I POLLED the Megahertz - ILM Artist Poll #100 - Prefab Sprout - RESULTS

I wanted to like the acoustic versions so much more than I did.

I did too. I think I would have ultimately preferred demos/alt. versions instead for that reissue.

https://images2.imgbox.com/01/35/jM42El2g_o.jpg

#9
ANDROMEDA HEIGHTS
May 1997
Score: 3
Votes: 2 (0)
Youtube excerpt: Electric Guitars

Electric Guitars / A Prisoner of the Past / The Mystery of Love / Life's a Miracle / Anne Marie / Whoever You Are // Steal Your Thunder / Avenue of Stars / Swans / The Fifth Horseman / Weightless / Andromeda Heights

I defended this one a little in the other thread. Not really a big fan of the singles but dig the arrangements on the near beat-free spacey/showtune tracks quite a bit. It didn't make my ballot, however.

https://images2.imgbox.com/c1/3d/VapRwGRc_o.jpg

#8
LET'S CHANGE THE WORLD WITH MUSIC
September 2009
Score: 9
Votes: 5 (0)
Youtube excerpt: Music is a Princess

Let There Be Music / Ride / I Love Music / God Watch Over You / Earth: The Story So Far // Music is a Princess / Last of the Great Romantics / Falling in Love / Sweet Gospel Music / Meet the New Mozart / Angel of Love

The song titles on this one really lay out what's about to happen: "This one's a song about Gospel Music."

LOL. Kinda. My advocacy for this one probably got out of hand already in the other thread but at least 7 (maybe?) of these songs are, like, super-good in spite of the demo level arrangements. Still seems insane that he just gave up and popped the whole thing in his sock drawer for 17 years, or whatever.

Another home viewer here. Thanks for the compilation effort!

woulda voted for the acoustic Steve McQueen at #1 without question, but my vote for Steve McQueen at #1 includes both versions. good grief at the "Appetite" on there

https://images2.imgbox.com/4d/85/m4kYKHnu_o.jpg

#7
CRIMSON/RED
October 2013
Score: 13
Votes: 6 (0)
Youtube excerpt: Adolescence

The Best Jewel Thief in the World / List of Impossible Things / Adolescence / Grief Built the Taj Mahal / Devil Came a Calling // Billy / The Dreamer / The Songs of Danny Galway / The Old Magician / Mysterious

The song titles on this one really lay out what's about to happen: "This one's a song about Gospel Music."

― enochroot, Monday, March 16, 2020 8:16 AM (forty-six minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

he's always been on-the-nose when it comes to word painting (the "american" accent in jordan's title track, clopping horses in "jesse james," harps in "one of the broken," etc.)

I've actually started my day by listening to Andromeda Heights. It's probably the first time I've heard it in over 10 years. It's a very pretty album, but a lot of the songs are passing me by. The production really reminds me of ABC's Lexicon Of Love II. Might throw on Let's Change The World With Music next. That's another one I haven't heard in a long time.

https://images2.imgbox.com/17/2b/XQ3X2vC6_o.jpg

#6
PROTEST SONGS
June 1989
Score: 23
Votes: 10 (0)
Youtube audio: Horsechimes

The World Awake / Life of Surprises / Horsechimes / Wicked Things / Dublin // Tiffanys / Diana / Talking Scarlet / 'Til the Cows Come Home / Pearly Gates

There's a couple of songs on Protest Songs that feel a bit underwritten, but I still really rate the album. It was my number five.

I like it a lot, but sometimes forget when it's not playing. It might have benefited from being maybe the second PS LP heard in full. The lack of baggage meant that this was just What Prefab Sprout Sound Like for quite a while.

https://images2.imgbox.com/79/18/xwztiuDy_o.jpg

#5
I TRAWL THE MEGAHERTZ
May 2003
Score: 27
Votes: 12 (0)
Youtube excerpt: I'm 49

I Trawl the Megahertz / Esprit de corps / Fall from Grace / We Were Poor / Orchid 7 / I'm 49 / Sleeping Rough / Ineffable / ...But We Were Happy

Wow, the Gunman in a top 4 position. Interesting!

i forgot to vote for i trawl the megahertz in the albums poll bc i'll always think of it as a paddy solo album (whatever that means). title track still made my songs ballot

I hope Swoon can squeeze into the top three.

oh dear lord I didn't submit a ballot

Have mercy on the coronoavirus!

