Board 8 > Rank the Tracks 138: Arcade Fire - The Suburbs

(+) Yeah! (+)

covering for Fool so he can rest. We have two polls to vote this time for upcoming weeks. For each poll, rank all three in order of preference.

Competitive week (for 11/5):
The Dillinger Escape Plan - One of Us is the Killer
vs.
Knower - Knower Forever
vs.
Milton Nascimento and Lo Borges - Clube de Esquina

neonreaper week (for 11/12):
Run DMC - Raisin Hell
vs.
Ice T - Original Gangster
vs.
DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince - Hes The DJ Im The Rapper

For this week's album, I'm assuming we're going with the Deluxe Edition which has two extra tracks. Who doesn't like listening to more music?

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, October 29th 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

Arcade Fire - The Suburbs track list:
1. The Suburbs
2. Ready to Start
3. Modern Man
4. Rococo
5. Empty Room
6. City with No Children
7. Half Light I
8. Half Light II (No Celebration)
9. Suburban War
10. Month of May
11. Wasted Hours (A Life We Can Live)
12. Deep Blue
13. We Used to Wait
14. Sprawl I (Flatland)
15. Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)
16. The Suburbs (continued)
17. Culture War
18. Speaking in Tongues

Current cycle:
10/29: darkx (The Cars - The Cars)
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
2/4: Sheep007

Future Cycle:
2/11: HBJDubs
2/18: Fluttershy_Pony
2/25: Steiner
3/3: competitive week
3/10: Snake5555555555
3/17: ZaziGuado
3/24: firefdr
3/31: competitive week
4/7: Johnbobb
4/14: FoolFantastic
4/21: Seanchan
4/28: competitive week
5/5: Giggsalot

If you're still able to edit, can you add RyoCaliente to 5/12 in the cycle?

Done.

Clube de Esquina > One of Us is the Killer > Knower Forever
Raisin Hell > Original Gangster > Hes The DJ Im The Rapper

My case for Clube de Esquina: It's probably a long shot to convince you guys to choose an older foreign language album, but I've spent a lot of this year investigating classic records that I had overlooked until now, and Clube de Esquina was the absolute best of the lot. This is one of the most important Brazilian pop records ever, and an amazing blend of psychedelic pop, folk, rock and latin rhythms - like a South American version of Abbey Road or Forever Changes. There's so much variety and joy in this record, I absolutely adore it. I'd be fascinated to see what people think, and it's perfect for this topic too - the track rankings could be really diverse and interesting!

Here are a few sampler tracks:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rJz-tazK4I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNxw9VBAcRo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lexd2xvMpxY

the bumps

Oh yeah

Knower > Milton Nascimento and Lo Borges > The Dillinger Escape Plan

https://youtu.be/QdH4n57AJNY?si=W9GsmBDa0BRbCQCs

Smooth jazz implies the existence of rough jazz

My current album of the year

1. Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)
They heard me singing and they told me stop/Quit these pretentious things and just punch the clock/ Absolutely one of my favourite tracks of anything ever.

2. The Suburbs
So emotional to me. Everything before is great, but everything after So can you understand... again is one of those top music moments.

3. We Used to Wait
I barely lived in a time of writing letters, and this track still manages to make me nostalgic.

4. Suburban War
Such an incredibly cool sound.

5. Ready to Start
6. Rococo
7. Deep Blue
8. Modern Man
9. The Suburbs (continued)
10. City With No Children
11. Month of May
12. Empty Room
13. Half Light II (No Celebration)
14. Sprawl I (Flatland)
15. Wasted Hours
16. Half Light I

Did a not first listen yesterday.

Haven't heard this in a long time. Surprised how much I still generally remembered of it aside from a few tracks near the end (except for Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains), which is memorable). I do want to sit down and pay a bit more attention to the lyrics on my next listen.

Perhaps it's just because we listened to it recently, but it feels like someone smarter than me could make some insightful comparisons between this and Illinois. That album jumped into my head within a few tracks of re-listening to The Suburbs, despite this album being much more traditionally "rock" sounding.

