Lurker > Sheep007

1) Begin Again
2) Beautiful People
3) Free Yourself
4) Pearls
5) These Lips
6) Hello Love
7) Lightning
8) Freak Me Now
9) That! Feels Good!
10) Shake The Bottle

Jessie Ware's sound in this album is so upbeat and fun. I'm a bit meh on the lyrics through most of the songs, but I think that's because it's an album that mostly covers sex via innuendos or metaphors that I find kinda bland or grating. Not a huge deal, she's got a great voice and it's a good enough vibe that they can take a backseat.

1) Casimir Pulaski Day
2) Chicago
3) The Predatory Wasp
4) Come on! Feel the Illinoise!
5) Concerning the UFO Sighting near Highland, Illinois
6) John Wayne Gacy, Jr
7) Decatur
8) The Tallest Man, The Broadest Shoulders
9) Jacksonville
10) They Are Night Zombies!
11) The Black Hawk War
12) Out of Egypt
13) Prairie Fire That Wanders About
14) To The Workers of the Rock River Valley Region
15) The Man of Metropolis Steals Our Hearts
16) The Seers Tower

I'm very far from the intended audience, I think. Casimir Pulaski Day, Chicago and The Predatory Wasp all impressed me individually, although I can't say I entirely "got" them. I respect the music and it's not a bad album in the slightest, just not really for me.

1) Lullaby - In my opinion, probably their best song. Hauntingly beautiful in both instrumentation and vocals, and one hell of an earworm. I love how vague yet hyperspecific the lyrics are - you know exactly the feeling they're trying to convey, but they can refer to almost anything the listener's imagination warps it into.
2) Lovesong
3) Prayers for Rain
4) Pictures of You
5) Plainsong
6) Closedown
7) Untitled
8) Last Dance
9) Disintegration
10) Homesick
11) The Same Deep Water as You
12) Fascination Street - You can tell this one was intended as a marketable single, but it's just not as good as the rest of the album nor another couple dozen or so singles that they put out. Not bad, but the rest of the album is better.

I actually have a more solid ranking order than I thought. Places 6 through 10 are pretty interchangeable, but everything else I'm certain of the position.

Okay, after two listens, I am again glad that I nominated this. It's a collection of beautiful and melancholy songs, and I love almost every one of them. I do understand some people not enjoying it: a couple of the middle songs are a little weaker and sometimes pretty long, so if it's not your type of music I get feeling like the album drags. That said, there's maybe two or three songs that I think aren't excellent, and are merely good. I won't gush too much more because it feels a bit masturbatory considering I chose to listen to this, but yeah. Good album. Gonna go relisten to the rest of their discography over the next couple weeks.

Psycho_Kensou posted...

I'm not shocked at all by the takes that have been posted so far about Disintegration. It's kind of why I never nominated it. It's a fantastic album, but rating the tracks.... that's very difficult. If you listen to it to analyze it, you probably did it wrong. I'm not going to say your opinion is wrong, nor will I say you can magically have another opinion of it. But this album is for the feels more than anything. It is beautiful, ethereal. It's something that you probably shouldn't try to dissect or put in a bottle. It's a mood, really. I love it, and you don't have to at all, but I think if I got to choose every album we discussed from the beginning until now I wouldn't have picked this one at any time. I sort of feel like this is an album where you have to be there with it to get it, if that makes any sense.

Yeah, I wasn't wholly sure about nominating this but I just kinda love it too much to not have. Knew I wanted to nom a Cure album and I was considering Three Imaginary Boys since I think it's a bit more palatable and it's easier to rate individual songs, but I'm still glad to have an excuse to listen to this album again.

I was not expecting Grimes to win the whole thing at any stage! Ten definitely would have been a letdown of a winner, for me, and I'm glad that the album I enjoyed more won. Still bemused as to why I didn't like Pearl Jam. I've listened to that album three times since the start of this project in the hopes it'll click, but nothing.

Thanks for hosting, Seanchan! This was a lot of fun to participate in and got me to think about music in more depth than I have in the past as well as listen to albums I never would otherwise.

Well, those are the two albums from the top 7 that I actively didn't want to see win once we were there. Kind of a disappointing end result, although I did enjoy #9 well enough.

Also, I find it very funny that I hyped up When Doves Cry only to see it not even top the songs of the cycle for its own album.

Oh dear... Thought they'd both be higher than that, honestly. Especially Night at the Opera.

