Great #1, SOMB.



Yeah, great record. The execs are crazy.



Eh, not really.

Solid work, Paul.

thanks paul.

so i don't spend tons of time on this board, but everyone seems to be breathing a collective sigh of relief that tvotr isn't number one...what exactly don't people like about this record? i mean, i know the album's REALLY gay, but besides that?

Because then they would be too similar to other boards/publications. Just guessing here, I really have no idea. It's a pretty great album that I would place ahead of Third, personally.

yeah i'm picking up on the disdain for non-resident boarders "ruining" these threads with mor tastes, but do people actively dislike the tvotr and love the portishead? i guess i don't really see the impulse that would drive that...

Voted Third, um, third, and Dear Science 11th. Both good records. One's just way better.

i voted 'third' my #1 album of 2008. tv on the radio is an okay band and all of their records have their standout moments, but 'third' was just a big deal for me. they nailed that gap between experimentation and songcraft that is so hard to achieve. felt like an instant classic that is going to be remembered years from now.

just stands above all other musical achievements in 08 imo.

I didn't get to Portishead... mainly due to previous thoughts of them but that's a separate issue. Dear Science is a decent album in my opinion, but it didn't make my top 20. It has some really standout moments... it has some pretty meh moments. As a full album it's so incoherent and all over the place. I don't really get the love for it.

must... make.... more...... jokes......... about..... Third.... being....... depressing...

My thoughts exactly. Awesome job, Paul.

The thing that I don't quite understand is all the acoustic-beardy-folk that's so in vogue.

4 Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes 5043 65 3
5 Sun Kil Moon - April 4754 52 8
8 Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago 3907 48 4

I mean, yeah, Fleet Foxes made my list but it's been sliding downward for the past few months. It's like a side of classic rock that's infiltrated the indie landscape. Sure, there's a place for it but if you put a beat behind any of these lyrics to a beat, you're not far from Coldplay. When did everyone get so sensitive?

That's a damn good way to put it, Iha. While I prefer Dear Science, I can definitely see where you are coming from. Touche.

Yep, excellent work Paul. I got some new and re-listening to do as well.

For the record I've always been a huge pussy.

I don't think Mark Kozelek has ever grown a beard.

..and forgot blitzen trapper

well i liked Dummy a lot when it came out, but didn't really follow them too much after that for whatever reason

Portishead then and Portishead now are two different beasts.

probably why i'm not too big on this latest one then eh?

oh, well, you said you weren't a big fan in the 90s, so you know...by that logic, if you didn't like the old Portishead, you might dig the new stuff...but I guess that's not necessarily the case.

i thought i might, going in i was pretty excited actually, but didn't stick with me. like i said, def plan on revisiting it... the sheer amount of critical acclaim alone makes me wonder if maybe i just missed something completely on first go round with it.

ohh yes, it's great seeing April at 5. That surprised me. That one just started sinking in a couple weeks ago.

Sorry. That's what I meant, I guess.

Fixed

wrong.

I truly think people just didn't listen to this album enough. Once you spin it enough times, it all makes sense. On the first listens, there is simply too much going on...Barnes filled this album to the brim with ideas and it's hard to fully digest it all on the first listens. Once you can anticipate the changes in songs...it's way more pleasing. I was so dissapointed on my first listen.

"Nonpareil of Favor" was one of the best songs this year.

Miscellaneous poll results will actually and finally be posted on Monday. Real life has kind of unexpectedly taken over this weekend.

Let's talk about how absolutely horrible the lyrics on "Third" are. Anyone who ever accused Jim Morrison of writing "3rd grade poetry" and who digs "Third's" lyrics has no leg to stand on. Clearly,. the lyrics on this album are the jottings of a depressed junior high kid.

Who could forget classics like these?


From Silence:


Empty in our hearts
Crying out in silence
Wandered out of reach
Too far to speak
Drifting unable


LOL

From "Hunter":

So confused
My thoughts are takin' over
Unwanted, arising space me instead
Won't let go


From "Nylon Smile"

I'd like to laugh at what you said
but I just can't find a smile
I wonder why you can't
I struggle with myself
hoping I might change a little
hoping that I might be someone I wanna be




From "Plastic":

I could try
But don't know what you hear
'Cause in my heart
You were so clear

From "We Carry On":

The taste of life
I can't describe
It's chocking on my mind
Reaching out I can't believe
Faith it can't decide


From "Deep Water":

I’m drifting in deep water
Alone with my self-doubting, again
Try not to struggle this time
For I will weather the storm


