Rank the Albums 9 - THE RESULTS (+Vegas w/ prizes?)

Dang that was the last one I was rooting for.

Ill probably check out for now as Im not particularly interested in seeing who wins at this point. But it was certainly at least an interesting set of albums to listen to!

Actually Chappele's album I've found is pretty divisive, you either really love it or you reaaaaaaally don't care for it so it's not the most surprising in hindsight

Pot Instrumental/Vibes

Oh damn. Wouldn't have seen this in Pot 1 either personally, but I definitely expected a higher finish! I guess I tend to like mainstream/alt pop more on average (see my Brat and Mag Bay top 2 from last cycle), and I can see Rise and Fall being a sort of fun but insubstantial album for a lot of people (which probably means a low finish in a cycle full of critical darlings). I guess it's also a very particular style of camp which can be quite grating, but I personally think it's more than fun enough (and is a rare pop album with practically all hits) to earn its campiness a million times over.

Thanks for participating, Suprak! I feel vindicated that even if they've all dropped early, you at least enjoyed three of my album selections (we will ignore Aphex Twin). I hope you had fun listening and ranking even if a lot of this wasn't your thing!

Pot Instrumental/Vibes

This is why I kept betting pot 1!

That's wild. Rise and Fall, indeed.

Pot Instrumental/Vibes, 500 on Mingus.

Pot Instrumental/Vibes

Pot Classics

300 on The Doors

Instrumental/Vibes no side bet

Bane_Of_Despair posted...

Actually Chappele's album I've found is pretty divisive, you either really love it or you reaaaaaaally don't care for it so it's not the most surprising in hindsight

I think this is true. I wouldn't say I reaaaaaaly don't care for it, but it definitely left me cold. There were no albums I hated this go-through, everything I rated at least 3/5 stars on rateyourmusic, but most of Chappell's felt kind of boring and uninteresting both in terms of the production and hooks. Hot to Go! was the only track I put on my longlist for song selections, and I didn't come close to cracking the top 25. I think the highs for Midwest Princess were higher than my #24 choice, AFI, but the AFI record was more solid.

Maybe I'm just an old sack of coal out of touch with modern pop music, but I enjoyed Brat and Renaissance and the recent stuff from Jessie Ware + Carly Rae + Dua Lipa. I think this just doesn't resonate with me.

I feel like a crazy person. People who disliked the album liked HOT TO GO, while I'm loving everything but.

The Cyndi Lauper-ish sections are good, but that chorus is annoying AF

Mega_Mana posted...

I feel like a crazy person. People who disliked the album liked HOT TO GO, while I'm loving everything but.

The Cyndi Lauper-ish sections are good, but that chorus is annoying AF

You are not alone! As someone else who enjoyed the album, that was definitely my least favorite of the big singles. Annoying is very much the word I would use.

It reminds me of people who dislike Billy Joel and then inevitably go oh, but I do like We Didnt Start The Fire. There are so many good Joel songs and yet that mediocre mess is what they like! So much rage

Oh and betting on Pot Instrumental/Vibes

#15 - The Doors - The Doors
Average - 14.25
Average w/o highest and lowest ranking - 14.70 (2 spots worse)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Johnbobb - 2
Sheep007 - 5
Bitto - 8
FoolFantastic - 13
Mega_Mana - 15
MarkS2222222222 - 15
Suprak_the_Stud - 17
Seanchan - 17
totamech - 18
rwlh - 19
PunishedJeezy - 20
MaxGalactica - 22
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sheep007 - Shockingly good. I raved about this so much in the tracks topic, so Ill just say I think it sounds so incredibly right. Its got that something about it. Think its the organ.

Bitto - A solid album and I love the instrumentation and production. The short songs are really enjoyable, but the long songs where The Doors can just jam...that's the good stuff.

Mega_Mana - I look back on myself from a few months ago and wonder how the hell I put "The End" in my top four tracks from the album. Was I only remembering the radio edit? Did I block out the three minutes of sex noises? Did Chappell Roan show me I can actually enjoy a heavy emphasis on sex and physical activity two albums later and completely destroy whatever allowances I gave The Doors because I didn't connect? It's still a great album overall, but there's a lot I actively and passionately dislike, too.

Suprak_the_Stud - "Grade: C-
Song of the Cycle Nominations: N/A
Song of the Cycle Honorable Mentions: Soul Kitchen, Twentieth Century Fox, Take It As It Comes
General Thoughts: Man, I really wanted to like this more than I did. I thought I would, towards the start, too. I know this is supposed to be this hugely important album and thats fine but I didnt think that, taken by itself, it was something that was tremendously impressive or great to listen to. I feel like half of the run time is dedicated to just two incredibly bloated tracks and while some of the other stuff was pretty decent and had my attention, some of it is also just a bit weird or boring. I dont know how many times they uttered the phrase little girls during the Whiskey Song, but I do know it was too many. I can recognize this is important. I can also recognize that I wasnt enjoying it that much and thats sort of what I base my rankings off of."