Plastic Beach got first for me primarily based on how cohesive it is while still feeling distinct in every song. Plus Melancholy Hill and Empire Ants, which are, as I said, gorgeous. Empire Ants is probably in my top three songs of the cycle, along with Bohemian Rhapsody and an unnamed song which I expect to drop shortly.

I do feel on reflection I was a bit harsh on this one, too, and it shoulda been 16th. It had far higher lows than the chunk of albums directly above it, but I think it was kinda brought down in my mind by the fact they each had a standout song that stayed with me more than anything from Carnavas.

1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6) Bob Marley & The Wailers Exodus
7) Blur Parklife
8) The xx xx
9)
10)
11) The Who Tommy
12) The Smiths The Queen is Dead
13) Night Verses From the Gallery of Sleep
14) Hisayoshi Ogura G-Darius Original Arcade Score
15) Incubus A Crow Left of the Murder
16)
17) In Flames Colony
18) Goo Goo Dolls Dizzy Up the Girl
19) Silversun Pickups - Carnavas
20) SOPHIE Oil of Every Pearls Un-Insides
21) Kero Kero Bonito Bonito Generation
22) clipping Splendor and Misery
23) Caroline Polachek Desire, I Want to Turn Into You
24) Modest Mouse Good News for People Who Love Bad News
25) Stabbing Westward Darkest Days

Pretty good record for me so far, although I fear my #16 is likely to win the whole thing.

MaxGalactica posted...

As far as predictions go, Silversun Pickups and Sabaton sound about right for the next two to drop. Then I'm thinking Gorillaz and Queen will be the next ones to go.

I agree on those next two, but then I think it could be anything anywhere til the end. Very hard to predict.

Really cool album. I regret not putting it a little higher but I think one more listen of Ponyboy would have made me snap for good. Even if, as with clipping, I recognise that's kinda the point.

Could you slip me into the future cycle? Not bothered about being added to the current one but I should be able to continue doing the rankings weekly and I'd like to share a few more albums! Plus it makes sense to have me after John in the cycle given this album was my nomination.

I'm not shocked to see it drop, but I am shocked seeing three very low rankings for it. I thought it was impossible to not feel happy listening to that album!

Modest Mouse made me very irritated and I don't know why because I didn't hate the songs at all. I think it's so inoffensive it loops back to being offensive to me. I had a very long ramble about it that took my list from two PMs to three, so I decided to cut it for my own sanity and won't be repeating it all for the same reason. I'm kinda curious about Float On's hit single status; I probably heard it tens of times in my life since I grew up with my dad listening to typical rock stations every day around the time it released. Yet I couldn't remember a note from the song the second my listens for this project finished, even though I found it pleasant enough. And I definitely didn't remember hearing it before this, either.

clipping is very cool and I'm a lil sad I just don't vibe with the sound at all. Wish I coulda justified putting it higher because I think it's more interesting than everything up to about the halfway point of my list.

It's pretty much just Prince, Queen, MCR, Pearl Jam and Gorillaz I can't see dropping before the top 10. I can see basically anything else in spots 11-15. Max probably isn't too far off, but I still kinda expect Blur or Carnavas before Bob Marley? Although I also assume it's their lowest remaining score so idk

1. Send Me On My Way
2. Martyr
3. Food And Creative Love
4. Cruel Sun
5. Beautiful People
6. Ecstasy
7. Back to the Earth
8. Drum Trip
9. Cat Turned Blue
10. Lost In a Crowd
11. Laugh as the Sun
12. Rain
13. Infinite Tamboura

I found it difficult to rank the four below Drum Trip; there's no bad songs here. A second listen didn't help so I'm gonna throw this in as is. Very few comments on the album as a whole, except that I enjoyed it and it's a pleasant listen.

Whoa. Smiths and The Who both a lot lower than I thought, I kinda expected both nearing the top 10. I'm shocked I was the second highest Smiths ranker especially, I'm not their biggest fan but only two people having The Queen is Dead in their top half is surprising. There Is a Light in particular is an exceptional song.

Hmm... I expect Carnavas and maybe Colony in that batch. Not sure what else, maybe xx or something a lot of people might hate like Parklife? I feel every other album will be very popular with at least a few people.

And yeah, great selection of albums overall. I think everything down to my 19th pick was decent, and it's only 23-25 that I didn't come out of my final listen with some level of fondness for.

