Albums that are better listened to straight-through.

SaShman

SaShman

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Which albums do you think are best experienced when listened to from beginning to end? Albums which may lose some of their value when put on shuffle or when you only listen to a few stand alone tracks.

De-loused in the Comatorium - The Mars Volta
A lot of the songs often go off on crazy tangents and set the atmosphere for the songs that follow them. I find that I enjoy the songs much more and the songs make more sense when placed within the context of the rest of the album.

Take to the Skies - Enter Shikari
The songs were arranged to blend into each other. When there are four tracks called 'Interlude' that's a hint that you shouldn't listen to this album on shuffle.

Hysterics - Rolo Tomassi
The first time I listened to this album I couldn't tell when one track ended and another began. The songs can be frantic and become calm and soothing within a instant, thus when the tracks actually change it is less obvious. Listening to the album from start to finish is like a chaotic roller coaster. But I think the tracks are less engaging when listened to individually.

David Comes to Life - Fucked up
Well it's a rock opera so it was designed to be listened to straight-through. That said, I don't mind listening to the tracks individually. But I prefer listening to the album straight through.

There are many more out there, so post away. :monster:
 
The first thing that came to mind in this thread for me is easily Between The Buried and Me's Colors. The flow of the album just doesnt work right unless you listen to it all the way through and it meshes perfect. One of my favorite albums to this day.

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The obvious example is Abbey Road since the last half is a medley. There's also Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd which begins with Shine On You Crazy Diamond part 2 and ends with part 1.
Generally I think most albums, or at least most older albums suffer from being played on shuffle. That's because the tracks are deliberately put in a certain order. You can't watch the Wizard of Oz to Dark Side of the Moon if you have it on shuffle. However, I think modern artists know that most of their songs will be listened to on an iPod and the next song will be the one alphabetically after it, or some random song. Therefore they don't really create albums that are listened to as a whole, there are exceptions of course.
 
Slayer's Reign in Blood. It's such an intense and condensed dose of thrash metal and at just 28 minutes and most songs clocking in at less than 3 minutes, there's really no need (or desire!) to skip anything. Also most King Diamond albums as they are pretty much all concept albums telling a story from one end to the other.
 
Metropolis Pt.2: Scenes from a Memory by Dream Theater

Mostly because the album was written to be that way. Each song picks up from where the last one ended and they're all trying to tell a story. So, if you shuffle the album, it really screws with the flow.

Also, I'd say Paradise Lost by Symphony X. Pretty much for the same reason.
 
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