Board 8 > Rank the Tracks 117: Stabbing Westward - Darkest Days (+ Prince results)

(+) Yeah! (+)

NFUN's week:
Night Verses - From the Gallery of Sleep
vs.
Ozric Tentacles - Spirals in Hyperspace
vs.
Asturias - Cryptogram Illusion

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, June 4 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

Stabbing Westward - Darkest Days track list:
1. Darkest Days
2. Everything I Touch
3. How Can I Hold On
4. Drugstore
5. You Complete Me
6. Save Yourself
7. Haunting Me
8. Torn Apart
9. Sometimes It Hurts
10. Drowning
11. Desperate Now
12. Goodbye
13. When I'm Dead
14. The Thing I Hate
15. On Your Way Down
16. Waking Up Beside You

Current cycle:
6/4: BlueCrystalTear (Queen - A Night at the Opera)
6/11: rwlh (Hisayoshi Ogura - G-Darius Original Arcade Score)
6/18: NFUN
6/25: HBJDubs/firefdr/NFUN
7/2: StifledSilence
7/9: MaxGalactica

Future cycle:
7/16: MetalmindStats
7/23: HBJDubs
7/30: Raetsel_Lapin
8/6: competitive week
8/13: Steiner
8/20: Snake5555555555
8/27: Jesse_Custer
9/3: competitive week
9/10: ZaziGuado
9/17: firefdr
9/24: Johnbobb
10/1: competitive week
10/8: VeryInsane
10/15: FoolFantastic
10/22: Seanchan
10/29: competitive week
11/5: Giggsalot
11/12: RyoCaliente
11/19: darkx
11/26: competitive week
12/3: neonreaper
12/10: Great_Paul
12/17: jcgamer107
12/24: competitive week
12/31: ChichiriMuyo

Last week had a complicated vote. Replica won 4-3-3 initially. Due to the tiebreaker rules, I remove Vespertine, and G-Darius wins 6-4.

posted my Prince ranking - if it's late, sorry about that.

I have had like no time these past four days so I understand why it might not be counted >_>

Night Verses is PROG
Ozric Tentacles is NEW AGE
Asturias is JAZZ FUSION

They are all instrumental

bump

Spirals in Hyperspace > From the Gallery of Sleep > Cryptogram Illusion

All three were awesome tho (at least, the parts of each that I listened to).

1: Desperate Now
2: How Can I Hold On
3: Save Yourself
4: Darkest Days
5: Everything I Touch
6: Haunting Me
7: Torn Apart
8: On Your Way Down
9: Waking Up Beside You
10: When I'm Dead
11: Sometimes It Hurts
12: Drugstore
13: You Complete Me
14: The Thing I Hate
15: Drowning
16: Goodbye

Prince results?

It might take Fool some time on that one. I don't know much about it, but I would say life has put some roadblocks in the way lately.

Also, my well wishes Fool. Sorry I didn't say it earlier.

If I get this week done it's gonna be late. Haven't had time to do a single listen yet...

Prince - Purple Rain results

The participants sorted by deviation from final results:
BlueCrystalTear (10)
ChichiriMuyo (10)
FoolFantastic (12)
neonreaper (12)
Raetsel_Lapin (14)
Seanchan (14)
ZeroSignal (14)
HBJDubs (16)
MetalmindStats (16)
NFUN (16)
Johnbobb (18)
RyoCaliente (18)
MaxGalactica (20)
Mega_Mana (22)

General Album Comments

FoolFantastic: The fact the title track is only my fourth favorite on Purple Rain should say enough. It took me years to fully appreciate Prince, but I loved this particular album front to back the first time I listened.

Raetsel_Lapin: Good album, lots of hit singles that live up to the hype and at least one new (to me) discovery that was rather enjoyable. I'm glad we covered this.

ChichiriMuyo: This is one of those albums where I practically knew the order before I listened, but I don't mind the excuse to listen to an all-time great album.

Seanchan: This one was just fine for me. Didn't love it, didn't hate it. I've never been big on Prince's singles, but those are still the strongest tracks here, with the exception of Baby I'm a Star, which was a nice surprise.

MaxGalactica: Absolute classic album. The top 3 for me are very definitive favorites, especially Purple Rain, which is one of those songs that makes me sit up every time I hear that first chord. Not as high on When Doves Cry as most people, but it's still a good song. The Beautiful Ones is my pick for most underrated. Absolutely love the otherworldly synths and cool chord progressions in that one. I've been meaning to go through Prince's discography, but I've been putting it off because it's pretty intimidating with the sheer amount of albums he's made.

HBJDubs: Could never really get into Prince, but I can't say I ever heard anything bad from him either. The top 4 here are all very good

MetalmindStats: Love and desire, and the intersection of the two, are topics rather closer to my heart now than, say, a year ago. Prince's singular, passionately sensual perspective particularly speaks to that part of me.

