# 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:** 3
**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, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-or-worst-album-filler/827652/41 "2019-01-13T23:46:44Z")
> [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > Well, it’s a matter of opinion and personal taste, but I agree with everything you say. I like musique concrète, but I’ve always found _Revolution #9_ to be ugly and uninteresting. Unlistenable dreck. > [@kunilou](#): > > I accept _Revolution #9_ as a soundscape, or a tone poem, or an aural experiment, or whatever the hell apologists have called it over the last fifty years. It still sucks, I still hate it, and I still think it’s one of the worst pieces of crap ever put on vinyl. Heh. Yep, as they say, there’s no accounting for (my) tastes. All I can say is that I prefer Revolution 9 over _Electronic Sound_. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2019, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-or-worst-album-filler/827652/42 "2019-01-13T23:53:37Z")
If you bought the Special Edition of Neil Young’s _Weld_ live album, you got a third disc titled _Arc_. 30 minutes of distortion and feedback. Filler indeed. ---
**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 14, 2019, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-or-worst-album-filler/827652/43 "2019-01-14T00:30:49Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > Yeah, could be that some pressings altered the track layout. All the copies I’ve come across, purchased in North America within a few years of the album’s original release, had the interlude in the pregap of track 6. When and where did you get your copy? Point taken. I got mine from Amazon, less than a year ago. ---
**Author:** ![Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b487fb/32.png) [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2019, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-or-worst-album-filler/827652/44 "2019-01-14T00:34:54Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > Top of the list has to be _"Revolution 9_" from the “White Album”. What a waste of vinyl. I knew when I saw the thread title that this would come up! As I’ve said before, I’m impressed with it as a sound collage, and wouldn’t judge and compare it against songs, or even music itself. > [@digs](#): > > 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?” As with the other material subsequently reworked from the aborted _Smile_ album, the [original version](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8eR9mA3vus&feature=youtu.be&list=PLi7plp1FQYNj2qH8_whBzAk5ZqtEP3jN9&t=110) was better. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2019, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-or-worst-album-filler/827652/45 "2019-01-14T01:45:33Z")
In the pantheon of great album filler is [the Reverend Horton Heat’s version of “The Entertainer”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzwFzxJit7g) (from their album “Liquor In The Front”). ---
**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 14, 2019, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-or-worst-album-filler/827652/46 "2019-01-14T03:58:53Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > You’d be wrong, I think. I bet I’m not the only student that used it as study music in high school and college. (See my post #12) I’m sure you’re not the only one. For me, it’s delightful enough simply as music to sit down and listen to carefully. I think of it as a sort of mini solo album by the de facto fifth Beatle. ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2019, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-or-worst-album-filler/827652/47 "2019-01-14T04:37:07Z")
> [@Arrogance\_Ex\_Machina](#): > > It also made my players random function totally useless. I really hated those stupid silences. You realize that’s why he did it, right? The idea was to force you to listen to it the way he wanted you to listen to it. Anyway, in spite of the fact that The Doors are my favorite band ever and I think every one of their albums are great even I admit that some songs are much less great than others, and almost all of them can be found on _The Soft Parade_. Robby Krueger wrote really good pop, but that’s not what people were looking for. “Wishful Sinful” and “Runnin’ Blue”, despite being released as singles, are among the very last songs if you ranked everything The Doors ever did. ---
**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 15, 2019, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-or-worst-album-filler/827652/48 "2019-01-15T13:11:04Z")
An example of good bonus tracks on a CD release would be the Wishbone Ash “Argus” album. The bonus tracks are from a (unreleased?) “Live In Memphis” EP, including a 17 minute version of “Phoenix”. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2019, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-or-worst-album-filler/827652/49 "2019-01-15T17:41:44Z")
They Might Be Giants _Apollo 18_ includes 21 tracks, from 5 to 20 seconds long, called “Fingertips”, little musical vignettes designed to showcase the new “shuffle” function becoming common on CD players. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2019, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-or-worst-album-filler/827652/50 "2019-01-15T19:46:58Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > I accept _Revolution #9_ as a soundscape, or a tone poem, or an aural experiment, or whatever the hell apologists have called it over the last fifty years. It still sucks, I still hate it, and I still think it’s one of the worst pieces of crap ever put on vinyl. Have you heard “Sing this all together” from “Their Satanic Majesties Request” lately? When Revolution #9 came up during walks and I forced myself to listen to it, I got what he was doing, and the arc of the song. Sing this all together has no redeeming qualities whatsoever. Now, I’ve never listened to it stoned, but I can’t think it improves things. ---
**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 15, 2019, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-or-worst-album-filler/827652/51 "2019-01-15T20:06:17Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Have you heard “Sing this all together” from “Their Satanic Majesties Request” lately? When Revolution #9 came up during walks and I forced myself to listen to it, I got what he was doing, and the arc of the song. Sing this all together has no redeeming qualities whatsoever. > Now, I’ve never listened to it stoned, but I can’t think it improves things. It might have 45 years ago, but no longer does. The only track that hasn’t aged well, IMO. ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2019, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-or-worst-album-filler/827652/52 "2019-01-15T20:55:53Z")
Most of the Roxy Music albums\* have their fair share of indifferent filler. As an exemplar, how about _In Every Dreamhome a Heartache_? Plus it fades out and then back in again. Now\* there’s\* a song that goes on too long… j - - essentially gave up after Siren ---
