| tomchristie22 03.01.2012 04:31 |
Your opinion may vary, but I've never thought the tracklist of Jazz was very well arranged. How would you have put it alternatively? I haven't decided how I'd arrange it entirely but I'd probably move Leaving Home more towards the middle, as well as More Of That Jazz. Mustapha works pretty well as an opening track but I think Let Me Entertain You could work too. Dead On Time should most definitely be situated at a point where it'd be the at the 'climax' of the album so to speak, since it's one of the most upbeat and heavy. I don't know what I'd do with Fun It, it's a catchy song and I do listen to it, but it doesn't really fit in anywhere. This is all in my opinion obviously... Thoughts? |
| Jimmy Dean 03.01.2012 07:28 |
I'm pretty sure this has been discussed before... I've always maintained that Jazz would have sounded better if they cut a couple of songs and rearranged the order.. probably as follows: Side A 1) Let Me Entertain You 2) Fat Bottomed Girls 3) Bicycle Race 4) Jealousy 5) Dreamer's Ball 6) Dead On Time Side B 1) Mustapha 2) If You Can't Beat Them 3) Leaving Home Ain't easy 4) Don't Stop Me Now 5) More Of That Jazz (without the clips) (or move Dreamer's Ball afer If You Can't Beat Them) Basically, cut the bull shit --> In Only Seven Days and Fun It... More Of That Jazz is arguable, but it adds depth to the album... and Dead On Time should close off a side, not begin it. Also, Mustapha as an opener, albeit gutsy, is a little too much to digest... Let Me Entertain You was a no-brainer. Then, going from Fat Bottemed Girls to Jealousy, in my opinion killed the flow of side 1 - you need to build momentum... which is why opening with Let Me Entertain You and then kicking into high gear with FBG and Bicycle Race would have immediately set the mood allowing the listener to be open to whatever Queen threw at them next... Jealousy - wonderful ballad... followed by Dreamer's Ball - something completely different.. then you cap it with a killer track like Dead On Time. Setting up Side 1 like this would have made Side 2 hard to follow - but you have Don't Stop Me Now and Mustapha to keep you interested... So begin with the oddity but unlikely hero: Mustapha, follow up with a momentum gainer like If You Can't Beat Them and then bring down the mood with Leaving Home... And if Leaving Home is a little weak, you have Don't Stop Me Now to erase that memory... End it with More Of That Jazz, except get rid of those stupid album clips - completely ruined the song and the album, imo... This is not a concept album in any way. Album name should have been changed to something else more appealing like Rock A La Carte, or Ready to Reload (obviously, this sounds very odd, but "Jazz" had been panned by critics as a dumb title considering the genre of music represented by the album) |
| dysan 03.01.2012 08:37 |
Don't listen to the critics! |
| tomchristie22 03.01.2012 16:04 |
Interesting, it sounds like a great improvement but I'll have to listen to the songs in that sequence before I can say accurately. I agree about the clips at the end of More Of That Jazz, they ruin it for me. It seems logical to cut down the amount of songs, it always has been longer than most other Queen albums, and Fun It & In Only Seven Days are probably the weakest. Leaving Home Ain't Easy is arguably weak as well, but if it were up to me I'd leave it in because I personally have a soft spot for it. |
| paulosham 03.01.2012 16:48 |
I've made a version of More Of That Jazz without the clips, it's in the fan mix section if anyone is interested. Regarding the track order I'm surprised that no one has chosen to put Don't Stop Me Now before Jealousy. I know there is a fake out there but it does work. |
| Jimmy Dean 03.01.2012 18:59 |
Jealousy after don't stop me now would work.. But it's too strong of a track to relegate to side 2. In which case, one might say just put don't stop me now on side 1... In doing so, you have a lopsided album as you cannot put both fat bottemed girls on side 2. If this was The Game, you can play with this a little more. But I do agree, aesthetically speaking it would sound better for jealousy to follow don't stop me now... |
| tomchristie22 03.01.2012 19:14 |
Oh cool, I'll head over and get the no clips version. |
| tomchristie22 03.01.2012 23:27 |
Album name should have been changed to something else more appealing like Rock A La Carte, or Ready to Reload (obviously, this sounds very odd, but "Jazz" had been panned by critics as a dumb title considering the genre of music represented by the album) Or A Day At The Bicycle Races.. Perhaps not XD |
| dysan 04.01.2012 02:50 |