From "Machine Gun":

if only I could see
You turn myself to me
and recognise the poison in my heart
there is no other place
no one else I face




From "Magic Doors":

I can't deny what I've become
I'm just emotionally undone
I can't deny I can with someone else
When I have tried to find the words
To describe this sense absurd





From "Threads":


I'm worn, tired of my mind
I'm worn out, thinking of why
I'm always so unsure
I'm always so unsure

I'm worn, tired of my mind
I'm worn out, thinking of why
I'm always so unsure
I'm always so unsure

I'm always so unsure
I'm always so unsure
I'm always so unsure
I'm always so unsure

I am alive when I sleep
Why am I not in all that I got?
I can't find no one to blame

Stand, stand, damned one
Damned one
Damned one
Damned one

I am one
Damned
One

Where do I go?






Someone must have stolen Johnny Withers 6th grade math notebook. What an absolute sham. Do people even bother paying attention to you know....the entire package when they listen to an album? When you add these lyrics to the tacked on art-rock fakery (see the monkey-see-a-key-monkey-press-a-key Doors freakout in "Small"), you realize this album is a forced and calculated work aimed atthe gullible and depressed.

Is that how Axl Rose finished Chinese Democracy without any of the original band members?

Sorry couldn't resist.

Why don't you go listen to Abandoned Luncheonette some more and oogle photos of John Oat's mustache.

Hahaha the highest any album I voted for placed (by far) was Grouper at #90.

Third is alright, though, I guess.

Someday maybe I can be that cutting edge.

Lyrics are overrated. I don't give two shits about the lyrics on Third. I like the vibe and the feel of the record. I like the jagged guitar of "We Carry On", the martial beats of doom in "Machine Gun", the offbeat cowbell in "Magic Doors", the angsty freak-out finale of "Threads" and the sublime electronica of "The Rip". As to the lyrics? Something about white horses, seeing saviors, and the taste of life. It's good for me.

Maybe he was laughing at himself for being so out of the board's kilter.

highly doubt it... he's too cool to laugh at himself.

are those sheep forming the Wu Tang symbol?

I saw no elitism in his post.

No, there's definitely elitism, but it's par for the course, so whatevs.



References an old post.

KNOW YOUR SOMB HISTORY.

hahahaha.

that's fuckin awesome.

I actually thought of you when I was listening over the weekend. Not everyone likes everything, of course, but I can't imagine, given your appreciation (if not love) of atmospheric minimalism, Galaxie 500 and things like This Mortal Coil and Cocteau Twins, that you wouldn't come around.

"Stuck" is just unreal sad-pretty stuff.

great list.
sorry to all the frightened rabbit people that i didnt vote.
probably the only album in my top ten that woulda effected the list

all others wouldnt a helped too much

good work paul
wish i woulda participated this year.
sad face for the derter

if this is a reference my comment about having nothing in the top 200, then, it was an assholish comment. otherwise, I don't understand your point. Just to put in context though, 2 of my votes are in the metacritic top 30, so it isn't as if my votes were so odd that they could never have been expected to do well here. My comment had more to do with the fact that I pretty much have nothing musically in common with the board anymore. That and the fact that I don't hear nearly enough new music. anyway, happy new year, somb!

i realized u didnt vote when i saw MRVSS had 2 votes

frightened rabbit could've used yr help

It wasn't aimed at you. It was aimed up mainly myself.

and the Frightened Rabbit scandal continues...

ah, nm, then. I still don't understand it, but that's not unusual with you, so anyway, there's no way I'd ever consider London Calling in an 80's poll, it's a 79 release.

Undo's blurb has inspired me to seek out Fennesz. Largely because I feel I may be Draco Malfoy.

I know, as soon as are we are out of the years in question we go with the original release date like that London Calling example. I didn't buy / hear lots of US albums pre broadband (and much so films still) until they came out here but you go with the date it first came out, I kind of thought everyone accepted that.

The original post was as I posted all the way through and I had 19 albums in the 100 it wasn't worth me doing a post with them all in.

the more i listen to it, the more i love it

matter of fact, i feel you should've waterboarded me until i listened to the album 10x in a row

How does the scoring work?

I'm sure this is already posted somewhere - can someone post a link?

Speaking of SCANDAL:

It should be at #122. No big deal at all of course, that's what you get for using punctuation in your band name.

Surprised it took me so long to notice that, considering how obsessed I am with the album.

Throw in the 205 points for Bright Blue Dream, and Sunset got enough votes to crack the top 100. (yes, I know it doesn't work that way)