And while we're on the topic of Prince, though it has little to do with Purple Rain in particular, here's a piece that has stuck with me: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/09/09/the-book-of-prince

Purple Rain track ranking

9. Take Me With U (Track #2)
Score: 48 (Average Rank: 6.71/9)
Biggest Fan(s): RyoCaliente (#2)
Biggest Detractor(s): ChichiriMuyo, Seanchan, HBJDubs (#9)

ChichiriMuyo: This song has such a dope intro, but I'm not really a fan

BlueCrystalTear: Never been too fond of this one. The strings are the best part. But the vocal layering makes it too sleepy, and I don't think it's supposed to be sleepy.

8. The Beautiful Ones (Track #3)
Score: 50 (Average Rank: 6.79/9)
Biggest Fan(s): HBJDubs (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): Johnbobb, BlueCrystalTear (#9)

Raetsel_Lapin: Ehh... I rail against repetition all the time, so it should almost go without saying that I got rather bored with this song quite quickly. I wanted to shut the song off by the 13th time he said "baby" & he manages to cram the word into the song 32 times before it ends. Along with a few "babe"s because of course he does. To be fair, there are some interesting bits as Prince gets progressively more desperate and unhinged in his singing as the song goes on, so the song isn't even half as bad as I'm making it out to be... but it's too little payoff for how tiring I find the first few minutes.

ChichiriMuyo: Kinda torn on this one. The beat is awesome, reminds me of Twin Peaks for some reason, but it doesn't quite click for me.

MetalmindStats: Impressive instrumentation, but I'm iffy about its lyrics.

BlueCrystalTear: I'm more familiar with Mariah's cover than the original. I think I like hers better since it's a duet, which softens the repetition.

7. Baby I'm a Star (Track #8)
Score: 51 (Average Rank: 6.5/9)
Biggest Fan(s): Seanchan (#2)
Biggest Detractor(s): FoolFantastic, Raetsel_Lapin, RyoCaliente (#9)

ChichiriMuyo: I feel like this song is underrated. It's not deep, but it's a lot of fun.

MetalmindStats: Effervescent, including in its espousal of some of Prince's ideals. We are a star.

BlueCrystalTear: what ever

6. Computer Blue (Track #4)
Score: 57 (Average Rank: 6.14/9)
Biggest Fan(s): NFUN, ZeroSignal, Johnbobb (#3)
Biggest Detractor(s): MetalmindStats, neonreaper (#9)

Raetsel_Lapin: I wish this were the full "Hallway Speech" Version. I do understand why the song was shortened so drastically for the album, but the cuts leave it feeling rather incomplete... that being said, the short version here is good enough that I'm not sure I'd rank the full length version any higher anyway. It'd be hard for me to take just about anything over the likes of "Purple Rain", "Let's Go Crazy", and "When Doves Cry" which shows just how crazy stacked this album is.

ChichiriMuyo: Pure 80s. Love it.

BlueCrystalTear: It's no surprise that the guy who sang about Y2K in 1982 would be singing about computers in 1984. Prince is clearly a time traveler. The techno-funk treatment here seems to indicate that.

5. Darling Nikki (Track #5)
Score: 59 (Average Rank: 6.14/9)
Biggest Fan(s): Johnbobb (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): ZeroSignal, MaxGalactica, Mega_Mana (#9)

Raetsel_Lapin: The main part of the song is too blatantly sexual for my purposes and I generally tune it out... but the outro is intriguing. Apocalyptic backmasked vocals? Water sounds? It's an odd twist that takes the song from "I hate this" territory to "actually this would probably get a decent ranking if this album weren't so stacked". [And before anyone points out that basically everything Prince ever did was incredibly sexual, I am aware. Darling Nikki is just less interesting about it than usual, for me personally.]

ChichiriMuyo: A fine song. A bit dirty, even for Prince, but the instrumentation matches the lyrics perfectly.

BlueCrystalTear: Risque. And yet... will porn end the world? Who knows?

4. I Would Die 4 U (Track #7)
Score: 101 (Average Rank: 3.79/9)
Biggest Fan(s): ChichiriMuyo, MetalmindStats, Mega_Mana (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): NFUN (#6)

ChichiriMuyo: My favorite Prince song, hands down. This album is already stacked, and this puts it over the top for me.

MetalmindStats: More about Prince's self-concept than the album's most obvious lyrical themes, which has little to do with the pretty happenstance yet highly personal reasons I hold it dear.

BlueCrystalTear: At least it's short, which is good for a repetitive song like this one.

3. Let's Go Crazy (Track #1)
Score: 105 (Average Rank: 3.71/9)
Biggest Fan(s): Seanchan, BlueCrystalTear (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): NFUN (#9)

ChichiriMuyo: Great way to start an album, and a movie.

MetalmindStats: To me, maybe one of the most marvelously composed and remarkably fun songs ever, and a perfect match for Purple Rain (the song).

