Haven't even considered posting here in quite awhile. A quick update on me and mine: We are happily residing in Chesapeake, Virginia and are enjoying the southern life as much as we expected to. In the words of the immortal Gen. George Pickett (at least in a movie) "Up, men! Up! And to your posts! And let no man forget today that you are from old Virginia!"
To the point of the post. I had a conversation with my wife which consisted of me saying several things she found unintelligible and me feeling smart, so I figured I should post about it. First, a short baseball discussion. The conventional wisdom of the sport has taught that in order to have an effective offensive attack, the players should bat in a particular order. This has been encouraged both in the professional teaching ranks and in the amateur and media camps. At another time and place I may address whether convention is truly wise, however, to give a summary of the concept see this chart-ish thing.
1 - leadoff, high OB%, low K rate, speed
2 - #2 hitter, lower K rate, high contact rate, ability to move runners over
3 - #3 hitter, "best hitter", highest AVG, some power
4 - cleanup, power hitter, usually ends with most RBIs
5 - another power hitter, usually a 3 outcome hitter (K, BB, HR)
6 - a little bit better than 7 but not good
7 - worst hitter in NL lineups, not quite worst but not as good as 6 in AL lineups
8 - set up man for P spot in NL lineups, high contact rate, high OB%, worst hitter in AL lineups
9 - pitcher in NL lineups, 2nd leadoff hitter in AL lineups
Just for fun, here's my greatest lineup possible from the history of baseball.
1 - Joe Morgan 2B
2 - Willie Mays CF
3 - Babe Ruth RF
4 - Barry Bonds DH
5 - Ted Williams LF
6 - Lou Gehrig 1B
7 - Alex Rodriguez 3B
8 - Honus Wagner SS
9 - Mike Piazza C
I go with ARod despite his success at primarily SS because the divide between himself and Honus is so small and the chasm between them and the other SS and conventional 3B is so large. Deal with it. The 3B otherwise would be Chipper Jones. I also must mention the primary PH is Hank Aaron, PR is Rickey Henderson and starting pitcher is Greg Maddux...and closer is Mariano Rivera.
Ok, ok - so enough of the baseball for a minute. What does this have to do with the Record Industry?
I believe I can prove that the same lineup synergy baseball has been employing for 115 years is being used to craft song lineups on a Record. I will endeavor to do so with a few of my favorite cuts.
Lets take award winning AFI album "Decemberunderground"
It plays out as such:
1 - Prelude 12/21 (leadoff elements of a prelude are somewhat self-explanatory)
2 - Kill Caustic (good, not great, gives a solid feel for the album)
3 - Miss Murder (easily best song of album, maybe best of their career, strong at #3)
4 - Summer Shudder (again strong, not as catchy or hyped as MM but still very good)
5 - The Interview (another hit, didn't hit the radio but probably deserved it)
6 - Love Like Winter (probably the 2nd best song but now hitting on 4 strong tracks in a row)
7 - Affliction (not bad, but definitely a little regression into the weaker part of the album)
8 - The Missing Frame (probably the weakest or 2nd weakest track, nicely buried at #8)
9 - Kiss and Control (a bit of a surprise here as this and the next one are catchy but not 3-4-5 good)
10 - The Killing Lights
11 - 37mm (my least favorite on the album, right where it belongs 2nd to last)\
12 - Endlessly, She Said (finishing strong, a common occurrence)
Don't believe me yet? Now look at Blink 182's self title album:
1 - Feeling This (strong open, sets tone, not best song but good portrait of the band)
2 - Obvious (still good, but better is coming, staying with continuity to allow later diversity to be more effective)
3 - I Miss You (epic, top charter, ear worm of the ages)
4 - Violence (not the strongest cleanup tune in the iPod, but not bad at all, showing some of that diversity)
5 - Stockholm Syndrome (total trip, great tune)
6 - Down (another strong one, if you liked Violence, again at 4 hits in a row)
7 - The Fallen Interlude (bit of a break here, intentionally flips the lineup in a way)
8 - Go (Could leadoff, good tone setter, showing some of the diversity)
9 - Asthenia (good tune, not on anybody's "best of" lists though)
10 - Always (2nd best song at 3 spot for 2nd lineup, go ahead call in contrived but I see it!)
11 - Easy Target (starting to fade a bit with the finish of the album)
12 - All Of This (not bad, but not as good)
13 - Here's Your Letter (worst tune, again right where it belongs)
14 - I'm Lost Without You (weird, but strangely interesting and as a closer, but a bad place to experiment)
2 for 2 if you're scoring at home. I'll just highlight a few more for evidence.
#'s 2-3-4-5 for Breaking Benjamin's "Phobia"
Diary of Jane - career changer
Breath - radio hit
You - another strong tune
Evil Angel - 2nd best on album
#'s 10-11-12
Unknown Soldier - not bad...kinda meh
Had Enough - definitely weak
How Its Gonna End - bit of an uptick because the album finishes with a bookend "Outro"
#'s 1-2-3 for Cavo's "Bright Nights * Dark Days"
Champagne - broke them on a scene
Crash - best song of their short careers
Let It Go - only other significantly good song on the album
Every Chevelle album:
"Wonder What's Next"
#3 Send the Pain Below - radio hit, 2nd best song of career
"This Kind of Thinking (Could Do Us In)"
#3 Vitamin R - radio hit
"Vena Sera"
#3 Saferwaters - extremely underrated hit
"Sci-Fi Crimes"
#3 Shameful Metaphors - most singable rock song I've ever heard
"Hats Off to the Bull"
#3 Ruse - great tune, only time best or radio hit song wasn't #3 thus far, and its at #4 with The Meddler
"La Gargola"
#3 Jawbreaker - haven't gotten my hands on this album to analyze, but this tune is definitely sick
I could go on and on. Green Day uses this formula, as do Yellowcard, 30 Seconds to Mars, David Crowder Band, Enya, Eve 6, Flyleaf, Il Divo, Incubus and many many more.
Some artists have slight variations, with strongest tunes at 1, 5, 9, 13 (HIM) or numerically strongest to weakest starting at 1 (Andrea Bocelli).
So, next time you crack open a new album, see how it synergizes. You may find you enjoy how songs relate to each other. As always, comments welcome.
