I can't say enough about having a great opening track on your album. It's a song that will grab in your listeners and will sustain their attention and hopefully launch them into the rest of the album. In a lot of ways, the opening track will also set the tone for the rest of the album. Take one of the best opening tracks in recent memory: "Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)" off of Arcade Fire's debut album Funeral. It is an exquisite song that let you know that this album was very special indeed. It's new yet antiquated-inflected sounds echoed throughout the album. It was fully realized and it hooked you right in.
For their latest album Dear Science, TV on the Radio have chosen a blazing opening track with "Halfway Home." NPR said it was like the band was "folding New Order's 'Age of Consent' into the Trashmen's 'Surfin Bird.' An amusing statement, the more I listened to it, it made a lot of sense [just listen to the intro]. Like many of TV on the Radio's songs, "Halfway Home" blends optimism with cynicism incredibly well. Chord changes, vocal range changes, they move effortlessly into each other without feeling abrupt or unnecessary. It very clearly sets the tone for Dear Science and it's a nice song to boot.
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