Also, I'm starting to feel like interplay between male and female vocalists is a thing for me. It's not quite as prevalent here as it is with Of Monsters and Men - My Head is an Animal or The xx - xx, but there's something about that dichotomy which seems to please my brain.

Oh yeah, @RyoCaliente you didn't rank the bonus tracks.

...that said, I'm not sure when we decided to rank those? The nominator didn't specify that particular edition, as was done with EMOTION. This is already a long enough album and I feel like those 2 songs are tacked on to what's otherwise a finished album. Personally I'd prefer not to rank them but majority rules?

I've never heard those bonus tracks before. I just grabbed the version of The Suburbs I have in my Spotify playlists. I don't mind ranking them, but I'm fine with skipping them as well!

I don't really have an opinion on this; I don't think the nomination meant for the extra tracks and the album certainly is long enough without them... but I like Speaking in Tongues and I've been listening to them since they were in the opening post, so I wouldn't say I'm against including them.

Who nominated this album? Can't they say whether or not they wanted the deluxe edition?

Since the album is already 16 songs I'd think that most people would want the shorter one unless the nominator specifically wanted the bonus songs.

Ryo was the nominator and only voted for the first 16 so I think the non-bonus track version was the intent.

yeah I wasn't sure what to go with but I knew we had done bonus tracks with other albums before. We'll stick with the original for official rankings since that was likely the intent, though I'm curious to see where the bonus tracks would end up in my rankings

https://www.tiktok.com/@finessir/video/7290683028320406830

I figure this might be amusing to some of the regulars

1: Ready to Start
2: Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)
[Speaking in Tongues]
3: The Suburbs (continued)
4: City with No Children
5: Half Light II (No Celebration)
6: Suburban War
7: Empty Room
8: Deep Blue
9: Wasted Hours
10: The Suburbs
11: Modern Man
12: We Used to Wait
13: Half Light 1
14: Month of May
15: Sprawl I (Flatland)
16: Rococo
[Culture War]

Included the extra tracks, but left them unnumbered--I figure it'll be easy to skip over them when tallying the results (or include them, if that winds up happening); if it's annoying having them there, I can repost the list.

Clube de Esquina > One of Us is the Killer > Knower Forever

Original Gangster > Hes The DJ Im The Rapper > Raisin Hell

I hate when I see these topics and it's an album I already know really well and I don't participate so...tag. But I probably still won't get my ranking done within a week, hah. I do know my top two are Sprawl II and We Used to Wait.

Seanchan posted...

https://www.tiktok.com/@finessir/video/7290683028320406830

I figure this might be amusing to some of the regulars

I unironically enjoy this song.

Clube da Esquina > KNOWER FOREVER > One of Us is the Killer

Original Gangster > Raising Hell > He's the DJ I'm the Rapper

Clube da Esquina and KNOWER FOREVER are both really close, but Clube da Esquina is an album I've wanted to listen to for a while and I already know KNOWER FOREVER. OG is an easy pick on the other vote.

Sade - Love Deluxe results

The participants sorted by deviation from final results:
Fluttershy_Pony (12)
rwlh (14)
MaxGalactica (16)
HBJDubs (18)
Seanchan (18)
Sheep007 (22)

General Album Comments

Seanchan: I generally enjoyed this album, despite the fact that its not a particularly "exciting" album for me. With that said, I feel like this is one that's going to quickly fade from my memory and will end up being one of those "oh yeah, this one" albums come the next Rank the Albums.

rwlh: Oh yeah! This album is an all-timer for me. I love every song. If this was nominated for my album ranking, it probably would have won (or at least gotten top 5).

HBJDubs: Very nice and soothing album

MaxGalactica: Great album. A bit hard to rate as everything is nearly the same level for me, except my top 2 and bottom 1 are pretty clear. Very relaxing, well-produced, smooth album and Sade's vocals are bliss.

FoolFantastic: I started but then forgot to submit my ranking for this. Part of that is I find it really hard to find a qualitative difference between most of these; they're all right around the same level for me. In this case, that is far from a bad thing - this is an excellent album from beginning to end, capturing a unique, passionate atmosphere. Despite my lack of ranking, this might be my favorite discovery of the project so far.

