Sometimes artists put a lot of thought into the arrangement of songs on an album, to get the feeling right. This often results in an album that is easy to listen to all the way through without skipping any songs. A big part of this is what song they decide to put first, it's like the opening scene to a movie, it needs to set the mood and also get you excited for the rest of the journey. Here are a few times when artists went very right.
- The Maine: Forever Halloween: Take What You Can Carry
I can't even properly express how lovely this song is. It gets me energized and fits well as a starting point for the album. It welcomes you to the story, even the words are a perfect start. "Take what you want not what you need, just take and take and take take take," the rest of the album is about being rebellious, being young, being stupid and if I were to really stretch it, it's almost a "take what you want from this music and run." The line "Joseph and Mary, they're out of town tonight" also hints towards all the devious acts mentioned in coming songs, there are no rules and this is was their mentality at the time writing the album. It's fast-paced and upbeat and I've been playing it all summer long.
- Taylor Swift: Red: State Of Grace
Again, this album sets the mood and explains a bit of backstory to what the rest of the album is all about. The album is about intense feelings of love and hate and betrayal but overall, "this is the worthwhile fight. Love is a ruthless game unless you play it good and right." Foreshadowing content in other songs, songs about love being a game, love causing pain, but doing it anyway. The album is all about that state of mind you have when you're experiencing different aspects of love, the state of grace. It tells it's own story but also ties other things together. And I've only talked about the lyrics! It has a great drum beat that carries through the song that gets your heart racing. She opened her Red tour with this song and I think it was a great decision. It introduces the theme of love in most of her songs and got everyone off their feet from the get-go.
- Action Item: Resolution: Where We Left Off
You can tell by the title that it is an intro song and boy does it drag you into the album. It starts instrumental an takes me into this dreamlike state and it reminds me of winter (probably because this came out in January - Resolution). It's a song about their experiences being in a band but it could be about anything you want it to be. It flows so flawlessly into the next track which isn't necessary but if you're going to listen to the full album from start to finish, it keeps things going.
- Walk Off The Earth: R.E.V.O: Revo
This album starts with a title track and I personally think it just does a great job introducing the theme and the style of this band's music. You may have heard of these guys from one of their viral YouTube videos and they're based in a city very close to where I live so I have to bring them up. When I saw them they opened their set with this song and they did a huge intro with drums and smoke and it was amazing.
- Emeli Sande: Our Versions Of Events: Heaven
I simply think that the instrumental lead-in to this song is next level. She doesn't throw vocals in your face straight off the bat and that's nice, it's different. The album is about telling your side of the story and this song is vague enough to blanket the rest of the songs. Sometimes you do bad stuff but usually you have reasoning and the lyric, "I wake with good intentions but the day always lasts too long" really hits home for me and could be the description to any of the following tracks, they all address hard times and good times and times when people may judge you because they don't know why you've done something. The whole album chronicles what happens on the other side of the door.
Now, while we're on the topic I'll mention some albums with "intro" songs. Sometimes people see this as a waste, especially if they aren't going to listen to the album in order or all at once but let's highlight a few good ones
- Coldplay: Mylo Xyloto: Mylo Xyloto
It's only 43 seconds long and it's instrumental but it's twinkling and leads right into the first song, creates a buildup to where Hurts Like Heaven starts on a fast beat. It prepares you, gives you a little time to settle down before you get to the real meal.
- Chad Sugg: Lost Boy: Intro
This one, coincidentally, is also 43 seconds long but it has lyrics. It's more of an unfinished song than an actual introduction to the album but it's clever and was worth putting out there.
- Fun.: Some Nights: Some Nights (Intro)
This is very theatrical and old-timey circus-like music but it does a great job leading the album and giving you a feel for Fun. and their style. It's got a bit background noise like an announcer at a performance, introducing the album. It's a substantial intro at over 2 minutes long and it almost has it's own story and the harmonies are beyond me.
- Paradise Fears: Battle Scars: Intro (Prelude)
This song literally describes all the ideas in the songs on the album and how it came together, you could listen to it as a standalone if you wanted to. It explains all the pieces of each song, it uses them as a metaphor to life and it's all so genius. "We've been holding it in so long." They're letting out everything they've been feeling as of late and somehow it all came together.
- Brad Paisley: Wheelhouse: Bon Voyage/Southern Comfort Zone
This is two separate songs but I'll discuss them both. Bon Voyage is the real intro at 19 seconds, the sound of switching channels etc. that leads you into Southern Comfort Zone, which I think truly starts the album. Brad Paisley took some risks with this album, deciding to just go with whatever came to him and I think that's admirable. This song is about getting out of your safe area, something he did to make Wheelhouse. He strays from his typical country music to include rap and spoken word and this could have been a disaster but it worked. He stays true to himself while still broadening his horizons, resulting in a mish-mash of genres and emotions and that is what life really is. You can't have one way of seeing things, people listen to different music depending on their mood and situation and you can't force yourself to always feel "pop".
As usual, I hope you found this helpful or interesting or thought-provoking. If you're reading this and think I've missed a crucial or obvious intro that needs attention, let me know!