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Side 1 / Side 2 or Just straight Through.....what's your take

post #1 of 7
7/31/09 at 7:30am
Thread Starter 
When listening to CDs that were originally LP releases intended to be divided between sides do you find yourself still referring (at least in your mind) to side one and side two. For instance Money opens side two of Dark Side of The Moon. Within You Without You opens side 2 of Sgt Pepper and Mr. Kite concludes side one. I like to remember these things when understanding the album's original intent. Do you?
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post #2 of 7
7/31/09 at 8:48am
Always think of early (pre-CD) albums in terms of sides. I noticed not long ago that my brain reflexively notes the end of side 1 of Sly Stone's There's A Riot Goin' On. On the other hand, I recently picked up the Beastie Boys' Paul's Boutique on vinyl, and realized that in my mind it's one seamless thing…tried putting on just side 2 once, but it felt wrong.
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post #3 of 7
7/31/09 at 12:35pm
I remember what is side 1 and side 2 of pre-CD LPs, but I listen to them today straight through. I think artists often took the format into consideration when creating their albums then. On modern releases, I see them as a seamless whole, I'm sure, because that is how they are presented on CD. Even if they co-release on vinyl, I think the CD format reduces the desire to tailor the presentation to two sides. In fact, on some compilation sets, I've taken to putting all the tracks in one folder, even if they came on multiple CDs (eg. Led Zeppelin box sets). In those cases, the reason for multiple CDs was simply needing enough to hold all the songs. So, the division into CD 1, CD 2, etc. is mostly arbitrary anymore, so I just opted to combine all into one folder, since my portable media can do that.
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post #4 of 7
7/31/09 at 11:10pm
There was an aspect of how side two started off. There was always an extra slow song or an extra fast song at the end of side 1. There was a formula at work. The formula changed many times. If you notice the human mind has a lot of internal clocks. People can wake with out an alarm. Ever note how you know when it's about time for intermission when seeing broadcast TV? This same kind of sequence was put into LPs. For me CDs are far too long. They even make remasters longer with extra songs. Most extra songs are substandard. The simple aspect of LPs are why a lot of kids are going to Lp. There is a process of turning the disk over which adds a break which in turn gives the first song on side 2 a special place. A lot of the time side two starts out softer. There is focus on side two and it builds up to the last song. The last song would sometimes have an extra jam-out. People forget 15 minutes a side x 2= 30 minutes. That's a mile away from a 60 minute CD. For me this is one area where less is more.
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post #5 of 7
8/1/09 at 12:20am
My listening changed after I took up vinyl. I used to hunt for tracks, but vinyl got me to listen to albums all the way through. I've adopted the habit with CDs; now I'll put one on and listen to it all the way through. It's more relaxing and I think it has increased my enjoyment of music.
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post #6 of 7
8/1/09 at 1:00am
I only started to after I got into vinyl a few months ago (bug bit me hard, I have 63 records now and new table on order). Who's next side 2 begins with getting in tune and it just feels right. I also used to be a track hunter, but now, everything is played straight through.
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post #7 of 7
8/4/09 at 3:20am
It depends. I would have really appreciated a breather after something like "Stairway to Heaven" (Led Zeppelin's fourth album).

But the transition on Shriekback's Oil + Gold -- from the delicate "Faded Flowers" to the bludgeoning "Nemesis" -- is one of my favorites.
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