Seanchan posted...

I'm repeating what I said during the track ranking week, but KKB sounds like one of those Disney channel sitcoms aimed at tweens/teens. Like, here's the quirky, slightly weird but cute Japanese-English girl who like to sing about her life. It's all so saccarine and G/PG that it throws me off.

Yeah, that feels like a pretty accurate depiction. I think where it differs is while tween-targeted shows would try and take themselves kinda seriously and be down-to-earth and "cool", KKB leans so hard into cutesy and childish that it hits singularity. Like, they lab-made the most adorable-sounding vocalist in the world and then gave her those lyrics to sing. If KKB kept the same style but had lyrics that are more typical of alt rock or something, I'd probably find it just as baffling but far less irritating.

That album drove me utterly crazy. I think it brought out more emotion than anything else on the list, it's just that said emotion was bewilderment. I don't particularly love or hate it but there's an ineffable quality to Kero Kero Bonito. I feel like maybe I should have ranked it higher because it's so much more unique than a lot of my mid-rankings but ultimately the fact I came out of it never wanting to hear her voice again was a pretty big mark against it.

I'm trying to think of what other albums nobody would have really loved, or on the other side of things, ones that nobody would have really hated. Gonna guess Night at the Opera top. I woulda guessed Darkest Days to come last and am obviously glad it did, every other album is head and shoulders above it for me. Maybe Kero Kero Bonito 24th? I don't remember who nominated it but if they didn't submit a list I don't expect it incredibly high.

Sent with time to spare!

1) Take Me Out I feel like the riff does a lot of heavy lifting here, but take nothing away from the rest of the song. One of the best radio rock songs out there.
2) The Dark of the Matinee Oddly catchy. I really liked this one.
3) This Fire I think it might only be this low because I listened to the new version (This Ffire, I think its called?) fairly recently, because this sounded a lot less full in comparison. Its not bad in the slightest, but definitely feels like its lacking something to push it from good to amazing.
4) Come on Home
5) Auf Achse
6) Tell Her Tonight
7) Michael
8) 40
9) Darts of Pleasure
10) Cheating On You It feels like theres a bit much going on, at times. On first listen I felt a little disappointed it didnt go straight from Auf Achse to This Fire, but I liked it a little more on second listen.
11) Jaqueline

Overall, solid enough album. No awful songs, and it's a fun enough time, but I don't have a lot else to say. As a lot of other people have said, Take Me Out is clearly head and shoulders above the rest for me.

I might need one extra day? Have no internet right now at home and it's gonna be a pain to get my list in until it's back up on Monday

Steiner posted...

is it? sincerely?

I'd say so, sincerely. I don't think it's trying to be a super meaningful album and of course that makes it weaker, but I also think it's okay to make things that are enjoyable but forgettable. Muse aren't gonna make it close to a list of my favourite songs or albums with any of their work, but I would rather listen to something that tries to sound good and succeeds than something that has interesting lyrics and ideas but grates on me musically, if that makes sense? Like, I mostly enjoy instrumental jazz, lo-fi and orchestral music, so lyrics usually aren't very important to me unless they really connect (which is rare). And for an example on the catchy side of things, Working on the Highway by Bruce Springsteen is in my head weeks after last listening to it, and I neither like it nor do I think it's a good song. Sometimes things stick in your head, sometimes they don't, what can I say?

1. Supermassive Black Hole
2. Map of the Problematique
3. Starlight Very pretty and playable song. I actually dont like how it follows on from Take a Bow, and the lyrics are ehh, but it sounds excellent enough that I can forgive it.
4. City of Delusion
5. Knights of Cydonia Its obviously good, but I dont feel like the instrumentation quite carries its own weight enough to justify the track being this long.
6. Take a Bow The buildup throughout the track is very satisfying to hear come to a crescendo.
7. Exo-Politics
8. Soldiers Poem
9. Invincible
10. Assassin
11. Glorious
12. Hoodoo

Muses lead singer has a very, very distinctive voice. I cant say that their music is something that really clicks on my end (the lyrics aren't super interesting and most of their songs don't stay with me long after I've heard them), but it sounds excellent and regardless of anything else, thats the most important part.

The Cure - Disintegration > R.E.M. - Automatic for the People > Queens of the Stone Age - Rated R

Hell of an album selection for the competitive week and if we didn't have my pick, the other two would win against almost anything.

