Rank songs on albums.

[Sesquipedaliantique]

This could be a reasonably interesting thread to revive. Maybe not in terms of discussion, but I'd like to find out how certain members of The Real TSM view various records.

Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures (1979)



10. 'Interzone'
09. 'Wilderness'
08. 'Candidate'
07. 'I Remember Nothing'
06. 'She's Lost Control'
05. 'Insight'
04. 'New Dawn Fades'
03. 'Day of the Lords'
02. 'Shadowplay'
01. 'Disorder'

I've nothing against the closing troika ('I Remember Nothing' is the kind of fantastic, atmospheric, slightly chilling post-punk they'd soon record more of, and I love every second of it, 'Wilderness' has some nice grooves and 'Interzone' is short and inoffensive) but the first seven songs on this album are just so strong that it'd be a stretch to rank them any higher.

Go forth and rank.

 

[Czech]

I don't have that album nor do I particularly want it, so I don't know if you counted down or if those are track numbers. Anyway, this will be a CONCEPT POST, the theme being chromatically titled albums. (FAKE EDIT: This ended up being really hard. All these albums happen to kick lots of ass.) I'll start with Purple Rain.

Best track is "Let's Go Crazy." Everyone is probably going to say "When Doves Cry," but that's my #2 because there's so much cool stuff going on in the first track. I never get bored with it. Best part is that shout section around 5:12 with keyboards where horns should be, or maybe right when the main keyboards first come in at "you're on your own." I don't know. "When Doves Cry" is awesome too. Always liked "I Would Die 4 U" more than most, I feel, so that's my #3. "Computer Blue" at #4 on the wings of that cool instrumental section from 2:16 till the end. "Baby I'm a Star" at #5, title track at 6, which is more a testament to how much I like the five ahead of it than anything. "The Beautiful Ones" kinda drags. "Darling Nikki" never did much for me the way it did for Karenna Gore.

Splitting hairs over the pieces on Another Green World seems like a disservice to this, one of my favorite albums ever, but I'm a team player. From best to least best:
St Elmo's Fire: The best creation of Eno's solo career, and up there with "Where The Streets Have No Name" and "Subterraneans" overall. Not one but two simply magical Robert Fripp solos. Exciting and fascinating and evocative and perfect. Maybe my favorite song ever, I don't know.
The Big Ship: it's an aural picture of a big ship. Precisely painted picture, yet still wide-open to interpretation; it can be happy or sad or scary or inspirational depending on your mood. Love it.
Sky Saw, Over Fire Island, In Dark Trees, title track, Sombre Reptiles, Little Fishes, Becalmed, Golden Hours, Zawinul/Lava, Everything Merges With The Night, Spirits Drifting: Fuck it. They're all so good in their own ways. Cannot choose with them. Cannot rank with them. Cannot blurb with them. Can't do it.
I'll Come Running: this one runs a little longer than it needs to.

Kind of Blue
"So What" is still my favorite, "Blue in Green" is more 1A than 2, "Flamenco Sketches" more 1B than 3, "All Blues" has some really fascinating moments but might run long, never much liked "Freddie Freeloader" and it doesn't really fit.

King Crimson - Red
In a trend that makes me feel weird, the first track, "Red," is also the best. Agent got me into this album and talked up how it sounds like nothing so much as a band that really fucking hated each other. I love the handclaps on "One More Red Nightmare," as well as the cool guitar line to open it. "Starless" is a great longform prog workout, about on the same level as "Fallen Angel." "Providence" never goes anywhere for me.

later: the white album

 

[Wario Lemieux]

King Crimson - Red
In a trend that makes me feel weird, the first track, "Red," is also the best. Agent got me into this album and talked up how it sounds like nothing so much as a band that really fucking hated each other. I love the handclaps on "One More Red Nightmare," as well as the cool guitar line to open it. "Starless" is a great longform prog workout, about on the same level as "Fallen Angel." "Providence" never goes anywhere for me.

Same for me, except One More Red Nightmare is first. The guitars are cool, and the bass locking up with such a simple figure (one, three, flat five, onethree, flatfliiive, onethreeflatfive ooooooone) is really heavy, but the drums in the intro are what do it for me. "Red" is cool too because the main riff sounds like it'd fit in on the soundtrack for the original Grinch cartoon. Maybe it's the 60s production, but imagine him stealing toys under that riff and it kinda works. Now to counteract almost sounding educated in the above paragraph.

Akercocke - Antichrist

1. Summon the Antichrist
2. The Dark Inside
3. My Apterous Angel
4. Man Without Faith or Trust
5. Axiom
6. The Promise
7. Footsteps Resound In An Empty Chapel
8. Distant Fires Reflect In The Eyes of Satan
9. Black Messiah
10. Epode (yes, this song is worse than the above song, which is 54 seconds of static).

Not gonna justify my selections, can't do so without sounding like Corey Lazarus.

 

[still fly]

Guy- Guy (1988)

Teddy's Jam
Groove Me
Goodbye Love
Round and Round
You Can Call Me Crazy
Piece of My Love
I Like
My Business
Just Dance

IMO, this album is the template for modern R&B. I've been on an late 80's/early 90's kick recently and I think this is the best album of the New Jack Swing Genre. Teddy's Jam and Groove Me are my favorite tracks, but you can't really go wrong with this one. Perfect mix of dance, ballads and vocals. Aaron Hall is probably the best singer everyone forgets about. If you are familiar with Guy, Aaron Hall sounds like a carbon copy of Charlie Wilson of the Gap Band, but it doesn't take away from the sound of the album. I also think this is Teddy Riley's best produced album, nothing he did has come close to this.

 

[Sesquipedaliantique]

I don't have that album nor do I particularly want it, so I don't know if you counted down or if those are track numbers.

I counted down. 'Disorder' is both the album's opener and its best song.

 

[Agent of Oblivion]

Sleep-Dopesmoker.

1. "Dopesmoker"

This is easy!.

Red

1. One More Red Nightmare
2. Red
3. Starless
4. Fallen Angel
5. Providence

In a trend that makes me feel weird, the first track, "Red," is also the best. Agent got me into this album and talked up how it sounds like nothing so much as a band that really fucking hated each other. I love the handclaps on "One More Red Nightmare," as well as the cool guitar line to open it. "Starless" is a great longform prog workout, about on the same level as "Fallen Angel." "Providence" never goes anywhere for me

I agree with much of this. I dig the tension in Providence, as well as everyone blatantly stepping on each other's feet while they improvise. This track was recorded live, so I can imagine Fripp shooting Wetton dirty looks and Bill Bruford silently mouthing "You motherfuckers..." to his bandmates. They didn't even try to tour to support this record, either. Fripp said "Fuck it" almost immediately after they'd finished recording and mastering everything.