Board 8 > Rank the Tracks 102: blur - Parklife (+ Modest Mouse results)

(+) Yeah! (+)

poll for VeryInsane's week:
Queens of the Stone Age - ...Like Clockwork
vs.
Run the Jewels - Run the Jewels 2
vs.
Gorillaz - Plastic Beach

Previous results can be seen here:
https://board8.fandom.com/wiki/Rank_the_Tracks
https://board8.fandom.com/wiki/Rank_the_Tracks_Set_2

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. For albums with greater than 15 tracks, everything ranked below #15 will be given 0 points and the scale for the top 15 will be the same as a 15-track album. For albums with more than 20 tracks, you only have to list your top 15 (with 16-20, I still like having the average rank listed)
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, February 19th at 4:00 PM Central Time
7. You can sign up to be added to the user cycle (a new user will be added to the end of the current cycle as long as there are four weeks remaining) - 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. I have added a tiered vote structure - the least popular album will be removed and its backup votes distributed to the other two entrants.
8. Starting with the next cycle, every four weeks will be a competitive week where those listed choose a single album to face off against others.
9. Skits and tracks under 40 seconds will be excluded from the rankings unless argued otherwise

blur - Parklife track list:
1. Girls & Boys
2. Tracy Jacks
3. End of a Century
4. Parklife
5. Bank Holiday
6. Badhead
7. The Debt Collector
8. Far Out
9. To the End
10. London Loves
11. Trouble in the Message Centre
12. Clover Over Dover
13. Magic America
14. Jubilee
15. This is a Low
16. Lot 105

Current cycle:
2/19: Johnbobb (clipping. - Splendor & Misery)
2/26: Great_Paul bonus (My Chemical Romance - The Black Parade)
3/5: VeryInsane
3/12: FoolFantastic
3/19: Seanchan
3/26: Johnbobb/ZaziGuado/jcgamer107
4/2: Giggsalot
4/9: RyoCaliente
4/16: darkx
4/23: Snake5555555555/Raetsel_Lapin/Seanchan
4/30: neonreaper
5/7: Great_Paul
5/14: jcgamer107
5/21: Giggsalot/MetalmindStats/rwlh
5/28: ChichiriMuyo
6/4: BlueCrystalTear
6/11: rwlh
6/18: NFUN
6/25: HBJDubs/firefdr/NFUN

Future cycle:
6/25: MetalmindStats
7/2: HBJDubs
7/9: Raetsel_Lapin
7/16: competitive week
7/23: Steiner
7/30: Snake5555555555
8/6: Jesse_Custer
8/13: competitive week
8/20: ZaziGuado
8/27: firefdr

Run the Jewels 2 > Plastic Beach > ...Like Clockwork

A member of my top 100 albums, kicking off with a song that has always sat within my all-time top 10. This is the definitive Britpop album to me. All the tracks are catchy, but the album never falls into the usual pitfall of most pop records where only the big singles really work. There are big hits here, but the tracks between take on their own distinct style. Despite blur's occasionally bratty attitude, the variety here reveals genuine musical brilliance.

My ranking:
Girls & Boys
To the End
Parklife
This is a Low
End of a Century
Tracy Jacks
Clover Over Dover
London Loves
Trouble in the Message Centre
Jubilee
Magic America
Bank Holiday
Far Out
Badhead
The Debt Collector
Lot 105

Plastic Beach > Run the Jewels > Like Clockwork

I almost always prefer doing new entries over repeat artists but Gorillaz are my favorite band and Plastic Beach is probably in my top 10 albums, or close to it

Johnbobb posted...

Plastic Beach > Run the Jewels > Like Clockwork

I almost always prefer doing new entries over repeat artists but Gorillaz are my favorite band and Plastic Beach is probably in my top 10 albums, or close to it

I picked it as a callback to our near 2 year anniversary (I think it was our first album? And it will start at 104/105 which is close to it

Like Clockwork > RTJ > Plastic Beach but all are great

Gorillaz - Plastic Beach > Queens of the Stone Age - ...Like Clockwork > Run the Jewels - Run the Jewels 2

Plastic Beach > Like Clockwork > Run the Jewels

Despite all of the musicians I'd like to see get in that haven't, I would agree two years is long enough.

