Board 8 > Rank the Tracks Week 20: The Strokes' Is This It (+ The ArchAndroid results)

(+) Yeah! (+)

Previous results can be seen here:
https://board8.fandom.com/wiki/Rank_the_Tracks

The rules:
1. Listen to the album in full
2. Rank every track on the album
3. For the results, there will be a curve at the top of each list; two additional points between #1 and #2, and one additional point for the next two ranks. This way, the songs that really stick out to someone get an edge that is not immediately negated by someone else putting it lower. In the case of Demon Days, someone's 15th track will get 1 point, 14th 2 points, 4th 12 points, 3rd 14 points, 2nd 16 points, and 1st 19 points
4. If you want to include comments for individual songs, I will compile them in the results
5. The results will be posted at the beginning of the next topic
6. The deadline to vote is Sunday, July 25 at 8:00 AM EST - though if you are for whatever reason listening to the album around that time, just say so in the topic and I can delay a bit
7. You can sign up to be added to a user cycle for after we finish the queue; once we get through the last planned album, the next person on the list will choose 3 albums which the other users will vote on for the next topic.
7a. To ensure people are being given an actual choice, the three nominated albums must be by different artists. You can otherwise stick to a similar sound or era.
7b. The tiebreaker for these polls will be whichever is listed first in the poll options - make sure to deliver the results in order of your own preference (which will hopefully have the added benefit of influencing people toward your first choice if they can't decide).
7c. The order of the user cycle will be randomly determined, but users will first be sorted into tiers by how many of their nominations have been covered during the early nominations period.

The Strokes' Is This It track list:
Note: There are two versions of this album due to the strange timing of its release around the events of 9/11; the track "New York City Cops" was switched out for "When It Started" in the US market. As such, I am going to include both tracks, so make sure to include whichever song is not in your territory.
1. Is This It
2. The Modern Age
3. Soma
4. Barely Legal
5. Someday
6. Alone, Together
7. Last Nite
8. Hard to Explain
9 (Original/International). New York City Cops
10. Trying Your Luck
11. Take It or Leave It
9 (U.S.). When It Started

Schedule:
7/25: Fiona Apple - Fetch the Bolt Cutters (CasanovaZelos)
8/1: Massive Attack - Mezzanine (Giggsalot)
8/8: The Killers - Hot Fuss (Seanchan)
8/15: Ben Folds Five - Ben Folds Five (jcgamer107)
8/22: Air - Moon Safari (ZaziGuado)
8/29: The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Are You Experienced (Johnbobb)
9/5: Nine Inch Nails - Pretty Hate Machine (Steiner)
9/12: The Knife - Silent Shout (CasanovaZelos)
9/19: Billy Joel - The Stranger (Seanchan)
9/26: Spice Girls - Spice (SpikeSetsFire)
10/3: Iron Maiden - Powerslave (TheArkOfTurus)
10/10: Rancid - ...And Out Come the Wolves (Snake5555555555)
10/17: OutKast - Aquemini (Giggsalot)
10/24: Of Monsters and Men - Beneath the Skin (Jesse_Custer)
10/31: Taylor Swift - Speak Now (Snake5555555555)
11/7: The Avalanches - Since I Left You (SpikeSetsFire)
11/14: Moby - Play (SpikeSetsFire)
11/21: Steely Dan - Can't Buy a Thrill (Seginustemple)

User Cycle sign-ups:
11/28: MetalmindStats
12/5: TheArkOfTurus
12/12: Snake5555555555
12/19: Jesse_Custer
12/26: ZaziGuado
1/2: SpikeSetsFire
1/9: Johnbobb
1/16: VeryInsane
1/23: CasanovaZelos
1/30: Seanchan
2/6: Giggsalot
2/13: RyoCaliente
2/20: darkx
2/27: neonreaper

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The ArchAndroid Results

The participants sorted by deviance from the final results:
Seanchan: 32
VeryInsane: 36
neonreaper: 38
CasanovaZelos: 44
TheArkOfTurus: 48
HBJDubs: 70
Johnbobb: 74
rwlh: 74
Raetsel_Lapin: 88
SpikeSetsFire: 90

General Album Comments

Seanchan: First listen started off really positive. Love the upbeat, dancy, funky stuff. Then the 2nd half felt like a different album.

