Board 8 > Rank the Tracks Week 18: Hamilton (plus Bat Out of Hell results)

(+) Yeah! (+)

Previous results can be seen here:
https://board8.fandom.com/wiki/Rank_the_Tracks

The rules:
1. Listen to the album in full
2. Rank every track on the album
3. For the results, there will be a curve at the top of each list; two additional points between #1 and #2, and one additional point for the next two ranks. This way, the songs that really stick out to someone get an edge that is not immediately negated by someone else putting it lower. In the case of Demon Days, someone's 15th track will get 1 point, 14th 2 points, 4th 12 points, 3rd 14 points, 2nd 16 points, and 1st 19 points
4. If you want to include comments for individual songs, I will compile them in the results
5. The results will be posted at the beginning of the next topic
6. The deadline to vote is Sunday, July 11 at 8:00 AM EST - though if you are for whatever reason listening to the album around that time, just say so in the topic and I can delay a bit
7. You can sign up to be added to a user cycle for after we finish the queue; once we get through the last planned album, the next person on the list will choose 3 albums which the other users will vote on for the next topic.
7a. To ensure people are being given an actual choice, the three nominated albums must be by different artists. You can otherwise stick to a similar sound or era.
7b. The tiebreaker for these polls will be whichever is listed first in the poll options - make sure to deliver the results in order of your own preference (which will hopefully have the added benefit of influencing people toward your first choice if they can't decide).
7c. The order of the user cycle will be randomly determined, but users will first be sorted into tiers by how many of their nominations have been covered during the early nominations period.

Hamilton track list:
Note: You are only required to list your top 15. Feel free to rank the rest, but anything below 15 will be given 0 points
1. Alexander Hamilton
2. Aaron Burr, Sir
3. My Shot
4. The Story of Tonight
5. The Schuyler Sisters
6. Farmer Refuted
7. You'll Be Back
8. Right Hand Man
9. A Winter's Ball
10. Helpless
11. Satisfied
12. The Story of Tonight (Reprise)
13. Wait for It
14. Stay Alive
15. Ten Duel Commandments
16. Meet Me Inside
17. That Would Be Enough
18. Guns and Ships
19. History Has Its Eyes On You
20. Yorktown (The World Turned Upside Down)
21. What Comes Next?
22. Dear Theodosia
23. Non-Stop
24. What'd I Miss
25. Cabinet Battle #1
26. Take a Break
27. Say No to This
28. The Room Where It Happens
29. Schuyler Defeated
30. Cabinet Battle #2
31. Washington On Your Side
32. One Last Time
33. I Know Him
34. The Adams Administration
35. We Know
36. Hurricane
37. The Reynolds Pamphlet
38. Burn
39. Blow Us All Away
40. Stay Alive (Reprise)
41. It's Quiet Uptown
42. The Election of 1800
43. Your Obedient Servant
44. Best of Wives and Best of Women
45. The World Was Wide Enough
46. Who Loves, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story

Schedule:
7/11: Janelle Monae - The ArchAndroid (TheArkOfTurus)
7/18: The Strokes - Is This It (MoogleKupo141)
7/25: Fiona Apple - Fetch the Bolt Cutters (CasanovaZelos)
8/1: Massive Attack - Mezzanine (Giggsalot)
8/8: The Killers - Hot Fuss (Seanchan)
8/15: Ben Folds Five - Ben Folds Five (jcgamer107)
8/22: Air - Moon Safari (ZaziGuado)
8/29: The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Are You Experienced (Johnbobb)
9/5: Nine Inch Nails - Pretty Hate Machine (Steiner)
9/12: The Knife - Silent Shout (CasanovaZelos)
9/19: Billy Joel - The Stranger (Seanchan)
9/26: Spice Girls - Spice (SpikeSetsFire)
10/3: Iron Maiden - Powerslave (TheArkOfTurus)
10/10: Rancid - ...And Out Come the Wolves (Snake5555555555)
10/17: OutKast - Aquemini (Giggsalot)
10/24: Of Monsters and Men - Beneath the Skin (Jesse_Custer)
10/31: Taylor Swift - Speak Now (Snake5555555555)
11/7: The Avalanches - Since I Left You (SpikeSetsFire)
11/14: Moby - Play (SpikeSetsFire)
11/21: Steely Dan - Can't Buy a Thrill (Seginustemple)

User Cycle sign-ups:
11/28: MetalmindStats
12/5: TheArkOfTurus
12/12: Snake5555555555
12/19: Jesse_Custer
12/26: ZaziGuado
1/2: SpikeSetsFire
1/9: Johnbobb
1/16: VeryInsane
1/23: CasanovaZelos
1/30: Seanchan
2/6: Giggsalot
2/13: RyoCaliente
2/20: darkx
2/27: neonreaper

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Meat Loaf - Bat Out of Hell Results

The participants sorted by deviation from final results:
darkx (2)
BlueCrystalTear (2)
Xeybozn (2)
Seanchan (4)
CasanovaZelos (6)
Jesse_Custer (6)
TheArkOfTurus (6)
ZaziGuado (6)
VeryInsane (6)
HBJDubs (6)
Snake5555555555 (8)
neonreaper (8)
Arti (10)
Raetsel_Lapin (12)
TomNook (12)
Johnbobb (14)
SpikeSetsFire (20)

General Album Comments:
darkx: Despite being another all-time favorite for me and liking/loving every single track, this was surprisingly pretty cut-and-dry for me, the only close one being All Revved Up and Crying Out Loud, which could flip flop any given day.