I second Bushido Blade

I've finished my initial listens. I'm certain on my top albums but I haven't got a clue which order my mid-ranks go in. Might just submit my list in the next few days, since I'm a little albumed-out, but it's been fun to get out of my typical comfort zone!

1. Like a Prayer The backing vocals are nice, its delightfully camp and upbeat, great song.
2. Till Death Do Us Part
3. Cherish
4. Express Yourself - The start of this sounds like a British auction show. I think either Dickinsons Real Deal, or Bargain Hunt?
5. Dear Jessie The instrumentation throughout feels appropriate for a Dragon Quest town. I havent played Dragon Quest since 2011 but I dont think reminding me of it is a bad thing? The lyrics are saccharine, but not grating, though it doesnt feel like it fits with the songs around it. Still gets a high-ish ranking because it's kinda fun.
6. Love Song
7. Oh Father
8. Spanish Eyes
9. Act Of Contrition
10. Keep it Together
11. Promise to Try This is fine, but it misses the same energy as other tracks on the album.

Not my favourite album, but solid. Zero awful songs, and even the ones I liked less were still pleasant, but nothing stood out to me. I think I prefer most other work by her that I've heard.

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Blue (daba dee daba die)

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Can't believe that ugly-ass Meowth made the finals over Vulpix. Shame on y'all

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1. Platypus This is kinda adorable and I think that alone puts it above the rest of the album in terms of enjoyment
2. Chemical Marriage
3. Ma Meeshka Mow Skwoz
4. Backstrokin
5. Violenza Domestica
6. Desert Search for Techno Allah Its interesting trying to create what I shall politely call Desert music with the synths. Not entirely sold on the judicious nature of their Arabic usage.
7. Carry Stress in the Jaw
8. Merry Go Bye Bye
9. The Bends
10. Phlegmatics
11. Everyone I Went to High School With is Dead
12. Noises
13. After School Special Please dont make songs like this.

I heard California a little while ago, and enjoyed a lot of it (Air-Conditioned Nightmare is particularly great). My resultant optimism for this album was ill-considered. Disco Volante is an album of Noise, and, unfortunately, very little else. Props to it for trying something, but I didn't really enjoy it. I found myself zoning out during long sections of quiet, and during a re-listen that I deemed necessary to have a coherent ranking, I wanted to skip a fair few songs.

I held off (until past the deadline! Apologies, I don't expect to see this in the rankings for the next album but I wanted to post it to keep in the habit of doing these) on ranking this album because I really wasn't expecting to like it, and I was proved... sorta correct? I have a cagy relationship with what I dub "fella rock", and this escaped one of the two traps it tends to fall into, which is being bland and devoid of personality. That said, it launched headfirst into the other trap, which is lyrics that give me the ick. Thankfully, I think I managed to tune out the details by the time I got to the second mention of "little girl" of the album, and it was mostly plain sailing from there! One positive that stood out to me throughout was that the drumwork was very clean, and it's not a bad album in the slightest. There's some interesting themes throughout and I can feel the experiences he's trying to convey, but it just doesn't connect with me. That's okay, but kind of a shame given how much I love a lot of other 80s rock that makes heavy use of synth.

1) Dancing in the Dark This song is miles above everything else on this album. I've not heard it for years, and it's catchy, lyrically kinda fun, and the synth is great.
2) Cover Me
3) I'm on Fire
4) Glory Days
5) Working on the Highway - For some reason, this one also won't leave my head post-listen. I didn't even like it that much, but points for being an earworm, for some reason?
6) Downbound Train
7) My Hometown
8) Born in the U.S.A - The riff from this song is infernally catchy. Unfortunately, chewing polystyrene is more exciting than it, and polishing off a box of the stuff might be less repetitive. It takes talent to come up with that to begin with, though!
9) Bobby Jean
10) No Surrender
11) I'm Goin' Down
12) Darlington County

wallmasterz posted...

Plant Pokmon out here really complicating things for the vegetarians

They're sentient, I couldn't do it. Tropius bananas and Chansey eggs are on the table, though.

I usually get 3 at minimum and 8 or 9 on days where I eat a lot or make veg-heavy meals. I'm probably averaging at 5 or 6.

That's with being vegetarian, having time and ability to cook a lot (and cooking cuisines that are good when veggie), and needing a very high calorie count. No idea how most people are meant to hit that target, honestly.

Meaty