After listening to Abbey Road, I realized that I'm such an ignorant human being when it comes to the Beatles.

But one thing came to mind when listening: This is probably one of the first albums to segue from one song to the next, seamlessly, in a nice flow.

My question to all you is: What are your favorite segue moments of all time, no matter what band?

Off the top of my head, Pink Floyd, Dark Side of the Moon: Brain Damage -> Eclipse.

I like the It Began In Afrika/Galaxy Bounce one.

Hmmm. There's a few. A bunch. The Chems live shows are a good example (obviously). There's segues or streamlined mixing off each Chems album I could rattle off. I dig how Three Little Birdies Downbeats fuses into Fuck Up Beats, I like the subtle way that Private Psychadelic Reel gently takes the reigns from Where Do I Begin. Surrender... not sure where to begin - and if I did, I'm not sure where I'd end. :P So I better stop with the Chems segues and revisit this thread later on. I'm interested in reading other peoples' takes and would like to chime in and not be too much of a freakin thread whore for once. Plus, Friday night is waiting...

But I can't let this post go by without mentioning how much I really like the way Spiritualized Lazer guided Melodies is put together. Seperated into 4 parts, with 2 and 3 songs in each part. The last part of Lazer Guided Melodies is comprised of 3 songs that stream together in a sort of sonic tryptich: Angel Sigh/Sway/200 Bars. It's beautiful, Sway is such a fantastic song and it's one of my favorites hands down. I don't know if this 4th part of the album with it's streamlining of songs would be considered a segue in the classic musical sense, but that's how it feels to me.

Well I'm going to have to give Spiritualized an intent listen, then!

Come on folks--I know you all have had those moments listening to albums where you've been taken seamlessly from one soundscape to the next.

Here's another one: Pearl Jam - Ten; Why Go -> Black. Fucking brilliant.

I can't recommend Lazer Guided Melodies enough, so I encourage you to listen when you get a chance. Still so good after all this time.

There's another segue I just thought of, from U2's first album Boy. I really hadn't given it a whole lot of thought recently til now - the transition from the song An Cat Dugh to Into the Heart is pretty good. Not the best segue out there, it's not slick and polished. It's a bit raw actually - post punk rock but it's 2 thoughtful tracks that illustrate what the band was capable of during those fetal stages of their career, and there's plenty of atmosphere as well. Worth a listen as that song duo isn't like anything else in U2's catalogue past or present.

One of my favorite things about Exit Planet Dust is that it plays like its own early big beat mixtape. The Chems have mastered the art of the segue and stand out in a modern electronic music scene where track sugues are somewhat commonplace.

The Beatles (and their producers) were definitely pioneers when it came innovative ideas on their albums, such as blending songs. I always have a special appreciation for the classic albums with a continuous feel. As MadPooter noted, Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon has the wonderful segue between Brain Damage and Eclipse, not to mention pretty much everything on The Wall. Despite some of their cheesier stuff, Genesis has several great examples within their catalog, my favorite being Behind The Lines into Duchess from Duke.

I want to name drop a few punk artists that I know did it, but somehow I can't get INXS's Need You Tonight / Mediate out of my head. How pathetic, but still a great example.

Even up until the early 90's the segue was not overly common within album storytelling. Like Exit Planet Dust, Enigma's MCMXC a.D.kept a nice flow from begining to end. Another great example is Nine Inch Nail's Pretty Hate Machine: Sanctified flowing into Something I Can Never Have is still powerful after all of these years.

Great topic.

So, do I need to change my sig, or will it become retro if I leave it alone for a long enough period of time?

Really great post, Satur8. :) I like how you said that Exit Planet Dust plays like an early big beat mix tape. Definitely agree the Chems mastered the art of segues which sets them apart from so many electronic artists (trance comes to mind) that bleed their music into one another making their music sound samey.

The mentions of Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon and The Wall and 'storytelling" makes me want to ask and get some opinions with regard to segues - do you think concept albums are more prone to having good or more noticeable segues?

Oh, and Satur8, leave the sig!

Ah, Nine Inch Nails.

Trent's a great songwriter/producer. I still love The Downard Spiral...

Exit Planet Dust changed my expectations of the way an album could carry its own energy and build on itself. Absolutely phenomenal flow for the first half of the album or so...

And yes, I think all of us over twenty know and love the I Need You Tonight/Mediate pairing. ;-)

ah, great topic! dont know how i skipped over it.

There is tons of great Chemical segues and we all mostly know them so I'll skip the Chems....

Happy Mondays: Holiday/Harmony . Despite the horrendous vocals from Shaun Ryder throughout 'Pills n' Thrills and Bellyaches', the album ends on a beautifully crafted landing with these two tracks.

Gorillaz: Don't Get Lost In Heaven/ Demon Days. The greatest part of the 'Demon Days', IMO. Everything about these two songs remind me of Pink Floyd. And as a mater of fact I like to consider Gorillaz the "new age" Pink Floyd (go ahead laugh). Certainly the most relevant work to come from Damon Albarn in his career (again, IMO), and the funny part is, it's a fake band!

"One Of These days" into "A Pillow Of Winds" off of Meddle.

And what about segues inside of a single track? Here is a few off the top of my head (again, without naming the Chems)...

Radiohead - Paranoid Android

Arcade Fire- Black Wave / Bad Vibrations (actually a single song)

Leftfield- Song of Life

Lemon Jelly- Go

Para One- Clubhoppn (this one has a cluster fuck of transitions)

UNKLE- Lonely Soul

Queen- Bohemian Rhapsody

Ooh, yeah, on Bosco's same song note--

Underworld - Juanita/Kiteless/To Dream of Love

Orbital - Lush 3

On the original topic note--

The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots pt. 1 & 2

Leftfield - Dub Gussett -> Swords

Modest Mouse - The World at Large -> Float On

Red Hot Chili Peppers - Mellowship Slinky in B Major -> Righteous and the Wicked (Although it's hard to choose from Blood Sugar Sex Magik because the whole album is a tier perfection of production)

OOoo, Gorillaz Don't Get Lost In Heaven and Demon Days. That's a good one. So Is prochem's mention of Pink Floyd.

Segues within songs - one my favorites is by this band Colourbox "Looks Like We're Shy One Horse(Shootout)". Really cool transition within the song, I love it. I'm listening to it now!

Another shameless Spiritualized mention. Great bridge/segue in their song Won't Get To Heaven (The State I'm In). It's just fantastic. I hope they play this live, because when the song switches gears it moves mountains. The end of the song, with the choir of voices singing "I'm hoping... praying... Lord I'm saying... I believe my time... ain't long" over and over sends chills running down my spine.

Bear with me and my masturbatory Spiritualized ramblings. I'm going to see them this Friday and I'm really fucking excited!!

Nice one Whirly!

I'm glad they are doing a show outside of Coachella so you can see em! We'll have to compare shows when we meet up next Monday!