CasanovaZelos: The first album we're covering I've never particularly liked. The exact brand of music I tend to avoid; hard rock and a rock opera?!? I'll never understand why this album specifically was such a big deal.

Snake5555555555: Love, love, love this album. A perfect rock opera front to back, gleefully and earnestly mixing hard rock, 50s rock and roll, heavy metal imagery, the corny cheese of hair metal before hair metal was a thing, and pop lyrics for songs that are given a grand, epic sense of scope as if they can fill an opera hall, but are unabashedly songs about the teenage experience both as it pertains to the 1970s and to the present day offering timeless messages that will always be relevant for any kid going through adolescent heartbreak. No else but Meat Loaf could infuse these songs with the passionate, manic energy needed to make them work, and to think he was already 30 friggin' years old when this album came out; but, there's no Dawson Casting here, you believe every word that comes out of Meat Loaf's mouth, with only added credibility from having 12 years of adult experience best shown in my favorite track from the album and its most famous, Paradise by the Dashboard Light, in which Meat Loaf, in a magical night of "getting lucky", must subsequently wrestle with the next 60 years of his life in the blink of an eye as his partner wishes for something more than a one night stand. With a 50s rock and roll feel, prog. rock excess with a baseball radio broadcast serving as a not-too-subtle innuendo for the scene, and both Meat Loaf and Ellen Foley each taking a turn at commanding the track, it feels like the perfect encapsulation of the romantic experience and an incredible anti-duet. Two Out of Three Ain't Bad is my favorite ML vocal performance on the album, with a lulling soft rock atmosphere and some of the best lyric writing on the album too. The spoken word intro of Hot Summer Night feels like it should be placed underneath a DeviantArt Sonic Unleashed werewolf fan drawing, it's the maximum Gothic edgelord piece, and yet it works because it feels so genuine when placed into the context of the album, when your a teenager and your relationship with someone else feels earth-shatteringly important. INCREDIBLE instrumentation on this track too. Bat Out of Hell is the most metal-influenced track on this album, with memorable riffs and teen tragedy storytelling updated for the 70s. Revved Up is a little forgettable but I still enjoy it, especially how it speeds up in the outro. I'm not too keen on the slow ballads, though I do enjoy Meat Loaf's vocal performances on them and Heaven Can Wait still possesses some solid songwriting, but outside of the album context I don't find myself playing them often.

I've known this album since I was little, my parents play it all the time, and so I definitely have a bias and soft spot for it. However, I genuinely think this album is an incredible piece of musical storytelling, fun rockin' riffs, songs you can belt your heart out too, and even songs that will make you tear up at life's downer moments. An essential piece of the 70s hard rock canon.

Raetsel_Lapin: This is only the fourth album I had listened to at all before this topic--and, along with Rumours, one of the only two I knew by heart. This is one of a very few albums we had when I was growing up and is likely tremendously responsible for my tastes in music.

While I tend to support albums I'm less familiar with, I backed this one because I figured it'd be nice to have a week that's basically "free" since I already like and know how I feel about everything here. Of course, I wasn't really prepared for all the memories associated with the album and now my free week is filled with flashbacks and personal reflections on how it has impacted my life. I suppose the joke's on me then, but it's still a good album.

Seanchan: So glad to see some appreciation for this album. It's probably the one I've heard the most in my life. On a certain level it's hard for me to truly know if it's good or not, because it is simply ingrained into my being. I heard this album on every road trip we took as a family, which was quite a few.

With your parents in control of the music, you listened to what they wanted to listen to. So that was a lot of classics from the 50s and 60s, Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, etc. And then there was this bombastic, sprawling, soaring album. From the mind of a child, the title track was a revelation of awesomeness and it seemed to go on forever. Then that song with the weird talking at the start (yes. YES!). The slow, boring song. The song with the really cool end part. Two out of three ain't bad, which even as a kid I recognized as a nice song. The song with the baseball in it for some reason. Then the other slow, boring song that we skipped a lot of the time.

Even as an adult now, I still find myself coming back to this on long trips. And even though I ranked them at the bottom, I've gained an appreciation for the ballads. I did a listen of this tonight just sitting outside and it didn't feel right. When you're in the car, you can sing along with reckless abandon and there's no one giving you that "you crazy" side eye. Because when I hear these songs I cannot help but want to sing (which isn't good for anybody, lol).

