# Best or worst album filler **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 12, 2019, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-or-worst-album-filler/827652 "2019-01-12T18:06:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2019, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-or-worst-album-filler/827652/1 "2019-01-12T18:06:46Z")
Define “filler” any way you like. A couple of my favorites: _“Her Majesty”_ from the Beatles’ “Abbey Road”. _“Mother’s Lament”_ - the last track on Cream’s “Disraeli Gears” album, a nice little throw-away a cappella rendition of a traditional folk song. _“Marais de Nuit”_ - the last track on Neko Case’s “Middle Cyclone” album, consists of about 15 minutes of nighttime insect noises, or frogs croaking, or something. It’s not something I like to listen to every time I listen to the album, but it’s relaxing and fun to put on when you are trying to fall asleep at night. Worst: Top of the list has to be _"Revolution 9_" from the “White Album”. What a waste of vinyl. _“Less Than You Think”_ from Wilco’s “A Ghost Is Born”. It’s a nice little three-minute song followed by 12 minutes of annoying electronic droning. The annoying interlude on the CD version of Tom Petty’s “Full Moon Fever” while we wait for album/tape listeners to get up and turn it over to side two. It wouldn’t be so bad if they had made it a separate track instead of tacking it onto the end of “Running Down A Dream”. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2019, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-or-worst-album-filler/827652/2 "2019-01-12T18:18:40Z")
Side 4 of _All Things Must Pass_. Some pretty good stuff, but you can’t argue it isn’t filler. **Tool** pisses me off with all the hidden silent tracks. ---
**Author:** ![MrKnowItAll](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrknowitall/32/87_2.png) [@MrKnowItAll](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrKnowItAll)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2019, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-or-worst-album-filler/827652/3 "2019-01-12T18:30:31Z")
A couple favorites: The double hidden track at the end of Indigo Girls’ album _Come On Now Social_ - dead space, outtake of “Sister”, long pause, then the song “Philosophy of Loss” “Thank you, boys!” at the end of Jane’s Addiction album _Nothing’s Shocking_ A not-so-favorite: “Forward March” on Pat Metheny Group’s album _First Circle_ ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2019, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-or-worst-album-filler/827652/4 "2019-01-12T18:43:53Z")
I don’t know whether this counts as filler, but how about side 2 of the Yellow Submarine album? I can’t imagine that many people listened to it more than once, and a lot of people probably stopped listening after the first track. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2019, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-or-worst-album-filler/827652/5 "2019-01-12T18:47:59Z")
Tom Petty’s “[Hello CD Listeners](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tf5XgkG0JfI),” from _Full Moon Fever_, with “barnyard noises” by Del Shannon and Jeff Lynne. It’s 23 seconds long, and silly, but fun. Edit: ugggh, I missed mention of this at the end of the OP\> ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2019, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-or-worst-album-filler/827652/6 "2019-01-12T19:49:00Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > Side 4 of _All Things Must Pass_. Some pretty good stuff, but you can’t argue it isn’t filler. Are you sure you aren’t thinking of Disc 3 (sides 5 & 6), the “Apple Jam” disc of mostly instrumental improvisation? ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2019, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-or-worst-album-filler/827652/7 "2019-01-12T20:21:31Z")
Back in the early days of CDs, it seems like the record companies liked to add a bunch of bonus tracks and previously unreleased material when releasing older albums in CD format. In many cases there was a good reason that material was not released in the first place. The CD version of Traffic’s “John Barleycorn Must Die” had a couple of real stinkers tacked on. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2019, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-or-worst-album-filler/827652/8 "2019-01-12T20:22:16Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Are you sure you aren’t thinking of Disc 3 (sides 5 & 6), the “Apple Jam” disc of mostly instrumental improvisation? Yeah, that’s it. My CD copy is only 2 discs, and I don’t remember if I ever had it on vinyl. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2019, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-or-worst-album-filler/827652/9 "2019-01-13T00:17:53Z")
