Style guide for tracks containing multiple parts

MusicBrainz Style
1

Hey, where can I find more information about the naming scheme for tracks that contain multiple titles? I am currently looking at King Crimson’s Lizard. In particular, I am interested in where the a) <title1> b) <title2> pattern comes from. I couldn’t find anything in the style guide.

PS: I haven’t quite decided yet which of the following two versions looks cleaner:

Lizard: a) Prince Rupert Awakes / b) Bolero: The Peacock’s Tale / c) The Battle of Glass Tears (including I. Dawn Song / II. Last Skirmish / III. Prince Rupert’s Lament) / d) Big Top 

Lizard: (a) Prince Rupert Awakes / (b) Bolero: The Peacock’s Tale / (c) The Battle of Glass Tears (including I. Dawn Song / II. Last Skirmish / III. Prince Rupert’s Lament) / (d) Big Top

On one hand, the opening parentheses are redundant, on the other hand, balanced parentheses look, well, balanced, and they would allow to incorporate longer phrases:

Lizard: Act a) Prince Rupert Awakes / Act b) Bolero: The Peacock’s Tale / Act c) The Battle of Glass Tears (including I. Dawn Song / II. Last Skirmish / III. Prince Rupert’s Lament) / Act d) Big Top

Lizard: (Act a) Prince Rupert Awakes / (Act b) Bolero: The Peacock’s Tale / (Act c) The Battle of Glass Tears (including I. Dawn Song / II. Last Skirmish / III. Prince Rupert’s Lament) / (Act d) Big Top

What is your opinion on this?

1 Like
2

https://musicbrainz.org/doc/Style/Titles#Multiple_titles_.2F_Splits but it doesn’t contain an example like this.

3

Normally, each release tracklist should have it written as it appears on the release.

However, in this instance you might reasonably consider these letters to be “additional information that is not part of the title” (looking at CAA, they are not used on all releases) in which case they should simply be omitted entirely.