Board 8 > Rank the Tracks 133: The Cure - Disintegration (+Franz Ferdinand/Rusted Root)

(+) Yeah! (+)

neonreaper/rwlh/darkx week:
AC/DC - Back in Black
vs.
Sade - Love Deluxe
vs.
"Weird Al" Yankovic - Dare to Be Stupid

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, September 24th 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

The Cure - Disintegration track list:
1. Plainsong
2. Pictures of You
3. Closedown
4. Lovesong
5. Last Dance
6. Lullaby
7. Fascination Street
8. Prayers for Rain
9. The Same Deep Water as You
10. Disintegration
11. Homesick
12. Untitled

Current cycle:
9/24: FoolFantastic (Sufjan Stevens - Illinois)
10/1: Seanchan (Jessie Ware - That! Feels Good!)
10/8: neonreaper/rwlh/darkx
10/15: Giggsalot
10/22: RyoCaliente
10/29: darkx
11/5: Steiner/Giggsalot/jcgamer107
11/12: neonreaper
11/19: Great_Paul
11/26: jcgamer107
12/3: Snake5555555555/RyoCaliente/BlueCrystalTear
12/10: ChichiriMuyo
12/17: BlueCrystalTear
12/24: rwlh
12/31: NFUN/Fluttershy_Pony/ChichiriMuyo
1/7: NFUN
1/14: StifledSilence
1/21: MaxGalactica
1/28: ZaziGuado/HBJDubs

Future Cycle:
2/4: HBJDubs
2/11: Fluttershy_Pony
2/18: Steiner
2/25: competitive week
3/3: Snake5555555555
3/10: ZaziGuado
3/17: firefdr
3/24: Johnbobb

Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand results

The participants sorted by deviation from final results:
MaxGalactica (12)
firefdr (20)
FoolFantastic (20)
Seanchan (20)
Mega_Mana (22)
Sheep007 (22)
Fluttershy_Pony (24)
ChichiriMuyo (30)
Hades (32)
Johnbobb (34)

General Album Comments

FoolFantastic: "Take Me Out" might be the first rock song I truly fell in love with (being born in 1992 and having a teen pop-loving sister and a worship station mother), and it might be the most singular force in shaping my taste in music. I never got around to listening to albums in full until the early 2010s, but Franz Ferdinand's debut lived up to my childhood expectations. There's a certain energy created by its shifting tempos and sudden stop/starts that I rarely find elsewhere. In a better world, "The Dark of the Matinee" would have been just as big of a single. They hit upon some truly awesome guitar work while maintaining a danceable rhythm, all wrapped in a sarcastic self-awareness that made their overall sound surprisingly approachable (compare their contemporary success stateside to any other post-punk band, revival era or otherwise). While later albums revealed the band bordered on being a one-trick pony, that trick worked wonders for their breakthrough record.

LuisSera: I really think Franz Ferdinand's debut is one of the seminal albums of early 00's indie rock. It's right up there with Is This It and Hot Fuss.

MaxGalactica: Pretty enjoyable and fun album. I found the top half to be significantly better than the lower half of my rankings though. Good vocals and lots of fun, memorable riffs. Unsurprisingly, This Fire is far and away the best track here. It was good to finally get through this album as I've had it on my backlog for quite some time.

ChichiriMuyo: It's good album, but not one I'm likely to dive back into soon. I like how they can change so seemlessly in a song. Definitely an example of why you have to listen to every song all the way though to really get it. It's also an album that kinda just told me that they're Brits, which I didn't know when I only knew them for "Take Me Out." Unfortunately there just wasn't anything that stood out as something I would need to put on a playlist, other than the afore mentioned single.

Mega_Mana: This really felt like a one-track album. I have little interest listening for beyond this third time.

Sheep007: 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.

Seanchan: An album I liked a bit more on each listen. There's some cool, funky grooves here. Certainly not exactly the one trick pony I thought it might be. At the same time, I have a feeling this is one I might have a hard time remembering, outside of Take Me Out, come album ranking time.

"Weird Al" Yankovic - Dare to Be Stupid > AC/DC - Back in Black > Sade - Love Deluxe

Franz Ferdinand track ranking

11. Cheating on You (Track #6)
Score: 19 (Average Rank: 10.1/11)
Biggest Fan(s): Hades (#8)
Biggest Detractor(s): FoolFantastic, MaxGalactica, ChichiriMuyo, Johnbobb (#11)

Sheep007: 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.

