Recovery Slightly Ruined by Sequencing...

[EminemBase]

I read Dre say somewhere recently that sequencing on an album is very important and can affect your entire memory of it and I completely agree.

Aside from the obvious lyrical flaws here and there on Recovery and of course the production (and amount of variety of it), which made it feel a bit mixed - I think Recovery's biggest killer which stopped it from being a classic, at least for me - Was its sequencing.

A lot of critics and fans saw the album as aimless and inconsistent, but in reality it's about as consistent as any of his others. All of his albums have contradictions, multiple aims, multiple messages etc. Of course his others are more consistent and have better themes BUT, I think Recovery only feels SO random due to its ordering...

I mean look at it, he has "Cold Wind Blows" - An all out assult track, followed by "Talking 2 Myself" where he's sombre, self-critical and apologetic lmao. He creates direct paradoxes with these orderings that I feel make the album feel confused after a full listen.

Picture an ordering more like this...

1. Cold Wind Blows
2. On Fire
3. Won't Back Down
4. Here We Go
5. W.T.P.
6. Talkin' 2 Myself (feat. Kobe)
7. Going Through Changes
8. Not Afraid
9. No Love (feat. Lil Wayne)
10. Seduction
11. So Bad
12. Love the Way You Lie (feat. Rihanna)
13. Space Bound
14. 25 to Life
15. Cinderella Man
16. You're Never Over
17. Almost Famous

Now with that ordering, that looks like a classic album to me. Or certainly a lot closer.

With his current sequencing, he has a punchline track followed by a personal track, followed by a punchline track etc. It's back and forth, irregular and random.

With that ordering, you have...
1-4: Punchline / battle tracks.
5: Intermission / breaker.
6-8: Personal / introspective tracks.
9. Intermission / breaker.
10-13: Relationship / love tracks.
14: Intermission / breaker but also direct development / relationship with hip-hop.
15: Stand-alone.
16. Stand-alone.
17. CLOSER.

I think that kind of ordering would make sense and make the album feel consistent and ordered. As lyrically and stylistically he kept it pretty consistent, all the tracks feel like they belong.

And "Almost Famous" is a closer if I've ever heard one. Imagine that crazy listen and then the album closes with ten rounds with Tyson, ending on the line "I'M ALMOST FAMOUS!".

I definitely think he's had classic albums of material the past two albums but has botched it by bad track choices, ordering and the wrong presentation. I mean Relapse is a few tracks wrong from being a perfect album in its own right but, even though it's only two, they totally ruin it.

Like-wise, I think the sequencing of Recovery really spoils it. As bizarre as that seems, given it's still the same collection of songs, I definitely think it can majorly affect your memory / placement of it.

Also - I'm aware his other albums also have what you could consider contradictory or 'random' sequencing but I think that the reason they feel 'right' despite it, is due to the production. On all previous albums the production has been handled by one team so it has been consistent and they craft one sound per album.

With Recovery, you have a whole bunch of producers with different sounds. So I think the track ordering / lyrical batching was absolutely paramount to making it feel consistent, in spite of the amount of different production. It was the reverse situation if you will.

[Mikey1990]

it wasnt mixed as good as relapse either

[MikeNUFC]

Yeah, it wasn't coherent enough. Felt all over the place - personally I dont think it would effect my overall view of it but just listening to it from start to finish it is so far away from his previous albums (Encore aside).

Relapse, for example, plays out like a fucking movie.

it wasnt mixed as good as relapse either

Agreed. The mixing on Relapse is amazing - so crisp and clear. No-one mixes an album like Dre.

[EminemBase]

Yeah, it wasn't coherent enough. Felt all over the place - personally I dont think it would effect my overall view of it but just listening to it from start to finish it is so far away from his previous albums (Encore aside).

Relapse, for example, plays out like a fucking movie.

it wasnt mixed as good as relapse either

Agreed. The mixing on Relapse is amazing - so crisp and clear. No-one mixes an album like Dre.

Yeah, I can't get over how annoying it is that the entire memory of Relapse is ruined by two tracks (CAB and Beautiful) for me though.

Every single other track works and fits, all clearly from the same sessions, all by Dre, all have a consistent clear, coherent sound. And the entire effect is just fucking ruined by them two piece of shit tracks, it's so irritating.

Because if you remove them and put on maybe "Buffalo Bill" and something else I think you have a classic album IMO. TO me anyway, as it would of been flawless, in terms of a coherent album, top to bottom it would of all worked in one theme and sound.

Then, to think how good R2 must of been. So annoying he listened to whiny 10 year olds who wanted to hear him bitch about pills and life. We'll NEVER hear R2 now. Grr.

[Brood]

Well you can tell there were some transitions from song to song where the beats mash together which made it seem more natural, but it was definitely weird hearing Talking 2 Myself after Cold Wind Blows.