For the longest time in the 80s and 90s almost every comedy album would have at least one song, usually an unironically bad “rap” that was just one liners from the album put to a beat. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2019, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-or-worst-album-filler/827652/10 "2019-01-13T00:56:53Z")
Would “Endless Nameless” from the first CD pressing of Nirvana’s “Nevermind” count? This was a hidden track that popped up about 10 minutes after the rest of the album ended. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2019, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-or-worst-album-filler/827652/11 "2019-01-13T01:08:36Z")
Would I be spitting on an icon if I said all the non-lyrical songs on, “Dark Side of the Moon,” are filler? It’s magnificent filler, to be sure. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2019, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-or-worst-album-filler/827652/12 "2019-01-13T01:13:59Z")
> [@Jeff\_Lichtman](#): > > I don’t know whether this counts as filler, but how about side 2 of the Yellow Submarine album? I can’t imagine that many people listened to it more than once, and a lot of people probably stopped listening after the first track. I’ve always enjoyed most of the tracks on that side of the album, but agree that I’m in the minority. ---
**Author:** ![neofishboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/neofishboy/32/444_2.png) [@neofishboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neofishboy)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2019, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-or-worst-album-filler/827652/13 "2019-01-13T01:19:20Z")
I still have no idea what the hell is going on with Hüsker Dü’s [The Baby Song.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sfc4aLUBJZo) It’s essentially just Grant Hart (I assume) messing around with what sounds like a child’s flute and xylophone for 46 seconds. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2019, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-or-worst-album-filler/827652/14 "2019-01-13T01:19:53Z")
The hidden track “Eurotrash Girl” from Cracker’s _Kerosene Hat_ album made it onto their _Best of…_ album so apparently it was a pretty popular discovery among listeners. ---
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2019, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-or-worst-album-filler/827652/15 "2019-01-13T02:00:26Z")
Not a big fan of _Free Form Guitar_ on _Chicago Transit Authority_. I do love me some _Revolution 9_ though… ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2019, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-or-worst-album-filler/827652/16 "2019-01-13T02:07:03Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > _“Mother’s Lament”_ - the last track on Cream’s “Disraeli Gears” album, a nice little throw-away a cappella rendition of a traditional folk song. Worth checking out; it’s my kids’ favorite song! Since toddler age, when they used to sit in the bathtub and beg me to belt it out in Full-On Bad Cockney. Twenty years on, they’ll still bribe me with a drink if I’ll sing \* “A muvvah was warshin’ her BIYYY-by one noight…”\* ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2019, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-or-worst-album-filler/827652/17 "2019-01-13T02:32:41Z")
I love “Mother’s Lament.” Procol Harum was generally a serious group, but “Mabel” is delightful. “Don’t eat green meat. It ain’t good for you.” ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2019, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-or-worst-album-filler/827652/18 "2019-01-13T03:31:25Z")
Many think that ELP’s _Benny The Bouncer_, Are You Ready Eddy? and _The Sherriff_ are throwaway tracks, but I like them. Same with _Revolution 9_…I didn’t like it for a long time until I learned to accept it as a soundscape rather than a song. (It sounds really cool on the new 5.1 mix) ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2019, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-or-worst-album-filler/827652/19 "2019-01-13T04:28:20Z")
Vegetables! Or should I say [“Veg-eh-tay-bles”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRSrrFOTlDY)? [Here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegetables_(song))’s the whole backstory, even addresses the question “Was the celery being crunched by Paul McCartney?” ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2019, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-or-worst-album-filler/827652/20 "2019-01-13T04:37:08Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > The hidden track “Eurotrash Girl” from Cracker’s _Kerosene Hat_ album made it onto their _Best of…_ album so apparently it was a pretty popular discovery among listeners. I came on to mention “Eurotrash Girl” as one of my favorite fillers. One of the worst pieces of filler from artists I hold in the highest esteem is “Nighttime in the Switching Yard” on Warren Zevon’s “Excitable Boy.” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-or-worst-album-filler/827652.md?page=2)