All this to say that the album Bat Out of Hell holds a special place in my heart. I cannot hear that opening guitar lick without feeling a certain sense of nostalgia for being a kid, sitting in the backseat of the car, staring out the window as the country rolled by.

Jesse_Custer: I liked this album a lot more than I was expecting to. Good nomination, it hit the spot for whatever mood I was in tonight.

BlueCrystalTear: While none of these are "I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)" this is still the most consistently great of the four Bats (yes, Braver Than We Are counts), and it's still a phenomenal listen each time. It's quite hard to rank these because they're all so good. I may have ranked them differently on a different day.

Also, how can you not understand the love for this? It's got timeless instrumentation (a fusion of 50s and 70s), beautifully angsty lyrics appealing to teens and twenty-somethings, considerable length ideal for car trips, and a cohesiveness that feels like a full listen.

RIP Jim Steinman. Rock will never be the same without you. (P.S. I last listened to this album two months ago when Steinman passed. That one hit me hard.)

ZaziGuado: This was a fun album. Paradise by the Dashboard Light is and always will be the headliner. It's truly one of the best and most timeless songs to ever be written and performed. The baseball broadcast is often the most notable part, but the song becomes legendary as soon as we exit the broadcast. It's such a wild ride. I greatly enjoyed the top four songs in my rankings. Bat Out of Hell was a very fun opener. For Crying Out Loud was a fantastic ballad to end the album with. I could see myself playing it again on a whim during a lazy weekend day or on an especially long drive.

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General album comments (continued):

VeryInsane: Honestly, this one just wasnt for me. I remember quite a few of these songs as a kid, but listening to them again just didnt really do much for me.

That said, there are plenty of elements that I appreciate, I like the generally catchy choruses, and the themes make me think of a rock opera/Broadway show. The slow songs are straight ballads, while the regular songs are arena rock anthems. Decent mix in between.

Johnbobb: Definitely not one of the stronger albums so far. It's iconic of course, and for understandable reason (the album cover alone is unforgettable) but I've just never been a fan of this type of late 70s/early 80s glam/hair metal.

Arti: First album in this topic series that I saw that I was very familiar with, as my dad and I listened to this album a lot. Still a big fan of it.

TomNook: Meat Loaf is someone I wasn't very familiar with, but always had been meaning to familiarize myself with, so this was a good time for that!

He's a great singer, and I really like the more energetic songs with his vocal style. Not to say his slower songs are bad, in fact they are good too, but they were pretty consistently my least favorite ones. My biggest complaint about the albumn are the extended talkie segments...which ironically landed in my two favorite songs, which was unfortunate, because I'd like them even more without it! You Took the Words Right Out of My Mouth felt like the perfect consistency of all the tracks, by not being pure energy nor a slow song; it was just very pleasant the whole time. Paradise by the Dashboard Light meanwhile was the good 'variety' song, where the song is long and changes a lot throughout. So these two stood out the most for different reasons.

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Bat Out of Hell track ranking

7. Heaven Can Wait (Track #3)
Score: 37 (Average Rank: 5.88/7)
Biggest Fan(s): SpikeSetsFire (#3)
Biggest Detractor(s): darkx, CasanovaZelos, Raetsel_Lapin, Jesse_Custer, BlueCrystalTear, ZaziGuado, VeryInsane, TomNook (#7)

BlueCrystalTear: "Heaven Can Wait" has nice piano and is still a good listen. It's just slower and duller than the others on this album, in part due to its repetitiveness. Competition is a good thing.

neonreaper: When I listen to the album I tend to feel almost bummed when this song comes on but a few moments in, I'm hooked. I think this should have been the second song on the album, maybe the fourth.

6. For Crying Out Loud (Track #7)
Score: 37 (Average Rank: 5.82/7)
Biggest Fan(s): SpikeSetsFire, ZaziGuado, HBJDubs (#4)
Biggest Detractor(s): Snake5555555555, Seanchan, TheArkOfTurus, Xeybozn, Arti (#7)

BlueCrystalTear: "For Crying Out Loud" is three minutes longer than it needs to be. It's fantastic at points but gets sleepy due to its elongation. But writing operatic rock songs that are 8+ minutes long is a Steinman thing. That's what makes the legendary stuff legendary (you know the ones, but that doesn't work here.

neonreaper: I kinda love this song but I also tend to pick apart some of the arrangements - wish there was a percussion tease on the first 'chorus', and I wish they did less with the orchestra in the last 30 seconds or so. I think my problem is that I sorta skipped out on these types of songs as a kid and unfairly compare the song to stuff that came out a decade or two later.