Content-wise, the songs could've been sequenced better. At the same time though, someone may not want to hear 4 punchline (or love) songs in a row, so I can see why they were mixed around the album. It may get too repetitive.

[katha]

That's a good observation. I like Recovery better than Relapse in general, but it does feel disjointed in a way that Relapse doesn't. And I do think that it's a combination of the somewhat random sequencing and the many different producers. But I think the critics who didn't like it wouldn't have liked it anyway. If your narrative is that Eminem is irrelevant and over the hill now, no amount of good songs/albums will convince you otherwise.

[venomous_volatile]

Recovery has perfect sequencing, one of the things I praise it for, same as relapse.

You're tracklist sucks, why would you not have Seduction fade into No love when they have the same horns, keys and vox...that's the best sequence on any Em album ever...

Also Em and Dre both mixed Recovery like Relapse so blame them haha

[Hiphopdane]

In these digital days, I don't think it matters that much. I mean, you can arrange the cd exactly how you want in your Ipod, even delete the songs you don't like. How many does actually listen to a cd from start to finish when it is so easy to skip to your current fave track?

I see what you mean though.

[EminemBase]

Recovery has perfect sequencing, one of the things I praise it for, same as relapse.

You're tracklist sucks, why would you not have Seduction fade into No love when they have the same horns, keys and vox...that's the best sequence on any Em album ever...

Also Em and Dre both mixed Recovery like Relapse so blame them haha

Because the production is so varied that it makes much more sense to sequence this album based more on the song's content / direction as opposed to the production.

On something like The Eminem Show, it made sense as the production was handled almost entirely by Em himself and it was a coherent single-vision.

Hence why Recovery sounds random as fuck. You may think it's 'perfect' but I reckon you're in the minority (amongst people with a serious interest) who think that.

[ThomasJ]

No-one mixes an album like Dre.

Couldn't agree more...

[venomous_volatile]

Because the production is so varied that it makes much more sense to sequence this album based more on the song's content / direction as opposed to the production.

On something like The Eminem Show, it made sense as the production was handled almost entirely by Em himself and it was a coherent single-vision.

Hence why Recovery sounds random as fuck. You may think it's 'perfect' but I reckon you're in the minority (amongst people with a serious interest) who think that.

Sequencing on content is chessy..

Seduction fading into No Love is crazy, same with GTC into Not Afriad.Works for me

I see your opinion, we just got two different views

[slimsoxshady]

smh at you bagging on Beautiful and putting it in the same category as CAB
Beautiful is easily one of the better songs he's had in the last 5 years
it has that "it" factor thats missing throughout most of Relapse

[EminemBase]

Because the production is so varied that it makes much more sense to sequence this album based more on the song's content / direction as opposed to the production.

On something like The Eminem Show, it made sense as the production was handled almost entirely by Em himself and it was a coherent single-vision.

Hence why Recovery sounds random as fuck. You may think it's 'perfect' but I reckon you're in the minority (amongst people with a serious interest) who think that.

Sequencing on content is chessy..

Seduction fading into No Love is crazy, same with GTC into Not Afriad.Works for me

I see your opinion, we just got two different views

I think normally sequencing based off of content would be yes as that would undermine the musical undertone of the album which regardless of lyrics and ideas, should be its back-bone.

But given the fact Recovery has tons of different producers, all with different sounds and it isn't a consistent, coherent album with 'one' sound or a musical backbone, I think it makes more sense.

As hearing "Talkin' 2 Myself", with him apologetic and serious right after a track where he's totally in-character and dismissing everyone's views etc. is just weird and makes it sound confused I think.

Again, worked on past albums as the musical backbone helped make it feel consistent.

[Brood]

smh at you bagging on Beautiful and putting it in the same category as CAB
Beautiful is easily one of the better songs he's had in the last 5 years
it has that "it" factor thats missing throughout most of Relapse

Beautiful is not a terrible song like CAB, but they both didn't fit Relapse conceptually.

I think that's what he meant.

[EminemBase]

smh at you bagging on Beautiful and putting it in the same category as CAB
Beautiful is easily one of the better songs he's had in the last 5 years
it has that "it" factor thats missing throughout most of Relapse

Firstly, I dismissed the song in the context of Relapse.

It ruins Relapse as the production, style, lyrics and everything about it is ENTIRELY different from the rest of the album, so it totally sticks out and breaks the vibe.

I didn't put it in the 'same category' as "Crack a Bottle", "Crack a Bottle" is far far worse. I quite like "Beautiful", I'm just annoyed at it for ruining Relapse. It's shitty compared to the rest and he's made many many better songs in the past five years.

But it's not even about the quality, it could be a fucking masterpiece and still ruin Relapse. As it doesn't sound right there. He's rapping in a different style, it's written from a realistic, self-perspective, it's a rock production, it's out of place.

So it's not a question of its quality, just the fact it's there.