Seven Song Spin: Third Song From the Sun

It's not quite a universal truth, but there seems to be something about the third spot on an album. The air has been cleared, the tone has been set—and on Track 3, things often take a left turn, sometimes upping the stakes and setting a new tone, sometimes even providing an unlikely hit: It's the "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds" spot on Sgt. Peppers, the "1921" slot on Tommy, "Freddie's Dead" on Superfly, "In the Street" on #1, "With or Without You" on The Joshua Tree, "Femme Fatale" on Velvet Underground and Nico, "xanny" on When We All Fall Asleep Where Do We Go, "Don't Believe the Hype" on It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, "Visions of Johanna" on Blonde on Blonde, "Housequake" on Sign O the Times, "Mahna Mahna" on The Muppet Show Album, "Trail of Broken Hearts" on Absolute Torch and Twang, "The Beat" on This Year's Model...I could go on.

So for this week's playlist I've honed in on the third track from a group of cherished and mostly lesser known albums.

This whole playlist can be found here.

Dance of Death: One of the Beatles' few songs in triple meter, this gem from the under-loved Beatles for Sale grab bag is a sneeringly morbid lech after a widow, lifted by its sunny major key and some of Lennon and McCartney's sweetest, sharpest vocal harmonies.

Title Slot: As Fiona Apple would later do on Fetch the Bolt Cutters, Sam Phillips saved the title song, and thesis statement, of her brilliant 1991 album Cruel Inventions for the record's third cut. It's worth the wait, sketching a desolate landscape of information-age commodification over a restless guitar lick and sneaky harmonies.

One-Act Play: Apart from "Ode to Billie Joe," this may be Bobbie Gentry's most famous song, and justly so. "Reunion" is a disorienting, hilarious cacophony of voices and family discontent. I dare you to put this on in the background. 

String Signals: The great debut record by the peerless violist Ljova, World on Four Strings, featured a number of catchy tunes ("Bagel on the Malecon," "Plume") and even a Björk cover, all overdubbed in layers from his single viola. The ambient track "O'er" is at once the album's most experimental-sounding and gorgeous.

Declinist Theme Song: I've had this sleek Zenyatta Mondata deep cut on the brain a lot during COVID times (and somewhat before, honestly).

Manic Bop: The staggering versatility of Janelle Monáe's debut LP The Archandroid was much noted at the time, but it still knocks me out. Its third track, "Faster," is a jolted-awake banger following an ambient overture and a strange, robotic percolator, "Dance or Die." 

Rock Joke: The humor here is easy but it lands hard. Randy Newman's stabs at pastiche aren't always successful (cf. "Masterman and Baby J," "The Man" from Faust), but this celebration of obsolescence is his most convincing rock performance since "Gone Dead Train."