Will you accept unranked ballots?
― kommafeil, Wednesday, 3 November 2021 20:24 (two years ago) link
oh, it's 30 tracks? not 25? that makes my task a little easier, i'm down to 37
― I'm a sovereign jizz citizen (the table is the table), Wednesday, 3 November 2021 20:57 (two years ago) link
unranked ballots are fine, just specify that's what they are
― ufo, Wednesday, 3 November 2021 23:40 (two years ago) link
I whizzed through Trust, Great Destroyer and Drums & Guns today and narrowed them down to about six songs total. Now I’m onto C’mon and, man, I just don’t get the folks who think this is lesser Low. This album is so gorgeous.
I think because I’m going through the whole discography in such quick succession this week, C’mon is really resonating with Things We Lost in the Fire. They feel like twins to me right now.
― sctttnnnt (pgwp), Thursday, 4 November 2021 01:00 (two years ago) link
c'mon is very solid but not much on it is up with their very best, i don't think anything except "nothing but heart" will make its way onto my ballot. it's definitely a continuation of things we lost in the fire, going further in that direction. probably their most lush & accessible album.
the great destroyer is one that has really shot up in my estimations lately, it's a really remarkably strong rock album, every song is very very good. something "just stand back" is very uncharacteristic for them but it's so good at what it does.
― ufo, Thursday, 4 November 2021 02:59 (two years ago) link
Yeah, that’s the one, that caught my attention on relisten - I think the more abrasive sound now feels more in line when you compile their most recent 2 albums.
― Western® with Bacon Flavor, Thursday, 4 November 2021 03:02 (two years ago) link
yeah i think alan's talked about it being them seeing how loud they could go at the time, but they've certainly surpassed that with hey what
― ufo, Thursday, 4 November 2021 03:15 (two years ago) link
i do wish the studio version of "pissing" went as far as they do when they play it live, it's fantastic.
great version at 34:30 here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I45V99gx25Y
― ufo, Thursday, 4 November 2021 03:26 (two years ago) link
it sounds kinda Harvey Milk-lite, and I mean that as a compliment
― Western® with Bacon Flavor, Thursday, 4 November 2021 03:44 (two years ago) link
I can see "California" and "Just Stand Back" disappointing fans who were accustomed to their earlier sound but I love both songs
― Vinnie, Thursday, 4 November 2021 05:09 (two years ago) link
The band's catalog is like cresting waves in the ocean. It's constantly moving and hypnotic, but some of it is taller and more impressive.
I bet Alan would surf if he didn't live in Minnesota. Though I guess you can surf Lake Superior!
https://www.minnesotamonthly.com/travel-recreation/recreation/why-winter-is-surfing-season-in-minnesota/
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 4 November 2021 12:06 (two years ago) link
Over The Ocean?
― kraudive, Thursday, 4 November 2021 12:51 (two years ago) link
I feel like the "heavy" aspects of the band are really present on earlier tracks like "Laugh" (off Curtain) and of course "The Lamb," among others on Trust.
It is perhaps the commercial accessibility of Cmon that I find so distasteful— it simply doesn't sound like the band I fell in love with, and none of the songs stand out to me at all.
I've been thinking about why the earlier stuff grabs me in ways that even the much more recent albums don't, and while I have some ideas, I'm still not totally sure they hold up.
― I'm a sovereign jizz citizen (the table is the table), Thursday, 4 November 2021 16:43 (two years ago) link
Hmm I don't think of C'mon as commercially accessible any more than anything else they've done. It's not as dissonant or edgy as Trust or Drums & Guns, but the aesthetic of C'mon has always been a prominent part of their palette. You could make a whole album of "Low pop" in the vein of Try to Sleep (Venus, Starfire, Immune, Dinosaur Act, etc.)
Anyway, shrug. I think Nightingale, Done, You See Everything, and Especially Me are all really lovely songs, and Majesty/Magic is a great mini-epic whose main flaw is that it's shown up by the even more epic Nothing But Heart.
― sctttnnnt (pgwp), Thursday, 4 November 2021 17:17 (two years ago) link
i guess that I've just often thought of those songs as the worst songs on their respective albums.
funnily enough, Cmon has fallen *below* The Invisible Way for me as a result of this poll
― I'm a sovereign jizz citizen (the table is the table), Thursday, 4 November 2021 17:27 (two years ago) link
“Nightingale” is making my ballot - probably my fave from that album.
