Items18The creator’s order
  1. 1Bad Girls (1979)Bad Girls (1979)Released Jan 1, 1979Keep “Hot Stuff” running after the guitar-driven hook, and the pulse carries you into the title track’s whistles and answering voices. The change in the foreground is easy to hear because there’s still a beat to hang on to. Start with the original album versions to hear how well the two singles…0
  2. 2RENAISSANCE (2022)RENAISSANCE (2022)Released Jan 1, 2022Listen to the kick at the end of “CUFF IT.” It helps carry the disco groove across the point where the bass and voices reshape it into “ENERGY,” featuring BEAM. On their own the two songs set up different rhythms. Back to back, it sounds like the same party finding another way to move.0
  3. 3Wish You Were Here (1975)Wish You Were Here (1975)Released Jan 1, 1975The full-band sound at the end of “Have a Cigar” suddenly shrinks to something coming from a radio. Follow the dial turning into “Wish You Were Here,” where the thin guitar sound has a much closer guitar playing alongside it. Heard in order, the effect makes you notice the distance between the two…0
  4. 4Promises (2021)Promises (2021)Released Mar 26, 2021A small repeating figure is the first sound you hear in “Movement 1,” and it’s still there as “Movement 2” gets under way. Keeping the two movements together lets you hear how Pharoah Sanders’s saxophone phrases change against a background you already know. The new track feels like another breath…0
  5. 5Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)Released Jan 1, 1967When the title song introduces Billy Shears, the crowd noise leads into Ringo Starr’s vocal on “With a Little Help from My Friends.” The audience is part of the handoff. It turns what could sound like two unrelated songs into a band introduction followed by its first featured singer.0
  6. 6A Night at the Opera (1975)A Night at the Opera (1975)Released Jan 1, 1975The long vocal and guitar build of “The Prophet’s Song” winds down into a delicate instrumental exchange that carries the album into “Love of My Life.” Listen for the difference between the receding guitar and the piano and harp that take over. The ballad’s scale is part of the surprise after the…0
  7. 7American Idiot (2004)American Idiot (2004)Released Jan 1, 2004When the last electric-guitar chord of “Holiday” hangs in the air, the quieter, pulsing start of “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” follows it. The album goes from an outward shout to the sound of someone walking alone. Some digital versions place both songs in one file, so start with the full album…0
  8. 8The Black Parade (2006)The Black Parade (2006)Released Jan 1, 2006On the original studio album, the singing in “The End.” gives way to a thin, sustained tone and the rush of the band launching into “Dead!” The sudden volume change works because the preceding track takes time setting up the room. Play the two as the opening scene of the album.0
  9. 9Songs From the Big Chair (1985)Songs From the Big Chair (1985)Released Jan 1, 1985The hard-edged “Broken” contains a melodic figure you’ll recognize when “Head Over Heels” begins. Stay with that song long enough and a live reprise of “Broken” comes back into view. On the album, the big pop chorus sits inside a sequence that keeps showing you a different side of the same musical…0
  10. 10In the Aeroplane Over the Sea (1998)In the Aeroplane Over the Sea (1998)Released Jan 1, 1998“King of Carrot Flowers Pt. 1” starts close to the voice and guitar, then adds other instruments as it goes. Parts two and three pick up with a slowly gathering drone under the next vocal, then burst into a much louder band passage. Let all three parts run and the change in scale has somewhere to…0