5. All Revved Up with No Place to Go (Track #4)
Score: 55 (Average Rank: 4.94/7)
Biggest Fan(s): CasanovaZelos, Raetsel_Lapin, TomNook (#3)
Biggest Detractor(s): neonreaper, HBJDubs (#7)

BlueCrystalTear: "All Revved Up with No Place to Go" is the kind of song the title implies. It gets you GOING. Great instrumentation and just good stuff in general.

neonreaper: I like the song but not as much as the other songs on the album.

4. You Took the Words Right Out of My Mouth (Hot Summer Night) (Track #2)
Score: 101 (Average Rank: 3.35/7)
Biggest Fan(s): Raetsel_Lapin, SpikeSetsFire, Johnbobb, TomNook (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): TheArkOfTurus (#6)

BlueCrystalTear: "Hot Summer Night" has the Steinman monologue to start, wolves with red roses and whatnot. This whole song shows how good he was at innuendo.

neonreaper: A simple pop-rock love song. To me this song is probably the biggest Springsteen influenced song. And of course we have to have an odd spoken word exchange about wolves and leading guys on.

3. Two Out of Three Ain't Bad (Track #5)
Score: 104 (Average Rank: 3.18/7)
Biggest Fan(s): Jesse_Custer, VeryInsane (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): Johnbobb (#7)

BlueCrystalTear: "Two Out of Three Ain't Bad" is a fantastic ballad that is significantly better than the other two. It's got the hooks and wonderful lyrics that stand out.

neonreaper: It's almost a parody of an Elvis song but it works.

2. Paradise by the Dashboard Light (Track #6)
Score: 122 (Average Rank: 2.65/7)
Biggest Fan(s): darkx, CasanovaZelos, Snake5555555555, ZaziGuado (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): SpikeSetsFire (#7)

BlueCrystalTear: "Paradise By the Dashboard Light" is a ROMP. Fun music, fun lyrics, and Ellen Foley. There's also the allegorical baseball bit playing on the car radio while they're boning in the backseat. Epic stuff.

neonreaper: This is one of the best titles of any song ever and the song is such a classic. The Rizzuto part building up to STOP RIGHT THERE! is perfect.

1. Bat Out of Hell (Track #1)
Score: 139 (Average Rank: 2.18/7)
Biggest Fan(s): Seanchan, TheArkOfTurus, BlueCrystalTear, neonreaper, HBJDubs, Xeybozn, Arti (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): SpikeSetsFire (#6)

BlueCrystalTear: The title track's opening guitar riff is gripping and exciting, and the song just screams "EPIC" from the start. Its soaring vocals help you know you're in for a ride.

neonreaper: The title track is Steinman in a nutshell. Essentially a fantasy of this bad boy biker finding purity and happiness in the arms of a lover, only to be such a badass that he has to leave on his motorcycle... and he has to do it in such a badass way that he ends up dying. Steinman is truly the 'master of excess'. The song is never boring and the music follows the story perfectly. Love this song. Steinman captured the experience of being a teenager, where everything is so important and every feeling so intense.

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The Hamilton film released July 4th weekend 2020. Nice throwback!

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Probably going to wait until the last night for this one. I've listened to this an absurd number of times, but I still feel like I want to shuffle my rankings after every song.

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Tag to remind myself to do this.

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Hopefully I'll find time for this one at some point. My other music forum is doing a midyear poll for albums from this year and I wanna try to listen to as many albums as I can before that deadline. Hamilton is a bit difficult to squeeze in. I know my #1 and have a sense of the next set, but I don't know the full work by heart.

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torn between just ranking the required 15 and actually trying to rank 46 tracks

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Not sure its gonna happen this week. I had hoped to get a listen or two last week but that didnt happen.

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Bump

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little late since it's been over a week since Kendrick, but just found this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_bM-Fv3XcA

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Up

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Tag, this one I can do

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I've listened to this album quite a lot - it was my daughter's coping mechanism during the pandemic.

I feel like I won't have time to give the write-ups I'd really like to. My top 2 are pretty clearly my top 2. The next 6 are a bit more interchangeable. I can rely on my top 14 being my top 14, after that there are another handful of songs that are about the same, including the Cabinet Battles (they are great, perhaps I've heard them too many times), Burn and Aaron Burr, Sir. In general I think the second half has weaker songs, but still good stuff to enjoy if you're listening to it over and over. I think Hurricane needed to be a banger in terms of placement on the album, even if it's supposed to be more contemplative content-wise.

Wait For It - Leslie Odom kills it, and it's impressive on stage as well. Here is Burr telling you exactly what he's all about.
Yorktown - This song is in credibly hype. Following Guns and Ships, and History Has Its Eyes On You, this song is a nice catharsis and so easy to enjoy.