Love Deluxe track ranking

9. Pearls (Track #7)
Score: 17 (Average Rank: 7.17/9)
Biggest Fan(s): HBJDubs (#4)
Biggest Detractor(s): Fluttershy_Pony, Sheep007 (#9)

8. I Couldn't Love You More (Track #3)
Score: 27 (Average Rank: 6.17/9)
Biggest Fan(s): Sheep007 (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): rwlh, HBJDubs, MaxGalactica (#8)

7. Bullet Proof Soul (Track #8)
Score: 29 (Average Rank: 5.33/9)
Biggest Fan(s): rwlh (#3)
Biggest Detractor(s): Sheep007 (#7)

6. Like a Tattoo (Track #4)
Score: 30 (Average Rank: 5.67/9)
Biggest Fan(s): MaxGalactica (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): rwlh (#9)

5. Cherish the Day (Track #6)
Score: 33 (Average Rank: 5.17/9)
Biggest Fan(s): HBJDubs, Sheep007 (#2)
Biggest Detractor(s): MaxGalactica (#9)

4. Feel No Pain (Track #2)
Score: 35 (Average Rank: 5/9)
Biggest Fan(s): Seanchan (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): HBJDubs (#9)

3. No Ordinary Love (Track #1)
Score: 39 (Average Rank: 4/9)
Biggest Fan(s): Fluttershy_Pony, Seanchan, HBJDUbs (#3)
Biggest Detractor(s): rwlh (#7)

2. Kiss of Life (Track #5)
Score: 47 (Average Rank: 3.33/9)
Biggest Fan(s): Fluttershy_Pony, Seanchan, rwlh (#2)
Biggest Detractor(s): Sheep007 (#6)

1. Mermaid (Track #9)
Score: 55 (Average Rank: 3.17/9)
Biggest Fan(s): Fluttershy_Pony, rwlh, HBJDubs (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): Seanchan (#9)

FKA twigs - Magdalene results

The participants sorted by deviation from final results:
Sheep007 (10)
FoolFantastic (14)
Johnbobb (14)
Seanchan (18)
HBJDubs (20)
MaxGalactica (20)
Fluttershy_Pony (30)
Giggsalot (30)

General Album Comments

Seanchan: As you might expect, I wasn't feeling this. I might be wrong in calling this an "artsy" album, but that's how it came across to me on a first listen. It felt like one of those albums where I am missing the background and insight into the artist to know why this album is such a big deal.

FoolFantastic: It is classified as 'art pop' (and glitch pop) on RYM, so it is artsy. I think of FKA twigs in the same breath as SOPHIE, if on opposite ends of that particular spectrum. Where Oil of Every Pearl's Un-Insides is abrasive, Magdalene creates unease through relatively quiet moments that are occasionally thrust into passionate bursts. There's a certain control of emptiness that sets this apart, whether it be minimal instrumentation or the occasional total stop. This juxtaposition creates what I find to be a unique sense of motion throughout the album.
(...)
One of the most hauntingly beautiful albums I know. I love the way twigs centers her voice here. There is a sense of fragility throughout, culminating in the absolutely devastating "Cellophane." That final track shows that one loud moment can leave a huge impact.

HBJDubs: Fool put this in better words than I could. This is really good! I definitely want to check out more of her music

MaxGalactica: Very enjoyable album. Lots of subtle production and composition choices that I really enjoyed. The vocals were stellar and emotive, especially in cellophane. The top 3 in my ranking (sad day, cellophane, and daybed) were the big highlights for me, but there weren't any bad songs in the album. The only thing is the Future verse in holy terrain feels way out-of-place. Otherwise, this was a fantastic listen.

Sheep007: How the hell have I not heard of this artist before, or listened to a thing from her? She's got a gorgeous voice and the album is a lot easier on the ears than similar music I've listened to - I can't pin down what genre this is supposed to be beyond it being weird and melancholy, and that's only to the album's benefit. The quiet-loud dichotomy throughout really make this.