10. Tell Her Tonight (Track #2)
Score: 41 (Average Rank: 8.1/11)
Biggest Fan(s): Johnbobb (#2)
Biggest Detractor(s): firefdr, Mega_Mana (#11)

9. Michael (Track #9)
Score: 45 (Average Rank: 7.6/11)
Biggest Fan(s): FoolFantastic (#3)
Biggest Detractor(s): Fluttershy_Pony, Hades, Seanchan (#11)

8. Come On Home (Track #10)
Score: 63 (Average Rank: 5.9/11)
Biggest Fan(s): Hades, ChichiriMuyo (#3)
Biggest Detractor(s): MaxGalactica (#9)

7. Darts of Pleasure (Track #8)
Score: 63 (Average Rank: 5.8/11)
Biggest Fan(s): Fluttershy_Pony (#3)
Biggest Detractor(s): Sheep007 (#9)

6. 40' (Track #11)
Score: 64 (Average Rank: 6.1/11)
Biggest Fan(s): ChichiriMuyo, Mega_Mana (#2)
Biggest Detractor(s): Hades (#10)

5. Jacqueline (Track #1)
Score: 64 (Average Rank: 6/11)
Biggest Fan(s): Hades (#2)
Biggest Detractor(s): Sheep007 (#11)

4. Auf Achse (Track #5)
Score: 72 (Average Rank: 5.3/11)
Biggest Fan(s): Fluttershy_Pony, Seanchan (#2)
Biggest Detractor(s): FoolFantastic, Johnbobb (#10)

3. This Fire (Track #7)
Score: 86 (Average Rank: 4.7/11)
Biggest Fan(s): Fluttershy_Pony, firefdr, MaxGalactica (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): ChichiriMuyo, Johnbobb (#9)

Sheep007: 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.

2. The Dark of the Matinee (Track #4)
Score: 90 (Average Rank: 4/11)
Biggest Fan(s): Hades (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): ChichiriMuyo (#8)

Sheep007: Oddly catchy. I really liked this one.

1. Take Me Out (Track #3)
Score: 123 (Average Rank: 2.4/11)
Biggest Fan(s): FoolFantastic, ChichiriMuyo, Mega_Mana, Sheep007, Johnbobb, Seanchan (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): Hades (#9)

Sheep007: 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.

That stretch between #5-#8 was insanely close.

I sent a writeup with my nomination, here it is:

Sade - Love Deluxe
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLa3HlKFsnLvZtoLvX30ElkYVSBXKN0Ldp

Love Deluxe offers meditations on love, life, and suffering, all wrapped up in a package of some of the smoothest soul I've ever heard. Sade is absolutely perfect on this album: ethereal, powerful, and playful.

Sample track: Feel No Pain
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toak1V_mWBU

For me:

Love Deluxe > Dare to Be Stupid > Back in Black

AC/DC > Sade > "Weird Al"

Dare to be Stupid > Back in Black > Love Deluxe

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.

The fact that we haven't done Weird Al or AC/DC yet is crazy to me. Sure, Sade is great, but there are two I was considering nominating for my next one in front of her and her band.

Weird Al > AC/DC > Sade

Weird Al > Sade > ACDC

"Weird Al" Yankovic - Dare to Be Stupid > AC/DC - Back in Black > Sade - Love Deluxe

Love Deluxe > Back in Black > Dare to Be Stupid

First listen done.

I've heard of The Cure...and I've heard some of their songs...but damned if I could have put the two together or told you anything about the band other than "probably 80s?"

I recognized Lovesong, though I think from a cover of it (assuming that this is the original - Okay I had to know and 98% sure I know this from 311). Other than that, I was kind of bored? At over 70 minutes I just found my attention wandering by the last few songs.

Seanchan posted...

At over 70 minutes I just found my attention wandering by the last few songs.

I'm pretty sure I enjoyed this more than you did, but I still kinda agree with this. I really like Robert Smith's voice & the moody instruments that accompany him, but the album feels quite long... like, I like every song on this album (even its worst is better than my favorite track on several albums), but marathoning them all in a row like this feels a bit exhausting. Still, I do enjoy it.

1: Plainsong
2: Lovesong
3: Prayers for Rain
4: Pictures of You
5: Untitled
6: Lullaby
7: Last Dance
8: Closedown
9: Fascination Street
10: Homesick
11: Disintegration
12: The Same Deep Water as You

Love Deluxe > Back in Black > Dare to Be Stupid

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.

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.

Well, I'm not going to say you're wrong, but... you're not wrong. :)

Despite their gothic image, a lot of The Cure's best known songs are actually quite cheery. Disintegration feels like a momentary rejection of this, a work of raw emotion where every melancholic thought is drawn out to a breaking point. This is one of the best examples of music as an atmospheric force, though I would also argue that each song feels like a full journey in themselves. This is the perfect case of a band returning to their origins and applying everything they learned in the time since, the desperate atmosphere of "A Forest" paired with more accessible instrumentation.