Right Hand Man - I found this easy to enjoy and has a lot of staying power.
The Schuyler Sisters
Satisfied
My Shot - I've seen LMM discuss this being the most difficult song to perform, and he did it this way so the rest of the play would feel easier.
Ten Duel Commandments - Clever and fun, it's an essential Hamilton song.
Alexander Hamilton
Helpless - This song gets stuck in my head more than I care to admit haha.
Guns And Ships
Non-Stop
You'll Be Back
What'd I Miss
Who Lives Who Dies Who Tells Your Story
Say No To This

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tag. just watched In the Heights so this is timely.

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Decided to wrap up my mid-year album list today, so I will hopefully listen to Hamilton soon. I figured I'd go ahead and share that list in case anyone here wants suggestions for albums from this year.



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I have been really behind on new albums this year, but I did like St. Vincent's

albums I'm meaning to listen to:
AFI - Bodies
Twenty One Pilots - Scaled and Icy
Hayley Williams - FLOWERS for VASES
R.A.P. Ferreira - Bob's Son
Gaspard Auge & Justice - Escapades


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bump

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Somewhat easy to pick my favorite 15, but difficult to sort them. Few musicals have such ample quality and quantity of songs.

1. Your Obedient Servant - This track has incredible replay value in my opinion. I love the style whiplash, between the dignified strings & harpsichord that are more of that era (to match the almost comedically formal way Burr and Hamilton signed their letters to each other in real life) and the dark hip-hop beat that plays as they really start digging into each other.
2. Hurricane - Captures the "me vs the world" mindset of Hamilton from the opening chord
3. You'll Be Back - Stupidly catchy
4. One Last Time - A powerful and bittersweet sendoff
5. Blow Us All Away - Love the foreshadowing here as the song calls back frequently to 'Ten Duel Commandments', and the piano dissonance that further hints something bad's about to go down
6. Yorktown (The World Turned Upside Down) - Major chills once they got to this one in the live show. An huge exclamation point to cap off the war section.
7. Right Hand Man - The first of many great war raps in Act 1
8. Wait for It - This here number is the one that won Leslie the Tony
9. The Election of 1800 - Essentially a reprise of "Washington On Your Side", but with more impact on the story as it brings the Burr/Hamilton rivalry to a head. The ensemble also really shines.
10. Washington On Your Side - Daveed again spitting mad fire, over a beat that's more in the pocket than the frantic Act 1 raps
11. Ten Duel Commandments
12. Guns and Ships
13. Non-Stop
14. The Room Where It Happens
15. Stay Alive - I'm a general: WEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeee

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Satisfied
Wait for It
The Room Where It Happens
Non-Stop
My Shot
Alexander Hamilton
Helpless
Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story
Yorktown (The World Turned Upside Down)
You'll Be Back
It's Quiet Uptown
Guns and Ships
The Schuyler Sisters
Burn
The World Was Wide Enough
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Cabinet Battle #1
What'd I Miss
One Last Time
Right Hand Man
Dear Theodosia
What Comes Next?
Cabinet Battle #2
Aaron Burr, Sir
Ten Duel Commandments
Say No to This
Your Obedient Servant
The Reynolds Pamphlet
Washington On Your Side
I Know Him
The Election of 1800
Hurricane
That Would Be Enough
Take a Break
Blow Us All Away
Stay Alive (Reprise)
Stay Alive
We Know
Farmer Refuted
History Has Its Eyes On You
Best of Wives and Best of Women
The Story of Tonight
A Winter's Ball
The Adams Administration
The Story of Tonight (Reprise)
Meet Me Inside
Schuyler Defeated

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Up

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bump

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Ill try to do this tomorrow if Im out of the hospital

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Up

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Up

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Satisfied
Wait for It
The Room Where It Happens
Alexander Hamilton
Helpless
My Shot
The Reynolds Pamphlet
Washington On Your Side
Non-Stop
Ten Duel Commandments
The Schuyler Sisters
Say No to This
Guns and Ships
Burn
Right Hand Man


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1. Non-Stop
2. Satisfied
3. Yorktown (The World Turned Upside Down)
4. Wait for It
5. My Shot
6. Burn
7. The Room Where It Happens
8. Alexander Hamilton
9. Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story
10. Guns and Ships
11. Right Hand Man
12. What'd I Miss
13. One Last Time
14. Your Obedient Servant
15. Helpless
16. The World Was Wide Enough
17. It's Quiet Uptown
18. Hurricane
19. The Election of 1800
20. Stay Alive
21. Washington On Your Side
22. Ten Duel Commandments
23. Say No to This
24. The Reynolds Pamphlet
25. Dear Theodosia
26. The Schuyler Sisters
27. Cabinet Battle #1
28. Cabinet Battle #2
29. We Know
30. Stay Alive (Reprise)
31. That Would Be Enough
32. Blow Us All Away
33. You'll Be Back
34. Take a Break
35. Farmer Refuted
36. Meet Me Inside
37. Aaron Burr, Sir
38. The Story of Tonight (Reprise)
39. What Comes Next?
40. History Has Its Eyes On You
41. I Know Him
42. The Story of Tonight
43. Schuyler Defeated
44. Best of Wives and Best of Women
45. The Adams Administration
46. A Winter's Ball

In retrospect, I'm very glad we're just counting the top 15s. Even songs in the 30s are ones I like a lot, I hate tanking some songs enough as it is.

