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Are you an A Side Person or a B Side Person?

Mister_Jay_Tee

Mister_Jay_Tee

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MJ's records were known for a cacophony of genres and styles, and later on, a cacophony of producers. Oftentimes, the songs had a particular arrangement, that on vinyl, would lead to a pretty significant tonal shift.

Off The Wall best exemplifies this. The first five tracks are explicitly disco. The up side of a party. The B Side, starting with Girlfriend, tracks the down side of the party life, with more ambiance in its tracks. This is very interesting to me.

Thriller has a similar vibe, though it's exceptionally more eclectic than OTW. But it's B Side still differs greatly. Starting with Beat It and finishing at Lady in my Life, that's quite a progression.

You get my point I'm sure. So if you're well versed, which do you prefer in MJs catalogue, the A Sides or the B Sides? Or does it depend per album?
 
Mister_Jay_Tee said:
MJ's records were known for a cacophony of genres and styles, and later on, a cacophony of producers. Oftentimes, the songs had a particular arrangement, that on vinyl, would lead to a pretty significant tonal shift.

Off The Wall best exemplifies this. The first five tracks are explicitly disco. The up side of a party. The B Side, starting with Girlfriend, tracks the down side of the party life, with more ambiance in its tracks. This is very interesting to me.

Thriller has a similar vibe, though it's exceptionally more eclectic than OTW. But it's B Side still differs greatly. Starting with Beat It and finishing at Lady in my Life, that's quite a progression.

You get my point I'm sure. So if you're well versed, which do you prefer in MJs catalogue, the A Sides or the B Sides? Or does it depend per album?
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If by A side you mean first half of the album track list, then this is my variant
OTW: Definately A side, it's much much better than B side
Thriller: B side. It's just better you know
Bad: B side
Dangerous: A side, sorry BOW, but you are the only masterpiece from B side
History: A side because of four masterpieces - Scream, TDCAU, SIM and ES
Invincible - A side
 
Off The Wall: Side A
Thriller: Side B
Bad: A & B
Dangerous: Side B

after Dangerous to me there werenā€™t A- or B-sides anymore, as I consumed those albums (HIStory, Blood, Vinc) strictly via CD.
Up until Dangerous I first bought the albums on Tape, then later on CD & Vinyl..
 
Ronald Stain said:
If by A side you mean first half of the album track list, then this is my variant
Click to expand...

yes but no.
A side and B side in this case is about the vinyl singles and later the cassette singles.

The main song would be on the A side. The B side was basically a filler, as both vinyl and cassette were just made with 2 sides, so it was a chance to get a lesser known album song, a remix or even a none album song out to the public, fans, radio stations, djs at clubs etc. People had to physically buy vinyl's and cassettes to get music.
 
Moonstreet said:
yes but no.
A side and B side in this case is about the vinyl singles and later the cassette singles.

The main song would be on the A side. The B side was basically a filler, as both vinyl and cassette were just made with 2 sides, so it was a chance to get a lesser known album song, a remix or even a none album song out to the public, fans, radio stations, djs at clubs etc. People had to physically buy vinyl's and cassettes to get music.
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No.... I'm talking about the A and B side of the albums actually.
 
Mister_Jay_Tee said:
No.... I'm talking about the A and B side of the albums actually.
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No worries :) to me A and B sides are the singles. The albums while I started with cassettes, they were always a whole entity to me. I didnt really distinguish between side A and side B, I loved both equally. I loved the flow of the songs, like on History starting with Scream, the middle is all angry and then ending with Smile.
 
zinniabooklover said:
Mr JT no-one ever talked about A side/B side if it was albums being discussed. Only singles.

Side 1 and Side 2 for albums. In the days of yore! (= vinyl, lol). :D
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Yes, thats how I remember too. Side 1 and side 2 album cassettes, on my walkman. The B sides were the rare songs on the 7inch and 12 inch vinyl
 
zinniabooklover said:
Mr JT no-one ever talked about A side/B side if it was albums being discussed. Only singles.

Side 1 and Side 2 for albums. In the days of yore! (= vinyl, lol). :D
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Ahh alright. I'm not a vinyl user, just a casual admirer. A and B Sides sounds neater though
 
Mister_Jay_Tee said:
Ahh alright. I'm not a vinyl user, just a casual admirer. A and B Sides sounds neater though
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I have rarely listened to any of my vinyl, my day to day music was always cassettes, either walkman or mini boom box.

B sides was everyday music terminology though, the DJs on the radio would talk about B sides, or in interviews on tv or in magazines artists would get asked about B sides. It was just something that was part of every day language and every knew A and B sides referred to the singles, either 7 inch and 12 inch vinyl or cassette.

I dont remember people making the distinction between Side 1 and Side 2 of albums though. That was not something that people talked about. The albums were just a whole thing. When talking about albums, the thing that was important was the sleeve notes, the song credits, who was mentioned in the thank you section. The big thing with albums and sleeve notes, especially with cassettes, was whether or not the song lyrics were printed or unique artwork or behind the scenes photos.
 
Moonstreet said:
[...] I dont remember people making the distinction between Side 1 and Side 2 of albums though. That was not something that people talked about. [...]
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It depends. Side 1 and Side 2 was standard talk for a long time. If someone was referencing a particular track, usually on a new album, they might talk about 'DSTYGE' as a funky opening for Side One or go wild about 'Burn This Disco Out' closing out Side Two. But, sure, it didn't crop up quite so much in ordinary conversations once the album was established. It was def more of a radio/DJ/pop paper thing for interviews or reviews or whatever.

Mister_Jay_Tee said:
Ahh alright. I'm not a vinyl user, just a casual admirer. A and B Sides sounds neater though
Click to expand...
Mr JT, I'm derailing your convo. I was just a bit confused by your personal terminology, lol. :)
 
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