Surprised there weren’t any number one votes for megahertz. But it sure looks like Steve and Jordan are gonna gobble all the top votes up

it's gonna be swoon, langley, then a real toss-up between steve and jordan

(jordan > steve imo)

might've said this in the voting thread, but i love that the two top prefab albums have first names, like they're your friends.

https://images2.imgbox.com/06/de/Ae0mz2e3_o.jpg

#4
SWOON
March 1984
Score: 49
Votes: 18 (4)
Youtube excerpt: Ghost Town Blues

Don't Sing / Cue Fanfare / Green Isaac (I) / Here On The Eerie / Cruel // Couldn't Bear To Be Special / I Never Play Basketball Now / Ghost Town Blues / Elegance / Technique / Green Isaac (II)

Spaced out one of those four Brad mentioned. Not sure why since I voted for all of them. Gunman doesn't place, then.

Swoon at number 2 for me - thought about pushing it to number 1. Would have shocked me 10 years ago, but all that wordy sidewaysness has got deep under my skin.

Wordy sidewaysness! :) I was one of the 4 first-place votes here. Too low, etc, etc.

This evening I momentarily considered dropping the 2 points I allocated to the next one, so it would be a draw with Swoon. But that seemed like insider trading, plus this record is also very good, of course!

https://images2.imgbox.com/3e/ce/GEm5lzak_o.jpg

#3
FROM LANGLEY PARK TO MEMPHIS
March 1988
Score: 51
Votes: 20 (1)
Youtube excerpt: Enchanted

The King Of Rock 'n' Roll / Cars and Girls / I Remember That / Enchanted / Nightingales // Hey Manhattan! / Knock on Wood / The Golden Calf / Nancy (Let Your Hair Down for Me) / The Venus of the Soup Kitchen

in any other discography this would be the band's best record

OTM. Sometimes feels like their best set of songs, but doesn't come together as an album for me. Maybe because the production's a bit more scattered; maybe because this is when I got into them, and it feels a little like listening to singles.

Still don't get "Cars and Girls" (I dislike both) but "The Golden Calf" reminds me of the Go-Be's when they rock out, i.e. charmingly and awkwardly.

but the song's about how some things hurt more (much more) than cars and girls! i.e. it is diminishing those things you dislike

i almost voted for "does heaven wait all heavenly over the next horizon" in the lyrics poll

xp I remember the Trouser Press Record Guide described 'The Golden Calf' as sounding like Cheap Trick. Maybe if you squint, McAloon's voice on the song is a bit like Robin Zanders?

wha

kinda sound like a looser inxs, maybe?

mcaloon's macca-like 'rockin' voice' has always amused me on that song

https://images2.imgbox.com/75/38/Jr1LNrw3_o.jpg

#2
JORDAN: THE COMEBACK
September 1990
Score: 97
Votes: 25 (8)
Youtube excerpt: Jesse James Symphony

Looking For Atlantis / Wild Horses / Machine Gun Ibiza / We Let The Stars Go / Carnival 2000 / Jordan: The Comeback / Jesse James Symphony / Jesse James Bolero / Moon Dog // All The World Loves Lovers / All Boys Believe Anything / The Ice Maiden / Paris Smith / The Wedding March / One Of The Broken / Michael / Mercy / Scarlet Nights / Doo Wop In Harlem

https://images2.imgbox.com/c4/5b/o3jNthd0_o.jpg

#1
STEVE MCQUEEN
June 1985
Score: 115
Votes: 26 (14) (Including 1 vote for Two Wheels Good)
Youtube excerpt: The Yearning Loins (US bonus track, admittedly -- because it's quite good and we won't be hearing it later!)

Faron Young / Bonny / Appetite / When Love Breaks Down / Goodbye Lucille #1 / Hallelujah // Moving the River / Horsin' Around / Desire As / Blueberry Pies / When the Angels / The Yearning Loins* / He'll Have to Go* / Faron (Truckin' Mix)*

* Two Wheels Good bonus tracks.

of course

Makes sense

In summary...

Rank                                   Points     Votes  #1 Votes 
 1    Steve McQueen                       115        26        14
 2    Jordan: The Comeback                 97        25         8
 3    From Langley Park to Memphis         51        20         1
 4    Swoon                                49        18         4
 5    I Trawl the Megahertz                27        12         0
 6    Protest Songs                        23        10         0
 7    Crimson/Red                          13         6         0
 8    Let's Change the World With Music     9         5         0
 9    Andromeda Heights                     3         2         0
10    Steve McQueen Acoustic                2         1         0

So, no love for The Gunman...