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1: The World Was Wide Enough
2: Non-Stop
3: Hurricane
4: Meet Me Inside
5: Wait For It
6: It's Quiet Uptown
7: Your Obedient Servant
8: The Election of 1800
9: Dear Theodosia
10: Burn
11: Take A Break
12: The Room Where It Happens
13: Ten Duel Commandments
14: Yorktown (The World Turned Upside Down)
15: Washington on Your Side

16: What Comes Next?
17: I Know Him
18: You'll Be Back
19: Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story
20: Schuyler Defeated
21: Stay Alive (Reprise)
22: Stay Alive
23: That Would Be Enough
24: What'd I Miss
25: My Shot
26: Alexander Hamilton
27: Cabinet Battle #2
28: Say No to This
29: We Know
30: Right Hand Man
31: Satisfied
32: The Schuyler Sisters
33: Blow Us All Away
34: The Reynolds Pamphlet
35: Cabinet Battle #1
36: Aaron Burr, Sir
37: The Adams Administration
38: Helpless
39: History Has Its Eyes On You
40: The Story of Tonight (Reprise)
41: One Last Time
42: Guns and Ships
43: The Story of Tonight
44: Farmer Refuted
45: Best of Wives and Best of Women
46: A Winter's Ball



Too many good songs. Listened to this five times and my list has been almost completely different each time--my number one song us constant and the bottom six songs are always the bottom six, but besides that? I think everything in the top 32 has been near the top of the list at some point, but I have to stop eventually. I need a break, so this version of the list shall have to suffice.
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1. What'd I Miss
2. You'll Be Back
3. Who Loves, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story
4. Guns and Ships
5. Yorktown (The World Turned Upside Down)
6. The Schuyler Sisters
7. Cabinet Battle #1
8. The World Was Wide Enough
9. Helpless
10. The Reynolds Pamphlet
11. Washington On Your Side
12. Burn
13. Aaron Burr, Sir
14. I Know Him
15. My Shot
16. Alexander Hamilton
17. Cabinet Battle #2
18. Satisfied
19. Stay Alive
20. Dear Theodosia
21. What Comes Next?
22. The Room Where It Happens
23. Non-Stop
24. Right Hand Man
25. The Election of 1800
26. Farmer Refuted
27. Say No to This
28. That Would Be Enough
29. Stay Alive (Reprise)
30. Your Obedient Servant
31. Ten Duel Commandments
32. Wait for It
33. The Story of Tonight
34. It's Quiet Uptown
35. The Story of Tonight (Reprise)
36. Blow Us All Away
37. We Know
38. One Last Time
39. Take a Break
40. History Has Its Eyes On You
41. Hurricane
42. Meet Me Inside
43. Schuyler Defeated
44. Best of Wives and Best of Women
45. A Winter's Ball
46. The Adams Administration

This was difficult, goddamn. Essentially any song featuring Daveed Diggs rapping got huge bonus points (maybe I'll nominate a clipping. album for this topic sometime) because he's by far the best rapping vocalist among the cast. Meanwhile, Phillipa Soo is easily the best traditional vocalist so any song with her gets some bonus points too. Some got dropped because there's like 30 reprises (if combined with You'll Be Back, King George's songs go way up).

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Last day to vote

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I want to give some impressions now because I'm not sure I'm going to get a list of 15 songs together before the deadline.

You'll be surprised to find out that, yeah, Hamilton is pretty damn good! I started watching the recording on Disney+...but I haven't finished it yet (I'm about 2/3s through) as time has been limited this week. I then listened to the album on a long drive this morning.

I think it does a great disservice to only listen to the album. This is designed as a play, and while I think the album is very good, I think it loses a lot not being experienced in its original form. There's no costumes, no body language and faces, no audience reaction.

I feel like the first half seemed better than the second.

I'm not sure if this is a hot take or not but...is LMM possibly the weak link here, at least in terms of the singing? Not that he's bad, just that the actors playing Aaron Burr, Washington, the Schuyler sisters all are just tremendous talents.

King George might be my favorite part of the whole thing. Super, stupid catchy songs.

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Ranked the ones I thought could potentially get top 15 for me and then re-arranged them until it looked right. Havn't participated earlier weeks but love this album so had to give it a try.