Giggsalot: Magdalene isn't an album I return to especially regularly, perhaps due to its emotional intensity, but this is one of the best records of the last decade. Twigs' songwriting and vocals have never been better - even the songs here that do things that I don't love are consistently dynamic and surprising. The production is absolutely sumptuous too - there's no one better at sound design than Nicolas Jaar, and his fingerprints are all over this. Honestly, this album has pretty much everything.

Seanchan: I just didn't connect with this album. I guess I can see why this might be "a big deal" but for me there wasn't much here either instrumentally or lyrically.

Magdalene track ranking

9. Holy Terrain (Track #4)
Score: 32 (Average Rank: 6.25/9)
Biggest Fan(s): Fluttershy_Pony (#2)
Biggest Detractor(s): FoolFantastic, HBJDubs, Sheep007 (#9)

8. Thousand Eyes (Track #1)
Score: 33 (Average Rank: 6.25/9)
Biggest Fan(s): Giggsalot (#2)
Biggest Detractor(s): Fluttershy_Pony, Johnbobb (#9)

Sheep007: Dunks you straight into the mood of the album. Within a few seconds of this song getting into gear, I knew what the vibes were gonna be and I knew I was in for something interesting. What a great intro.

7. Daybed (Track #8)
Score: 39 (Average Rank: 5.88/9)
Biggest Fan(s): Fluttershy_Pony (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): Seanchan (#9)

6. Home with You (Track #2)
Score: 40 (Average Rank: 5.38/9)
Biggest Fan(s): HBJDubs (#2)
Biggest Detractor(s): Sheep007 (#8)

5. Mary Magdalene (Track #5)
Score: 45 (Average Rank: 4.88/9)
Biggest Fan(s): Giggsalot (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): HBJDubs (#8)

4. Mirrored Heart (Track #7)
Score: 46 (Average Rank: 5/9)
Biggest Fan(s): Seanchan (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): MaxGalactica, Giggsalot (#9)

3. Cellophane (Track #9)
Score: 47 (Average Rank: 4.88/9)
Biggest Fan(s): FoolFantastic (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): Fluttershy_Pony (#8)

2. Fallen Alien (Track #6)
Score: 55 (Average Rank: 4.13/9)
Biggest Fan(s): Johnbobb (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): HBJDubs (#7)

1. Sad Day (Track #3)
Score: 79 (Average Rank: 2.38/9)
Biggest Fan(s): HBJDubs, MaxGalactica, Sheep007 (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): Fluttershy_Pony (#6)

Sheep007: Easy pick for one of the best songs of this cycle.

Milton Nascimento and Lo Borges - Clube de Esquina > The Dillinger Escape Plan - One of Us is the Killer > Knower - Knower Forever

Run DMC - Raisin Hell > Ice T - Original Gangster > DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince - Hes The DJ Im The Rapper

Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)
Ready to Start
The Suburbs
We Used to Wait
Suburban War
Modern Man
Half Light I
Rococo
Half Light II (No Celebration)
City with No Children
Month of May
The Suburbs (continued)
Deep Blue
Empty Room
Sprawl I (Flatland)
Wasted Hours (A Life We Can Live)

Bump

oh I guess I forgot to rank Sade, whoops

Knower > Milton > Dillinger

Ice T > Run DMC > Jazzy Jeff

don't know if we're including extra tracks or not, but neither was great. I expeced more from David Byrne tbh. Anyway, this album is all solid, but for it's length I definitely kinda wish there was more variety to its sound. It sounds like it's intended to be a coming-of-age movie soundtrack, but one that couldn't afford to get Sufjan Stevens. It was also considerably stronger in the first half.

1. Empty Room
2. Ready to Start - Every time this song starts I think I'm about to here California by Grimes and while I do like this song I'm still a little disappointed it's not California by Grimes
3. Half Light II (No Celebration)
4. City with No Children
5. The Suburbs
6. Half Light I
7. Suburban War
8. Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)
9. Modern Man
10. We Used to Wait
11. Deep Blue
12. Rococo
13. Speaking in Tongues
14. Month of May
15. Culture War
16. Sprawl I (Flatland)
17. Wasted Hours (A Life We Can Live)
18. The Suburbs (continued)

Deleting my old post so I can make some slight changes to the list and post a few thoughts--not many, but I need to test out my new keyboard and want to be on the record as having said something.