Yay, the brand new album I was hoping to nominate next week is starting off with a 92 on Metacritic. Gonna force through a women in electronic pop week.

Girls & Boys
End of a Century
Tracy Jacks
Parklife
This is a Low
Clover Over Dover
To the End
Far Out
Badhead
London Loves
Trouble in the Message Centre
Magic America
The Debt Collector
Jubilee
Lot 105
Bank Holiday

Like Clockwork > Plastic Beach > RTJ2

Plastic Beach > Clockwork > RTJ2

FoolFantastic posted...

Yay, the brand new album I was hoping to nominate next week is starting off with a 92 on Metacritic. Gonna force through a women in electronic pop week.

Paramore?

Johnbobb posted...

Paramore?

Caroline Polachek - and now it's jumped up to a 96, which is a few points higher than anything from last year. I'm sure it will fall a bit with a few more reviews, but it's looking like a serious album of the year contender.

bump

Modest Mouse - Good News for People Who Love Bad News results

The participants sorted by deviation from final results:
HBJDubs (17)
Giggsalot (21)
FoolFantastic (22)
Great_Paul (22)
ZaziGuado (22)
VeryInsane (26)
neonreaper (38)
ChichiriMuyo (42)
Seanchan (47)
Johnbobb (49)
Raetsel_Lapin (59)

General Album Comments

FoolFantastic: My general feeling remains that, despite being their big breakthrough thanks to Float On, this feels like a step down from their earlier albums. The poppier sound doesn't work for me as much.

Giggsalot: I actually like this album a lot. it's clearly not as ambitious as their previous work, and the quality is pretty up and down, but I think the 4 or 5 best songs here are as good as anything they ever did. they were never able to nail it down consistently, but when it works I actually really like the pop sound on these guys - stuff like float on and black cadillacs are a joy. plus, the world at large is up there with bankrupt on selling as "modest mouse song most likely to make me cry", so yeah. really fun album despite its flaws, maybe the MM I throw on most often even if it's not their best.

neonreaper: Some super-skippable stuff but the top 10 songs on this album are solid. I liked this more than I thought I would.

HBJDubs: Most of the album is good overall, but every song has like one specific bit that I don't like about it, except the top two which are great start to finish.

ZaziGuado: Top 6 songs make up the top tier of the album. One Chance and Black Cadillacs make up their own middle tier. Everything else is the weirder, but still appreciated lower tier. Songs don't normally switch tiers for me at this point in my listening history. One Chance flirts the most with moving into the top tier.

This album was my first introduction to music that had that "indie" sound, whatever that means these days. It helped shape my tastes in music during pretty formative years when I started willfully choosing what I listened to. It's been nice to revist it. I know albums like Lonesome Crowded West and Moon and Antarctica are more beloved among the general fanbase, but this is my favorite in a way that I have trouble putting into words. Not for any deep reason, it's just difficult for me to express without sounding dumb. Like it's simultaneously up its own ass but also tongue in cheek. Anyways, great stuff.

ChichiriMuyo: I only knew this band from Float On before, and man does that song seem like a lie. This is an album where if you hear the hit single and then buy it you are at a high risk of disappointment. I actually wonder if this is one of those things where the band hates "that one song" because it's what the "fans" always want to hear. I do like a few songs here, but if I'm going to spend my precious time in life listening to Modest Mouse again it'll be when Float On pops up on a mix.

Seanchan (responding to Chichiri): I totally understand where you're coming from. And yet I had the exact opposite reaction to the full album, as I really enjoyed this a lot.

I didn't post my first listen impressions earlier, but I was very much caught by pleasant surprise. This wasn't what I expected, but maybe in a way I should have seen it coming. Float On was always a bit of an oddball song that managed to find success, so why should the album be any different.

I think what I enjoy about it IS that variety. This isn't a boring album. There are songs that are fast and hard (relatively speaking) but then you've got slower, more introspective songs. And it all just come together for me, even if the first half is stronger than the second.

I will have to find some time to listen to more Modest Mouse. If anyone has a good suggestion for a second album?

