Board 8 > Rank the Tracks 106: Caroline Polachek - DIWTTIY (+ Plastic Beach results)

(+) Yeah! (+)

poll for RyoCaliente's week:
The Smiths - The Queen is Dead
vs.
Interpol - Turn on the Bright Lights
vs.
dEUS - The Ideal Crash

Previous results can be seen here:
https://board8.fandom.com/wiki/Rank_the_Tracks
https://board8.fandom.com/wiki/Rank_the_Tracks_Set_2
https://board8.fandom.com/wiki/Rank_the_Tracks_Set_3

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, March 19 at 4:00 PM Central Time; the future week poll will close earlier, when I am putting up the next topic
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

Caroline Polachek - Desire I Want to Turn Into You track list:
1. Welcome to My Island
2. Pretty in Possible
3. Bunny is a Rider
4. Sunset
5. Crude Drawing of an Angel
6. I Believe
7. Fly to You
8. Blood and Butter
9. Hopedrunk Everasking
10. Butterfly Net
11. Smoke
12. Billions

Current cycle:
3/19: Seanchan (In Flames - Colony)
3/26: Johnbobb's bonus (Pearl Jam - Ten)
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
7/2: StifledSilence

Future cycle:
7/9: MetalmindStats
7/16: HBJDubs
7/23: Raetsel_Lapin
7/30: competitive week
8/6: Steiner
8/13: Snake5555555555
8/20: Jesse_Custer
8/27: competitive week
9/3: ZaziGuado
9/10: firefdr
9/17: Johnbobb
9/24: competitive week
10/1: VeryInsane
10/8: FoolFantastic

The Smiths - The Queen is Dead > Interpol - Turn on the Bright Lights > dEUS - The Ideal Crash

The Queen is Dead continues to be a regular member of my all-time top 10, with Interpol also in my top 100. I'm assuming RyoCaliente is simply sticking with their favorites until they eventually get picked, which is something I for some reason have not been doing.

If I were to go with my favorites, my week would have been:
Kate Bush - Hounds of Love
vs.
Sufjan Stevens - Illinois
vs.
Black Country, New Roads - Ants from Up There

We already covered my #2 and #3 of all-time (The Velvet Underground & Nico and Sound of Silver). Hounds of Love has an odd format that I don't think fits this game (the first half is front-loaded with singles including three songs regularly in my top 100, the second half an odd collection of songs making a narrative suite - very lopsided if effective as a whole), while Illinois is loaded with short interludes. I tried Ants from Up There twice so wanted to give a group member's other project a chance (Jockstrap - which easily came in dead last against Polachek and SOPHIE...).

Did a first listen yesterday.

I feel like my expectations for this album were a little off. This is a more mellow, slower album that I was expecting. Which isn't necessarily my cup of tea but we'll see what happens with a few more listens.

Turn on the Bright Lights > Queen is Dead > The Ideal Crash

oh hell yeah finally another album from an artist i love

i'll do this later

Gorillaz - Plastic Beach results

The participants sorted by deviation from final results:
FoolFantastic (19)
Seanchan (31)
VeryInsane (34)
jcgamer107 (42)
Mega_Mana (43)
Raetsel_Lapin (53)
ChichiriMuyo (54)
Giggsalot (57)
Johnbobb (60)
HBJDubs (61)

General Album Comments

Seanchan: Did a first listen to Plastic Beach. I wasn't a big fan of Demon Days (outside of Feel Good Inc., which is a classic), so I went into this with trepidation. It started a bit slow, but then it hit its stride. I can't point to any particular song at the moment but as a whole the album really impressed me. Looking forward to more listens, though I suspect this might be a bit of a tough one to rank.

HBJDubs: Not much to say about this one, it was ok other than disliking the bottom two songs enough to place the Intro above them.

FoolFantastic: I remember being kind of underwhelmed by this album back when it came out, but it clicked with me this time. Between this and Parklife, it's clear Damon Albarn has a knack for making disparate pieces come together as a cohesive whole.

Johnbobb: Yet another of my all-time favorite albums, and I'm still never sure whether or not I rank it above or below Demon Days. Both are in my top 10, arguably top 5 of all-time. The funny thing is the album didn't actually click with me that much when I first heard it, but now I've listened to it more than almost any other album. Just incredible start to finish, never a weak song or even a song that doesn't attempt something fuckin cool

Seanchan: A somewhat arbitrary ranking, as I could see this being fairly different on another day. I enjoyed this overall, certainly more than I was expecting. There's no real stand out songs here for me though, so I think I like this more as a full album experience.

jcgamer107: A very strong, albeit front-loaded album that's gradually been growing on me. I think it's almost on par with Demon Days and their self-titled debut.