Lovesong
Lullaby
Pictures of You
Fascination Street
Plainsong
Disintegration
The Same Deep Water as You
Prayers for Rain
Last Dance
Untitled
Closedown
Homesick

Also I completely forgot this album is 70+ minutes and so is Illinois. They are interesting albums to compare on a structural level, though. Disintegration simply has long songs; 12 is a rather standard number of tracks. Illinois, meanwhile, has 22 tracks with 6 of those being less than a minute (and one of those literally just being a guy saying Whoo-Hoo). Illinois is also very much a concept album balancing two main themes throughout. Illinois somehow feels larger despite being a similar length, perhaps due to the range of emotions its tracks cover.

I'll pitch in.
Love Deluxe > Dare to be Stupid >>> Back in Black

Disintegration is a very formative record for me so I might jump on this

Sade - Love Deluxe > "Weird Al" Yankovic - Dare to Be Stupid > AC/DC - Back in Black

I've actually already given my opinion on this album in past comments, but I will say that it is absolutely perfect for what it was intended to be. It's perfect if this is the kind of music you just want to listen to. It's an endless repeat album if you are in the mood for what The Cure has to offer. Deserted island? Yeah, this album is on my short list. I wouldn't want to live in a world where this album doesn't exist.

Lullaby
Lovesong
Facination Street
Disinegration
Pictures of You
Untitled
Homesick
Last Dance
Prayers for Rain
Plainsong
Closedown
The Same Deep Waters as You

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.

1. Pictures of You
2. Lullaby
3. Lovesong
4. Fascination Street
5. Plainsong
6. Disintegration
7. Homesick
8. Prayers for Rain
9. Closedown
10. Last Dance
11. Untitled
12. The Same Deep Water as You

I was really impressed with this album. The melancholy, ethereal instrumentation combined with Robert Smith's vocals is a perfect pairing. I enjoyed pretty much every song in the album a lot, and the only time it felt it was dragging was during The Same Deep Water as You. Pictures of You in particular hit me hard the first time I heard it with those chords and vocals. Beautiful album and I'm glad you nominated it, Sheep.

AC/DC > Weird Al > Sade

Homesick
Disintegration
The Same Deep Water As You
Lullaby
Last Dance
Prayers For Rain
Plainsong
Untitled
Fascination Street
Pictures Of You
Closedown
Lovesong

The Cure...terrible artist for ranking tracks but perfect for ranking albums. I can shuffle these rankings all day but I'm glad this was chosen. Terrific album.

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.

Wanting to put up the next topic but waiting for a poll (Giggs has not responded so I messaged the next two this morning...)

Might just have to do a double poll the next week if I don't hear back soon.

FoolFantastic posted...

Wanting to put up the next topic but waiting for a poll (Giggs has not responded so I messaged the next two this morning...)

Might just have to do a double poll the next week if I don't hear back soon.

Ah sorry, I'll come up with something now if I'm still eligible! (Otherwise feel free to use me next time)

Disintegration isn't my favourite album from the 1980s, but it's almost certainly my favourite album that specifically <i>sounds</i> like the 1980s. I'm not even a huge fan of the Cure otherwise, but this is a top 20 record of all time for me. It's just absolutely gargantuan in scope (has any album ever made heartbreak feel quite so apocalyptic?), and the atmosphere is incredible. I will always gravitate towards the epics on the second half, but I love how much ground it covers overall - relistening to this today gave me a lovely reminder of just how perfect Lovesong is. I'm a bit disheartened to see so many others slightly disregarding the second half (even if it is understandable for a first-time listener), but reading the other opinions in this topic also emphasizes just how much there is to enjoy here - Sheep007 nominated this, and his ranking is almost the exact opposite of mine!

My personal hot take is that Pictures of You and Lullaby are the overrated songs here, so apologies to all of their fans for tanking their average ranking.

1) Plainsong
2) Disintegration
3) Fascination Street
4) Lovesong
5) Homesick
6) Untitled
7) Closedown
8) Prayers for Rain
9) Last Dance
10) Pictures of You
11) The Same Deep Water as You
12) Lullaby

1-4 are absolutely perfect, 5-9 are great, 10-12 are still pretty good

oh, and Love Deluxe > Back in Black > Dare to be Stupid

1. Lovesong
2. Pictures of You
3. Fascination Street
4. Prayers for Rain
5. Closedown
6. Disintegration
7. Plainsong
8. Homesick
9. Untitled
10. Last Dance
11. Lullaby
12. The Same Deep Water as You

An album I can respect but didn't really like. Certainly a "vibes" album over anything else but not the soundscape that I am interested in or drawn to. With that said, Lovesong definitely a future "Song of the Cycle" candidate.

Plainsong
Pictures of You
The Same Deep Water as You
Closedown
Homesick
Lovesong
Untitled
Last Dance
Lullaby
Prayers for Rain
Disintegration
Fascination Street