Out of Order: CCM Albums That Demand Better Sequencing

For this music article we wanted to try something a little different. We are here to celebrate, but also nit-pick, some of our favorite albums. The albums we are highlighting are all great, but could all be better if the tracks were sequenced differently. Whether it was the artist’s or the record label’s decision we feel there is room for improvement. Unlike some websites we are not simply here to tear down, though. In addition to pointing out the flaws in the track sequencing we will offer suggestions on how to improve these records.

And, if you read this in the next 15 minutes, we will also include a playlist at the end of the article with our new suggested track listing for each album!

The focus of this article may seem odd to some since many consider the album format for music releases to be a relic of the past. We are REO beg to differ with this assessment. Most artists, even younger artists, release their music via a collection of songs (i.e. album). Even though physical formats come and go we think there should always be a space for artists to make a longer and more complete statement than a single song would allow them. In other words, there will always be a place for albums.

Now that we have that out of the way, let’s make our case for the albums that we want to tweak.

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1.   Sixpence None the Richer – Divine Discontent (2002)

Readers of REO will already know that we love Sixpence. We recently released a countdown of their top 30 songs to celebrate their 30th anniversary. Seven of those 30 songs are from their 2002 release Divine Discontent. It’s a beautiful record, but it could be (slightly) better. The problem, as we see it, is that the band put many of the best tracks at the end of the record. The first five songs, where you really need to grab the listener, are the weakest part of the album. Other than track five “Waiting on the Sun” these are not bad songs, but they are just not as good as what follows.

The solution is multifaceted. First, let’s get rid of “Waiting on the Sun”. It is the weakest song on the record and there are 12 other songs which still makes this their longest album even without that song. Second, kick things off with “I’ve Been Waiting” which sets up the vibe of the album better than the actual opener “Breathe Your Name”.

Third, the song “Dizzy” is one of the best closing songs I’ve ever heard. Unfortunately, it does not close the album because they had another even better closing song in “A Million Parachutes.” Our suggestion is to move “Dizzy” up to close side A of the record. Fourth we are moving “Paralyzed” up in the batting order. It rocks and needs to be heard as quickly as possible. We made a couple more tweaks, but these four moves are the basis for our new track sequence.   

Our suggested track list goes like this:

1. I’ve Been Waiting
2. Tonight
3. Paralyzed
4. Don’t Dream It’s Over
5. Still Burning
6. Dizzy
7. Breathe Your Name
8. Eyes Wide Open
9. Melody of You
10. Down and Out of Time
11. Tension is a Passing Note
12. A Million Parachutes

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2. The 77s – Pray Naked (1992)

Our second album is from another band we have honored here at REO – The 77s. The album in question is their 1992 masterpiece Pray Naked. For a band that has been around for over 40 years and released quite a few records this one ranks in their top 3 for me. Once again though, it could be better. The problem here is not burying the best songs at the end, rather it is putting several similar type songs in the middle of the record.

The album kicks off with a rocker – “Woody.” Then tracks 2-9 are all either mid-tempo songs or ballads. After this section the album closes with three more blues rockers. My suggested improvement would be to mix in some of the rockers with the pop songs and ballads. None of these songs are bad and I would not get rid of a single one, we would simply mix up the order a bit, so all the similar tempo songs don’t run together. 

The first 3 songs are keepers in the order they are in. “Woody” is the perfect opener, followed by the 1-minute palette cleanser “Smiley Smile”. For track three we would stay with “Phony Eyes” probably my favorite 77s song ever. At this point we mix it up with “Nuts for You.”

After this we bring the title track up a bit and move a couple of the slower songs towards the end of the album. Specifically, “The Rain Kept Falling in Love” another 77s classic that I feel works well as the album is winding down. “Self-Made Trap” will continue to be the closer as it is the perfect way to end the record.

Here is our suggested track list:

1. Woody
2. Smiley Smile
3. Phony Eyes
4. Nuts for You
5. Kites without Strings
6. Happy Roy
7. Deep End
8. Pray Naked
9. Look
10. Holy Hold
11. The Rain Kept Falling in Love
12. Self-Made Trap

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3. DeGarmo and Key – Street Light and Self-Titled (1986 and 1987)

For this next one we are cheating a bit, so if it bothers anyone, we will give you a full refund on this article. In 1986 CCM veterans DeGarmo and Key released their 7th studio album Street Light. It was a guitar forward, high energy, arena rock style that they would continue to mine for the rest of the decade. The band was leaving behind the synth driven pop sound that characterized their releases in the early 80s. Street Light is an excellent record with a few less than excellent moments.

A year later the band was back with a new self-titled album. This record was not as good as its predecessor, but it too had some outstanding tracks. Unfortunately, the albums sounded incredibly similar. The production, the songwriting style, and even the sounds of the various instruments sound like these records could have been made at the same time.