I love the album more so because of it's flaws. It's an unusual name, unusual track order, odd artwork. Making it more contentional would ruin it for me, but I definitely agree with all points raised! The world doesn't need Fun It. Jealousy is weak in a Cool Cat / My Baby Does Me (nice but a bit much) way and needs to be second last. I like the clips in MOTJ - it suits the song concept in a jokey way, is VERY 1978, and is cool to play to your friends when you're 8. |
| tomchristie22 04.01.2012 04:07 |
I listened to Jazz in Jimmys proposed track sequence earlier today, I think it's an improvement though difficult to follow, probably just due to adjustment to the original and expecting the next song to be the one that comes next on the official release. Thanks for sharing your thoughts guys. |
| Vocal harmony 04.01.2012 05:55 |
In the grand scheme of things. . . Sheer Heart Attack. . . . . . The song isn't on that album,and the album has no medical concept. A Night At the Opera. . . . . . . Apart from two mins in one song, has no reference to opera or the Marx Brothers Film. A Day at The Races. . . . . . . Again no conection to the Marx Brothers, or horse racing News Of The World. . . . . . . Great album, world news concept? No Jazz. . . . . . Oh it doesn't have any Jazz on it, it's a rock album. Must be rubbish then! Aren't some people narrow minded, it's just a Word. As regard to the track listing. It is a bit strange but it does have a wide style of songs. How much of the track running order was down to time space when cutting to vinyl. |
| dysan 04.01.2012 06:50 |
You mean length of sides? The cassette always had a long run off on side one, so they should've planned it better :o) I always took the title to be Jazz as in 'magic' or specialness - like the near title track. To think it's the musical style is a bit silly. Although Brian said it was because they'd fallen in love with St Louis and that was the music the city loved. Slightly erroneously. |
| queenfanbg 04.01.2012 12:50 |
ok |
| Bigfish 04.01.2012 13:25 |
Side 1 Let Me Entertain you Bicycle Race Jealousy Fat Bottomed Girls Dreamers Ball Fun It Side 2 Don't Stop Me Now Leaving Home ain't Easy Dead on Time More of That Jazz In Only Seven Days If You Can't Beat em Mustapha There.. |
| YAFF 14.01.2012 11:30 |
tomchristie22 wrote: Your opinion may vary, but I've never thought the tracklist of Jazz was very well arranged. How would you have put it alternatively? I haven't decided how I'd arrange it entirely but I'd probably move Leaving Home more towards the middle, as well as More Of That Jazz. Mustapha works pretty well as an opening track but I think Let Me Entertain You could work too. Dead On Time should most definitely be situated at a point where it'd be the at the 'climax' of the album so to speak, since it's one of the most upbeat and heavy. I don't know what I'd do with Fun It, it's a catchy song and I do listen to it, but it doesn't really fit in anywhere. This is all in my opinion obviously... Thoughts?funny I too had that thought the other day when listening. I guess I would've arranged thusly 1.Fat Bottomed Girls 2.Bicycle Race 3.Let Me Entertain You 4.Jealousy 5.If You Can't Beat Em 6.Don't Stop Me Now 7.Fun It 8.Dead On Time 9.In Only Seven Days 10.Dreamer's Ball 11.More Of That Jazz 12.Leaving Home Ain't Easy 13.Mustapha of course if it were up to me I would also remove "Fun It: and "More Of That Jazz" completely |
| tomchristie22 15.01.2012 01:26 |
Oh? Fun It I can understand taking away but More Of That Jazz has always seemed like a fairly solid RT song to me. Plus if you took both of those away you'd be left with no Roger vocals on the album, not that much of an issue but it seems a little unbalanced |
| rhyeking 15.01.2012 23:17 |
I don't think it would hurt to adjust the track order, but I wouldn't take any of the tracks off. I like the diversity. I think the fans and critics who question the title are completely missing the jokes. It may have been inspired by the Montreux Jazz Festival, it's a self-referential wink and nod, too. The track "More Of That Jazz" contains the clips from the album, literally more of that Jazz. The album title and that song refer to the expression "More Of That Jazz". The word Jazz predates the music (it was used to describe the style, not the other way around). It was a slang term originally for various things, generally referring to something as intensely positive and wide ranging. The later expressions "more of that jazz," all that jazz," "don't give me that jazz" mark the point where (like the F word), jazz can also be used negatively. It's a versatile word. So, no, Jazz as a title was not ever meant to refer to the music named after the word, but to the word itself. In my opinion, it works perfectly. |
| Jimmy Dean 15.01.2012 23:56 |
Jazz along with the Miracle are Queen's weakest album titles... so in that sense it works :-) |