GNFPWLBN track ranking

14. Interlude (Milo) (Track #12)
Score: 33 (Average Rank: 12/14)
Biggest Fan(s): Raetsel_Lapin (#6)
Biggest Detractor(s): Giggsalot, Johnbobb, Seanchan, VeryInsane (#14)

ZaziGuado: I mean, it's pleasant enough but it feels more like an intro to Blame It On the Tetons than its own track, which isn't a bad thing to be.

13. Dance Hall (Track #7)
Score: 35 (Average Rank: 11.91/14)
Biggest Fan(s): Seanchan (#3)
Biggest Detractor(s): Raetsel_Lapin, FoolFantastic, neonreaper, HBJDubs, Great_Paul (#14)

ZaziGuado: catchy and chaotic, though I kinda wish it was a little shorter to just concentrate it more.

12. This Devil's Workday (Track #9)
Score: 55 (Average Rank: 10.55/14)
Biggest Fan(s): Johnbobb (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): ZaziGuado (#14)

ZaziGuado: gosh I've always read this as The Devil's Workday and didn't realize it was this until today. doesn't make much of a difference but still an interesting revelation almost 20 years later. anyways this doesn't do it for me, but it doesn't overstay its welcome so it's okay.

11. Satin in a Coffin (Track #11)
Score: 70 (Average Rank: 8.64/14)
Biggest Fan(s): Johnbobb, neonreaper, ChichiriMuyo (#5)
Biggest Detractor(s): ZaziGuado (#12)

ZaziGuado: this feels like the most modest mouse song on the album. I don't know what I mean by that, but it feels right. I definitely tend to favor their more pop-friendly stuff, but I can flirt with this weirdness.

9 (tie). Black Cadillacs (Track #14)
Score: 73 (Average Rank: 8.36/14)
Biggest Fan(s): Raetsel_Lapin, Giggsalot (#4)
Biggest Detractor(s): VeryInsane (#13)

ZaziGuado: "it's true we named our children after towns that we've never been to" is a lyric that I always remember vividly because I have a slightly irrational disgust for bullshit names. I also greatly enjoy that sitcom opening-sounding piano chime that randomly pops in.

9 (tie). The Good Times Are Killing Me (Track #16)
Score: 73 (Average Rank: 8.36/14)
Biggest Fan(s): neonreaper, ChichiriMuyo (#4)
Biggest Detractor(s): Johnbobb (#13)

ZaziGuado: I find this a fun, goofy ending to fun, goofy album. really enjoy the very smooth, prominent bassline.

8. One Chance (Track #15)
Score: 79 (Average Rank: 7.91/14)
Biggest Fan(s): Raetsel_Lapin (#3)
Biggest Detractor(s): Johnbobb (#12)

ZaziGuado: this song is so weird after being inundated with cynicism, hopelessness, and just a general malaise up to this point. to be met with a song about coping with the loss of everything is an odd, but not unwelcome, turn this late into the album. I appreciate it.

7. Bury Me With It (Track #6)
Score: 89 (Average Rank: 7.27/14)
Biggest Fan(s): Raetsel_Lapin (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): neonreaper (#11)

ZaziGuado: always been a little off-putting, but I've learned to appreciate the exasperated pleas. plus they say the name of the album!

6. Bukowski (Track #8)
Score: 96 (Average Rank: 6.45/14)
Biggest Fan(s): Giggsalot, VeryInsane (#3)
Biggest Detractor(s): Raetsel_Lapin, Seanchan (#10)

ZaziGuado: such great banjo action here. I enjoy every time they slow the beat down and then pick it back up.

5. Blame It on the Tetons (Track #13)
Score: 107 (Average Rank: 5.73/14)
Biggest Fan(s): ZaziGuado, ChichiriMuyo (#2)
Biggest Detractor(s): Seanchan (#13)

ZaziGuado: this song is so damn chill. I love that fiddle and piano. the continuation after the false ending is interesting but not unwelcome. I've never actually taken the time to digest the lyrics, but I think I'd enjoy this song even more if I did.

4. Ocean Breathes Salty (Track #4)
Score: 110 (Average Rank: 5.64/14)
Biggest Fan(s): VeryInsane (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): ChichiriMuyo (#10)

ZaziGuado: some fun lyrics in this one like "you missed when time and life shook hands and said goodbye" and the abrubt ending with "for your sake I hope heaven and hell are really there but I wouldn't hold my breath."

