Best Opening Track
 

What is the best opening track on an album? Any album anytime...

I suggest you use these criteria

Is it the best song on the album?
Does it set the tone for the album?
Is it instantly recognizable?
Does the band open with it at live shows?

I'd say you should have three of those four at least to use it but do as you will.

Mine
Astral Weeks - Van Morrison - Astral Weeks
Good Times, Bad Times - Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin I
Baba O'Reilly - The Who - Who's Next

Shine On You Crazy Diamond immediately jumps out. More to come I think.

That's a great one! With a being a sort of ode to a fallen comrade also only makes all the more fitting.

The fact that Syd turned up during the recording gives it even more resonance.

1. Elliott Smith "Angel in the Show" (New Moon)
2. The Smiths "Reel Around the Fountain" (The Smiths)
3. Ani DiFranco "Untouchable Face" (Dilate)
4. Nick Drake "Pink Moon" (Pink Moon)
5. Bob Dylan "Blowin' in the Wind" (The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan)
6. Neutral Milk Hotel "Song Against Sex" (On Avery Island)
7. The Smiths "A Rush And A Push And The Land Is Ours" (Strangeways, Here We Come)
8. Elliott Smith "Needle in the Hay" (Elliott Smith)
9. Patrick Wolf "Overture" (The Magic Position)
10. Modest Mouse "3rd Planet" (The Moon and Antarctica)

I disagree with "Blowin' in the wind...it is kind of a misleading track considering how original the album is beyond it. Still a good song and a great LP though.

How is Blowin' in the Wind any less original then the rest of the album? The rest of the album isn't even original, its a straight up folk album. A great one, but still from a musical standpoint, it wasn't any different from the stuff Woody Guthrie was doing.

1. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - The Mercy Seat
2. Patrick Wolf - The Libertine
3. Bob Dylan - If Not For You
4. Van Morrison - Fair Play
5. Neil Young - My My, Hey Hey(Out of the Blue)
6. Elliott Smith - Son of Sam
7. Patrick Wolf - Overture
8. Marvin Gaye - What's Going On
9. Bob Dylan - Like a Rolling Stone
10. Leonard Cohen - Suzanne

Freewheelin' has a rather light hearted and satirical tone to it, even in Bob Dylan's Dream it's almost lounge in cheek. Maybe it's because Blowin' in the Wind is such a folk standard and I just listened to the album to review it for my top 100. I just left thinking, man I wished Blowin' in the wind wasn't the first track on this. Maybe you're right, but that was my reaction.

Fair Play?

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