Swoon was my number one...a little faberge egg of an album

I'll return with the lyrics results on (GMT+10) Tuesday, once I've had a proper look at them!

Need to change thread title to A Poll of No Surprises 😉

At least Swoon ran Langley Park pretty close. Also four first place votes!

Who was the holdout who didn’t vote for Steve McQueen?

Andromeda Heights is way too low, I can understand some finding the production too cloying but the songs are up their with his best work.

Wow, it looks like I'm the only #1 vote for Langley Park. Steve McQueen is more consistent but it took a while to grow on me, whereas Langley Park bowled me over immediately and never stopped hitting.

It's funny the connections albums make. SM/TWG for me evokes summer of '88, dragging a ping pong table from basement to lawn on sunny Ballard days, playing beer pong with SM/TWG and Temple of Low Men cranked. Makes a quality album that much better.

I was surprised by the rollout - Steve McQueen and Jordan vying for the top two spots is totally expected, but I would have picked Megahertz to come third on ILX.

It has some really good songs, but From Langley Park To Memphis doesn't work as an album for me. I read an interview with McAloon where he spoke to Paul McCartney and McCartney referred to 'The King of Rock and Roll' as McAloon's 'My Ding-a-ling'.

It took me a long time to enjoy Swoon - it's just about the densest pop album I've ever heard.

Thanks for a fantastic poll Nag, every time the current situation started to get to me I would relieve the pressure with a bit of PS therapy!

Coming out of this I now know:

a) Of the three PS albums I own, Swoon is now my go-to and I have had snippets of songs from it bouncing around in my head for weeks...usually with the lyrics incorrect! Every song is awesome and Here on the Eerie and Ghost Town Blues were robbed.

b) Listening to the others on Spotify for a few weeks is not long enough to absorb them - dismiss a PS song at your peril; Hey Manhattan has got its hooks into me since I wrote my poll, what I thought was light and inconsequential has now become essential head music. Those disco strings are what done it.

c) As others have said, at least 3 of their albums for me would rank above most bands best single album...and those are just the ones I know well (albums 1, 2 and 5).

d) I need to own I Trawl the Megahertz NOW (and probably all the others)!

Can we do another one next week please?

Yes thank you N!N!N!, I haven't posted much in this thread but it's been very welcome this past week. Can't really argue with the top four - I had the same songs in a different order but really it's impossible to choose between them.

My ballot:

SONGS(ranked 1-30):
When Love Breaks Down
Goodbye Lucille #1
Appetite
Bonny
All the World Loves Lovers
Cars and Girls
Desire As
Life of Surprises
I Trawl the Megahertz
Hallelujah
We Let the Stars Go
Carnival 2000
The Ice Maiden
Jordan: The Comeback
The Golden Calf
Paris Smith
Looking for Atlantis
Moving the River
Wild Horses
...But We Were Happy
Don't Sing
The Sound of Crying
Green Isaac (I)
A Prisoner of the Past
Hey Manhattan!
Lions in My Own Garden (Exit Someone)
The Best Jewel Thief in the World
Technique
Scarlet Nights
Swans

ALBUMS (ranked 1-5):
Steve McQueen
Jordan: The Comeback
I Trawl the Megahertz
From Langley Park to Memphis
Swoon

Tracks:
The Sound of Crying
Appetite
Nightingales
Ride
Desire As
I Trawl the Megahertz
A Prisoner of the Past
Moon Dog
A Life of Surprises
Cars and Girls
When Love Breaks Down
Earth: The Story So Far
The Best Jewel Thief In the World
Cowboy Dreams
Bonny
Scarlet Nights
The King of Rock ’n’ Roll
Dublin
Til the Cows Come Home
Lions In My Own Garden (Exit Someone)
I Remember That
Looking for Atlantis
Jordan: the Comeback
Diana
Wild Horses
Horsin Around
Horsechimes
Enchanted
The Ice Maiden
Jesse James Bolero

Albums:
From Langley Park to Memphis
Steve McQueen
Let’s Change the World With Music
Protest Songs
Jordan: the Comeback

Another thanks for running this, Nags. Great music to have in my head this past week.

Only shut out on three: Michael (my #8), Bearpark (22), Life's a Miracle (29). The End of the Affair is so aggressively catchy in a If You Don't Love Me vein, but the demo beat and "I know, I know..." of Bearpark make it my favorite b-side.

