T/S: Ride 'Leave Them All Behind' vs. Spiritualized 'Medication' vs. Mansun 'Six' vs. Massive Attack 'Protection' vs. Grandaddy 'He's Simple, He's Dumb, He's The Pilot' vs. The Prodigy 'Break And Ent

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Opening tracks of first albums have been done to death here, but what about the opening tracks of second albums? Listed above are six of the more ambitious follow-up songs, the ones that have the job of convincing the listener that the band are in for the long haul. The ones that set an almost unreachable standard for the rest of the album. The ones that are EIGHT FREAKIN' MINUTES LONG.

So, which eight-minute statement of sophomore intent do you think holds up best? Feel free to add your own here as well.

(Coming soon, Mercury Rev 'MOARK' vs. The Fiery Furnaces 'Quay Cur' vs. The Stone Roses 'Breaking Into Heaven' for the 10 mins+ version...)

― You've Got Scourage On Your Breath (Haberdager), Monday, 30 October 2006 21:32 (nineteen years ago)

Spiritualized - but the Medication Peel Sessions EP version is better.

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 30 October 2006 21:35 (nineteen years ago)

underworld's 'second toughest in the infants' opens with a 16 minute track that's twice as good as anything up there.

― gear (gear), Monday, 30 October 2006 21:40 (nineteen years ago)

J/K/TDOL is I agree fucking amazing, and the best thing Underworld have ever done IMO (not to mention a seriously good poem), but it was too long for my list, alas. I don't think I'll be able to fnd many other 16-minute opening tracks on any second albums anywhere. :-(

Sentiment taken, though.

― You've Got Scourage On Your Breath (Haberdager), Monday, 30 October 2006 21:43 (nineteen years ago)

of course, if we extend this to opening tracks on second albums that are the longest and most ambitious songs on their albums without having to be 8 minutes long or whatever, bands like elbow and the crash test dummies enter the equation.

― You've Got Scourage On Your Breath (Haberdager), Monday, 30 October 2006 21:49 (nineteen years ago)

I agree with gear, but then the two tracks at the start of that record are two of my favourite tunes of the '90s. Break and Enter is very good, though. I used to think it was a great mix of a techno tune and a soul tune.

― KeefW (kmw), Monday, 30 October 2006 21:52 (nineteen years ago)

More long songs though... Good long songs are like good short songs, but longer.

― KeefW (kmw), Monday, 30 October 2006 21:53 (nineteen years ago)

"Break and Enter" is my favourite Prodigy tune ever. The weird female voice(?) in the chorus is chilly as hell, plus the sound of the breaking class.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Monday, 30 October 2006 21:54 (nineteen years ago)

Second Toughest... = first-limpest

― The Android Cat (Dan Perry), Monday, 30 October 2006 21:55 (nineteen years ago)

The female vocal sample from "Break and Enter" comes from Baby D's "Casanova", which also has an ill Prodigy remix on the Deliverance album.

― The Android Cat (Dan Perry), Monday, 30 October 2006 21:56 (nineteen years ago)

you're as crazy as your momma, dan perry

― gear (gear), Monday, 30 October 2006 21:57 (nineteen years ago)

xposts: more length means more goodness! (the inverse is also true, unfortunately for late-period Pink Floyd. 'Sorrow' is one of the most aptly-named songs in music history.)

Svefn-G-Englar, anyone? Don't like the band, but do like this song (and the other 10-minute one on the album).

Cygnus...Vismund Cygnus for those who can stand T*e M**s V***a?

― You've Got Scourage On Your Breath (Haberdager), Monday, 30 October 2006 21:57 (nineteen years ago)

for real though, second toughest is the shit

― gear (gear), Monday, 30 October 2006 21:57 (nineteen years ago)

louis jagger thread in making me simultaneously roll my eyes and vomit non-shocker

― lookin' in my mirror, not a Jagger in sight (sixteen sergeants), Monday, 30 October 2006 22:01 (nineteen years ago)

let's make myself more popular by dissing easy target non-shocker

― You've Got Scourage On Your Breath (Haberdager), Monday, 30 October 2006 22:04 (nineteen years ago)

Don't make me rank the Underworld albums again.

― The Android Cat (Dan Perry), Monday, 30 October 2006 22:07 (nineteen years ago)

"He's Simple, He's Dumb, He's The Pilot" is absolutely classic, while "Protection" may be the best thing Massive Attack have ever done. The others just don't make the cut by comparision.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Monday, 30 October 2006 22:35 (nineteen years ago)

"Protection" is a superb opening track for a mediocre album.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Monday, 30 October 2006 22:37 (nineteen years ago)

break & enter is the best prodigy song.

― wogan lenin (dog latin), Monday, 30 October 2006 22:38 (nineteen years ago)

And yeah, it's probably the best song produced by not just Massive Attack, but the whole genre of trip hop.

(x-post)

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Monday, 30 October 2006 22:41 (nineteen years ago)

"Pure Phase" is a billion times better than all the other albums mentioned, but "Leave Them All Behind" trumps "Medication". When I first heard it, I definitely thought Ride were in it for the long haul, and it still kinda blows my mind that this song and "Cool Your Boots" were essentially the only notable songs left in them.

