Twenty-Five Favorite Opening Album Tracks
(arranged chronologically, with no more than one track per artist)
Suzanne by Leonard Cohen (Songs of Leonard Cohen, 1967)
Astral Weeks by Van Morrison (Astral Weeks, 1968)
Come Together by The Beatles (Abbey Road, 1969)
Five Years by David Bowie (The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, 1972)
Tom Traubert’s Blues (Four Sheets to the Wind in Copenhagen) by Tom Waits (Small Change, 1976)
Surrender by Cheap Trick (Heaven Tonight, 1978)
Quiet Life by Japan (Quiet Life, 1979)
Enola Gay by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (Organisation, 1980)
To Cut a Long Story Short by Spandau Ballet (Journeys to Glory, 1981)
Winning by The Sound (From the Lions Mouth, 1981)
Love Is a Stranger by Eurythmics (Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This), 1983)
Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) by Kate Bush (Hounds of Love, 1985)
A Little Respect by Erasure (The Innocents, 1988)
Ana Ng by They Might Be Giants (Lincoln, 1988)
I Love the World by New Model Army (Thunder and Consolation, 1989)
Plainsong by The Cure (Disintegration, 1989)
Standing There by The Creatures (Boomerang, 1989)
Come Home by James (Gold Mother, 1990)
Margaret by Frank Tedesso (Songs from Einstein’s Violin, 1996) *
In Pursuit of Happiness by The Divine Comedy (A Short Album About Love, 1997)
Absolutely Cuckoo by The Magnetic Fields (69 Love Songs, 1999)
The District Sleeps Alone Tonight by The Postal Service (Give Up, 2003)
Hope There’s Someone by Antony and the Johnsons (I Am a Bird Now, 2005)
Small Metal Gods by David Sylvian (Manafon, 2009)
Smoke Signals by Phoebe Bridgers (Stranger in the Alps, 2017)
* I can’t find the album recording of this track online. I’ve linked to a slightly inferior live rendition.
— September 3, 2024