Kudos to the lone Farmyard Cat vote! I was close to putting it on mine. It might be slight, but there's a glee in singing along with "Me - Me - Yow". Makes me think of the house-raising fight in "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers".

Only myself to blame for not voting, but I was *shocked* to see no placing for 'Girl I'm Here'

https://youtu.be/tWfHlt91n9k

Yes - thank you! Haven't been around as much as I'd like to chatter & comment - things a little busy because of the you-know-what - but it's been great to dip in.

I'd never heard the End of the Affair! So extra thanks to all the voters for that.

I scan down the post-40 results and just keep thinking 'but but but that's an amazing song' - Ghost Town Blues at 72! Some catalogue.

Proud to be lone voter for Green Isaac II. I like it sitting there right at the end.

Tracks

1. Desire As
2. Green Isaac (I)
3. Goodbye Lucille #1
4. The Golden Calf
5. Appetite
6. The World Awake
7. Lions in my own garden (exit someone)
8. The Best Jewel Thief in the World
9. Cornfield Ablaze
10. Nightingales
11. Life of Surprises
12. I Trawl the Megahertz
13. Cruel
14. Hallelujah
15. Elegance
16. I Never Play Basketball Now
17. Cars and Girls
18. I Remember That
19. Wild Horses
20. Adolescence
21. The Ice Maiden
22. All the world loves lovers
23. We Let the Stars Go
24. Ghost Town Blues
25. Hey Manhattan
26. Donna Summer
27. Moving the River
28. One of the Broken
29. Scarlet Nights
30. Green Isaac (II)

Albums:

1. Jordan: the comeback
2. Swoon
3. Steve McQueen
4. From Langley Park to Memphis
5. Crimson/Red

thank you Nag! one of the reasons that i made an unranked ballot was when i thought about Appetite and Bonny, i just could not pick one over the other. i sort of lost track of this band after Langley came out for some reason even though they were a total fave at the time. it and wasn't until Brad's Jordan enthusiasm a few months ago instigated somewhat of a rabbit hole excursion. but what a freaking solid discography, half of which i was completely unfamiliar with a couple weeks ago. oh, and my god, the vinyl reissue of Jordan is an amazing pressing and exquisite listen

thank you for the poll.
somehow i forgot to submiss my votes, but this will be a great soundtrack for the quarantine.
probably 'desire as' would be my #1.

Thanks for the poll and the discussion.
Definitely enjoyed listening to these albums again especially the more obscure B-sides and the albums I don't care for as much (Gunmen, ITtMhz).

Also, thanks to whomever posted the chord walkthrough videos. The first two records in particular have such unusual and interesting chord progressions but hearing them so much over the years diluted the impact/shock. Watching them played through made me appreciate them, esp. the Swoon songs, much more.

Note on albums. Flipped on TWG and Jordan a dozen times. I also vacillated on Andromeda Heights, Crimson/Red and LCTWTM as my fifth place and now wish I would have gone with Andromeda since it placed so low. I get a lot of the criticisms of that record, but if if you can get passed the easy listening instrumental passages and the prominent alto sax it has as many great songs (Prisoner, Electric Guitars, title track, Weightless, Swans, Avenue of Stars, Whoever You are) as the other those later records. To me Andromeda is a much better record than Protest Songs which outside a few songs (The World Awake, LoS, Pearly Gates) seems more undercooked and demo-y than LCTWM.

Note on songs. Totally flaked on Desire As - definitely should have been in the top 20 (as my wife immediately pointed out). Surprised by the lack of love for Last of the Great Romantics, Pearly Gates, and Meet the New Mozart, but baffled most by vote totals for Horsin' Around.

My Ballot:

Albums
1. Jordan: The Comeback
2. Two Wheels Good/Steve McQueen
3. Swoon
4. From Langley Park to Memphis
5. Crimson/Red

Songs
1. The Ice Maiden
2. Wild Horses
3. Faron Young
4. Scarlet Nights
5. Carnival 2000
6. Appetite
7. Don't Sing
8. We Let the Stars Go
9. When Love Breaks Down
10. Cue Fanfare
11. Jesse James Bolero
12. If You Don't Love Me
13. Bonny
14. The King of Rock N Roll
15. Goodbye Lucille #1 (Johnny Johnny)
16. Green Isaac (I)
17. Cars and Girls
18. Technique
19. The Sound of Crying
20. Life of Surprises
21. The Last of the Great Romantics
22. Nightingales
23. A Prisoner of the Past
24. The Songs of Danny Galway
25. Doo Wop in Harlem
26. Pearly Gates
27. The Best Jewel Thief in the World
28. Cruel
29. Meet the New Mozart
30. Lions in My Own Garden (Exit Someone)