1. Non-Stop
2. Helpless
3. Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story
4. You'll Be Back
5. It's Quiet Uptown
6. Burn
7. My Shot
8. Satisfied
9. Guns and Ships
10. Right Hand Man
11. Stay Alive
12. Take a Break
13. The Room Where It Happens
14. Yorktown (The World Turned Upside Down)
15. Cabinet Battle #2
16. Wait For It
17. Cabinet Battle #1
18. Alexander Hamilton
19. The World Was Wide Enough
20. Hurricane

1 Wait for It
2 Satisfied
3 Ten Duel Commandments
4 Washington On Your Side
5 The Story of Tonight
6 The Election of 1800
7 Burn
8 Alexander Hamilton
9 Right Hand Man
10 Yorktown (The World Turned Upside Down)
11 Non-Stop
12 Guns and Ships
13 What'd I Miss
14 The Story of Tonight (Reprise)
15 The Schuyler Sisters

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Final bump

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Thought I was just going to watch the part I hadn't seen and instead watched the whole movie again!

I've got a rough list now but I'll have to decide top 15 in the morning. It might not be until later morning though. If you could hold off until noon, that would be good though I'll try to get it posted as soon as I am able.

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1. Satisfied
2. The Schuyler Sisters
3. Take a Break
4. You'll Be Back
5. Alexander Hamilton
6. Burn
7. Cabinet Battle #1
8. Right Hand Man
9. My Shot
10. Wait For It
11. Non-Stop
12. Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story
13. Say No To This
14. Ten Duel Commandments
15. Yorktown
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16. What'd I Miss
17. Stay Alive
18. The Election of 1800
19. I Know Him
20. What Comes Next
21. The World Was Wide Enough
22. Dear Theodosia
23. The Story of Tonight
24. Washington On Your Side
25. Aaron Burr, Sir
26. It's Quiet Uptown
27. The Room Where It Happens
28. One Last Time
29. The Story of Tonight (Reprise)
30. History Has Its Eyes On You
31. Stay Alive (Reprise)
32. We Know
33. The Reynolds Pamphlet
34. Your Obedient Servant
35. Helpless
36. Blow Us All Away
37. Farmer Refuted
38. Guns and Ships
39. The Adams Administration
40. Hurricane
41. Cabinet Battle #2
42. That Would Be Enough
43. Best of Wives and Best of Women
44. A Winter's Ball
45. Meet Me Inside
46. Schuyler Defeated

Hamilton is such an amazing play for so many reasons. It's an incredible ability to take a history lesson and make it fascinating without even doing so in a purely dramatic tone, while injecting amazing music and making the characters colorful while still mostly fitting their real life, and none of it seems out of place.

It's a very hard albumn to rank, as I've gone through phases where certain songs are stuck in my head, and I just have this itch where I need to listen to that one over and over...and that applies to almost every single song at one point. And not only is it difficult to rank purely from an audio perspective, but if you factor in the story elements of each song, it's even harder, because some events feel like they should weigh more in a ranking. Some introduce or develope a particular character which makes the song feel more enjoyable, especially in the full context of the album. It's just a very hard thing to do.

Someone here already said they liked the first half better, and while I'd agree (I love the second half too though!), I think there is one obvious reason why: the female characters, while maybe not impactful much in the plot, are a super important part musically. I personally prefer their vocals, but regardless of that, they also act as a palate cleanse of sort, to keep the soundtrack mixed up. The single weakest stretch of the albumn is Room Where It Happened all the way to Hurricane. This is a 9 song stretch where you don't have a single non-ensemble female singing in any song, except for a short 15 second part of Eliza during Schuyler Defeated.

I could spend a couple hours if I wanted to write about each song extensive, but that's just a lot of work. Angelica and Eliza are typically the stars of most songs, which my Top 3 makes obvious. King George is hilarious, and while I like the 2 reprises, the first one is still by far the best. Thomas Jefferson is such a troll, and his trolling is at its best during the first Cabinet Battle, which was one of the hypest moments of the play.

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Raetsel_Lapin posted...

4: Meet Me Inside

This is the most bizarre ranking in the topic. I can't help but think you confused it with something else! Even if you like the characters involved, I can't grasp putting it ahead of Right Hand Man, Stay Alive, and Ten Duel Commandments.

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1. Wait for It
2. The Room Where It Happens
3. Satisfied
4. Non-Stop
5. It's Quiet Uptown
6. My Shot
7. What'd I Miss
8. Burn
9. Meet Me Inside
10. Right Hand Man
11. Dear Theodosia
12. The Reynolds Pamphlet
13. Helpless
14. Washington On Your Side
15. The Schuyler Sisters
16. The World Was Wide Enough
17. Ten Duel Commandments
18. Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story
19. That Would Be Enough
20. Cabinet Battle #1
21. Yorktown (The World Turned Upside Down)
22. Take a Break
23. Alexander Hamilton
24. Cabinet Battle #2
25. Stay Alive (Reprise)
26. You'll Be Back
27. We Know
28. Say No to This
29. What Comes Next?
30. Your Obedient Servant
31. The Story of Tonight
32. One Last Time
33. History Has Its Eyes On You
34. The Election of 1800
35. Guns and Ships
36. I Know Him
37. Aaron Burr, Sir
38. Blow Us All Away
39. The Story of Tonight (Reprise)
40. Stay Alive
41. Hurricane
42. Best of Wives and Best of Women
43. Farmer Refuted
44. The Adams Administration
45. Schuyler Defeated
46. A Winter's Ball

