Album Tracks That Represent Artists Better Than Singles

[Deleted]

Seeing the talk in the Jason Aldean- "Just Gettin' Started" thread made me want to start this. Who are some artists that you can think of that are better represented by their album tracks than they are their singles?

Jason Aldean is one of the best examples in my opinion. Sure he has some duds, however I feel these songs better represent him:

From "Wide Open"
- Keep The Girl
- Fast
- Love Was Easy

From "My Kinda Party"
- Church Pew Or Bar Stool
- Texas Was You
- See You When I See You

From "Night Train"
- Staring At The Sun
- Black Tears
- Wheels Rollin'

From "Old Boots, New Dirt"
- Tryin' To Love Me
- Too Fast
- Two Night Town


Another good example I think is Little Big Town:

From "The Reason Why"
- Shut Up Train
- Runaway Train

From "Painkiller"
- Tumble and Fall
- Live Forever
- Silver and Gold


Also to some extent, Eric Church
From "Sinners Like Me"
- These Boots
- Lightning
- Before She Does

From "Carolina"
- Carolina
- Where She Told Me To Go
- Those I've Loved

I feel they did Chief right

From "The Outsiders"
- A Man Who Was Gonna Die Young
- Roller Coaster Ride

There's obviously a ton of other examples but I'm interested to hear the examples you guys can think of :)



Edit: Just realized the thread title is excluding the word "singles" Hopefully you people get the message on what this threads about lol

2nd Edit: Thanks to whoever changed the title of the thread (I'm assuming jhomes87 )

[Andy]

Joe Nichols would be my biggest. He's had some good single releases over the years, but also a lot of fluff, and most of his best tracks are tucked away on his albums:

From Man With a Memory (this is probably the album with the best single choices):
-"Man With a Memory" (one of his best ever)

From Revelation:
-"I Wish That Wasn't All"
-"Revelation"
-"No Time to Cry"

From III:
-"Freedom Feels Like Lonely"
-"Talk Me Out of Tampa"
-"My Old Friend The Blues"

From Real Things:
-"Who Are You When I'm Not Looking"
-"My Whiskey Years"
-"If I Could Only Fly"

From Old Things New (probably the most egregious, as the following two songs are among the best songs he's ever recorded):
-"Old Things New"
-"An Old Friend of Mine"

(Not familiar with It's All Good. I listened to it once several years ago and it left zero impression on me. I might revisit it soon).

From Crickets (these are pretty much the only memorable tracks on the album, IMO):
-"Old School Country Song"
-"Footlights"
-"Billy Graham's Bible"

[sabre14]

Andy

"Better Than Beautiful" is also a great song that will remain an album track off Crickets. I'm surprised you don't care for that one.

[Andy]

Feb 22, 2015 11:50:03 GMT -5 sabre14 said:

Andy

"Better Than Beautiful" is also a great song that will remain an album track off Crickets. I'm surprised you don't care for that one.

I don't remember that one, I'd have to listen to it again. There's probably one or two more tracks that are decent, but on the whole, I was extremely disappointed by the record, and felt that most of the tracks were extremely generic and commercial, especially compared to Nichols' past work. Probably an unpopular opinion here, but there it is.

I'll do a couple Alan Jackson albums next:

From Good Time (swap out "Country Boy" and "Good Time"):
-"Long, Long Way"
-"Never Loved Before"

From Freight Train:
-"Til the End"
-"Taillights Blue"
-"Freight Train"

[Deleted]

Eli Young Band:

From "Life At Best" (Any of these could have replaced the awful "Say Goodnight")
- The Fight
- Skeletons
- War On A Desperate Man

From "10000 Towns" (Any of these instead of Drunk Last Night which i think i'm the only one who didn't like the song)
- Angel Like You
- What Does
- Prayer For The Road

[Deleted]

Rascal Flatts

My Worst Fear
Breakaway
Ellsworth
Cool Thing
He Ain't The Leavin' Kind
Peices
To Make Her Love Me
Words I Couldn't Say
Help Me Remember
No Reins
Still Feels Good
They Try
Sunday Afternoon
Nothing Like This

Carrie Underwood

That's Where It Is
The Night Before (Life Goes On)
You Won't Find This
Flat On The Floor
This Time
What Can I Say
Someday When I Stop Loving You
Songs Like This
Wine After Whiskey
Do You Think About Me

[gonecountry]

This thread screams Josh Turner to me. The Way He Was Raised and South Carolina, Low Country from Everything is Fine sound like they are more True Blue Josh.

Lord Have Mercy on a Country Boy from Your Man.. That was an excellent song!

I hope his career isn't on the wane.

[Deleted]

Feb 22, 2015 14:24:27 GMT -5 gonecountry said:

This thread screams Josh Turner to me. The Way He Was Raised and South Carolina, Low Country from Everything is Fine sound like they are more True Blue Josh.

Lord Have Mercy on a Country Boy from Your Man.. That was an excellent song!

I hope his career isn't on the wane.

I agree on Josh, that album also had "Nowhere Fast" which is one of my favorite songs of all time.

Punching Bag also had the magnificent "Pallbearer" as well as "Cold Shoulder". Either of these were miles better than "Find Me a Baby".

[Andy]

Yeah, Josh Turner is one of the best examples of an artist who records some great songs alongside some really unambitious material, and sadly it's all too often the latter that gets released.