GENERAL THOUGHTS:

I really liked this album. I don't usually revisit albums that we've covered too often (outside of the "Rank the Albums" period where I need to refresh my memories), even the ones that I enjoy, because it can be a bit rough trying to make extra time for it. I need to prepare to listen to whatever our next album is, there's usually an unrelated music topic or two on board that I'm trying to follow, I've got my own music that I want to listen to, and sometimes I do things other than listen to music. So, dropping everything to sneak in one extra listen and rearrange my list is very out of character for me & is a pretty good sign that I'd rank this as one of the top tier albums we've covered.

[Later, after having finished the relisten]

Well, it's definitely a long album. I'd say I really, really like about half of it; I suppose if I were to score every song on the album and average them to give a "fair" ranking, this would *probably* wind up several spaces lower in my Rank the Albums list than it's going to... but seven high scoring songs, for me, more than makes up for any parts of the album that try to drag it down.

TRACK THOUGHTS (in no particular order):

Ready to Start: I'm not sure how it'll hold up, but I think this may actually be my current favorite song of the cycle. There's a lot of competition and it likely depends on what type of mood I'm in that day, but still, great song.

Sprawl II: A good song that's dropped a bit from where I had it before. As I'm sure I've mentioned before, I'm typically drawn towards darkness, so a blunt line like "I need the darkness, someone please cut the lights" is basically cheating in terms of 'things I'm obligated to give a lot of points for'. Still, it's not quite as catchy as "Empty Rooms" or as emotional as "The Suburbs (Continued)", so I think I want it moved down just a couple pegs.

The Suburbs (Continued): A short, poignant outro. I'm sure there's an argument that the song is too short for me to be giving it such a high placement--I'm honestly considering moving it up to first--but I'm not really bothered by short tracks. It comes in, hits the emotional beats it wants to, and fades away. A perfect end to the album.

Suburban War: One of the songs I most wanted to revisit and move up a few notches. I have a hard time figuring out why I'm drawn to this track, but I am drawn to it regardless.

Empty Room: The other song I wanted to revisit as I've had this stuck in my head for days. "When I'm by myself, I can be myself"... am I that easily manipulated by such basic lyrics? Yes. ....Ehhh, very close call between this and Suburbs (Continued), but I think I'll jump this one up to second place. Honestly, my top three are all really close this time around, I could cycle them in any order and be content with it.

City with No Children: Catchy tune and the second verse has some very pleasing self-doubt. I enjoy this.

Half Light II (No Celebration): A song that is close to greatness. I love low tones and this song certainly *toys* with the idea of powerful, rumbling tones but never fully commits to it; there's a fair amount of pain over growing up--"In this town where I was born, I now see through a dead man's eyes" is definitely the type of blunt sadness I go for--but I never quite connect with it the way I should. I do like the song, but it feels like it should be something I love and it never quite reaches that mark.

The Suburbs: It's an odd complaint, but the backing music on this track feels a bit too jaunty for me. It is better than I gave it credit for (or, perhaps, my love of "The Suburbs (Continued)" is eroding my ability to judge this track fairly [or, perhaps, both]) and I'm moving it up my ranks a little.

Month of May: Ehh... I shouldn't be so blunt about it, but the more typical rock sound on this track kinda bores me? Like, it's *fine*, but....

1: Ready to Start
2: Empty Room
3: The Suburbs (continued)
4: Suburban War
5: Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)
6: City with No Children
7: Half Light II (No Celebration)
8: The Suburbs
9: Deep Blue
10: Wasted Hours
11: Modern Man
12: We Used to Wait
13: Half Light 1
14: Month of May
15: Sprawl I (Flatland)
16: Rococo

Didn't list the extra songs this time--"Speaking in Tongues" would probably steal fifth place and "Culture War" would be last.