― NoTimeBeforeTime (Barry Bruner), Monday, 30 October 2006 23:06 (nineteen years ago)

I shall save our inevitable 'GBA is awesome' scrap for another day, because you too see the genius inherent in Pure Phase. :-)

― You've Got Scourage On Your Breath (Haberdager), Monday, 30 October 2006 23:09 (nineteen years ago)

Break & Enter is 8 minutes long? Feels it! Not that it isn't good to begin with.

That whole album only ever sounds any good when someone else plays it (at a party, in a car etc) somehow. I've owned it at least twice already and sold it on...

― new new wave of new wave new rave (fandango), Monday, 30 October 2006 23:21 (nineteen years ago)

gear OTM

however! Orbital - The Girl With The Sun In Her Head (10:26)

― new new wave of new wave new rave (fandango), Monday, 30 October 2006 23:23 (nineteen years ago)

oh arse. didn't scan the sophmore thing.

NO NEEDLESSLY CONVOLUTED T/S THREADS NOVEMBER >:(

― new new wave of new wave new rave (fandango), Monday, 30 October 2006 23:25 (nineteen years ago)

In Sides != Orbital's second album, alas :-(

xpost

aha, you got there. This thread is hardly convoluted! And there's still 33 minutes until November starts (our time)...

― You've Got Scourage On Your Breath (Haberdager), Monday, 30 October 2006 23:26 (nineteen years ago)

whoops.

24 hrs. 33 minutes, that is :-/

― You've Got Scourage On Your Breath (Haberdager), Monday, 30 October 2006 23:27 (nineteen years ago)

i'm a halloween denier

― You've Got Scourage On Your Breath (Haberdager), Monday, 30 October 2006 23:29 (nineteen years ago)

'protection' and 'break and enter' are brilliant. they win. the others are very much not brilliant. louis, what's the best music you've heard from this year?

― The Lex (The Lex), Monday, 30 October 2006 23:30 (nineteen years ago)

Hmm - "Protection" and "Leave Them All Behind" win.

Add:
Shellac "Didn't We Deserve A Look At The Way You Really Are"

― Si.C@rter (SiC@rter), Tuesday, 31 October 2006 00:01 (nineteen years ago)

Protection. I can't even begin to count how many times I've listened to it on repeat for hours

― less-than three's Christiane F. (drowned in milk), Tuesday, 31 October 2006 07:47 (nineteen years ago)

To answer Lex's question, well, as one who has an entirely different musical aesthetic I fear that our tastes are going to irreconcilably differ. I can understand your musical ideal, based around the solid construction of a catchy, danceable pop song, but when I say that my favourite music of the year so far has included The Mars Volta, The Secret Machines, the Fiery Furnaces, Jesu, the 11-minute closing track of Guillemots' TTW, that Isis song they pre-released, and what I've heard so far of The Cooper Temple Clause's next album, I either haven't heard nearly enough music from this year (having been catching up on eras past, in the main), or I'm just a killer for proggy indulgences. Actually, both of those are probably true, although the first is more damning. What can I say, except that as a student money is a problem and I can't go buying every new release that gets over 75 on Metacritic just because it's the hip thing to do. The albums from 2006 that are still highly-regarded in a few years' time, they'll be the ones I get. I still have 40 years of music to catch up on first.

― You've Got Scourage On Your Breath (Haberdager), Tuesday, 31 October 2006 12:44 (nineteen years ago)

And there's still 33 minutes until November starts (our time)...

-- You've Got Scourage On Your Breath (papiermachealamphibia...), October 30th, 2006.

cambridge has 31st octobers too blud.

― benrique (Enrique), Tuesday, 31 October 2006 12:50 (nineteen years ago)

who the fuck is sixteen seargents?

"protection" and "he's simple he's dumb he's the pilot" are the best tracks on this list.

― jed_ (jed), Tuesday, 31 October 2006 13:09 (nineteen years ago)

just some douche who's angry because none of his favorite bands put eight-minute songs at the beginning of their sophomore albums.

― lookin' in my mirror, not a Jagger in sight (sixteen sergeants), Tuesday, 31 October 2006 13:13 (nineteen years ago)

oh, "War Pigs", duh

other than that... I guess you could consider the split LP with the Angels of Light to be Akron/Family's second album, and then combine "Awake" and "Moment" into one eight-minute continuous freakout, then I would take that over anything on the original list.

― lookin' in my mirror, not a Jagger in sight (sixteen sergeants), Tuesday, 31 October 2006 13:17 (nineteen years ago)

Hey! If we're having a thread about the best eight minute opener of a second album ever, then Secret Machines PWN this thread.

First Wave Intact, I would actually hold up over Leave Them All Behind *or* Medication. (Neither of which are even the best song on their respective albums.)