3. The View (Track #10)
Score: 115 (Average Rank: 5.36/14)
Biggest Fan(s): Great_Paul (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): neonreaper (#10)

ZaziGuado: this song is top tier on the album to me, but I always waver on whether it's near the top or bottom of that tier. I love that warble in the chorus and some of the background vocal eccentrics.

2. The World at Large (Track #2)
Score: 143 (Average Rank: 3.82/14)
Biggest Fan(s): Giggsalot, neonreaper, ZaziGuado (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): ChichiriMuyo (#14)

ZaziGuado: beautifully bittersweet track which serves as a very interesting tone setter for the album. also really appreciate the way it leads into Float On.

1. Float On (Track #3)
Score: 154 (Average Rank: 3/14)
Biggest Fan(s): FoolFantastic, HBJDubs, ChichiriMuyo, Seanchan (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): Raetsel_Lapin (#11)

ZaziGuado: iconic riff. I remember being so excited when I saw this reach the top of a weekly ranking show on a music channel.

Created a page for set 3 that I need to remember to add to the opening post:
https://board8.fandom.com/wiki/Rank_the_Tracks_Set_3

I find it funny we have Gorillaz in the poll during a blur week

FoolFantastic posted...

12. This Devil's Workday (Track #9)

I knew this was coming but I'm still mad about it

FoolFantastic posted...

I find it funny we have Gorillaz in the poll during a blur week

I had that same thought!

1. Parklife
2. Bank Holiday
3. This is a Low
4. Girls & Boys
5. End of a Century
6. Magic America
7. To the End
8. Tracy Jacks
9. Jubilee
10. Clover Over Dover
11. Far Out
12. Lot 105
13. Trouble in the Message Centre
14. Badhead
15. London Loves
16. The Debt Collector

1. Girls & Boys
2. This is a Low
3. To the End
4. Clover Over Dover
5. Tracy Jacks
6. London Loves
7. End of a Century
8. Parklife
9. Trouble in the Message Centre
10. Magic America
11. Lot 105
12. The Debt Collector
13. Bank Holiday
14. Jubilee
15. Badhead
16. Far Out

Other than Girls & Boys, I'm not particularly high on this album. Nothing terrible here, but just overall an album I'm going to have a hard time remembering come Rank the Tracks 5.

QotSA > Gorillaz > Run The Jewels

Trouble In The Message Centre
This Is A Low
London Loves
Parklife
Jubilee
To The End
Clover Over Dover
Girls & Boys
Tracy Jacks
Badhead
Magic America
End Of A Century
Far Out
Bank Holiday
Lot 105
The Debt Collector

Was expecting a "samey" album where everything sounds similar, but was pleasantly surprised that pretty much every song is distinct. Nothing blows me away, but that's ok, it's a very solid album.

Plastic Beach > Run the Jewels > Like Clockwork

1: Badhead
2: Trouble in the Message Centre
3: To The End
4: This Is a Low
5: Lot 105
6: Far Out
7: Tracy Jacks
8: Parklife
9: End of a Century
10: Clover Over Dover
11: Magic America
12: Jubilee
13: The Debt Collector
14: Girls & Boys
15: London Loves
16: Bank Holiday

A decent album that can feel a bit all over the place. Lots of different styles and influences. Hard to put this one in a box

1. Girls & Boys
2. Bad Head
3. London Loves
4. Bank Holiday
5. Lot 105
6. Tracy Jacks
7. Far Out
8. Clover Over Dover
9. To The End
10. Parklife
11. Magic America
12. Jubilee
13. Trouble in the Message Center
14. This is a Low
15. End of the Century
16. The Debt Collector

Queens of the Stone Age > Gorillaz > Run the Jewels

Parklife
Girls & Boys
Far Out
This Is a Low
End of a Century
To the End
London Loves
Bank Holiday
Trouble in the Message Centre
Badhead
Jubilee
Lot 105
The Debt Collector
Clover Over Dover
Magic America
Tracy Jacks

The poll is closed, but you can still rank the Parklife tracks for the next 6.5 hours