Musicheads go to the track order: Name an album with a solid song sequence.

Neutral Milk Hotel, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea-- without a doubt is the best written and sequenced "indie" rock album of my lifetime.

Nice choice Karl! Amazing album helped by it's sequencing.

Another I'd like to mention is Bob Dylan's Bringing It All Back Home from 1965...start with the "in yo face" electric track Subterranean Homesick Blues....first half all electric rock-n-roll, followed by the acoustic based second half....with Mr. Dylan saying, "I can still do this stuff too"....side 2 contains one of his best songs ever, It' Alright Ma, I'm Only Bleeding...

Well...that came up quick! Neutral Milk Hotel's "Areoplane" is a great example. I would second that choice. I wouldn't say "of my lifetime," but it's a damn good one.

The sequence of songs is something I always appreciate. There's a LOT of albums that come to mind, but I'll just list these:

The Shins - Chutes Too Narrow
Green Day - American Idiot
Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon (duh!)
Modest Mouse - The Moon and Antarctica
The Living End - The Living End
Arcade Fire - Funeral
The Rentals - Seven More Minutes
Gorillaz - Gorillaz
Weezer - Weezer (the blue album)
The Lawrence Arms - The Greatest Story Ever Told
and pretty much anything by The Decemberists.

Although albums that are electronic or anything similar usually flow in a certain way intentionally, Thievery Corporation's "The Richest Man In Babylon" definitely comes to mind!

I'm sure I'm forgetting something...

Wow, half of my picks have already been mentioned. I definitely agree with Neutral Milk's In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, and Weezer's Blue Album was my top choice, along with Modest Mouse's Moon and Antarctica. There's really a lot of albums with excellent sequencing, but I'd certainly add Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, Radiohead's Kid A, and Pixies' Doolittle to the list.

The Beatles (Abbey Road, Sgt. Peppers), Pink Floyd (Dark Side, Wall), Roger Waters (solo stuff), Who (Tommy) are the obvious things that pop up in my mind.

Dark Side was still a few years in the future when, at 16, I bought Abbey Road on its release date (at J.C. Penny for FOUR BUCKS!!). Later that day, laying with my head positioned between the speakers of my folks' Magnavox, I saw God near the end of side 2. The sequencing was much more significant on side 2 than side 1. God wore a white suit, had long reddish hair and little round glasses.

XTC's Sklarking, is brilliant and seamlesly sequenced. The seasons of the weather are intertwined with the seasons of our lives. From romance, through marriage, careers and finally death and the here after.

t. waits, frank's wild years (album, trilogy, whatever) i think his theatrical sensibility serves him well in this regard.

wilco, yankee hotel foxtrot (love the way it eases in and out of the album (also the most poetic lyrics since, perhaps, Bringing It all Back Home (mr. deville's pick, coincidentally))

honorable mentions:

b. springstein, nebraska

television, marquee moon

John Vanderslice's "Time Travel is Lonely"

Satoshi Tomiie's "Full Lick" was the one I mentioned on the show.
System 7 "Power of Seven" and St.Germain's "Boulevard"
are other producers putting together the entire album.
AND
In the catagory of DJ mix which is an art all its own here's a few others;
Kruder & Dorfmeister "K&D Sessions"
Ewan Pearson "Sci.Fi.Hi.Fi Vol 1
Bob Sinclar's 'Soundz of Freedom' "My Ultimate Summer of Love Mix"

The DJ Kicks series is always good, especially with Booka Shade
and most of the "Hotel Costes" series put together by Stephane Pompougnac

I don't agree, the new Decemberists album works extremely well start-to-finish. The story/lyrics, even as significant as they are with them, are still SECONDARY in my mind. It's all about the *music* 1st and foremost for me.

Marillion - "Misplaced Childhood" it is really 1 long song or *suite*
Fates Warning's "A Pleasant Shade of Gray" ..it's 1 45min song really, divided up in 12 parts (but only 1 SONG. Parts 1-12)
Kaddisfly's "Set Sail the Prairie" ..each song represents 1-month in the calendar year. It really must be heard beginning-to-end in the order it is. Afterall, February can't follow September of course.
dredg's "El Cielo" the fact this syncs so well with the Jim Carrey movie "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" supports the sequencing and segues working so effectively.

When it comes to sequencing, two albums come to mind immediately. Firstly, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. I think the album tells an intriguing narrative about the end of the world, parts of which from the point of view of those closest to its Last, Best Hope for Salvation.

The second album to come to mind was heavily inspired by David Bowie and the album previously noted: Anitchrist Superstar by Marilyn Manson. Also a narrative album, it tells the cyclical story of a superstar, one of its fans, and the alienation that that fan experiences and later causes.

