Here's a question for you all - one I'll long wondered about.
In 2005, when the entire Rats' catalogue was re-released on CD (hallelujah!!), except for "A Tonic for the Troops" and "The Fine Art of Surfacing", the order of the tracks was changed.
In the sleeve notes, there's a message from Bob explaining why they did this, but also accepting that, if we were familar with the original records, we might find the new order to be "a pain in the arse".
I didn't like it and for my MP3 player, I restored the orignal running orders - wondering what everyone else thought?
It sounds wrong to me.
And the time that probably went into planning the album as well, discussing where and why. It’s why I still like the LP. You put it on a listen, it being too much effort to skip a track! I get streaming and shuffling, but it has destroyed the LP concept.
Doesn't matter what format I play them on, only the running order from original vinyl rings true. Kind of branded into my brain. If the 'wrong' song follows a track I go into panic mode 😂. Even the contemporary cassette of ATFTT I had messed with my head.