Like others, I found Hamilton quite a difficult album to rank (excepting my locked-in top and bottom spots) - and while its sheer quantity and intentional repetition undoubtedly has something to do with that, so too does its sheer quality. Hamilton often shifts tones at the drop of a hat, rather necessarily for an album of its length, and I feel it tends to ace integrating the changes into the whole. That sort of harmonious syncretism suffuses the entire effort narratively and visually, too; I might even argue it's what Hamilton's artistically all about. Speaking of visuals, it's weird to listen to Hamilton without accompanying depictions of the action - usually via animatic videos (which I highly recommend) in my case, though its physicality on stage adds another dimension. It's a change that harms some songs more than others, but it doesn't really sink any, let alone the album as a whole. I could write much more about Hamilton, and in fact I have privately, but this doesn't feel like the place for a short essay's worth of thoughts.

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TomNook posted...

Someone here already said they liked the first half better, and while I'd agree (I love the second half too though!), I think there is one obvious reason why: the female characters, while maybe not impactful much in the plot, are a super important part musically. I personally prefer their vocals, but regardless of that, they also act as a palate cleanse of sort, to keep the soundtrack mixed up. The single weakest stretch of the album is Room Where It Happened all the way to Hurricane. This is a 9 song stretch where you don't have a single non-ensemble female singing in any song, except for a short 15 second part of Eliza during Schuyler Defeated.

...Angelica and Eliza are typically the stars of most songs, which my Top 3 makes obvious. King George is hilarious, and while I like the 2 reprises, the first one is still by far the best. Thomas Jefferson is such a troll, and his trolling is at its best during the first Cabinet Battle, which was one of the hypest moments of the play.

That's a great point about the women! And you're absolutely right how their great (and different) voices add to the total composition. Agree with your other character points as well, though I have to say Burr is great as well, especially when he gets to sing. I'll reiterate that I think Hamilton himself is likely the weakest part; his acting, emoting, and rapping are well done but his singing voice is lesser (for me) than most of the rest of the cast.

It was only on my second watch that I realized that there were quite a few actors who doubled (or more) up on characters...

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Anyway, here's a ranking. The last 5-6 slots were tough to figure out and I think there's a good bit of interchangeability if I was doing this at a different point.

1. You'll Be Back
2. Dear Theodosia
3. My Shot
4. Satisfied
5. Helpless
6. The Room Where It Happens
7. Alexander Hamilton
8. Who Loves, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story
9. Wait for It
10. Ten Duel Commandments
11. The Schuyler Sisters
12. Cabinet Battle #1
13. Right Hand Man
14. The Reynolds Pamphlet
15. Burn

Other songs I considered for my ranking (unordered):
That Would Be Enough
Guns and Ships
History Has Its Eyes On You
What Comes Next?
Washington On Your Side
One Last Time
I Know Him
It's Quiet Uptown

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TomNook posted...

This is the most bizarre ranking in the topic. I can't help but think you confused it with something else! Even if you like the characters involved, I can't grasp putting it ahead of Right Hand Man, Stay Alive, and Ten Duel Commandments.

Well, my tastes tend to be incompatible with everything, so if you ever agree with me on anything you can safely dismiss it as atmospheric noise. That being said, I do have reasons:

1: I can be easily manipulated by songs with certain low tones, for want of a better description. That low, thumping heartbeat sound is pure heaven to me--you can try arguing I can't give a song incredibly high scores based purely on being in love with a specific note, but just watch me do it anyway.

I've yet to find a better descriptor of what triggers that reaction in me or how to describe it--Kendrick Lamar's ADHD & Carly Rae's Run Away With Me also trigger it--but once it hits me, the song is basically guaranteed to get at least a 9 from me.

2: I also enjoy songs with a fun amount of anger. The argument between Hamilton & Washington is the fun type--neither of them is trying to kill the other, it's not overly vulgar, it's just very tense and I still get chills from the song even after listening to the album far too many times in one week.

3: I also like songs that don't overstay their welcome. This song is short, but it accomplishes everything it needs. In under two minutes we get Washington's reaction to the duel, a fight between him and Hamilton, some plot advancement with the latter being sent home, all while perfectly embodying a specific emotion & quite literally hitting the right notes for me.

It is one of the most "me" songs imaginable and is always near the top of my lists as one of the absolute greatest songs in this entire topic series. That it somehow didn't get first from me is a testament to how fantastic to the album truly is.
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I just woke up. Since Seanchan has submitted, I'll go ahead and count the results now.

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