Seanchan - Uh...what Suprak said, almost to the letter. As good as Break On Through and Light My Fire are, The End really, really brings this one back down.

rwlh - It hurts to set you free, but youll never follow me. I found this pretty dull, even the big hits. My favorite parts all involved the organ accompaniment. Honestly give me an album of that, just take out everything else!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Songs of the Cycle - 10 votes for 5 songs from 6 rankers
1. Break on Through (To the Other Side) - (2) - Johnbobb, Sheep007
2. Soul Kitchen - (1) - Johnbobb
6. Light My Fire - (5) - Seanchan, Mega_Mana, Johnbobb, Sheep007, Bitto
9. End of the Night - (1) - MarkS2222222222
11. The End - (1) - Johnbobb

Vegas Results
4,700 - Sheep007 (+0 for Pot Instrumental/Vibes)
4,300 - PunishedJeezy (+1500 for Pot Classics, +300 for The Doors)
2,100 - MarkS2222222222 (+0 for Pot Instrumental/Vibes)
1,600 - Suprak_the_Stud (no bet)
1,500 - totamech (+0 for Pot Instrumental/Vibes)
1,500 - Bane_of_Despair (+0 for Pot Instrumental/Vibes)
1,000 - Mega_Mana (no bet)
700 - Johnbobb (+0 for Pot Instrumental/Vibes)
500 - Bitto (+0 for Pot Instrumental/Vibes, n/a for Mingus)
0 - Chaeix (no bet)
0 - MaxGalactica (+0 for Pot Instrumental/Vibes)

Vibes were off here, but Jeezy saw through that, correctly guessing The Doors and bringing him a lot closer to the top.

Pots remain the same, with the same optional bet of up to +1500. The #14 drop should happen tomorrow night (sometime after 6pm EDT):

Pot "Favorites" (+5000)
Pink Floyd - The Dark Side of the Moon
Radiohead - In Rainbows

Pot "Instrumental/Vibes" (+1500)
DJ Shadow - Endtroducing..
Nujabes - Metaphorical Music
Charles Mingus - Mingus Ah Um
Daft Punk - Discovery
Portishead - Dummy

Pot "Classics" (+1500)
Talking Heads - Remain in Light
Green Day - Dookie
The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds

Pot "Miscellaneous" (+1500)
Nick Drake - Five Leaves Left
Big Thief - Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You
Little Simz - Sometimes I Might Be Introvert
Jimmy Eat World - Bleed American

oh come ON people

I think I overrated The Doors a tiny bit on reflection, but I found it fun as hell and ranked it that high basically just on vibes alone. I had no clue how to split albums like, 5-15 other than how much I enjoyed them. They all had moderate flaws and all did a lot correct.

Betting instrumental/vibes again.

Instrumental/Vibes +500 Mingus

Pot Miscellaneous

Pot "Instrumental/Vibes"

Wow I'm surprised at some of the albums still in, I guess it makes sense a board like this would be more into instrumental albums than the average

Still gonna say Pot Instrumental/Vibes, surely one of them is dropping soon

Putting The Doors at #13 felt insane because it's literally a 9.7/10 for me.

Somehow, this batch has 7 9.9s, 2 9.8s, and 4 9.7s. Which is pretty much 9 albums in my all-time top 100 and 4 right outside it.

Instrumental/Vibes

#14 - Nick Drake - Five Leaves Left
Average - 14.17
Average w/o highest and lowest ranking - 14.10 (no change in ranking)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
MaxGalactica - 6
Mega_Mana - 7
totamech - 8
FoolFantastic - 9
PunishedJeezy - 10
MarkS2222222222 - 10
Sheep007 - 16
Bitto - 17
rwlh - 20
Suprak_the_Stud - 21
Johnbobb - 23
Seanchan - 23
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mega_Mana - There's something in his music that just goes within my skin. It resonates and carries me on its melancholy travels. Good morning, heartache! You're like an old friend, come and see me again. Absolutely incredible. Ranking the tracks for this was so difficult because I could rearrange them top-to-bottom completely differently after every other listen. Love this.

Sheep007 - Gorgeous, in places. River Man is an incredible song, an absolute masterpiece. Drakes voice is beautiful, and Cello Song is another highlight. I just dont feel strongly enough about the rest of it to rank it at the top. Could easily have been top 7 or 8 in a different cycle.