Clube de Esquina > One of Us is the Killer > Knower Forever

Original Gangster > Hes The DJ Im The Rapper > Raisin Hell

1. Modern Man
2. The Suburbs
3. Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)
4. Half Light I
5. Wasted Hours (A Life We Can Live)
6. Ready to Start
7. City with No Children
8. Empty Room
9. Deep Blue
10. Suburban War
11. Month of May
12. Sprawl I (Flatland)
13. The Suburbs (continued)
14. Half Light II (No Celebration)
15. Rococo
16. We Used to Wait

I'm still a little surprised that I enjoy this album as much as I do, as it feels a little bit out of my normal wheelhouse. And I say that dating back to originally listening to this album in the wake of it winning a Grammy back over a decade ago. This isn't an "artsy" album per se, but it probably has "more to say" than most other albums I liked back then? I don't know. That still doesn't feel quite right. Maybe it's just that there's almost nothing here I'd consider a "radio hit" and yet this is a very strong album with lots of fun hooks.

Ultimately, for me this is an album that's more than the sum of its parts.I found it difficult to do the ranking and feel like this could have fluctuated pretty wildly if I was doing it at a different time. In very quickly scrolling past the rankings submitted so far, I suspect this one is going to be all over the place with lots of songs in someone's top 5 and someone else's bottom 5.

Thinking about the album as a whole, it feels like the pillars are The Suburbs, Suburban War (espeically with some of the lyrics brought back from that initial track), and Sprawl II. Those are the 3 songs that encapsulate the tone, vibe, and message of the album.

Fluttershy_Pony posted...

Month of May: Ehh... I shouldn't be so blunt about it, but the more typical rock sound on this track kinda bores me? Like, it's *fine*, but....

I agree with this sentiment, and that track kind of ended up being the "fodder" line for me.

Fluttershy_Pony posted...

The Suburbs (Continued): A short, poignant outro. I'm sure there's an argument that the song is too short for me to be giving it such a high placement--I'm honestly considering moving it up to first--but I'm not really bothered by short tracks. It comes in, hits the emotional beats it wants to, and fades away. A perfect end to the album.

I agree that it's a great little closing coda. One of the big reasons the bonus tracks just don't work for me. You hear this track's echos back to the opener and it really closes the book and leaves you feeling satisfied.

Just one extra comment on my bottom song, We Used to Wait. This is easily the most forgettable track here. I simply did not remember this track at all when coming back to this album. And even after 3 additional listens, it's made no lasting marks on me.

Oh and my nomination vote:

Clube de Esquina > One of Us is the Killer > Knower Forever
Raisin Hell > Original Gangster > Hes The DJ Im The Rapper

I don't generally vote when I don't know the albums, but Giggsalot actually bothered trying to sell his nom, so I'm following his lead.

The following is a rant. Feel free not to read it. I just needed to vent.
It frustrates me because I don't know why people nominate things and then don't explain their choices. Do they think everyone's just heard of all these groups? They're not exactly Metallica and Coldplay. And no, I'm not going to "look it up". If you can't be bothered, why the fuck should I.

1. Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)
2. Ready to Start
3. Empty Room
4. Half Light II (No Celebration)
5. The Suburbs
6. Modern Man
7. We Used to Wait
8. Suburban War
9. Sprawl I (Flatland)
10. The Suburbs (continued)
11. Wasted Hours
12. Deep Blue
13. Half Light I
14. Month of May
15. Rococo
16. City with No Children

I liked this album a lot more than I expected when I previewed the album during the initial vote for this album. Several high quality, catchy songs. The top 6 in my ranking are all songs that I'd definitely go back to in the future (Sprawl II, Ready to Start, Empty Room, Half Light II, The Suburbs, and Modern Man). Great album with great songwriting.

getting the poll in before new topic

Dillinger Escape Plan > Milton Nascimento and Lo Borges > Knower

Run DMC > Ice-T > DJ Jazzy Jeff

Ready To Start
We Used To Wait
Half Light I
Half Light II (No Celebration)
Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)
Deep Blue
Suburban War
The Suburbs
Empty Room
Month Of May
Modern Man
Rococo
Sprawl I (Flatland)
Wasted Hours
City With No Children
The Suburbs (continued)

Culture War and Speaking In Tongues would both be in between Sprawl I and Wasted Hours.