― Going Through The Motions (kate), Tuesday, 31 October 2006 13:24 (nineteen years ago)

Shockingly, I would agree with you (FWI being better than those songs, those songs being not the best on their albums, LTAB beaten by Howard Hughes and Medication by Let it Flow), but unfortunately I regard NHIN as TSM's first album. IT'S ALL OKAY THOUGH, now you come to mention it, because Alone, Jealous And Stoned is by far the best track on its album as well, and despite being a puny 6:46 in length can be said to hold a spiritual place on this thread. :-)

(FWI is also NINE minutes long, technically) ;-)

― You've Got Scourage On Your Breath (Haberdager), Tuesday, 31 October 2006 13:31 (nineteen years ago)

I'm old skool WRT ver Maschines. September 000 is the first album.

(though I'm not going to argue with you on Ride's debut, even though in the States, the first two EPs were packaged up as a "first album" called Smile)

― Going Through The Motions (kate), Tuesday, 31 October 2006 13:34 (nineteen years ago)

I have Smile myself, and I don't count it as a first album, more an important compilation. September 000 has, what, seven shortish tracks? Decent-sized EP IMO. :-)

― You've Got Scourage On Your Breath (Haberdager), Tuesday, 31 October 2006 13:40 (nineteen years ago)

It's longer (in time length) than Psychocandy, for instance. Album.

― Going Through The Motions (kate), Tuesday, 31 October 2006 13:49 (nineteen years ago)

Fiery Furnaces' EP = 40 minutes long, Brakes' debut album 'Give Blood' = 29 minutes long. Length isn't the key thing here, but stated artistic ambition is. September 000 has always been thought of as a mini-album, hasn't it?

Gosh, I'm being pedantic today. Must-stop-this-and-do-essay...

― You've Got Scourage On Your Breath (Haberdager), Tuesday, 31 October 2006 13:53 (nineteen years ago)

i'd like to say the grandaddy track is my favourite of the songs listed, but i seem to be erring towards 'break and enter' for some bizarre reason. 'medication' is pretty and dreamy but not outstanding, 'protection' is a great single but i've grown impatient with it over repeated listens, the ride track is maybe one of the highlights on a record i haven't listened to properly in years (still play the shit out of the debut though). never heard the mansun song/album.

so it's between the grandaddy (a band for whom i've had a soft spot for many years) and 'break and enter'. the album 'he's simple...' comes from is superb, but i generally skip this song these days as it makes the trip through the album as a whole a little too exhausting. often i'll listen to 'jilted...' solely for 'break and enter', which is something i still play when i'm priming myself for a big night out. i'll grant it victory this one time

― Charlie Howard (the sphinx), Tuesday, 31 October 2006 13:58 (nineteen years ago)

"Medication" is awesome WTF. On the other hand, the track after it with the flute is even better...

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Tuesday, 31 October 2006 14:33 (nineteen years ago)

>> those songs being not the best on their albums, LTAB beaten by Howard Hughes

Howard Hughes isn't on the album? Wasn't it on the Twisterella EP? I guess it's probably on a reissue as a bonus track or something, but that doesn't count. It's not as good as LTAB anyway :P

But then LTAB is one of my favourite songs ever, so there may some bias.

― Colonel Poo (Colonel Poo), Tuesday, 31 October 2006 17:21 (nineteen years ago)

Ride 'Leave Them All Behind' = great.
Spiritualized 'Medication' = eh.
Mansun 'Six' = great
Massive Attack 'Protection'= OK-ish
Grandaddy 'He's Simple, He's Dumb, He's The Pilot' = boring
The Prodigy 'Break And Enter' = atrocious

You nearly typed them in in the right order, Louis!

― Pashmina (Pashmina), Tuesday, 31 October 2006 17:28 (nineteen years ago)

Djed...Tort twa
Lock thread.

Love the Ride track for the drummin.

Love Grandaddy but not their openers - does 'Nebraska' count?
Blitzkrieg Bop - sure they- Grandaddy- did that once from behind foliage?

― Jessie the Drunk Dutch Mountain Dog (Jessie the Drunk Dutch Mountai), Tuesday, 31 October 2006 23:39 (nineteen years ago)

Tuomas is OTM!

― hearditonthexico (rogermexico), Wednesday, 1 November 2006 01:23 (nineteen years ago)

The proper answer to this thread is:

Spectrum - "Undo The Taboo"

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Wednesday, 1 November 2006 01:52 (nineteen years ago)

Wilco's "Misunderstood" falls about ninety seconds short.

[Here comes the part where the Wilco haters unleash the Kraken.]

― turkey (turkey), Wednesday, 1 November 2006 09:22 (nineteen years ago)

"protection" and "he's simple he's dumb he's the pilot" are the best tracks on this list.

jed_ OTM. "He's dumb..." is a lovely, lush song but not the best on the album (that would be "Crystal Lake"). "Protection" Always makes me a bit sad irregardless of situation therefore through it's sheer power to depress it is teh winner!

― Kv_nol (Kv_nol), Wednesday, 1 November 2006 10:48 (nineteen years ago)

... vs. getting rid of the albatross

― Godfrzej Ljang (godfrzej), Thursday, 2 November 2006 00:27 (nineteen years ago)

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