Nthing Neutral Milk Hotel. Single studio takes over several tracks is one of the things that will keep albums alive in the face of Wheat's skepticism.

The first album that popped to my mind was "Advice From The Happy Hippopotamus" from Cloud Cult. It's hard to make a spoken track work and I think only the sequencing of this album makes "Light At The End Of The Tunnel" unskip-able.

Upon deeper contemplation, I remembered The Mountain Goats album "Tallahassee". That one almost qualifies as a concept album - the characters are complex and the story is clear after only a few listens. I never listen to these tracks out of sequence and wouldn't dream of including a track on a mix - if I want someone to hear any of this album, I make him or her listen to the whole thing.

"Outlandos d' Amour" by The Police

How about Francis the Mute from The Mars Volta OR Just about any album from Dream Theater

It's hard to distinguish between brilliant sequencing and simple familiarity... Weezer, for instance: it's impossible to listen to "No One Else" without anticipating the beginning of "the world has turned" afterward, but is it really the sequencing that makes it great? Every song on The Blue Album can hold up alone and out of the context of the whole album. I like Caitlin S's "king solomon" criteria: you can't break up a well- sequenced album.

Jackson Browne's "Late For The Sky" is my choice.

Forgot-Moody Blues "Days of Future Passed" or andy of their next six albums.

Gotta mention Marvin Gaye and his What's Goin' On album from 1971. Marvin's masterpiece is full of commentary on the war in Vietnam, social injustice and the state of our world. It has a very loose & casual feel.

The album is only enhanced by it's sequencing. The albums opens the title cut and closes with Inner City Blues...it's nicely paced with every song in the right place!

Alex G. wrote: "It's hard to distinguish between brilliant sequencing and simple familiarity..."

Bingo! That's exactly what I thought when I first saw the subject this week. It's a damn good question - are some albums so engrained in who we are (either individually or as a culture) that we can't possibly listen WITHOUT doing so from beginning to end?

Stepping outside of myself, I chose the albums above (including Weezer's Blue Album) on these grounds. It's also why I DIDN'T pick The Beatles' White Album.

Pretty hard to top Side Two of "Abbey Road." Also, the sequencing of Drive-By Truckers "Southern Rock Opera" is vital -- and effective as hell -- since it's a concept album.

I quess I should listen to the podcast first before commenting, but anyways when I decide to swim to that desert island with my arm full of records. I'll have a copy of Thick as a brick, by Jethro Tull with me. A concept album about family hierachy and making your way in the world. It's basically one long song. But as Ian anderson has sung " the tune ends to soon for us all". Another sequencing masterpiece is Stevie Wonders Innervisions, it just flows. A few other albums that just flow are Blood Sugar Sex Magic by the Chili Peppers, Mega Top Phoenix by big Audio Dynamite and Cult of the Basement by The Jazz Butcher all masterpices in my book.

"The Soft Bulletin" and "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots" by The Flaming Lips must be included.

Narada Michael Walden's first record called Garden Of Love Light is wonderful. Not everyone's cup of tea but beautiful fusion jazz rock. Included the late Tommy Bolin on Delightful.

The first one that came immediately to mind was also Neutral Milk Hotel's "Aeroplane". I always have to listen to that entire album straight through. It's astonishing how the tunes move from one to another

Eels "Electro Shock Blues". Left me dumbfounded the first listen.

Soundscape, it's nice to see someone else who appreciates that Marillion album! It's gorgeous, and also must be listened to all at once.

Kate Bush's "Hounds of Love". The 2nd side is brilliantly sequenced, although the entire album is amazing.

Pretty much anything by Pink Floyd, but "Wish You Were Here" and "Meddle" are faves.

Also agree with XTC's "Skylarking". I particularly love the way "Summer's Cauldron" melts into "Grass".

Spiritualized "Ladies & Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space" is flawlessly sequenced and must be listened to in its entirety.

The Cure "Disintegration". The only Cure album I truly adore, and every song is necessary.

Jon & Vangelis "The Friends of Mr. Cairo". An underappreciated 80s duo. Too bad the title cut runs 12 minutes, so I can never use it in mixes.

So many good albums listed--no need repeating! I'll throw in:
"Return to Cookie Mountain" TVOTR
"The Invisible Band" TRAVIS
"At Mount Zoomer" Wolf Parade

thanks Auntie! and very true!
Lisa, good choice in the Wolf Parade record. One of the many reasons I enjoy it.

queens of the stone age- songs for the deaf. so there

it's a bit late, but...

Operation: Mindcrime by Queensryche

The Nephilim by Fields of the Nephilim

I'll throw in a late, but unarguably solid arrival now too....

"Hazards of Love"--The Decemberists