Bitto - Enjoyable album that really does not fit what I look for in music. I usually just vibe with the music and can't differentiate it, but I don't find myself bored at all.

rwlh - I like music that makes me feel all kinds of things, but in listening to Five Leaves Left I realized I tend to not like music that makes depressed, and this is a very depressing album for me the string arrangements and acoustic guitar and Drakes voice all paint this bleak picture. The lyrics are sometimes light but deeper sadness permeates pretty much every second of this. Its hard to listen to, not helped by knowledge of Drakes tragic life story. I cant believe I found my limit for strong emotions in music. Dang. =/ (That said Id still rather listen to Five Leaves Left again than, say, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. At least Five Leaves Left doesnt have skits.)

Suprak_the_Stud - "Grade: D+
Song of the Cycle Nominations: N/A
Song of the Cycle Honorable Mentions: Saturday Sun, Cello Song
General Thoughts: I dont really hate this one but I find it almost completely and utterly unremarkable. I dont know enough about music to know why this was nominated, but it is the one Im most curious about being included here. I feel like Ive heard this same sort of artist roughly 30 times at every music night in a bar or pub around here for the last couple of decades. I think I probably wouldve enjoyed this more if I really sat down and"

Seanchan - This is just not an album for me. I wouldn't call it bad but it's not something I'm going to listen to again.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Songs of the Cycle - 4 votes for 1 songs from 4 rankers
2. River Man - (4) - Sheep007, totamech, MarkS2222222222, Max_Galactica

Vegas Results
5,800 - PunishedJeezy (+1500 for Pot Miscellaneous)
4,700 - Sheep007 (+0 for Pot Instrumental/Vibes)
2,100 - MarkS2222222222 (+0 for Pot Instrumental/Vibes)
1,600 - Suprak_the_Stud (no bet)
1,500 - totamech (+0 for Pot Instrumental/Vibes)
1,500 - Bane_of_Despair (+0 for Pot Instrumental/Vibes)
1,000 - Mega_Mana (no bet)
700 - Johnbobb (no bet)
500 - Bitto (no bet)
0 - Chaeix (no bet)
0 - MaxGalactica (+0 for Pot Instrumental/Vibes, n/a for Mingus)

Jeezy hits again, taking over the lead!

Pots remain the same, but the odds for "Instrumental/Vibes" drop slightly. Optional bet still of up to +1500. The #13 drop should happen tomorrow night (sometime after 6pm EDT):

Pot "Favorites" (+5000)
Pink Floyd - The Dark Side of the Moon
Radiohead - In Rainbows

Pot "Instrumental/Vibes" (+1200)
DJ Shadow - Endtroducing..
Nujabes - Metaphorical Music
Charles Mingus - Mingus Ah Um
Daft Punk - Discovery
Portishead - Dummy

Pot "Classics" (+1500)
Talking Heads - Remain in Light
Green Day - Dookie
The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds

Pot "Miscellaneous" (+1500)
Big Thief - Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You
Little Simz - Sometimes I Might Be Introvert
Jimmy Eat World - Bleed American

Oh wow, there were a few albums left which I thought were dead certs to drop before this!

Still on Instrumental/Vibes... And 500 on Mingus for good measure.

Interesting that this is the first album that wasn't in someone's top * 4 !

Gotta be Pot Instrumental/Vibes this time

I'm also going Pot Instrumental Slash Vibes

Aww there goes another one of my Top 10.

Sticking with Instrumentals/Vibes

Five Leaves Left was a consistently great album and I enjoyed it enough to put it in my top 10, but I had a feeling it would be dropping around now because it doesn't really have those standout tracks that knock you on your coal-mining ass the way that Pink Moon does.

I also wouldn't be totally surprised if Simz or Jimmy Eat World fell short of the top 10 either.

Just checked and I've only been the lowest/highest ranker on one album so far, and that was Dan Terminus.

Instrumental/Vibes +400 Mingus

MarkS2222222222 posted...

Interesting that this is the first album that wasn't in someone's top *4!

Yes, one of only 2 albums without a top 5 vote.

Oh forgot to

Pot Instrumental/Vibes

Totally didn't forget to do this last night...

#13 - Charles Mingus - Mingus Ah Um
Average - 13.92
Average w/o highest and lowest ranking - 13.70 (1 spot better)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
PunishedJeezy - 6
totamech - 6
Johnbobb - 11
rwlh - 12
FoolFantastic - 12
Mega_Mana - 13
Bitto - 14
Seanchan - 14
MarkS2222222222 - 18
MaxGalactica - 18
Sheep007 - 19
Suprak_the_Stud - 24
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
rwlh - Pretty nifty jazz album with a lot of variety. If I ranked the tracks, Goodbye Pork Pie Hat would come out on top.