BlueCrystalTear: Let's get nuts.

neonreaper: My memory of this song held it in higher regards than the listen-throughs for this topic.

2. Purple Rain (Track #9)
Score: 128 (Average Rank: 2.57/9)
Biggest Fan(s): Raetsel_Lapin, ZeroSignal, MaxGalactica, neonreaper (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): FoolFantastic, ChichiriMuyo, RyoCaliente, Seanchan, MetalmindStats, Mega_Mana (#4)

ChichiriMuyo: Great way to end an album, and a movie. Could rate higher, but it's much longer than it really needs to be.

MetalmindStats: He more than earned an indulgent ending, one which hits more than enough of the right notes.

BlueCrystalTear: It may be over eight and a half minutes long, but it feels like a full song, and the instrumentation is great.

1. When Doves Cry (Track #6)
Score: 129 (Average Rank: 2.64/9)
Biggest Fan(s): FoolFantastic, NFUN, RyoCaliente (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): Johnbobb, MaxGalactica (#6)

ChichiriMuyo: We get it, Prince, you are the total package. Send everybody home, completely do the entire song yourself, make it one of the best all time. Show off. :p

MetalmindStats: It simply speaks for itself.

BlueCrystalTear: An iconic song that would probably be my #1 if it were the shorter single version that didn't have all that screeching and moaning for over a minute.

New albums from Knower AND Ben Folds today, hot damn

jcgamer107 posted...

New albums from Knower AND Ben Folds today, hot damn

I'm excited about one of those!

1. The Thing I Hate
2. Save Yourself
3. Torn Apart
4. How Can I Hold On
5. Everything I Touch
6. On Your Way Down
7. When I'm Dead
8. Goodbye
9. Drowning
10. Sometimes It Hurts
11. Darkest Days
12. Waking Up Beside You
13. Haunting Me
14. Desperate Now
15. You Complete Me
16. Drugstore

this one was a tough one to rank. Nothing's bad but everything kinda bleeds together

Night Verses > Asturias > Ozric Tentacles

Haunting Me
Desperate Now
Waking Up Besides You
How Can I Hold On
Save Yourself
Goodbye
Darkest Days
Drowning
Torn Apart
Drugstore
On Your Way Down
The Thing I Hate
Sometimes It Hurts
Everything I Touch
When I'm Dead
You Complete Me

It's listenable, but I don't have any feelings in particular about this album.

Johnbobb posted...

I'm excited about one of those!

Lol. I'm more into the Knower one tbh >_>

1. Save Yourself
2. Drugstore
3. The Thing I Hate
4. You Complete Me
5. Sometimes It Hurts
6. How Can I Hold On
7. Torn Apart
8. Haunting Me
9. Waking Up Beside You
10. On Your Way Down
11. Desperate Now
12. Everything I Touch
13. When I'm Dead
14. Darkest Days
15. Goodbye
16. Drowning

The only thing worse than a boring album is a long boring album. Two listens was all I could take. On to next week!

Biggest Detractor(s): FoolFantastic, ChichiriMuyo, RyoCaliente, Seanchan, MetalmindStats, Mega_Mana (#4)

Have we ever seen something like that before?

Also, almost finished with my final listen through of the current album.

Darkest Days may simply be the most appropriate title for an album ever. Sorry if it was a bummer for some of you. I actually knew a guy, he dated my sister, and he met the lead singer of the band. He called him "whiney." Dude bought vip backstage tickets to meet the band that made this album and he thought the song writer would be, what, cheery? As I've aged, a bit the angstiness of the lyrics doesn't do it for me as much as when the album was new, but the industrial beats for most of the songs still hit where it counts for me.

Save Yourself
Drugstore
The Thing I Hate
Sometimes It Hurts
Torn Apart
Waking Up Beside You
On Your Way Down
Desperate Now
Drowning
Haunting Me
Everything I Touch
Goodbye
When I'm Dead
Darkest Days
You Complete Me
How Can I Hold On

1. You Complete Me
2. How Can I Hold On
3. Haunting Me
4. Drugstore
5. Save Yourself
6. Waking Up Beside You
7. Sometimes It Hurts
8. The Thing I Hate
9. Torn Apart
10. Darkest Days
11. On Your Way Down
12. Everything I Touch
13. When I'm Dead
14. Desperate Now
15. Drowning
16. Goodbye

The synths and industrial percussion really made this album for me. I do think it's about 4 songs too long though. Definitely felt like it was dragging over the back half, especially with the general song quality going down in the second half. Also You Complete Me has been stuck in my head for a few days now. Great song.

Save Yourself
You Complete Me
Drugstore
Haunting Me
Everything I Touch
The Thing I Hate
Sometimes It Hurts
Darkest Days
How Can I Hold On
Waking Up Beside You
Torn Apart
Desperate Now
On Your Way Down
When I'm Dead
Drowning
Goodbye

Spirals > Crypto > Sleep