[Uncle Lumpy]

Feb 22, 2015 8:15:00 GMT -5 Andy said:

Joe Nichols would be my biggest. He's had some good single releases over the years, but also a lot of fluff, and most of his best tracks are tucked away on his albums:





(Not familiar with It's All Good. I listened to it once several years ago and it left zero impression on me. I might revisit it soon).

From Crickets (these are pretty much the only memorable tracks on the album, IMO):
-"Old School Country Song"
-"Footlights"
-"Billy Graham's Bible"

I couldn't agree more on Joe. His best material has always been left on his albums. We have similar tastes as I agree on all the tracks & that "Its All Good" was thirty some odd minutes of bland. Not especially bad per se , just nothing memorable. The only song I would add to Crickets would be the title track. I get that Joe is trying to walk the line between traditional and contemporary but it was odd how they pushed all the more country songs to the back of the album.

[zaclord 🌈]

Carrie Underwood

Some Hearts
All singles deserved to be singles from this era, but there were so many equally deserving gems, especially these 3
-That's Where It Is
-Starts With Goodbye
-The Night Before (Life Goes On)

Carnival Ride
Several of Carrie's most well-known album tracks come from this album
-I Know You Won't
-Flat On The Floor

Play On
This era could have been so much better with single choice
-Someday When I Stop Loving You
-What Can I Say (featuring someone people actually know, not Sons of Sylvia)
-Quitter
-Look At Me

Blown Away
-DO YOU THINK ABOUT ME (biggest mistake of her career, imo)
-Wine After Whiskey

[Deleted]

Feb 23, 2015 10:47:23 GMT -5 zaclord 🌈 said:

Carrie Underwood

Some Hearts
All singles deserved to be singles from this era, but there were so many equally deserving gems, especially these 3
-That's Where It Is
-Starts With Goodbye
-The Night Before (Life Goes On)

Carnival Ride
Several of Carrie's most well-known album tracks come from this album
-I Know You Won't
-Flat On The Floor

Play On
This era could have been so much better with single choice
-Someday When I Stop Loving You
-What Can I Say (featuring someone people actually know, not Sons of Sylvia)
-Quitter
-Look At Me

Blown Away
-DO YOU THINK ABOUT ME (biggest mistake of her career, imo)
-Wine After Whiskey

I always wondered what could/would have happened with the "Play On" era if Carrie had released 5-6 singles, which is what she mentioned originally.

I don't usually care about singles too much, but in this case, Artista COMPLETELY missed the boat with every single (aside from CC).

[bboat11]

I have always thought that Sara Evans' Real Fine Place era could have been handled much better. She was at the top of her game; there is no reason that album couldn't have had 3 or 4 top 10s with the right releases. If I had been choosing the singles that best represented the album, the era probably would have gone:
    1) A Real Fine Place To Start (Perfect lead single. I agree with this choice.)
    2) New Hometown (Such a wonderful song!!)
    3) Cheatin' (Also agree with this choice.)
    4) Missing Missouri (Perfect song to revamp the excitement surrounding this era and spur sales. Also would secure enough momentum for a 5th single to be decently successful.)
    5) Roll Me Back In Time (One of my favorites from her. May not have been a huge hit, but would have certainly done a lot better than "Coalmine".)


I also think that Martina's Waking Up Laughing album was one of the most poorly-handled eras of the past decade. "Anyway" was phenomenal, but then "How I Feel" and "For These Times" had no business whatsoever being released. Neither one was nearly exciting enough to keep up general interest in her career. That era should have gone:
    1) Anyway
    2) Everybody Does (The only real smash on the album aside from "Anyway", in my opinion.)
    3) Tryin' To Find A Reason (It would have been really risky, but the subject is really different for her, and Keith's vocals make the song even better. This could have been a surprise hit.)
    4) Cry Cry ('Til The Sun Shines) (It is yet another inspiration-type song from Martina, but not nearly as preachy as "For These Times" and about 300% more radio-friendly than anything left on the album.)


Finally, George Strait's Love Is Everything could have been treated much better... It is such an amazing album, and I do not think the singles really reflect that. "Give It All We Got Tonight" was good, but would not be what I would have chosen as a lead single. Then "I Believe" completely killed the era, meaning poor "I Got A Car" didn't have a snowball's chance in hell.
    1) I Got A Car (Such a wonderful song. Would have done better as a lead single, I would be willing to bet. It may have even made it to #1 more easily than "GIAWGT" did.)
    2) Sittin' On The Fence (Pure, classic George. So catchy, with subtle turns of phrase. That has always been his winning formula.)
    3) When Love Comes Around Again (Inspirational and catchy... George's fan-girls would swoon over this one!)
    4) That's What Breaking Hearts Do (Definitely one of the most perfect radio-singles on the album. Could have kept the excitement for the era alive despite being a fourth single.)
    Optional 5) When the Credits Roll (One of the best songs on the album, but it may have been a bad idea to release it. The subject matter could have easily been interpreted as a perfect reason for radio to officially stop playing George after this song peaked.)

[Ten Pound Hammer]

^ If Martina had released Cry Cry, then that would've been interesting. What would Heidi Newfield's second solo single have been, and would she have ended up rejoining Trick Pony last year?

Of course she would. She was on freakin' Curb, so she could've released anything and been stuck in a rut.