ChichiriMuyo: I'll be honest, this may be my first time listening to the whole album in one sitting. My best friend and I used to listen to their first two albums pretty much every time we went on a road trip, and we went on road trips pretty often when we first moved to Tucson since it was only four hours away to go visit our families. Unfortunately for this album, but the time it came out we weren't making those road trips together anymore because his mother had moved. Because of that I never built a love for this album, and that's too bad because it's good.

Giggsalot: Haven't listened to this in a while, but this was always my fave Gorillaz record. Jumping in with a ranking last minute because I think a fair few of my favourite songs here are very overlooked!

VeryInsane: This one hits a lot better for me than Demon Days, plenty of quality hits and guest stars in this one. Always a good listen

i also like the new one too fwiw

Plastic Beach track ranking

16. Orchestral Intro (Track #1)
Score: 18 (Average Rank: 14.2/16)
Biggest Fan(s): ChichiriMuyo (#5)
Biggest Detractor(s): FoolFantastic, Mega_Mana, Johnbobb, Seanchan, Giggsalot, VeryInsane (#16)

15. Sweepstakes (Track #12)
Score: 35 (Average Rank: 12.5/16)
Biggest Fan(s): Johnbobb (#6)
Biggest Detractor(s): Raetsel_Lapin, jcgamer107, ChichiriMuyo (#16)

jcgamer107: gets OK in the 2nd half but it's kinda cacophonous overall. or as Dennis Hopper would say, castrophonous.

13 (tie). Pirate Jet (Track #16)
Score: 56 (Average Rank: 10.6/16)
Biggest Fan(s): Raetsel_Lapin (#2)
Biggest Detractor(s): FoolFantastic (#15)

13 (tie). Cloud of Unknowing (Track #15)
Score: 56 (Average Rank: 10.6/16)
Biggest Fan(s): Giggsalot (#2)
Biggest Detractor(s): jcgamer107 (#15)

Johnbobb: This album made me discover Bobby Womack for the first time and I'm so glad I did

jcgamer107: meh. kinda overly dramatic, and underly good.

12. White Flag (Track #3)
Score: 56 (Average Rank: 10.5/16)
Biggest Fan(s): Johnbobb (#3)
Biggest Detractor(s): Seanchan (#15)

Johnbobb: any time Gorillaz releases an album now and I don't see "ft. the National Orchestra for Arabic Music" I'm disappointed

11. Glitter Freeze (Track #8)
Score: 58 (Average Rank: 10.4/16)
Biggest Fan(s): HBJDubs (#2)
Biggest Detractor(s): VeryInsane (#15)

10. To Binge (Track #14)
Score: 65 (Average Rank: 9.5/16)
Biggest Fan(s): Mega_Mana, Seanchan, jcgamer107 (#6)
Biggest Detractor(s): Giggsalot (#14)

jcgamer107: beautiful and bittersweet melody

9. Welcome to the World of the Plastic Beach (Track #2)
Score: 73 (Average Rank: 8.9/16)
Biggest Fan(s): HBJDubs, Raetsel_Lapin (#3)
Biggest Detractor(s): Mega_Mana, ChichiriMuyo (#15)

Johnbobb: I think my jaw dropped when I initially saw Snoop Dogg on the track listing

jcgamer107: Snoop-a-loop

7 (tie). Plastic Beach (Track #13)
Score: 73 (Average Rank: 8.7/16)
Biggest Fan(s): Raetsel_Lapin (#5)
Biggest Detractor(s): Johnbobb (#15)

Mega_Mana: It really fits the album: there's a few good lines in here, but a lot of the rest of it is annoyingly repetitive noise.

7 (tie). Broken (Track #11)
Score: 73 (Average Rank: 8.7/16)
Biggest Fan(s): ChichiriMuyo (#4)
Biggest Detractor(s): Giggsalot (#15)

6. Some Kind of Nature (Track #9)
Score: 86 (Average Rank: 7.7/16)
Biggest Fan(s): VeryInsane (#2)
Biggest Detractor(s): Johnbobb (#14)

jcgamer107: I have a love-hate relationship with this guy's voice

5. Superfast Jellyfish (Track #6)
Score: 94 (Average Rank: 7.3/16)
Biggest Fan(s): jcgamer107 (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): HBJDubs (#16)

jcgamer107: one of their best songs period. endlessly catchy - a phat beat and delightful chorus from Damon. De la Soul always did the best Gorillaz collabs. Don't Waste Time.