weighted ballots ahoy

Tracks::
The Sound of Crying
Goodbye Lucille #1 (Johnny Johnny)
Nightingales
Scarlet Nights
Appetite
The Ice Maiden
Life of Surprises
Knock on Wood
Real Life (is Just Around the Corner)
Carnival 2000
I Trawl the Megahertz
Doo-Wop in Harlem
Bonny
All the World Loves Lovers
If You Don't Love Me
The World Awake
Cars and Girls
I Remember That
Green Isaac
Ride
Electric Guitars
Donna Summer
Wild Horses
Enchanted
Technique
Horsechimes
The King of Rock 'N' Roll
Cornfield Ablaze
Nero the Zero
Cruel

Albums:
Jordan: The Comeback
From Langley Park to Memphis
Steve McQueen
Let's Change the World with Music
Swoon

Lyrics:
"Never let your conscience grow harmful to your health / Let no neurotic impulse turn inward on itself" - Life of Surprises
"We're only men and women doing what we can / sometimes I think that God is working to a plan / Then other times I swear that he is improvising / discordant and remote" - The Sound of Crying
"We were songbirds / we were Greek gods / We were singled out by fate / We were quoted out of context / It was great" - Electric Guitars
"Now every child wears the look of the child that wished to marry you / who knocking proudly on your door was greeted by your pretty wife" - The World Awake
"You and I won't be the fools that other lovers are / thinking every silver bottle top potentially a star" - All the World Loves Lovers

Again, many thanks, Nag! Here's my list which, if anything, shows I hold Protest Songs in a little higher regard than many other voters! I probably also should have listened to Jordan a little more during ballot creation.

Tracks:
1 Cruel
2 Goodbye Lucille #1
3 Elegance
4 Bonny
5 Faron Young
6 I Never Play Basketball Now
7 Appetite
8 Donna Summer
9 Wild Horses
10 Hallelujah
11 Horse Chimes
12 Talkin Scarlet
13 Moving The River
14 Machine Gun Ibiza
15 When Love Breaks Down
16 Mercy
17 Technique
18 Cue Fanfare
19 Enchanted
20 The Golden Calf
21 Diana
22 Looking for Atlantis
23 Wicked Things
24 Lions in My Own Garden
25 Adolescence
26 Paris Smith
27 Dublin
28 Horsin' Around
29 Life of Surprises
30 The Best Jewel Thief in The World

Albums:
1 Steve McQueen
2 Swoon
3 Protest Songs
4 Jordan: The Comeback
5 From Langley Park to Memphis

Yes, the Andromeda Heights era in general suddenly sounded a lot better to me - I haven't really revisited since feeling deep disappointment at the time.

I didn't vote in the lyrics poll (much too difficult, plus a couple of sentences taken out of context always seem underwhelming) but surprised that there were no votes for any lyrics from The Songs of Danny Galway. Ostensibly about Jimmy Webb, the lyrics of the second and third verses also seem to incorporate Paddy's post Swoon lyrical aspirations and are a good summation of his catalogue.

"In words he paints a vivid scene
Of places you may not have been
Yet listen and you're moved to swear
I know that house, I've climbed that stair
I've shared those overwhelming feelings
I've suffered loss, I've known such joy
Emotions we all know are burnished till they glow"

"chord changes like Baptist hymns
They lift your spirit till its soars
Till you forget that spirit's yours
Sound and word in sweet communion
Echoes of a better world
Where chivalry's not dead, we'll look for it instead"

On the C/R artist tributes I really love Mysterious too. When he's describing the "quicksilver task", it's like "to catch the world in images" fine, fine, bit flat maybe, but then "to annotate the feast" just a marvel.

great poll

i don't know the names of any of their songs for some reasons, kept having to check which one was which

Thanks for this poll. I didn't vote because I only know about half the catalogue. Time for a catch-up!

If anyone cares...

