What is Each Album's Major Flaw?: Binaural

[mikejasond]

If they can't try starting with something original like Light Years or Of the Girl (both would probably need to be shortened a bit since they drag) that better sums up the album. Maybe they could have done something like Of The Girl -> Sad or Of The Girl -> Grievance to go for a No Code effect

[LoathedVermin72]

Dude you have already said all this

[mikejasond]

Yeah but I like the idea of a Major Flaw topic for each album and wanted to contribute to all of them

[LoathedVermin72]

Thank you for your service

[digster]

I think Of the Girl is a fantastic show opener but would not work as an opener on Binaural. I feel like it's perfectly placed where it is. After the cacohpony of Insignificance, it feels like a natural beginning to the second half of the record. I don't really see the issue with the first three songs, either.

[evenslow]

I think Of the Girl is a fantastic show opener but would not work as an opener on Binaural. I feel like it's perfectly placed where it is. After the cacohpony of Insignificance, it feels like a natural beginning to the second half of the record. I don't really see the issue with the first three songs, either.

You're right, it wouldn't work as an album opener considering the rest of the songs they would have to sequence.

But you could pretty easily come up with an alternate Binaural where you take your pick of the songs from those sessions and have OTG be a killer opener.

[Birds in Hell]

I'd agree with the criticism of the final tracklisting for this album, I think it's terrible. In fact, I don't think these guys have made a well-flowing, front-to-back album since Yield. I listen to individual songs from the post 90s records but I'm never drawn to play them all the way through.

I'm very fond of the original, pre-release tracklisting however. It flows much, much better.

[@SkitchP]

Thank you for your service

lol

[KurtLeon]

The only flaw in this album is that its not played that often.

[Kevin Davis]

As my free hours to listen to albums in full become fewer, I find myself caring less and less about things like flow and sequencing. I don't know that "jarring transitions" and such are things that have ever really registered with me when listening to an album. At some point it's just a collection of tunes that either do it for you or not, know what I mean?

[VinylGuy]

As my free hours to listen to albums in full become fewer, I find myself caring less and less about things like flow and sequencing. I don't know that "jarring transitions" and such are things that have ever really registered with me when listening to an album. At some point it's just a collection of tunes that either do it for you or not, know what I mean?

yeah and pj is just a group of dudes playing music.

Simplicity.

[evenslow]

As my free hours to listen to albums in full become fewer, I find myself caring less and less about things like flow and sequencing. I don't know that "jarring transitions" and such are things that have ever really registered with me when listening to an album. At some point it's just a collection of tunes that either do it for you or not, know what I mean?

Sequencing is more of a mood-definer. Done right it can tell a story with the songs that a mere collection of tracks cannot.

[Kevin Davis]

I agree with all that. Over the years it's just fallen down the list of things that really register with me.

[digster]

I think it's major flaw is that if you listen to Sleight of Hand at the wrong (or right?) time, it can just wreck you.

[tragabigzanda]

pearl jam sucks now

[evenslow]

As my free hours to listen to albums in full become fewer, I find myself caring less and less about things like flow and sequencing. I don't know that "jarring transitions" and such are things that have ever really registered with me when listening to an album. At some point it's just a collection of tunes that either do it for you or not, know what I mean?

Have your read the Chuck Klosterman piece in which he realizes he no longer cares passionately about music? I wish I could remember the band he used as the example, but it's something along the lines of "My co-worker put on a Blink-182 song, and I didn't feel angry, or much of anything. I realized I no longer cared about music enough to "hate" a band and have negative feelings about them."

It's a great read, I wish I could remember where I saw it.

Was just reading an interview with Steven Hyden that reminded me of this sentiment:

I think this is a pretty common trajectory for a lot of people. When you're young, you're much more into proving yourself. Then maybe you get a little bit older and you don't really want to argue about why a band sucks or why they're great. I'd much rather talk to someone who I could just enjoy music with. When you're younger, you're trying to figure out who you are. You do that often by defining yourself against people that you feel like you're not. People do that with politics, they do that with culture, all the way down the line. And maybe that's an important thing for people to go through. But I think when you get past that, you start to feel like, I want to find connection, I want to find a community—even if it's with people who aren't exactly like me, or aren't anything like me.

[LoathedVermin72]

I mean who even likes music really

[wease]

I've been listening to the original (and significantly superior) tracklisting for so long now that I can't remember the order on the official release.

What's the original?

"Breakerfall"
"Insignificance"
"Evacuation"
"Letter to the Dead"
"Rival"
"Grievance"
"Light Years"
"Of the Girl"
"Thin Air"
"Nothing as It Seems"
"Fatal"
"Sleight of Hand"
"Soon Forget"
"In the Moonlight"
"Parting Ways"
"Education"

No "Gods' Dice"?


NO DICE!

Agreed. Replace fatal with god's dice.

No way. Fatal stays. I still have Gods' Dice in the Track 2 slot, it transitions surprisingly well into Insignificance.

I really like Education at the end, I've always thought it has a 'hidden track' vibe about it.

How do you get rid of the actual hidden track after Parting Ways? That's the only reason I've never tracked it like the original.

[digster]

I've tried that original tracklisting a few times, and for me it's a great idea in theory that doesn't really work as a cohesive, satisfying listen in the way the original tracking does.

[LoathedVermin72]

What's the original tracklisting you guys are talking about?