The National (Poll)

“geese of beverly road” was a huge highlight of their set last night

None of you people have heard Sad Songs? It's very very good!

they say so much!

"Geese" is wonderful. I find Alligator a little patchier than most seem to, though.

the lyrics of "geese" are perfect

i used to think alligator was a little patchy but every song grew on me over a weirdly long period of time

the run from "all the wine" until the end is so good

I haven't listened to Sad Songs in... probably ten years? I need to give it a spin.

Also, shout out to the Cherry Tree EP in general and "About Today" in particular.

agreed, those are five of my favorite national songs.

xp

None of you people have heard Sad Songs? It's very very good!

― flamboyant goon tie included, Thursday, June 13, 2019 9:05 PM (two hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Do you have me kill-filed? It's my favourite! Mundane choice because it's my first love. I saw them sweating it out on that tour, for an audience of about 300 in Amsterdam, and it was a tough night for them, but they won over the audience. And me. The record: the songs are the most timeless out of their whole oeuvre. But I'll immediately admit this is a way too personal view on their discog. But I can't see it otherwise. I was there, then, and 'Sad Songs' etched into my brain and remains there and I don't hear it often now but I love it.

I love Alligator and Boxer equally. I almost consider them of a piece. Things become more scattershot after, imo. Sometimes brilliantly, sometimes just OK. Rarely (if ever?) terrible.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

alligator it is

Alligator is one of my favorite records by anyone ever.
I think the rest of their records are OK but Alligator is very special to me.

I'm so sorry but the motorcade'll have to go around me this time

Boxer then High Violet

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

amazing

TWFM robbed!!!

I would've voted for Trouble Will Find Me.

it's the best one except for i am easy to find

alligator and boxer tying is still hilarious

I guess maybe I should go back to IAETF, it didn't leave much of an impression with me.

Alligator and Boxer are their twin peaks, yeah, with High Violet a close third. The rest of their discography leaves me indifferent save for I Am Easy to Find, which I actively disdain.

it's long and often slow and i can see and have seen it slide off of people but "so far so fast" and "not in kansas" are just incredible peaks in their catalog xp

I Am Easy to Find is their best.

I wish the female singers on IAETF got more to do than sing typical Berninger vocal lines and lyrics

alligator is still my go-to album of theirs, and 'geese of beverly road' is still my fav national song.

I’m with jaymc, probably need to revisit the last one, I indeed remember Not in Kansas being one of the greatest things I’d ever heard from them but very little else stuck with me.

"you had your soul with you" is the best song they've ever done and "so far so fast" is incredible too. it's a long and slow and gloomy album but that's somehow less of an issue for me than with all their previous work

Had no idea they (essentially) did the soundtrack to the new "Cyrano" movie (or, for that matter, that it was a musical).

i used to think alligator was a little patchy but every song grew on me over a weirdly long period of time

the run from "all the wine" until the end is so good

― american bradass (BradNelson), Thursday, June 13, 2019 2:13 PM (two years ago) bookmarkflaglink

Their best song on their best album

Oh, and apparently in other National news:

Speaking at his copyright trial in London's High Court, @edsheeran says he recently wrote 25 songs in the space of a week with @Aaron_Dessner of The National.

— Mark Savage (@mrdiscopop) March 7, 2022

I think the only response is that the National should use some of Dessner's Swift and Sheeran money and hire Max Martin.

Forgot about these guys for a second, and didn't even notice they released a new song a couple of months ago:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcII2C6yh0A

"weird goodbyes" was unfortunately pretty underwhelming considering their last album was the best of their career, hope the rest of the album (out sometime next year) will be better

imo where they should have gone next is pushing the sound of the last album even further until they end up making their homogenic

otm

They may yet. An interview I saw with Bryce Dessner (when I was doing a quick "what are they up to" google this morning) implied lots of new material in various states of flux, changing all the time. Which is sort of the risky U2 approach. You've got to know when to stop spinning the wheel and eventually settle on something, and where you stop determines whether that something is interesting but underbaked or solid but boring.

I really like Weird Goodbyes. Still in my current playlist two months later.