**Author:** ![typoink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@typoink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/typoink)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2019, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-or-worst-album-filler/827652/53 "2019-01-15T21:45:30Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > They Might Be Giants _Apollo 18_ includes 21 tracks, from 5 to 20 seconds long, called “Fingertips”, little musical vignettes designed to showcase the new “shuffle” function becoming common on CD players. Fingertips is a delightful goofy collection. It really is a cool effect if you shuffle the album. I was also (if I recall correctly) at the concert where they first successfully played the entire thing live (Urbana, IL in late 2002). My personal vote is the untitled track of Jawbreaker’s Dear You album. It’s an acoustic number with a slightly more funny vibe than their usual angry punk. It’s interesting to me because Jawbreaker disbanded after that album and the singer’s next project Jets to Brazil had a vibe a bit closer to that song. I’ve always viewed at as the glue between the sound of Jawbreaker and Jets. ---
**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 16, 2019, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-or-worst-album-filler/827652/54 "2019-01-16T03:57:45Z")
Thank God it’s short, because, “Wild Honey Pie,” (The Beatles’ “White Album”) is the worst. I like to think Alan Parsons snuck in to Abbey Road late one night and de-tuned all their instruments and they were too stoned to notice when they recorded it the next day. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2019, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-or-worst-album-filler/827652/55 "2019-01-16T04:43:05Z")
> [@ekedolphin](#): > > I like Styx’s “Aku-Aku”, a postlude to “Pieces of Eight”; and “Prelude 12”, which is a prelude to “Suite Madame Blue”. Haven’t heard either of those in decades. Can’t mention Styx without this. [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/qB-nGVqNciE/hqdefault.jpg?sqp=-oaymwEmCOADEOgC8quKqQMa8AEB-AGoA4AC8AGKAgwIABABGH8gSygpMA8=&rs=AOn4CLBVADkexrfpfGLoaM394JjocJdrpw "STYX - Don't Sit Down On the Plexiglass Toilet") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qB-nGVqNciE) ---
**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 16, 2019, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-or-worst-album-filler/827652/56 "2019-01-16T12:59:45Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > Thank God it’s short, because, “Wild Honey Pie,” (The Beatles’ “White Album”) is the worst. I like to think Alan Parsons snuck in to Abbey Road late one night and de-tuned all their instruments and they were too stoned to notice when they recorded it the next day. No “they”: it’s all Paul. Your post inspired me to look it up on [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_Honey_Pie), where I learn that “According to McCartney, the song might have been excluded from The Beatles album, but Harrison’s wife, Pattie Boyd, ‘liked it very much so we decided to leave it on the album’”; and that "In 2003, _Stylus Magazine_ ranked the song at number 1 on their list of the “Top Ten Filler Tracks.” ---
**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 16, 2019, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-or-worst-album-filler/827652/57 "2019-01-16T15:08:12Z")
^ Ahh, sweet, sweet vindication. All that noise in the beginning of Steve Miller’s, “Big Old Chad Had a Light On,” needs to go. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2019, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-or-worst-album-filler/827652/58 "2019-01-17T15:12:55Z")
Jethro Tull’s Passion Play, and the Hare Who Lost its Spectacles story. It wasn’t enough that it wasted a third of the album run time. The band had technical studio troubles and much of their session was lost, leaving not enough music to fill an album. The story track was true filler. The story was slightly amusing on first listen, and a chore every time afterwards. On the LP it was split between the first and second sides, making it unavoidable without moving the needle. The early CDs made this even worse by poor track breaks making the story part annoyingly unskippable. Later CD editions corrected this so that it was at least skippable. ---
**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 17, 2019, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-or-worst-album-filler/827652/59 "2019-01-17T21:02:14Z")
The album _Jamming with Edward_ was all filler. It was a series of unused tracks from the Rolling Stones’ _Let it Bleed_ sessions, made up of a bunch of jams with Jagger, Wyman, Watts, Nicky Hopkins, and Ry Cooder recorded when Keith Richards was away. They just jammed while the recorder ran and eventually Jagger found the tapes, gave it a remix, and released it. When released, the Stones didn’t even charge full price for it. Rumor had it that it was released as a “fuck you” to Cooder, who accused Jagger of stealing “Honky Tonk Woman” from him. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2019, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-or-worst-album-filler/827652/60 "2019-01-17T22:36:42Z")
> [@GargoyleWB](#): > > Jethro Tull’s Passion Play, and the Hare Who Lost its Spectacles story. It wasn’t enough that it wasted a third of the album run time. The band had technical studio troubles and much of their session was lost, leaving not enough music to fill an album. The story track was true filler. The story was slightly amusing on first listen, and a chore every time afterwards. On the LP it was split between the first and second sides, making it unavoidable without moving the needle. The early CDs made this even worse by poor track breaks making the story part annoyingly unskippable. Later CD editions corrected this so that it was at least skippable. I definitely agree that it’s filler, the moreso because the only way it might fit into the album theme is if the protagonist was hallucinating. However, I only have Passion Play on vinyl ($5 used and I had never heard it before, thought it was worth it to take a shot) and I don’t dislike TSotHwLhS enough to even _want_ to skip over it, except the sniffling at the end of the first line makes me cringe every time I hear it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-or-worst-album-filler/827652.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-or-worst-album-filler/827652.md?page=4)