I didn't really get into Arcade Fire back then but I like this album a lot more now (same goes for Funeral). Nothing in particular stands out but I think that's by design and a good call, everything sounds better together.

1) Sprawl II
2) The Suburbs - I'm realising I'm kinda a sucker for opening songs in a lot of these albums, but a lot of the good ones have strong starts, and this is probably the best standalone, too.
3) Ready to Start
4) Sprawl I
5) Modern Man
6) Deep Blue This one really worked for me. Not sure why.
7) Empty Room
8) Suburban War
9) Wasted Hours
10) Rococo
11) Half Light II (No Celebration)
12) Month of May
13) The Suburbs (Continued)
14) City With No Children
15) We Used to Wait
16) Half Light I

Good album, I've heard a few of the songs here before and I think they're actually better in terms of this album than by themselves. It comes together as a cohesive whole and the songs range from excellent to fine enough - I think there's a dropoff in the middle, but it's back to being pretty good when it comes full circle on the theme towards the end. The top three was pretty tight - I think The Suburbs isn't quite as unique as Sprawl II, but it sounds bloody good, and same with Ready to Start.

Probably won't be able to get to these results for a few days...

FoolFantastic posted...

Probably won't be able to get to these results for a few days...

Excellent! I've been listening to this album regularly again and greatly enjoying it, but would like one more listenthrough to finalize my rankings. Promise I'll have it done tomorrow.

1. Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)
2. We Used to Wait
3. Suburban War
4. Half Light I
5. Ready to Start
6. Deep Blue
7. The Suburbs
8. Modern Man
9. Half Light II (No Celebration)
10. Empty Room
11. Wasted Hours
12. Sprawl I (Flatland)
13. The Suburbs (continued)
14. Rococo
15. City With No Children
16. Month of May

I am quite surprised how much I enjoy this record now. I considered it a pretty big disappointment on release, and while I still don't think it reaches the heights that Funeral and Neon Bible do - or at least doesn't reach those heights as consistently - I enjoy it so much more than I used to. At the very least, it's probably Arcade Fire's most poignant album.

Shocked at the diversity of rankings on We Used to Wait! I have always adored that song so much. It was initially hard to pick between that and Sprawl II for the top spot. I've listened to more of We Used to Wait over the years...but that's not enough to give it the edge. Sprawl II is an unimpeachable masterpiece. Inject me with that beautiful synth. Don't think I've ever enjoyed Chassagne's vocals more.

Suburban War rounds out the top three with a bang. The guitar work might be simple, but it's probably my favorite riff on the album. Both Win's lyrics and vocals are the perfect amount of melancholy here, and the last minute of this song is sublime.

Half Light is just sheer beauty. A very ethereal song. While I feel like I could use that word to describe a third of this album, this song does it best.

The next four are about equal levels of greatness and I really struggled to rank them. Deep Blue sounds like a lost Bon Iver song and I'm here for it. Poignant, nostalgic lyrics bolstered by a beautiful piano. Feels ahead of its time with an anti-technology/social media message. Ready to Start is simultaneously catchy and grim and just a tsunami of energy. The Suburbs is an excellent, tone-setting opener. Modern Man has some of my favorite lyrics and the best guitar work on the album.

Half Light II doesn't hit me as hard emotionally as its predecessor, but this upbeat follow-up makes up for it with its catchiness. Another standout for the songwriting.

Empty Room is such a great little jam. Love the ethereal vocals juxtaposed with a blistering guitar and intense drums. Wasted Hours is a lovely little nostalgic ditty that feels like a Kimya Dawson song with richer instrumentation.

11 great tracks and we finally have a quality drop off. City With No Children might be the poppiest song on the record, but it's also one of the most forgettable. Rococo is almost as forgettable, but at least has pretty vocals. The Suburbs (continued) would be a nothing track, but the final lines are such a haunting end to the record that I have to give it a little love. Finally, Month of May has some great energy, but it's ultimately the only song on the album I don't really care for.