While much has been made about the death of the album, I think there’s a greater potential loss at hand: the loss of the great couplet. You know how one song sometimes leads into one other song so well, so perfectly, that it feels right in your bones? That’s what I’m talking about.
With that in mind, I’d like to submit for your consideration my three favorite couplets on fairly recent releases. Let’s hear yours.
- “Hospital Song” into “Army” on Ben Folds Five’s The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner. This album pretty much got overlooked, and “Army” was the lead single, but I can’t listen to one of these without the other. “Hospital Song” is so light and airy, and then “Army” provides a strong contrast… brilliant.
- “Airbag” into “Paranoid Android” on Radiohead’s OK Computer. Yeah, remember this album? Sure you do. “Airbag” fades out on a reverberating note, and the simple bleeps counting time on “Android” come in.
- “I’m a Wheel” and “Theologians” on Wilco’s A Ghost is Born. Pretty much like the Ben Folds transition, here, but in reverse: “I’m a Wheel” is the foot-stomper of the album, followed by the piano and guitar-driven “Theologians.” One without the other just feels wrong.
And although I said only three, I’d be remiss in not mentioning the last seven or so songs off of Abbey Road – those things are meant for each other.
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