― Western® with Bacon Flavor, Thursday, 4 November 2021 17:32 (two years ago) link
from the last graph of the Pfork review of the record:
As such, C'mon feels more like a collection drawn from throughout the last decade than a completely cohesive album. This could be viewed as the band sorting through the progress it's made in search of the next turn-- there are even a few songs that come close to revisiting the glacial sparseness of their earliest music. This is all to say that, if you already like Low, C'mon will not disappoint you, and though it's not their best album, it's a fairly accessible distillation of where they've been.
Sums it up for me— many of the tracks feel like they're treading old ground, sort of running through the motions. Nothing on it stands out. It also doesn't help that I am infinitely annoyed by the first track on the record, a place where LOW are usually exceptional.
― I'm a sovereign jizz citizen (the table is the table), Thursday, 4 November 2021 17:37 (two years ago) link
re-listened to the great destroyer on my commute this morning, the point upthread about fridmann’s production choices being more tolerable after their recent run of albums has some truth in it. still think the middle third kinda drags. there’s still three or four songs on it that may make my ballot
― donna rouge, Thursday, 4 November 2021 17:37 (two years ago) link
I still have most of Curtain on my ballot. I think it's just going to have to be that way.
― I'm a sovereign jizz citizen (the table is the table), Thursday, 4 November 2021 17:40 (two years ago) link
First cull for tracks: down to 72 (from 265 non-live tracks I have in my collection).
Stats on those 72 tracks:
― Soundslike, Thursday, 4 November 2021 22:01 (two years ago) link
It's going through the older albums for me and deciding "well, which one of these could you not liver without"
― I'm a sovereign jizz citizen (the table is the table), Thursday, 4 November 2021 22:24 (two years ago) link
lol... live without
c'mon/invisible way/ones and sixes is probably their weakest stretch yeah, only in that none of those albums is up with their very best but they're still pretty solid.
― ufo, Friday, 5 November 2021 06:15 (two years ago) link
I finally listened to Invisible Way, the only album I hadn't heard yet. The blandest production of all their albums, I think. I'll listen a couple more times, but I'd be surprised if anything on it makes my ballot
― Vinnie, Friday, 5 November 2021 08:10 (two years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_X9zXJdZqI
another live curiosity is how they play "clarence white", it would have fit on the great destroyer in this form
― ufo, Friday, 5 November 2021 08:35 (two years ago) link
oh come on, ones and sixes is an amazing record
― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Friday, 5 November 2021 12:31 (two years ago) link
justice for ones and sixes, still the best of the last three low records
― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Friday, 5 November 2021 12:32 (two years ago) link
i like ones and sixes a lot but it's not top tier low & falls off in the middle - the first three & last three tracks are all pretty great but the rest isn't as strong. no way is it better than the two since.
could definitely make the case that ones and sixes/double negative/hey what is their best three-album run on the other hand
― ufo, Friday, 5 November 2021 12:39 (two years ago) link
the adjustment in textural focuses between tracks is painstakingly tuned on o&s, and the songs feel like they're written to emphasize that? which helps make it feel bigger-than-the-sum, regardless of opinion about the individual songs
― ri, Friday, 5 November 2021 13:19 (two years ago) link
it doesn't quite have the same greater than the sum of its parts feeling as double negative and its individual parts aren't quite as strong either
still a lot to like about it just it's more of a transitional record than a real high point imo
― ufo, Friday, 5 November 2021 13:26 (two years ago) link
for me its twin in the low catalog is trust, which a lot of ppl described similarly at the time
― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Friday, 5 November 2021 13:29 (two years ago) link
trust feels less of an indication of where they were going to go (there's "canada" and that's about it) and more of a refinement and expansion of the darker end of the two previous albums ("whitetail", "don't understand", etc.). there's more to it than that but it feels like the conclusion of that aspect of their sound more than anything else
― ufo, Friday, 5 November 2021 13:37 (two years ago) link
but i do also think trust is strongest at its beginning and end
― ufo, Friday, 5 November 2021 13:38 (two years ago) link
i'm pretty happy with the top 30 i made a month ago but i'm also like... am i? should i listen to everything again????
― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Friday, 5 November 2021 15:28 (two years ago) link
(there's "canada" and that's about it)
you know what reminds me of "canada"? "no end"
― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Friday, 5 November 2021 15:32 (two years ago) link
Ones and Sixes is pretty great. When I was relistening to it, I forgot how many great tracks it has. I do think of it as a transition album but only because what comes after is even better!
― Vinnie, Friday, 5 November 2021 15:36 (two years ago) link
they might not occupy similar positions in the catalog but they just echo off of each other nicely xp
― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Friday, 5 November 2021 15:36 (two years ago) link
i'm planning on submitting a vote! will probably be near the deadline and a (typical for me) hasty, indefensible selection
― just staying (Karl Malone), Friday, 5 November 2021 16:00 (two years ago) link
could definitely make the case that ones and sixes/double negative/hey what is their best three-album run on the other hand― ufo, Friday, November 5, 2021 5:39 AM (three hours ago) bookmarkflaglink
― ufo, Friday, November 5, 2021 5:39 AM (three hours ago) bookmarkflaglink
lunacy. need i remind you:
I Could Live in Hope – (Vernon Yard, 1994)Long Division – (Vernon Yard, 1995)The Curtain Hits the Cast – (Vernon Yard, 1996)Secret Name – (Kranky, 1999)Things We Lost in the Fire – (Kranky, 2001)Trust – (Kranky, 2002)
any three of those beat the latest three out of the water imho.
― I'm a sovereign jizz citizen (the table is the table), Friday, 5 November 2021 16:10 (two years ago) link
you like their early stuff best you say
― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Friday, 5 November 2021 16:13 (two years ago) link
I know, I keep harping on it.
For me, this poll is hard enough given those six albums, is all, and it boggles my mind that anyone could think something from "Cmon" or "The Invisible Way" is better than a single track from any of these six.
― I'm a sovereign jizz citizen (the table is the table), Friday, 5 November 2021 16:30 (two years ago) link
I really like their latest records, too, fwiw.
― I'm a sovereign jizz citizen (the table is the table), Friday, 5 November 2021 16:31 (two years ago) link
"landslide" just ascended to the near-top of my list, next to a curtain track, it's really not unfathomable imo
― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Friday, 5 November 2021 16:33 (two years ago) link
"Nothing but Heart" is on C'mon, so believe it!
― licorice in the front, pizza in the rear (Whiney G. Weingarten), Friday, 5 November 2021 16:40 (two years ago) link
I might just not vote tbh.
― I'm a sovereign jizz citizen (the table is the table), Friday, 5 November 2021 17:14 (two years ago) link
Where should we go: Canada, California, Belarus, or Missouri? Or into a snowstorm, forest or the ocean?
― that's not my post, Friday, 5 November 2021 17:23 (two years ago) link
my plan for voting in this poll is to do it on the last eligible day so i'm forced to rely on gut instinct
as for early vs. recent low: i couldn't possibly say i prefer one over the other - the earlier stuff has the advantage of time obv but i find what they're doing now really exciting in its own way. "do you know how to waltz?" and "dancing and blood" both fucked my entire world up, for different reasons
― donna rouge, Friday, 5 November 2021 17:26 (two years ago) link
Invisible Way will not make my top ten ballot, and most likely nothing from it will make my tracks ballot either ("Plastic Cup" still technically in contention as I work to slim down my long-list). But I will say, the album did rise in my estimation after listening to everything this week. It's by far their most modest album. Feels like a purposeful lack of ambition - no grandiosity, no edgy darkness. Just some nice songs. But in that way it's unique in the catalog and if that was their intent then it's a nice little record.
― sctttnnnt (pgwp), Friday, 5 November 2021 17:28 (two years ago) link
might be ridiculous but i believe i'm voting for "so blue"
― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Friday, 5 November 2021 17:29 (two years ago) link
Forest > Ocean > Canada > snowstorm > California > Belarus >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Missouri
― just staying (Karl Malone), Friday, 5 November 2021 17:50 (two years ago) link
whoa, awesome! for some reason i was expecting tomorrow, although now i realize it's because you're in my tomorrow now! :D
*HEADS THERE*
― just staying (Karl Malone), Monday, 22 November 2021 22:33 (two years ago) link