Poll
Question:
what is the best opening song for an album?
Option 1: 10:15 Saturday Night
votes: 1
Option 2: The Holy Hour
votes: 2
Option 3: One Hundred Years
votes: 4
Option 4: Shake Dog Shake
votes: 5
Option 5: In Between Days
votes: 0
Option 6: The Kiss
votes: 10
Option 7: Plainsong
votes: 27
Option 8: Open
votes: 10
Option 9: Want
votes: 6
Option 10: Out Of This World
votes: 1
Option 11: Lost
votes: 2
Im gonna go for Plainsong even though i really love Open and Shake Dog Shake alot too
That's a hard one... I'd almost go for Plainsong as well, but there is still the memory of Want twelve years ago at the festivals in '95 with the long looped intro and the guys getting on stage through a lot of fog. I guess that's one of my favourite Cure live memories (and the first one), so I'll have to sleep over that again.
Edit: I've gone for Want (having just watched the Rio 1996 DVD...)
I go for Open!!
Really bring a good start! :smth023
Plainsong, though The Cure has always been very strong with openers. They haven't had a bad one -- at least not yet!
QuoteQuestion: what is the best opening song for an album/concert
to me album openers should be a separate concept from concert openers.
besides, on many tours live shows had an opener before the opening song itself: eyemou, tape, samuel barber's adagio... hmm, carnage visors...
and if we're talking about opening songs in live shows, the list is longer anyway: in '80 'seventeen seconds' was a regular opener, on pornography tour they opened with 'the figurehead', lots of later head tour shows opened with 'the baby screams' etc. - not to mentione all the more temporary choices they've had over the years.
:!:
plainsong might be the greatest opener ever... but not the best choice at all times, it does depend on the rest of the set list.
but personally i wouldn't mind it either, hearing them opening with something like 'the baby screams' once again!
Plainsong for me! :smth026
Plainsong (100 years second choice)
That was really tough - I voted for 'Open', second choice 'The Kiss'. Want was great as a live opening track too
Want........one of my favourites 8)
one big KISS!!! :P
Want from Perth 2000 came up on my playlist a while ago, and it really blew me away. :shock:
So that's my pick, at least for now. :smth001
~open~
"The Kiss"... especially live. That song is always incredible, and it really shows off Robert's chops.
the kiss
THE KISS is a great powerful opening !!!
Plainsong for sure.
My second choice is The Kiss, though i never heard it live as an opener.
YEAH I WOTED FOR
W A N T
OFCOURSE
BUT THEN, YOU KNOW WHAT WOULD MAKE A GREAT OPENER?
T R U T H G O O D N E S S A N D B E A U T Y
BECAUSE IT COULD BE PULLED OFF LIKE
L O S T
BUT ON A POSITIVE NOTE
BUT THENN AGAIN I WAS ALWAYS FOR WRITING OF ORIGINAL OPENERS LIKE THEY USED TO DO WITH T A P E FOR O P E N ETC...
:rocker
oh, i forgot Want. Well, my top 3 best openers are:
- Plainsong
- The Kiss/Want
Want is such a great song...
Even if i liked Lost when it came out, i think it didn't work as an opener during Curiosa. It seemed very weak live, that's my impression. RS could not give to it the same feeling of the studio song.
I guess the problem with a song like Lost is that it's really demanding, vocal-wise. Regularly playing and singing this would have killed Robert's vocal chords. But as an occasional opener it would work fine I think.
Anyone else think A Chain of Flowers would be a great opener? or maybe Seventeen Seconds?
Quote from: KingOfSomeIsland on March 10, 2007, 01:29:35
Anyone else think A Chain of Flowers would be a great opener? or maybe Seventeen Seconds?
like said before, 17 seconds has been an opener, it should be in the poll already...:
Quote from: japanesebaby on March 04, 2007, 06:29:11
Quote
and if we're talking about opening songs in live shows, the list is longer anyway: in '80 'seventeen seconds' was a regular opener...
Oh yeah... it was
ok i put yr choices in the poll
EDIT: nevermind it would be too long, im gonna stick with album openers
Wow, what a list to choose from... it's impossible for me.
I'm definately going to make this a playlist on my ipod though, haha.
Quote from: japanesebaby on March 04, 2007, 06:29:11
in '80 'seventeen seconds' was a regular opener...
Sure? I think it was "A reflection".
Quote from: dsanchez on February 08, 2008, 07:49:40
Quote from: japanesebaby on March 04, 2007, 06:29:11
in '80 'seventeen seconds' was a regular opener...
Sure? I think it was "A reflection".
Seventeen Seconds was an opener in 1979.
