After some days of thought and deliberation, I've come up with my own "Albion III" Tracklist (Wassail/Folklore/Grimspound/TSBS), divided into 4 conceptual LPs:
LP1 - The Lore & Myths
Side 1 - Folklore, Along The Ridgeway, Salisbury Giant, Grimspound
Side 2 - Wassail, Haymaking, The Leaden Stour, The Ivy Gate
LP2 - The London Sequence
Side 1 - Turner On The Thames/London Plane, Mudlarks, Lost Rivers Of London
Side 2 - London Stone, Skylon, A Mead Hall In Winter
LP3 - In Science And Art
Side 1 - Meadowland, The Second Brightest Star, Experimental Gentlemen
Side 2 - The Transit Of Venus Across The Sun, Terra Australis Incognita, As The Crow Flies, The Gentlemen's Reprise
LP4 - The True Stories
Side 1 - Brave Captain, The Passing Widow, Winkie
Side 2 - On The Racing Line/Brooklands, Telling The Bees
This was the best I could muster up, being a young 33 y/o American with little knowledge of British history and folklore, using only what I could find in the lyrics and liner-notes for ideas on how to conceptualize the post-EEFP music. Each "LP" runs about 49/50 minutes long, though the third one comes in at a shorter 42:17.
I wanted to open the whole thing with the first three tracks of Folklore because the sequencing was pretty good already, and with that in mind, I sought to collect the other tracks with roots in folklore and myth, and I think I've done that to a fair degree here. The challenge was finding an arrangement that worked with each song, and closing Side 1 with "Grimspound" seemed approrpriate. My other goal was to open side 2 with "Wassail", so that left placing the last three tracks into a good-sounding order. I put "Haymaking" next because continuing the beautiful violin playing at the end of "Wassail" seemed to work, and closing with "The Ivy Gate" fits pretty well, with its rainy fadeout.
For the sequence of the second LP, I wanted to keep the LP/Mudlarks/LROL sequence from the Folklore vinyl, so that left finding a home for "London Stone" and "Skylon" on side 2, and opening with "London Stone" book-ends that side very well with its melodic reprise in "A Mead Hall In Winter". Everything seemed to fall into place pretty well with this LP after all was said and done. It was the first of the four that I finished re-arranging!
For what I dub the "In Science And Art" LP, I wanted to open with "Meadowland" to echo the closing of the previous LP (with its obvious connection to AMHIW). "Experimental Gentlemen" had to come first before "Terra Australis Incognita" and the Reprise, so it had to be on Side 1, which was fleshed out with "The Second Brightest Star". Oddly enough, sequencing "Experimental Gentlemen" before "Transit" worked thematically according to the story in the liner notes about Captain Cook's voyages. This just meant sorting the last three songs into an order that worked, and closing with the short reprisal mirrors opening with one on this LP.
Lastly, the "True Stories" LP, the songs whose inspiration comes from real people, places and times (with slight exception to the closer). Going through the liner notes and lyrics, I started to see a selection of songs that were based on true stories, and oddly enough, there seemed to be enough to cover a 50-minute LP! I wanted to close with the sequence the closed Folklore, no doubt, and so that meant sorting out the other 3 tracks into an agreeable order. Opening with "Brave Captain" seemed like a no-brainer to me, and closing the first half of this LP with "Winkie" worked for me, as I felt putting "The Passing Widow" between those two giant prog songs felt like a beautiful breather.
(Shared from my post in the BBT Facebook group)
-Marc.