Sunday, July 05, 2009

It Takes Two



Tonight, with my iPod on shuffle, “This Beat Goes On” by The Kings flowed into . . . “Scream & Scream Again” from the new Wussy album? It was a jarring bit of incongruity, as disorienting as hearing a cat recite Shakespeare. I had never encountered “This Beat Goes On” without it slamming headlong into “Switchin’ to Glide,” the only other Kings’ tune known to vast swaths of mankind.

It made me wonder what has happened to the two-fer, the rock radio convention that recognized that certain songs simply cannot be played without also playing the next song on the album. You know, “We Will Rock You”/”We Are the Champions.” “Eruption”/”You Really Got Me.” “Hearbreaker/Living Loving Maid.”

But all of those examples are at least a quarter century old, and I’m having a hard time thinking of any of a more recent vintage. So I ask, whither the two-fer? When was the last time two separate songs merged into one perfect whole? Anyone?

3 comments:

Brian from NJ said...

the first one that comes to mind is THS' "Crucifixion Cruise/How A Resurrection Really Feels". My iTunes has these linked, although I don't often see them together on setlists.

Anonymous said...

When I re-mastered 'Beat/Switchin'', I put a marker between the songs, most music players don't see it and play the segue normally. But some players catch the marker and stop the song and if you had yours on shuffle it might go to another piece of music. The two songs are meant to be together, but we wrote them as two and that is why I put the marker on there.
thanks,
mister zero
the kings

Anonymous said...

My Chemical Romance's album 'The Black Parade' starts with a two-fer, 'The End.' into 'Dead!'