Plainsong - I'd even say favourite opening sequence, aas for me it can't get any better than Plainsong-Pictures-Closedown... Holy Hour is nice as well as an opener, concertwise I would have loved to see them open with All Cats Are Grey, that should have worked splendid as well...
Head On The Door wise I always thought it was rather strange to open it with Inbetween... already suggests you are more in a collection of songs rather than an album. I'd rather have chosen Push or Kyoto Song there but sequencing the albums is for sure another subject...
Some people are talking about openers for a concert, but I take the question to mean best album opener, so...
I voted for Shake Dog Shake
Robert's eerie scream/laugh, and then it plunges right in, and I'm hooked every time.
Quote from: lostflower4 on February 08, 2008, 08:01:57
Quote from: dsanchez on February 08, 2008, 07:49:40
Quote from: japanesebaby on March 04, 2007, 06:29:11
in '80 'seventeen seconds' was a regular opener...
Sure? I think it was "A reflection".
Seventeen Seconds was an opener in 1979.
late '79 yes, but also many times in 1980:
http://www.cure-concerts.de/main/1980.php
many of these early set lists are unknown, but at least until the end of the aussie tour ('Get a Dose of The Cure') they regularly did open with 'seventeen seconds'.
later that year, when they were back in europe, they did switch into opening with 'the holy hour' though.
Quote from: japanesebaby on February 08, 2008, 12:04:40
many of these early set lists are unknown, but at least until the end of the aussie tour ('Get a Dose of The Cure') they regularly did open with 'seventeen seconds'.
later that year, when they were back in europe, they did switch into opening with 'the holy hour' though.
Loos like they had three different openers in 1980 then: 17 seconds, a relection and the holy hour.
Well, as far as concert openers. I've have to give from what I have from recordings. I haven't seen them live. yet. But will, in five months.
And most of them have Open as the opener. But, I rather like to have Want as an opener.
Plainsong wins everytime :-D
But, lyrically "It doesn't matter if we all die" really puts everything into perspective. If thats how an album starts, you know its going to be amazing (or make you suicidal depending on your state of mind ;) )
For a concert Plainsong or Shake Dog Shake.
For me it is Plainsong :)
Quote from: Hero on February 08, 2008, 23:01:45
But, lyrically "It doesn't matter if we all die" really puts everything into perspective. If thats how an album starts, you know its going to be amazing (or make you suicidal depending on your state of mind ;) )
Completely agree! so, I voted for One hundred years... I like Plainsong very very much, but always makes me cry :oops: that's why I prefer it at the end of an album
Plainsong or Want... both I like :smth023
I really dig The Holy Hour. That bass line is just a killer way to open a show. But then I don't think I'd care to hear it as the opener of a pop set, you know? The opener should set the tone for the rest of the concert.
I went for The Kiss.
It's got "opener" written all over it.
Oh come now, 100 Years got such a low vote! :eek:
I think it's the strongest opening. When I start off an album, all I want to hear is a kickass rock-out tune...it lets you know what the album is all about. If you start an album with a lame song, the listener is like, "Harumph, this album is boring. I have no patience for the rest of it." (Of course thats an exaggeration)
My second choice for best opener would have to be The Kiss or Shake Dog Shake, as they too are strong songs, and I much prefer (quote quote) gothic Cure songs rather than the poppy ones.
It doesn't matter if we all die...what a great start to an album. It's like, "ALL HOPE LOST! MAN DOWN!"
The Cure have never opened their albums with a weak song.
Even 'A Reflection' - which is missing from this poll ( why? :smth011 ) - is perfect for what it is, a short atmospheric piece to set the mood for the whole 'Seventeen Seconds' album.
Of the songs mentioned, I have always thought that 'Out of this World' is the least great, because it sounds somewhat tired and plodding. Still it's not by any means a bad song, and if you take into consideration that the whole "Bloodflowers" album conveys this feeling of tiredness, of "the fire is almost out", than in this context OOTW is probably a perfect opener.
Overall, 'One Hundred Years' is my favourite song of those (it's my second favourite Cure song, by the way) but it is so overwhelming in its aggressiveness that I can't help feel that it is less than a perfect opener. Because, after all, 'Pornography', dark as it is, is more of a moody album than a blast fest.
A similar problem could be mentioned regarding great openers like 'Want' or 'Lost': they create a very strong feeling that just isn't fulfilled in the rest of the respective albums.
So, considering both "song quality" and "adequacy as an opener in its specific context", I would say that 'Plainsong' and 'The Holy Hour' are possibly the best openers in their catalogue.
