A little data-gathering operation, which will perhaps be relevant to the conversation below.(Left in order for ease of comparison)
1. Absolutely Cuckoo
2. All My Little Words
3. I Don't Want to Get Over You
4. The Luckiest Guy on the Lower East Side
5. I Think I Need a New Heart
6. The One You Really Love
7. A Pretty Girl Is Like...
8. (Crazy for You But) Not that Crazy
9. Washington, D.C.
10. Long-Forgotten Fairytale
11. Papa Was a Rodeo
12. Underwear
13. It's a Crime
14. I'm Sorry I Love You
15. The Death of Ferdinand de Saussure
16. Bitter Tears
17. Wi' Nae Wee Bairn Ye'll Me Beget
18. Meaningless
19. Love Is Like a Bottle of Gin
20. Queen of the Savages
21. I Can't Touch You Anymore
22. Two Kinds of People
23. How to Say Goodbye
Alternate takes invited.
4 comments:
I'm gonna post mine tonight, but on first glance the thing that surprises me most about your list is how under-represented Vol. 2 is.
My list:
1. Absolutely Cuckoo
2. All My Little Words
3. Reno Dakota
4. I Don't Want to Get Over You
5. The Luckiest Guy on the Lower East Side
6. Let's Pretend We're Bunny Rabbits
7. The Book of Love
8. The One You Really Love
9. My Sentimental Melody
10. Nothing Matters When We're Dancing
11. Time Enough for Rocking When We're Old
12. Grand Canyon
13. No One Will Ever Love You
14. Long-Forgotten Fairytale
15. Papa was a Rodeo
16. Epitaph for My Heart
17. Abigail, Belle of Kilronan
18. Underwear
19. Busby Berkeley Dreams
20. Yeah! Oh, Yeah!
21. Meaningless
22. The Night You Can't Remember
23. Xylophone
Two thoughts:
1)
This really only got hard in cutting the last 3 or 4 songs, meaning I could easily have done without at least an entire volume. There's no way the service of a conceit excuses an entire album of filler.
2)
With regards to the conversation we've been having, it strikes me that probably the best way to go about recording is something like what Bishop Allen did with their EP project, or like what Peter & the Wolf do with most of their material, meaning record a lot, make it all available in limited distribution for those who want to seek it out, then pick out the cream of the crop, re-record where appropriate and release that widely as your proper album. I'm not against an artist being prolific, rather I'm put off by an artist's presumption that their wheat and chaff deserve equal consideration.
My list ends up heavier on volume 2, and much lighter on volume 3.
I'd take Ben's list, plus or minus:
+I don't believe in the sun
-All my little words
+A chicken with its head cut off
-A pretty girl is like...
+Nothing matters when we're dancing
+When my boy walks down the street
+If you don't cry
+You're my only home
+Epitaph for my heart
-Underwear
+Busby Berkeley dreams
-I'm sorry I love you
-Bitter tears
-Wi' nae wee bairn ye'll me beget
-Love is like a bottle of gin
-There are two kinds of people
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