Call it a wildly unnecessary hobby, but one thing I’ve always enjoyed about music is re-ordering album tracklists. I do it with albums I enjoy just as much as albums I dislike, always in an attempt to arrange the music even better somehow. I find I get the most out of it on albums that have potential, but are either overinflated, fall short in a few key areas, or are accompanied by an EP/b-sides release with a handful of stronger moments than the actual LP.

It’s with great anticipation of Thrice’s 11th upcoming album, Horizons/East (due out September 17th), that I kick things off with a way to re-imagine their previous effort Palms – which fits the latter two of the above descriptions. Songs like ‘Hold Up a Light’ and ‘My Soul’ were obvious weak spots and were easily discarded from the original tracklist in this mock-up, while I also – but more begrudgingly – parted ways with ‘Only Us’ and ‘Everything Belongs’ on the grounds that they’re both relatively average versions of songs that Thrice did better on the very same LP. I then imported the entirety of the Deeper Wells EP, which I feel is a much stronger effort in general compared to the Palms tunes that I just discarded. Finally, I arranged them in a way meant to flow, dazzle, and rock your socks off.

One thing Palms lacked was a kickass starter, but ‘Deeper Wells’ lights a fire with its political lyrics (referencing Trump’s wall) and vitriolic delivery. The way its closing riffs transition into the intro for ‘The Grey’ is a match made in heaven; in fact if I didn’t know better, I’d say they were designed to go together. After two heavier rock tracks, ‘The Dark’ is a nice early injection of melody, especially with that breathtaking group chorus at the song’s conclusion. One of Palms’ most underrated tracks, ‘A Branch In The River’ takes the swaying rhythm of ‘The Dark’ and slowly ramps it up to that heavy, back-breaking outro. ‘A Better Bridge’ lassos that momentum and keeps it going with the song’s driving electric guitars until it finally exhales with a stunning classical piano outro. ‘Blood on Blood’ is ideally suited to follow that gentle moment up with it’s lightly plucked guitars, harps, and heartfelt plea to end violence. ‘Just Breathe’ is a nice mid-tempo track to pick the tempo back up without making the shift too jarring, and the beautiful harmonized vocals at the end blend quite well with the pianos and lighter acoustics (although that mid-song breakdown is still absolutely sick). ‘Stumbling West’ had to be the penultimate track in this arrangement because it feels like a march into the sunset with its thumping beat and forlornly romantic chorus. The stop-start transition between that song and ‘Beyond The Pines’ (which obviously had to remain the closer) is just an added bonus. By the end of this thing, Palms Reimagined ends up being a more consistent and free-flowing affair – with better songs to boot – and all without changing the record’s 10-track runtime.

The final result is as follows:

Re-Imagined Palms Tracklist:

1. Deeper Wells
2. The Grey
3. The Dark
4. A Branch In The River
5. A Better Bridge
6. Blood on Blood
7. Just Breathe
8. In This Storm
9. Stumbling West
10. Beyond The Pines

Suggested Alternate B-Sides EP:

1. Only Us
2. Hold Up a Light
3. Everything Belongs
4. My Soul

If you disliked Palms or felt like it could have been much better, I invite you to try the this re-imagining instead.

Love it? Hate it? Let me know in the comments!