Re-arrange Genesis albums

    Been looking through some old threads and this prompted me to finally getting around to looking at and re sorting a couple of albums . Firstly , We Can't Dance. Some really great classic songs ,enough for it to be a good album but the trouble with it is that the best ones are crammed at the beginning followed by a bunch of not quite up to standard before Fading lights , which is the best song on it. I just think it goes on too long and It starts to get dull. I would prefer it if it were shorter and more captivating.. I never really liked WOTW or TMW very much, and SILY and LF , are not amongst their strongest. So I have re ordered, and pruned it to s single album.I think my version is much better. So here goes. Side One,

    1.NSOM, 2. JHKM, 3.NAT, 4. DTLS

    Side Two.

    1. ICD, 2. .DWYS, 3. HOMH, 4. FL.

    That makes a great album. Just over 50 minutes .I always liked NAT and HOMH , and sandwiching them between the punchier and more dramatic itsongs provides balance and also highlights them more. You don't have to wait around for FL which has to close it.

    I played it on my I pod last night and was great but sound quality not as good as vinyl or CD. So I need it released properly. . The CD will have the remaining as bonus tracks and the Vinyl a limited edition bonus disc version and numbered, I ll have number one please! ( I going to look at Genesis next with its weaker side two.)

    My version of We Can't Dance would be:


    On The Shoreline

    No Son Of Mine

    I Can't Dance

    Hold On My Heart

    Living Forever

    Driving The Last Spike

    Jesus He Knows Me

    Dreaming While You Sleep

    Fading Lights


    ... much better running order IMO, and less bloated with the weak tracks removed.

    Good track selection and more in the spirit of the thread with the inclusion of Shoreline. Nice pairing of those two with the continuity of the 'elephant' effect (or 'garage door' as a friend called it). I'd want to overlap the two to underline that, but can't help thinking that as it's very prominent in No Son that should run first, so the more mixed-down use of the effect in Shoreline works better as a callback.


    I'd go with your track selection but order it as:


    Jesus

    No Son

    Shoreline

    Spike

    Hold

    Living

    Dreaming

    Dance

    Fading

    Abandon all reason

    Like 1

    I like both the above choices and Shoreline is better than all the tracks you've edited out and should be included on my bonus disc. LF is the best of the rest from the ones I left out. Also looking at Backdrifter I do now think the punchy ICD would be good before FL. So I would swap HOMH with ICD on my side two.

    Quote from thefarmer

    I like both the above choices and Shoreline is better than all the tracks you've edited out and should be included on my bonus disc. LF is the best of the rest from the ones I left out. Also looking at Backdrifter I do now think the punchy ICD would be good before FL. So I would swap HOMH with ICD on my side two.

    Good move - one of my issues with yours was Hold before Lights, which I don't think would've flowed too well.


    I'm really opinionated about album running orders. I'm always picking them apart and re-ordering them, convinced my versions are better. Sometimes I equally rearrange setlists. After all, I know better.


    😜

    Abandon all reason

    I haven't done top much of rearranging albums but love the idea of including Feeding the Fire and Do the Neurotic on IT. The CD was a usable format back then as I believe Brothers In Arms was used to launch it (correct time if I'm wrong). So... Could they have included FTF and DTN? Would they have fit on a vinyl release?


    I think I'd try


    A

    Invisible Touch

    Tonight Tonight Tonight

    Land of Confusion

    Do the Neurotic


    B

    Feeding the Fire

    Anything She Does

    Domino

    Brazilian


    EP

    In Too Deep

    Throwing It All Away

    IT remix

    TTT remix

    LoC remix

    I've a few that I've done over the years, mostly post-*Wind and Wuthering*. I've also popped up a thread on a similar theme, about arranging solo tracks into pseudo-Genesis albums.

    As for my recompositions:

    Duke (1980)

    Side One
    1. Misunderstanding
    2. Man Of Our Times
    3. Cul-De-Sac

    4. Heathaze

    5. Evidence of Autumn
    6. Open Door

    Side Two
    1. Behind the Lines
    2. Duchess
    3. Guide Vocal
    4. Turn it on Again
    5. Duke's Travels
    6. Duke's End

    Abacab (1981)

    Side One
    1. Abacab
    2. No Reply At All
    3. Me and Sarah Jane
    4. Keep It Dark
    5. You Might Recall

    Side Two
    1. Man on the Corner
    2 Naminanu
    3. Dodo/Lurker
    4. Submarine

    Invisible Touch (1986)

    Side One
    1. Land of Confusion
    2. Domino
    3. Feeding the Fire
    4. Do the Neurotic

    Side Two
    1. Tonight, Tonight, Tonight
    2. Invisible Touch
    3. In Too Deep
    4. The Brazilian

    Quote from Fabrizio

    To each his own I guess but Behind the Lines is one of the best openers they've ever had, albums and gigs too. Banks called it ''arresting'', I agree. Without debating the merits of the song itself, Misunderstanding sounds really ill-suited for the job.

