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October 15, 2018: Avocado/Self-Titled/Nothing Reordered (Read on SPT Episode 64)

Hi Brad and Brad,

With everything going on around me, I have been trying my best to find distractions for myself.  My latest distraction comes from the much-anticipated (for me anyway, as I've been catching up) Avocado/Self-Titled track-by-track episode 49.  I'd be more than happy to buy into Blazek's want to re-label this album as "Nothing."  However you want to call it, my motivation came from a few lines quoted by Lyons after going over Severed Hand.  His comments regarding the ordering:

"They put all the heavy hitters upfront."

"They get you spoiled with these kick-ass, heavier more energetic songs and then it falls off afterward."

"Maybe the order of this record was not the best."

Right after I finished listening to Episode 49, that last quote stuck out in my head.  I took to Spotify and tried putting together a different order, to see if I can get Lyons to reconsider his #10 ranking.  I'm not sure if you guys caught my random email over the weekend, I thought using Wasted Reprise as an opener into Life Wasted would work and for me it does.  I have the album starting with Wasted Reprise into Life Wasted and keeping Comatose in the same spot.  Rather than completely stack the beginning of the track list with the heavy hitters, I try to separate them out.  I moved Gone up behind Comatose and then put Parachutes right behind it.

What was really challenging initially was figuring out where to put Inside Job.  I tried putting it right in the middle, but what really makes it work is putting Severed Hand right behind it.  It's almost like you get an encore in the middle of the album by doing this.  Another "heavy hitter" in Big Wave to bring back up the energy from Inside Job.  I kept Army Reserve in the same spot and then finish out the album by using Unemployable as a prelude to what I think would be an awesome album closer in Come Back.



If you guys have any thoughts, especially Lyons, I would love to hear it.  I've listened to this sequence a couple of times and for me it works. 

Forced to endure, what I could not forgive,

Chris

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