Jack waving party.
A “New Direction” opener can also be a declaration that, for the rest of the album, anything is possible.
Beyoncé’s Lemonade starts with Pray You Catch Me, a song which, itself, seems to wander about a bit. After this could there be country? Caribbean patois? A Whitney-style showstopper? Why not?!!
Eh?
Let’s just pop on the new Stevie Wonder. You Are The Sunshine Of My Life – neat title!
Wait. Who the f*ck is this singing?
Fasten Your Seatbelt:
Albums are a marathon, not a sprint, but sometimes you already need to be towelled down after track 1.
Janie Jones by The Clash fits the bill. Plunge unwarily into Underworld’s Second Toughest In The Infants and you won’t get a break until a gruelling 16 minutes of maximum speed later.
Got All The Time In The World a.k.a Get On With It!
The opposite of Fasten Your Seatbelt.
The Decemberists’ The Hazards Of Love begins with a three minute “Prelude”. Are you sitting comfortably? Now we can begin.
The Hit:
Albums, like washing machines, used to always be front loaded. “We know why you picked this up”, The Hit says. “F*ck it – Let’s call the album Like A Prayer while we’re at it”.
The Intro:
“All the way from central London…” proclaims Otis Clay, after a couple of minutes of build up on Handcream For A Generation’s Heavy Soup, “would you please give a warm San Francisco welcome to Tjinder Singh and Cornershop”
Theotis Taylor’s Appreciation, on his Something Within Me album, begins with him saluting the big fella upstairs before – being a man of impeccable manners and realising we may not know him, what with this being an extremely belated debut – he takes a moment to introduce himself mid-tune
“This is Brother Theotis Taylor Fitzgerald”, he says, “I trust that you will enjoy this programme”, before picking up where he left off.
“I want the style of a woman, the kiss of a man” winks Brett Anderson on Suede’s Introducing The Band.
Humour in album openers is usually the last refuge of the scoundrel, notably rappers who have fashioned a “skit” for our “amusement”, which brings us to…
A Joke:
Can We Start Again? Ask Tindersticks at the beginning of their third LP. Yes, the same japesters whose previous album opened with a tune called Another Night In, after their first contained a ditty named A Night In.
Kansas (as in We’re Not In.. ..Anymore)
Is the world ready for the first Roxy Music album? Well, no – and it never will be. But – just as the majesty of the vehicles in Thunderbirds is that they are from a future so amazing it will never come, yet here they are! – seconds into track one of Roxy Music you know your conception of the world will never be so small again.
Laying It On With A Trowel:
“This ain’t rock n roll, this is genocide!” Bam! Title Track which perfectly sets the scene for the album concept within its own verses – GREAT opening, Sir David!
What? A minute of portentous spoken-word exposition called Future Legend, you say?
M is for mellotron. Just mellotron. Major chord mellotron heading to discordant mellotron and back again. Oh, you want a vocal? That can wait well over a minute, because what you really want is yet more mellotron.
Foxtrot opening with Watcher of the Skies is just ace.
The Intro exemple that immediately comes to my mind is the 24 seconds long first track – suitably called “Intro” – on Gilbert O’Sullivan’s “Himself”, where he sings the immortal lines:
“Ladies and gentlemen
allow me to present
myself to you
On this my first LP debut…”
Begging the question: What was his second LP debut?
The last track – called “Outro” – uses (mostly) the same melody but other lyrics:
“Ladies and gentlemen
those of you who spent
money buying me
I’d like to thank you
I’d like to thank you
Thank you sincerely”
Coming in at a whopping 37 seconds, that one.
(Actually, I still love this album and it was a huge part of my childhood)
A Manifesto (same as a Statement Of Intent, just more forceful)
Oasis Rock n Roll Star.
Album 1 Track 1, and at that moment Yes you are.
Unfortunately Liam to chose to live the cliche – drinking, drugging, and generally being obnoxious.
I know what you’re thinking – what do Depeche Mode do? Well I’m glad you ask!
They sometimes open their albums with a slow burner, or a difficult meanderathon, or a very loud and unpleasant noise that has nothing to do with what follows. I can’t be bothered to check all of the albums right now, but I think they have never smoothly opened an LP with the hit single you might have heard on wunnerful Radio 1 – you get that later on once you’ve had to sit through a bit of pain and suffering.
The two albums I have (the first two – I went off them when Dave Gahan stopped looking more like a virgin than me) both start with hits. Must’ve grown out of it…
Yes you’re right – they started to get a bit more experimental generally once they considered themselves “established”. The completist in me feels the need to go further (I’m really sorry about this):
Meanderathons – In Chains, Black Celebration, Welcome to my World, World in my eyes, Going Backwards,
Bang! crash! blare! – Something to do, I Feel You, Barrel of a Gun, A Pain that I’m Used To, Never Let Me Down Again
Hits – Leave in Silence, New Life, Dream On, Love in itself
As it happens I played 1972 by Josh Rouse last week and I thought to myself, what a wonderful way to start an album. This would come under
‘Got All The Time In The World a.k.a Get On With It’