Mega_Mana - I love throwing this on at random when I give myself a break to listen for myself and not for rankings or friends. I hate that I have it in the middle of my rankings, but it is probably my clearest benchmark. I love the twelve albums above it clearly more and the twelve under clearly less, without debate. It's just so smooth and those horns are incredible.

Bitto - Good, solid jazz. Better Get Hit In Your Soul is pretty much the Platonic ideal of a jazz song to me. The rest of the album unfortunately can't match it, but it's not like the energy completely dissipates after that song.

Seanchan - I'll be honest, I'm having trouble remembering any specifics about this album all these weeks later. But I did enjoy this though!

Sheep007 - It's good, but I feel like it slips through my brainholes a bit. It sounds to me, the uneducated jazz enjoyer, like exactly what I would expect a jazz album to be. Varied, some smoother stuff, some bombastic stuff, kinda someone flexing their musical muscles and having fun with it. We will all probably say it plenty, but this is only low due to the quality of this cycle!

Suprak_the_Stud - "Grade: D-
Song of the Cycle Nominations: N/A
Song of the Cycle Honorable Mentions: N/A
General Thoughts: This was super useful to listen to because I think I can skip out on jazz albums entirely going forward. I did a quick Google search and this is supposedly one of the best jazz albums of all time so I am just too dumb to appreciate jazz, and that is ok with me. There were bits in some songs I liked and a couple of tracks here that were mostly ok but overall this is one of only two albums so far where I didnt shortlist any tracks for the song of the cycle. This is just really dull for me and not something I wanted to sit through. I felt like I was taking medicine. It is jazz! It is good for you! Bleck. "
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Songs of the Cycle - 4 votes for 3 songs from 3 rankers
1. Better Get Hit In Your Soul - (2) - PunishedJeezy, Bitto
2. Goodbye Pork Pie Hat - (1) - PunishedJeezy
4. Self-Portrait in Three Colours - (1) - totamech

Vegas Results
7,000 - PunishedJeezy (+1200 for Instrumental/Vibes)
6,400 - Sheep007 (+1200 for Instrumental/Vibes, +500 for Mingus)
3,300 - MarkS2222222222 (+1200 for Pot Instrumental/Vibes)
2,700 - totamech (+1200 for Instrumental/Vibes)
2,700 - Bane_of_Despair (+1200 for Instrumental/Vibes)
1,600 - Suprak_the_Stud (no bet)
1,600 - MaxGalactica (+1200 for Pot Instrumental/Vibes, +400 for Mingus)
1,000 - Mega_Mana (no bet)
700 - Johnbobb (no bet)
500 - Bitto (no bet)
0 - Chaeix (no bet)

Vegas paid out of this one! Everyone who bet got the pot right but only Sheep and Max took a chance, and nailed, the album too. I suspect the next round of bets won't be so homogenized.

Pots remain the same, but the odds for "Instrumental/Vibes" goes back up again. Optional bet still of up to +1500. The #12 drop should happen later night (sometime after 8pm EDT):

Pot "Favorites" (+5000)
Pink Floyd - The Dark Side of the Moon
Radiohead - In Rainbows

Pot "Instrumental/Vibes" (+1500)
DJ Shadow - Endtroducing..
Nujabes - Metaphorical Music
Daft Punk - Discovery
Portishead - Dummy

Pot "Classics" (+1500)
Talking Heads - Remain in Light
Green Day - Dookie
The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds

Pot "Miscellaneous" (+1500)
Big Thief - Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You
Little Simz - Sometimes I Might Be Introvert
Jimmy Eat World - Bleed American

Betting miscellaneous, no album.

Cool album but no top 5 ranking sounds about right, I feel like you've gotta be really into jazz to put this right at the top and I'm not sure any of us fall in that category?

Pot Miscellaneous

It's a really cool jazz album, I enjoyed it for its week

Pot Instrumental/Vibes, and I think I'm gonna +700 Nujabes. I have a feeling more of the instrumentals are going in succession

Instrumental/Vibes again please!

I'd consider myself a big jazz head, and there are several pure jazz albums I like a lot more than Mingus Ah Um, including other Charles Mingus albums like The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady. Would like to see some other jazz albums come up in the future like a John Coltrane or a Miles Davis album.

Instrumental/Vibes +500 Portishead

I'm not a huge Jazz guy but I believe I probably do listen to it more often than the average B8er and I do frequently listen to Mingus specifically. Most of my jazz appreciation comes as a side effect of being such a big hip hop head.

Would be nice to see more jazz albums periodically throughout these topics, I feel like 1 out of every 25 is a decent rate to not be overbearing.

The main problem is a lot of the best jazz albums are like five ten-minute tracks

Instrumental/Vibes