Track 9 of 12

[amazonAMAZON]

I was listening to a podcast by Jesus H Chris of Winnipeg, Manitoba about his band, Propagandhi. In it he mentioned that in his circle of musicians, they tend to agree that track 9 of 12 is usually the pace on the track list where songs go to die. Songs that were recorded but maybe didn't turn out as well as intended, or didn't fit the overall record all too well, or were written by someone else.

So I started thinking through the Melvins catalog and lo and behold they have a very small number of albums that have exactly 12 tracks. What do you think of these tunes? Do they fit the stereotype of track 9/12?

Tres Cabrones - "Stump Farmer"
   
Hold It In - "The Bunk Up"

Three Men and a Baby - "A Friend In Need is a Friend You Don't Need"

Rat-A-Tat-Tat! - "Untrue Crime"

[))))((((]

Hold It In - "The Bunk Up"

I'd say that is one of the best songs on the entire album so i don't personally think that fits in this case. But i'm sure others would say otherwise.

[CoryCory]

Stump Farmer is good.
Bunk Up might be the best song on Hold It In
A Friend in Need is hilarious.
That Dale track is okay.

[vince furnier]

i've never understood the track order on albums. most artists lose me on this. good thing i listen to tapes made from programmable CDs! 

[amazonAMAZON]

During the pandemic I got into making canonical discographies of my favorite artists. I'd remove extraneous bonus tracks from the albums (usually). I'd take all the comp tracks, b-sides, and one-offs and make my own comp. Then I could move extraneous CDs to boxes in the garage, and have a proper listening experience for the car or work or whatever.

That exercise of sequencing is harder than it seems. Sometimes I'd end up trying to ape the sequencing of a record I love. Other times it's obvious what should be opening or closing tracks, and the middle is kind of random.

There's n! Possible outcomes for the sequence which if you know factorials from math class can get to really big numbers very quickly.

Sometimes chronological works. Often it doesn't.

Something that helped a lot is considering vinyl record constraints. Would this be one LP? Or maybe three sides, or an LP and 7"? Which tracks would suffer the most from the loss of dynamics at the back half of the vinyl?

Anyway, I do find in my experience that this part of the sequence is where the songs tend to get weird, and not in a good way. It's the place where fatigue hits, usually.

And if you're thinking "well how did this b-sides effort turn out with the Melvins? Can you share your sequences so I can gawk and critique?" Um, sorry, I haven't gotten to it yet. Kind of wanted to learn on some simpler artists first. There's literally still Melvins "tunes" I don't properly own and have only heard as MP3s.

But rest assured when I get to the Melvins discography I will bore you all with my petty drivel.

[Mount Ambulance]

Hold It In - "The Bunk Up"

I'd say that is one of the best songs on the entire album so i don't personally think that fits in this case. But i'm sure others would say otherwise.

Naw, you spot on ... "The Bunk Up" is gold nugget shit.