Even though I'm thinking right now that 'The Kiss' could also be considered the best one: it's overwhelming, alright, but unlike OHY it actually starts moderately, the drums and keyboards creating a sparse mood before the soaring guitar solo begins. And if you remember that KMKMKM is kind of an emotional rollercoaster, with constant mood swings between songs, than 'The Kiss' might very well be a perfect way to prepare you for the ride...
plainsong
"Shake Dog Shake" without a doubt is my favorite Cure album opener. "Open" or "The Kiss" would be a close second. SDS and Open always have me shouting along with the lyrics by the time they come to a close. Both are a blast to sing out loud. The Kiss is a great song but the lack of lyrics lowers it in my esteem. I love the lyrics that are there (which are also fun as hell to holler along to), I simply wish there had been more of them.
Plainsong is a superb opener album and concert... underneath the stars will become a challenger for the top spot if the album version is as good as it is live.
Most supprising opener that I've seen was shiver and shake at Finsbury Park in '93
Quote from: othervoices on July 09, 2008, 20:02:50...underneath the stars will become a challenger for the top spot if the album version is as good as it is live...
hmmm... Underneath The Stars is excellent opener I think. I hope that I will hear this song on concert sometimes ;)
Plainsong without a doubt... I still shiver when I remember 2 of my favourites shows... México 05sep04 / México 21oct07 :smth041 and both started with this beautiful song... :smth023
Quote from: mint car on July 09, 2008, 21:04:34
Quote from: othervoices on July 09, 2008, 20:02:50...underneath the stars will become a challenger for the top spot if the album version is as good as it is live...
hmmm... Underneath The Stars is excellent opener I think.
'underneath the stars' has been added to the options now, go vote. ;)
i will be the 97,7% human, 2,3% what else who votes "lost".
just to give the credit this great song deserves.
Quote from: japanesebaby on July 09, 2008, 22:01:51
Quote from: mint car on July 09, 2008, 21:04:34
Quote from: othervoices on July 09, 2008, 20:02:50...underneath the stars will become a challenger for the top spot if the album version is as good as it is live...
hmmm... Underneath The Stars is excellent opener I think.
'underneath the stars' has been added to the options now, go vote. ;)
Thanks. I actually was looking at this topic to add it to the options but then I saw it was already there and I was like wow am i losing my mind? haha
Quote from: KingOfSomeIsland on July 10, 2008, 03:18:21
Quote from: japanesebaby on July 09, 2008, 22:01:51
Quote from: mint car on July 09, 2008, 21:04:34
Quote from: othervoices on July 09, 2008, 20:02:50...underneath the stars will become a challenger for the top spot if the album version is as good as it is live...
hmmm... Underneath The Stars is excellent opener I think.
'underneath the stars' has been added to the options now, go vote. ;)
Thanks. I actually was looking at this topic to add it to the options but then I saw it was already there and I was like wow am i losing my mind? haha
Now, come on, how can 'Underneath the Stars' be in that poll already? The album hasn't been released yet, we don't know if the song works well as an opener to the specific album it belongs to. We don't even know if the studio version sounds good by itself.
Remember, the question for this poll is "what is the best opening song for an album", not the best opening song for a CONCERT. This latter one would also be interesting, true, but then you would have to include stuff like 'Accuracy', 'The Figurehed' and 'The Baby Screams"...
Quote from: revolt on July 10, 2008, 10:52:57
Now, come on, how can 'Underneath the Stars' be in that poll already? The album hasn't been released yet, we don't know if the song works well as an opener to the specific album it belongs to. We don't even know if the studio version sounds good by itself.
Remember, the question for this poll is "what is the best opening song for an album", not the best opening song for a CONCERT. This latter one would also be interesting, true, but then you would have to include stuff like 'Accuracy', 'The Figurehed' and 'The Baby Screams"...
actually, you're right. it's my bad as i constantly forget that this topic is about album openers and not concert openers (i guess that's because i don't listen to studio albums that much, compared to live recordings - my own personal "problem" i guess. ;) anyway.)
so, let's re-remove the song from the list for now & also update the topic title with the word "album".
if anyone wants to put up another poll for concert openers, go ahead. :smth023
Underneath the Stars or 100 Years, I like them both for different reasons. If I had to pick only one though, it would probably be 100 Years.
10.15 on a Saturday night!!
1. Plainson
2. Open
3. Inbetween Days
4. Lost
Plainsong is my favourite by far, but I also like One Hundred Years and 10:15! :smth049
Shake Dog Shake ;)
I've voted "Plainsong" since is a *perfect* album opener, but I think that "A reflection" is also a great opener, especially because it seems especially made for that purpose.
Seventeen seconds is the only album with two short instrumental "intros", one per side.