Instead of one really good record with a few bad songs and another decent record with a few amazing songs let’s combine these two into one incredible album. We will take the 7 best songs from Street Light and the 5 best songs from D&K and create one arena rock masterpiece that can compete with ANYTHING released in that genre. Here is the reimagined track list:

1. Every Moment
2. Under the Son
3. Rock Solid
4. Addey
5. Don’t Stop the Music
6. Teenage Suicide
7. Don’t Throw your Love Away
8. Soldier of Fortune
9. Brother against Brother (It’s Not Right)
10. She Believes
11. Inside Out
12. When the Son Begins to Reign

If you celebrate DeGarmo and Key’s whole catalog, you know there is not a weak song to be found on this list. “Every Moment” is a great opener and “Addey” may be the best song ever recorded in the history of Christian music. That might seem like a hot take, but the band did two completely different versions of this song almost a decade apart and both are incredible. I’m convinced it the song is so good it could work in almost any genre or style.  “When the Son Begins to Reign” is a simple song that perfectly closes out all the arena rock goodness that we have just experienced.

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4. Petra – Wake Up Call (1993)

Petra is one of the greatest Christian Rock bands of all time and they released a bunch of great albums. We believe that Wake Up Call is one of their top ten albums but with a few tweaks, it could have ended up a good bit higher on our list. And the changes are not really that difficult to make.

For starters, the album opener needs to reflect the vibe and tone of what is to come. And while “Midnight Oil” is an amazing rocker, it’s too aggressive to be a good representation for the rest of the album. We’ve opted to move the ostensible title track, “Sleeping Giant” into the opening slot. It’s a great song and it fully captures the sound of Wake Up Call. We’ve also decided to move “Believer in Deed” up to the number 3 spot and we found it really helps the flow of the album.

The weakest portion of the original album, tracks 3 through 5, have been adjusted as well. We’ve kept “Strong Convictions” and “He’s Been in My Shoes” back to back, but we have opted to move “Praying Man” later in the album – between “Midnight Oil” and “Underneath the Blood”. Sandwiching this keyboard heavy, more pop-centric song between two the heaviest tracks on the album really help it shine. We close out the album with no changes, leaving “Marks of the Cross” and “Just Reach Out” to keep doing their thing.

1. Sleeping Giant
2. Good News
3. Believer in Deed
4. Strong Convictions
5. He’s Been in My Shoes
6. Midnight Oil
7. Praying Man
8. Underneath the Blood
9. Marks of the Cross
10. Just Reach Out

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5. NEEDTOBREATHE – CAVES (2023)

Throughout their career, NEEDTOBREATHE’s opening songs have always set the tone of their albums perfectly. “The Outsiders” embodies the southern rock passion of its album with the same name; “Oohs and Ahhs” captures the confident grit of The Reckoning; and “Wasteland” presents the dark yet hopeful tone of Rivers in the Wasteland.

The largest issue with the arrangement of CAVES is that they fail to encapsulate the vibe of the album with the opener. This is neither a good nor a bad thing, but I believe that CAVES is NEEDTOBREATHE’s most mainstream sounding album. While very fun at times, it is a bit more subdued than something like The Reckoning, and it lacks the southern flair of The Outsiders. The opening track, “The Cave”, promises an energy that the rest of the album unfortunately doesn’t deliver on. Our suggestion is for “Everknown” to be the opener. “Everknown” is a much better tone setter for what the rest of the album displays.

The other tweaks we suggest would be the final stretch of songs. While I do enjoy “Temporary Tears” and I believe it works well as a closer, “Reaching Out to Find You” is an even better choice. If you’ve followed NEETOBREATHE for a while you know the brothers had a falling out in between the releases of Hard Love and Out of Body. “Reaching Out to Find You” is a heartbreaking plea from Bear (accompanied by some of the bands all-time best background vocals) to his younger brother. To me, there could be no better final note than this.

While CAVES is generally more lighthearted than a few of their albums, there still exists this somber feeing knowing Bo is no longer involved, and “Reaching Out to Find You” perfectly encapsulates that.

1. Everknown
2. Dreams
3. Wasting Time
4. How Wonderful We Are
5. By and By
6. The Cave
7. When You Forgive Someone
8. Fall On Me
9. Hideaway
10. Temporary Tears
11. Reaching Out to Find You

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To close out this article we would like to add a disclaimer – If you love the albums we featured please don’t take the critiques in this article too seriously. As we stated at the outset, we are big fans of these albums as well. We are such big fans that we obsess over something like the track sequence and write thousands of words about it. The main purpose of the article is to get a discussion going about these records and hopefully to bring some new fans into the fold.   

Also, feel free to let us know what albums you think could use some help in the sequencing department and as always, thanks for reading!