lopsided albums, in the sense of, side A vs. side B Options

[raggedglory]

Front loaded: R.E.M.'s Document. Side one: great stuff. Peter Buck once called it R.E.M.'s best side of music. Side two: not nearly as good, though at least it has "The One I Love" and "King of Birds." It's still a pretty great record overall.

Back loaded: The Police - Synchronicity. I love all of side two. Side one is spotty.

Document however, holds up till the very end, plus it has the greatest sax solo in college rock history, in Fireplace.

[bleach]

Concerning double albums, I would think the question would be to find one where the first disc ISN'T way better than the second. I love all of these albums (to varying degrees), but there's no denying that the first disc is invariably stronger than the second in all cases:

Pink Floyd - The Wall
Genesis - The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway
Nine Inch Nails - The Fragile
Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness

i actually like side two of the fragile more than side one.

also in the same category i prefer side two of 1999 over side one. great album (his best imo), just prefer side two.

some of the answers itt though....sound more like preferences to a particular side than the feeling of a lopsided album.

[raggedglory]

maybe it's because i love machine gun so much everything is crap put next to it, and the only good song in side 2 of Outlandos is Truth Hits Everybody, find me someone that can stand the poem in Sally. Bleach? can side 2 beat the 1st 4 songs? Sifting, Swap Meet, Scoff?
I'll give you Ok Computer though.

I have no argument on Hendrix, but as for Outlandos, you're talking about my favorite kind of Police record, the first couple, where they were all over the place. "Be My Girl Sally" is probably one of my favorite early Police songs, and side two also has "Born in the '50s," which I love in all its plodding glory. As ever, I'm at odds with popular opinion on these guys. Their first two records are the most interesting. Synchronicity and Ghost In the Machine are pretty much perfect records, but they're just not as sloppy and weird and gleefully ragged. Feel pretty much the same about Bleach, actually. Nevermind's amazing, but Nirvana in its infancy is another kind of exhilaration altogether.

I like weirdness.

I see, actually those 2 tracks are the ones i dislike the most of that album, which is pretty good. The Police was at its best when they kept it simple, idk, I like the energy. I do feel the weirdness factor is at its strongest in Incesticide, which is just wonderful and it captures the essence of the band plus it has their worst track ever, Hairspray Queen.

[Limeinthecoconut]

Front loaded: R.E.M.'s Document. Side one: great stuff. Peter Buck once called it R.E.M.'s best side of music. Side two: not nearly as good, though at least it has "The One I Love" and "King of Birds." It's still a pretty great record overall.

Back loaded: The Police - Synchronicity. I love all of side two. Side one is spotty.

Document however, holds up till the very end, plus it has the greatest sax solo in college rock history, in Fireplace.

It's just that side one is phenomenal and side two is just pretty good. Not a big fan of "Lightnin' Hopkins" (it's okay), for instance. Like I said, though, it's still a great album. Nice call on the amazing sax solo!

[theremin]

Which disc of The Fragile is the 1st one?

[bleach]

have always looked at left disc as being disc 1

[Limeinthecoconut]

Back loaded: The Police - Synchronicity. I love all of side two. Side one is spotty.

Never thought about that, but yeah. What strange sequencing, putting the three big singles in a row on side 2. Mother precedes all of them, at like track THREE?!?! WTF?

I noticed it right away. When I bought the record in '83, I remember it taking a long time to get to "Every Breath You Take" and "King of Pain" (after listening to it a time or two, I just played side two first), which were the first two singles on that album. Even "Synchronicity II", the single from the front side, was the last song on that side. It was really odd.

Also in '83, I remember thinking side two of Def Leppard's Pyromania was definitely better than side one and also had more hits on side two, which I thought was strange at the time.

Fuck, I'm old.

[dave9199]

Husker Du's Flip Your Wig, definitely. Side A is like wall-to-wall awesome, Side B has two instrumentals, a jokey goof track that can only be explained by Grant Hart on heroin, one pretty good song ("Keep Hanging On"), and three OK/filler ones.

While I agree A is stronger than B, I love, love, love side B. Especially Find Me and The Wit And The Wisdom. Love those fucking songs. The rest are really good save Baby Song. This was before Hart's heroin days I believe.

[Mr.Nobody]

The one that comes to mind for me is Surf's Up. Enjoyable first side,but the last three tracks on the second side and "Feel Flows" are the highlights of the record. Honestly if "Long Promised Road" was swapped out for "Looking at Tomorrow" it would be a perfect side.

What's wrong with 'Long Promised Road'? Great fuckin' song.

I worded that wrong. What I meant was swap out "Looking At Tommorow" for "Long Promised Road". So "Long Promised Road" would be on side two.

[SOMB's Belov...]

maybe it's because i love machine gun so much everything is crap put next to it, and the only good song in side 2 of Outlandos is Truth Hits Everybody, find me someone that can stand the poem in Sally. Bleach? can side 2 beat the 1st 4 songs? Sifting, Swap Meet, Scoff?
I'll give you Ok Computer though.

I have no argument on Hendrix, but as for Outlandos, you're talking about my favorite kind of Police record, the first couple, where they were all over the place. "Be My Girl Sally" is probably one of my favorite early Police songs, and side two also has "Born in the '50s," which I love in all its plodding glory. As ever, I'm at odds with popular opinion on these guys. Their first two records are the most interesting. Synchronicity and Ghost In the Machine are pretty much perfect records, but they're just not as sloppy and weird and gleefully ragged. Feel pretty much the same about Bleach, actually. Nevermind's amazing, but Nirvana in its infancy is another kind of exhilaration altogether.

I like weirdness.

I see, actually those 2 tracks are the ones i dislike the most of that album, which is pretty good. The Police was at its best when they kept it simple, idk, I like the energy. I do feel the weirdness factor is at its strongest in Incesticide, which is just wonderful and it captures the essence of the band plus it has their worst track ever, Hairspray Queen.

I love Hairspray Queen. So there ya go.