4. Empire Ants (Track #7)
Score: 113 (Average Rank: 5.5/16)
Biggest Fan(s): HBJDubs (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): jcgamer107 (#14)

3. Rhinestone Eyes (Track #4)
Score: 127 (Average Rank: 4.3/16)
Biggest Fan(s): Seanchan, VeryInsane (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): Raetsel_Lapin (#11)

jcgamer107: kinda reminds me of Go Team with that looping high-pitched vocal part. I like the synth riff a lot.

2. Stylo (Track #5)
Score: 134 (Average Rank: 3.7/16)
Biggest Fan(s): Johnbobb (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): Raetsel_Lapin, ChichiriMuyo (#7)

Johnbobb: There's so much I love about this song. The three drastically different vocal styles play off each other so well. But most importantly, it has one of my all-time favorite music videos.

jcgamer107: one a tha all time coolest songs and videos

1. On Melancholy Hill (Track #10)
Score: 153 (Average Rank: 2.9/16)
Biggest Fan(s): FoolFantastic, Mega_Mana, Raetsel_Lapin, ChichiriMuyo, Giggsalot (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): HBJDubs (#9)

Mega_Mana: Far and away, one of the best songs Gorillaz ever put out. I am just absolutely in love with it. When I saw album rankings a while back featuring Plastic Beach near the bottom, I didn't understand because it had this and my next two ranks, but, after having listened to the whole thing... this album ONLY has this and the next two to six ranks going for it.

jcgamer107: Gorillaz really hits the spot while you're depressed in the summer, and this song clearly captures that feeling

The Smiths - The Queen Is Dead
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3r-qDvD3F3c

Pivotal '80s album, heartcure for everyone who's ever been lonely, filled with Morrissey's wit and Marr's guitar peak. I should really just copy and save these blurbs somewhere.

Interpol - Turn on the Bright Lights
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OC5zHACynR4

Iconic 2000s post-punk band. Always cool.

dEUS - The Ideal Crash
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyA01nH72NI

Incredibly consistent album, really. Belgian alt(or art?)-rock band, according to some maybe THE Belgian rock band. Instant Street is a top 10 all-time song, incredibly sweet but that outro...(cut somewhat in the video above to serve as a tease ;)

1: Crude Drawing of an Angel
2: Welcome to My Island
3: I Believe
4: Fly to You
5: Hopedrunk Everasking
6: Sunset
7: Pretty in Possible
8: Butterfly Net
9: Smoke
10: Bunny is a Rider
11: Billions
12: Blood and Butter

https://youtu.be/OHp_h7RLfAU

First 2 tracks off Fear of the Dawn on SNL

and

https://youtu.be/NejaPinZtQA

extreme live Clowncore from Paris (flashing lights warning)

bump

up

I adore polachek and every time I've listened to this album has been from start to end without really paying attention to the specific songs. I'll have to think on this.

1. Sunset
2. I Believe
3. Blood and Butter
4. Bunny is a Rider
5. Welcome to My Island
6. Fly to You
7. Billions
8. Pretty in Possible
9. Smoke
10. Butterfly Net
11. Crude Drawing of an Angel
12. Hopedrunk Everasking

A middle of the road album for me. There's stuff that I liked here but nothing I loved. I found the last few songs in my ranking to be kind of boring. Feels like an album though that I might enjoy more the more I listen.

Billions
Bunny is a Rider
Sunset
Welcome to My Island
Blood and Butter
Smoke
I Believe
Pretty in Possible
Fly to You
Hopedrunk Everasking
Butterfly Net
Crude Drawing of an Angel

bump

Interpol > deus > smiths

still cant put much time into this for a couple more weeks but will be able to do in flames without relisten

The Smiths > Interpol > dEUS

Welcome To My Island
Fly To You
Butterfly Net
Smoke
Billions
Blood And Butter
Bunny Is A Rider
Pretty In Possible
Hopedrunk Everasking
I Believe
Crude Drawing Of An Angel
Sunset

Pretty much spent back and forth the whole album questioning whether I like the vocals or not, and that includes flip-flopping my thoughts midsong, for pretty much every song. As Seanchan said, "middle of the road" seems like a perfect descriptor for this album.

Rank the albums volume 4 being revealed here:
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/80383397

Still four and a halfish hours left to vote

1. Sunset - easily the star of the album for me, but the next few are also going to be on my on repeat
2. Smoke
3. I Believe
4. Billions
5. Blood and Butter
6. Pretty in Possible
7. Welcome to My Island - would be higher if it was the CXCX remix. Still, a really good start to the album
8. Bunny is a Rider - really the middle child of the album. I don't really enjoy anything below and everything above is great. Bunny is fine.
9. Crude Drawing of an Angel
10. Butterfly Net
11. Fly to You
12. Hopedrunk Everasking