say an overview of a band that someone may want to get into, how do you usually do it? Do you put the selected songs in your mix chronologically over the course of their career to show how the group has evolved, or do you just mix it up and try to make it flow?

I need suggestions on how to set this up for a coworker who is wanting to get into Wilco. The songs I want to include are not neccesarily the problem, but rather the dilemma I described above.

depends on the mix purpose. if it's just for a fun overview, i mix it up. if it's more for "historical" purposes, i go cron.

Pretty sure we had this thread recently.

Anyway, I think it's generally better to mix things up. Lead off with one of the strongest, most immediate songs and make it flow from there.

Sometimes drastic differences in sound can force you to go chronologically, but with Wilco I don't think that'd be such a problem. Even though AM and A Ghost Is Born are very different, I'd bet you could still mix up certain songs from each pretty well.

even though my priority is often to make the music flow on a mix, i usually make single artist mix's chronological. this also depends on what, if anything, the intended listener has heard. putting a great song or two at the beginning is a good way to get them interested at first, but some people, i think, want to experience the band's progression in a mix. i guess you can't go wrong either way, as long as you pick the right songs.

I hate the chronological single artist mix. I especially hate the mix where multiple songs from the same album are back to back.

especially when they were like that on the original album.

God, the worst.

I mean, have some creativity.

Mix it up and try to make it flow. Assume the person can go to the internet and look up what albums the songs they like appear on if they are trying to decide what they want to buy.

I've never made a chronological mix. I mean it's okay for introducing someone to a group, but since I've always made a mix copy for myself, too, I want to actually like the flow myself.

It depends on the artist, for me. If they really dramatically changed styles and sounds, it would probably be best to do chronological. Or group them into different sections and mix 'em up within them.