1. Swoon
2. Steve Mcqueen
3. Langley Park To Memphis
4. Jordan The Comeback
5. I Trawl The Megahertz

1. Bonny
2. Wild Horses
3.. When Love Breaks Down
4. Cruel
5. Appetite
6. We Let The Stars Go
7. I Remember That
8. Don’t Sing
9. Hallelujah
10. Goodbye Lucille
11. Technique
12. Cue Fanfare
13. Cars And Girls
14. The Best Jewel Thief In The World
15. The King Of Rock And Roll
16. Elegance
17. Radio Love
18. I Trawl The Megahertz
19. Lions In My Own Garden
20. Life Of Surprises
21. Blue Roses
22. Looking For Atlantis
23. Faron Young
24. Could’ve Bear To Be Special
25. Enchanted
26. The Venus Of The Soup Kitchen
27. Green Isaac
28. Horsin Around
29. The Yearning Loins
30. When The Angels

^ I care. Yours were the only other votes for "The Yearning Loins" and "Radio Love". Which means you roolz!

It just occurred to me that this is the first poll for which I've done the number-crunching where absolutely everyone submitting tracks also submitted an albums ballot. The latter is usually a smaller pool. This is surely a crucial and significant outcome, hinting at some deep truth about the artist but I'm not entirely sure what!

My ballot. Albums vote was tactical / applied EOY poll conventions.

LPs
01 Swoon
02 I Trawl the Megahertz

Songs
01 Goodbye Lucille #1
02 Jordan: The Comeback
03 Faron Young
04 Nightingales
05 Cruel
06 When the Angels
07 Horsin’ Around
08 Moon Dog
09 Here On the Eerie
10 Cue Fanfare
11 Moving the River
12 We Let The Stars Go
13 I Love Music
14 Desire As
15 Walk On
16 The King of Rock’N’Roll
17 One Of The Broken
18 Couldn’t Bear To Be Special
19 Scarlet Nights
20 Mercy
21 Appetite
22 Diana
23 Maching Gun Ibiza
24 Lions In My Own Garden (Exit Someone)
25 Don’t Sing
26 Paris Smith
27 The Ice Maiden
28 Wicked Things
29 Wild Horses
30 Looking For Atlantis

My main regret is not voting for "Technique".

TRACKS, RANKED
Appetite
Goodbye Lucille #1
Bonny
Desire As
Faron Young
When Love Breaks Down
Moving the River
Cue Fanfare
Jesse James Symphony
Jesse James Bolero
We Let The Stars Go
I Remember That
Nightingales
Scarlet Nights
Lions in My Own Garden
Enchanted
Carnival 2000
The End of the Affair
God Watch Over You
The Ice Maiden
Weightless
All The World Loves Lovers
The Sound of Crying
Life Of Surprises
Sweet Gospel Music
The Best Jewel Thief in the World
If You Don't Love Me
Wild Horses
Hallelujah
When the Angels

ALBUMS
Steve McQueen
Jordan: The Comeback
From Langley Park to Memphis
Andromeda Heights
Let's Change The World With Music

Has anybody heard the Jimmy Nail version of ‘Blue Roses’...I’ll stick my neck out and say it’s better the Prefab Sprout version...*sees people with pitchforks amassing on doorstep...

The fourth episode of the Netflix series I Am Not Okay With This opens with a teenage boy bouncing around his bedroom singing along with "The King of Rock and Roll." If I wasn't in love with the show before that point, I definitely am now.

i didn't vote in this, sorry, but i appreciated it. 'when love breaks down' might be their best song. might be the best song

I just realized Blueberry Pies only landed at 81 here. Absolutely ridiculous.

At least it's one track we know isn't modestly ranked due to being hopelessly under-heard. :)

Oh, dope! I didn't vote or follow the rollout, but I'm over the moon about "Appetite" winning.

I didn't post a ballot in March, but this will do.

The more I think about it, the more futile ranking PS songs is...my top ten is an ephemeral beast that could contain ten different songs from one day to the next.

...it's telling that a quarter of your top twenty didn't make the top forty in the ILX poll!

good list, but ya can’t quote ice maiden without including it dammit

I went to sleep with Spotify shuffling 2020 releases and woke to this conspicuously not-so-2020 sampled loop. Freaky.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgGkr6Qi8ro

"life of surprises" is just the greatest goddamn song of all time

"We Let The Stars Go" will fight you for that title.

It's "The Sound of Crying" for me, but we're splitting hairs here

1) this goddamn band.
2) I now have an earworm mashup from Life of Surprises to Forever by Charli.

I went through a period of listening to "Elegance" a lot after this poll. Not sure I'd parsed the lyrics properly beforehand but I was suddenly really digging it as a class warfare anthem. Secretly their best song. Maybe. Sometimes.

Nah. Cue Fanfare is the zenith.

When everyone comes in at the start of “Life of Surprises” is the best