Does your appreciation change when an album track becomes a single?

[Gabby]

Something I've wondered about for a while is how (and why) my appreciation for a particular track on an album changes if/when it is released as a single. It seems to me there are several songs by PSB I really don't engage with too well when an album comes out seem to become more important to me once they get the "single" treatment.

Leaving aside the inevitable "tweaking" or remixing that has to be done to create a radio friendly (short) mix, I'm simply talking about it in terms of how your approach or mental view of that track changes once it's a single and no longer (just) an album track.

In recent terms it's easy to offer up "A New Bohemia", "Feel" and "New London Boy" as examples. For me "Feel" was a nice track when Nonetheless was released, but didn't wow me - it jangled along nicely but felt a bit twee. Since it's single release though, I've come to like it more.

For "A New Bohemia" I've definitely had it drill into my consciousness more, now that it's a single, and can really get behind it as a PSB classic. Had it remained an album track I doubt it would have resonated quite the way it does to me now.

I sort of suspect "New London Boy" will have a similar effect. It becomes a more expansive experience somehow, rather than simply nestled between other songs, it's being given a new level of importance.

[Leonidas]

Something I've wondered about for a while is how (and why) my appreciation for a particular track on an album changes if/when it is released as a single. It seems to me there are several songs by PSB I really don't engage with too well when an album comes out seem to become more important to me once they get the "single" treatment.

Leaving aside the inevitable "tweaking" or remixing that has to be done to create a radio friendly (short) mix, I'm simply talking about it in terms of how your approach or mental view of that track changes once it's a single and no longer (just) an album track.

In recent terms it's easy to offer up "A New Bohemia", "Feel" and "New London Boy" as examples. For me "Feel" was a nice track when Nonetheless was released, but didn't wow me - it jangled along nicely but felt a bit twee. Since it's single release though, I've come to like it more.

For "A New Bohemia" I've definitely had it drill into my consciousness more, now that it's a single, and can really get behind it as a PSB classic. Had it remained an album track I doubt it would have resonated quite the way it does to me now.

I sort of suspect "New London Boy" will have a similar effect. It becomes a more expansive experience somehow, rather than simply nestled between other songs, it's being given a new level of importance.

You're 100% correct. A release does elevate a single. Imagine if Being Boring wasn't released or King's Cross was?

[Gabby]

Those are great examples, Leonidas, especially since they are both (in my book) exceptional tracks.

Conversely though, does anyone reading tire of a track more because it was a single, than they would have if it had remained a secluded album track? Sometimes that extra exposure makes it feel less exclusive. Kings Cross is a fine example of that - if it had been a single, maybe it would have lost it's allure?

[Leonidas]

Those are great examples, Leonidas, especially since they are both (in my book) exceptional tracks.

Conversely though, does anyone reading tire of a track more because it was a single, than they would have if it had remained a secluded album track? Sometimes that extra exposure makes it feel less exclusive. Kings Cross is a fine example of that - if it had been a single, maybe it would have lost it's allure?

King's Cross would most likely have been a single had it been on Hotspot or Nonetheless.

[petshopgrrl]

I think I got a new appreciation for Bohemia because the video did hit me in the feels. And then seeing how well it worked live. But I don’t think release status on its own makes much difference overall.

I’m probably not the best person to comment because this is the first time I’ve heard a PSB album before its singles.

[ChrisLove]

It depends what's the difference between album and single versions. For example i changed my opinion on Feel i love single version and it make me like more the album version but the single version is a lot better shorter and more catchy.

[Vintage Youth]

I think I got a new appreciation for Bohemia because the video did hit me in the feels. And then seeing how well it worked live. But I don’t think release status on its own makes much difference overall.

Hard agree. Wasn't fussed until I saw it live, thought 'oh...wow...this is good'. And then that first close up of Neil in the video made me blub involuntary.

[alwaysgirl]

I have definitely noticed that with one track (although not a single in fairness). My least favourite song on Nonetheless by a VERY long way was Schlager. And then the video came out . I found myself watching it so many times out of pure incredulity (it was so dreadful it actually ended up being fun), that I now can't get the damn song out of my mind!

[Too Many Shadows]

Once upon a time, yes; now, much less so. Even then, it was the extras that came with the single that I appreciated.

You can already tell this post will be treacled with nostalgia.

For the ear, I enjoyed the 1980’s hight of 12” single excess when pop was as indulgent as prog in its extended rhythms and reduced vocals trickery.

For the eye, sleeve art that looked the same as the record sounded always seemed to be working in a space where art and marketing overlapped. From a slightly later period, Farrow’s Minimal is a favourite.

I wanted the gift of something sonically and visually unavailable in an album: remixes, reimaginations, art that expanded the band’s aesthetic, songs unavailable elsewhere, and just about anything else that made exchanging money for plastic circles in paper envelopes a not crazy thing to do.

In the 2020s, I do wonder what artists want a single to do. Ideas like Charli XCX’s Brat and It's Completely Different but Also Still Brat seem more interesting.

[Drico One]

If a track is remixed for single release, it can definitely provoke reappraisal. But so many of this century’s singles (Methuselah klaxon!) have been brutal radio edits making the honour of single selection a dubious one.

I think a new single depends heavily on the word “new”. If it’s not brand new, I like it to be remixed. Suburbia and Heart are classics of the genre that enhanced the songs and my appreciation of them.

[Straight_Talker]

If a track is remixed for single release, it can definitely provoke reappraisal. But so many of this century’s singles (Methuselah klaxon!) have been brutal radio edits making the honour of single selection a dubious one.

I think a new single depends heavily on the word “new”. If it’s not brand new, I like it to be remixed. Suburbia and Heart are classics of the genre that enhanced the songs and my appreciation of them.

Yep! Along with “I wouldn’t normally do this kind of thing”, “Yesterday, when I was mad” and “A red letter day”.

Hearing a completely “new” version was such a thrill. I was kinda hoping they’d do this with the 5th single from “Nonetheless”.

[Patrick Bateman]

I can't say it does really. It Couldn't Happen Here is one of my favourite PSB songs, I've heard it a zillion times and it was the signature for the film. Not a single but I love it all the same. Conversely, Winner was the lead single for an album, they serenaded Team GB with it and Graham Linehan would have sacrificed his family over the video. And because it was a single I probably like it less because of their desperation to have an Olympic hit. Sorry boys, it's no Gold.

There are singles where I prefer the album version (Integral), ones where it's the opposite (Suburbia, Heart) and those where a new mix simply adds to the gaiety of nations (I Wouldn't Normally Do This Kind of Thing, Yesterday When I Was Mad). There are singles I might have preferred (A Different Point of View over Liberation) but still like the one they released. There are the ones where they clearly made an error of judgement - the Visitors-esque The Way It Used To Be would have been a magnificent valedictory Top 40 single rather than the unnecessary Christmas EP. And then there are the times they made the right call because of external factors (King's Cross, Burn).

What constitutes a single now anyway? Burning the Heather was both a single (honestly, I have the 7-inch) and not a single (absent from SMASH). It's the Schrödinger's cat of PSB singles.

The Nonetheless era has now seen half the tracks released as actual 'proper' singles, which is testament to their love of the single format throughout their career. Growing up during Beatlemania and the apogee of 60s pop, experiencing singles as events in the 70s like Starman or God Save the Queen, then loving dance music and the 12-inch, they've always revered the importance of releasing singles. The next single, replete with a separate Neil and Chris cd, cool sleeves, interesting mixes and new bonus tracks, is indicative of that. It's opposed to the modern trend of consuming music as simply tracks on albums. And don't get me started on how that affects the charts...