    I can see where you're coming from on that, and certainly as an introduction to the suite, I love Behind the Lines. I certainly think that Misunderstanding is a nice statement of intent for an alternate Duke, but I'm sympathetic to the idea that you could put the Suite on Side One, and then the rest on Side Two - the only issue for me there is that you then run into the problem of having Travel's/End on Side One, when that's a fantastic closer. It would feel wrong for me to go from Travel's/End into something else.

    Quote from TheIncorrigibleSaxon

    I can see where you're coming from on that, and certainly as an introduction to the suite, I love Behind the Lines. I certainly think that Misunderstanding is a nice statement of intent for an alternate Duke, but I'm sympathetic to the idea that you could put the Suite on Side One, and then the rest on Side Two - the only issue for me there is that you then run into the problem of having Travel's/End on Side One, when that's a fantastic closer. It would feel wrong for me to go from Travel's/End into something else.

    As a song, even taken separately from Duchess and then the Guide Vocal coda and without really touching personal preferences, BTL would IMO still be better as an opener, in fact I would say there are at least two songs which would be better suited than Misunderstanding, again without debating the value or merits of the songs: MOOT and TIOA. Misunderstanding is an obvious single but I believe would fall quite flat opening an album. An opening song ideally, should be something you can begin a gig with and I don't believe Misunderstanding has what it takes.

    I think I started a thread like this (maybe?) and I had the same rules but I added one more stipulation: it can only have a complete runtime of 45-50 minutes--that's when it starts to really hurt!


    An odd one to do is the "Genesis" album because, there were no B-sides were there? The solution for me would be to simply remove Illegal Alien and include the long versions of Mama and It's Gonna Get Better, then mix it up a little.


    Mama (long version)

    Home by the Sea

    Taking it all Too Hard

    That's All

    Just a Job to Do

    It's Gonna Get Better (long version)

    Silver Rainbow

    Not for nothing but Silver Rainbow would be a very odd song to end an album on.


    That said, it's a very odd song no matter where it falls in the running order. I'm very fond of it.

    Quote from thewatcher

    Not for nothing but Silver Rainbow would be a very odd song to end an album on.


    That said, it's a very odd song no matter where it falls in the running order. I'm very fond of it.

    Agreed and agreed. The song just doesn't make much sense, but it's what I love about it

    I’ve made an expanded CD version of Abacab. I included all of the outtakes except Me and Virgil (cuz it sucks) and the two instrumentals because I feel they do not fit into the album’s sound.


    1. Abacab

    2. No Reply At All

    3. Me and Sarah Jane

    4. Keep It Dark

    5. Who Dunnit

    6. Dodo/Lurker

    7. Man On The Corner

    8. Like It Or Not

    9. Paperlate

    10. You Might Recall

    11. Another Record


    I found that putting Who Dunnit after Keep It Dark and before Dodo drastically improves both the song and the album’s flow. The drum part of Keep It Dark flows nicely into Who Dunnit. Who dunnit now ends up being a quirky introduction to Dodo.

    Super order.

    Quote from foxtwin

    Agreed and agreed. The song just doesn't make much sense, but it's what I love about it

    It makes absolute sense; it's about the male orgasm and being lost in the ecstacy of it.


    Admittedly the first verse renders that a bit odd as it suggests ejaculating in the street but there's a bit of creative licence - the narrator is already anticipating that moment.


    The glorious hook of the chorus, one of Banks's best, depicts the magic moment.


    Aside from the unimaginative fade-out it's a terrific song. They should've been bold and had a post-orgasmic come-down ending.


    I gather it's largely a Banks composition and certainly his lyric, and I had to have it pointed out to me by someone here that he is very prominent in the chorus with his vocal line "Beyond the silver rainbow you won't know..."


    No definitely not an album closer. Maybe a side opener or a track 2. It would've been an interesting gig opener if they'd ever bothered to do it live.

    Abandon all reason