CasanovaZelos (responding to Seanchan): It essentially is, I guess? Her previous album is Suite I, while the two halves here are Suite II and III.

However, the wide range here is what makes me love this album. It feels genuinely epic while playing with genres that rarely aim for that status.

Seanchan (responding to CasanovaZelos): Yeah, I gathered that after the fact about the suites. It was so weird though. The first half I was really digging. Was giving me some Jamiroquai vibes (might not be the best comparison but it's what I know...) Then the second half at points sounds like a movie soundtrack or something like that. Not bad per se, just, not what I was expecting/looking for.

SpikeSetsFire: This is another one of those occasions where I really appreciate this topic series.
I'd never heard of Janelle Monae before. What a terrific album!

The first 30 seconds of Oh, Maker, in particular, are just beautiful.
The bass kicking-in and her voice. Wow.

Johnbobb: This album was fucking incredible; WAY better than I expected going in. Transcends several different genres and somehow nails them all while still managing to be its own thing, and feel like one big cohesive package. Really all of my top 10 from this album were excellent, and even the worst songs on the album are still pretty solid.

VeryInsane: gonna post my ranking in a second, but I gotta say I liked it but not as much as Dirty Computer IMO

Seanchan: I'm going to echo everyone else's thoughts on how great this album is. Even though I'm much higher on Suite 2 than Suite 3 it's still an overall tremendous work. I had an inkling that I might like this based on hearing Tightrope in CasanovaZelos' Top 250 Song topic but I couldn't have imagined how much.

Kudos to whomever is responsible for this nomination!

I ended up listening to Suite 1 today (i.e. her first album, Metropolis: The Chase Suite). Didn't really do much for me, though it seems like maybe there's a certain amount of story that interweaves between the suites (heard mentions to Greendown and 57821). Going to need to listen to The Electric Lady and Dirty Computer at some point too.

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The ArchAndroid track ranking

18. Suite II Overture (Track #1)
Score: 16 (Average Rank: 14.8/18)
Biggest Fan(s): SpikeSetsFire (#6)
Biggest Detractor(s): Raetsel_Lapin (#18)

17. Neon Gumbo (Track #8)
Score: 17 (Average Rank: 15.4/18)
Biggest Fan(s): Raetsel_Lapin (#4)
Biggest Detractor(s): TheArkOfTurus, neonreaper, CasanovaZelos, Seanchan, VeryInsane (#18)

16. Sir Greendown (Track #5)
Score: 25 (Average Rank: 14.1/18)
Biggest Fan(s): rwlh (#7)
Biggest Detractor(s): Johnbobb (#18)

15. Suite III Overture (Track #12)
Score: 39 (Average Rank: 12.5/18)
Biggest Fan(s): SpikeSetsFire (#2)
Biggest Detractor(s): neonreaper, Johnbobb (#17)

14. Say You'll Go (Track #17)
Score: 46 (Average Rank: 11.4/18)
Biggest Fan(s): HBJDubs, VeryInsane (#6)
Biggest Detractor(s): SpikeSetsFire (#16)

13. Mushrooms & Roses (Track #11)
Score: 51 (Average Rank: 11.1/18)
Biggest Fan(s): TheArkOfTurus, Raetsel_Lapin, HBJDubs (#7)
Biggest Detractor(s): rwlh (#18)

Johnbobb: Torn on this one, because I didn't really like the vocal distortion, but loved everything else about the song. Could've been a top 5er easy if edited differently

12. Make the Bus (Track #14)
Score: 54 (Average Rank: 11.1/18)
Biggest Fan(s): Johnbobb (#2)
Biggest Detractor(s): HBJDubs (#18)

Johnbobb: Why is everybody ranking this so low when it's an absolute banger? I need to nominate a St. Vincent album next time around because I could absolutely hear this being on MASSEDUCTION

11. BabopbyeYa (Track #18)
Score: 62 (Average Rank: 9.9/18)
Biggest Fan(s): Johnbobb (#3)
Biggest Detractor(s): SpikeSetsFire (#15)

10. 57821 (Track #16)
Score: 64 (Average Rank: 9.6/18)
Biggest Fan(s): HBJDubs (#4)
Biggest Detractor(s): Johnbobb (#15)

9. Wondaland (Track #15)
Score: 65 (Average Rank: 9.5/18)
Biggest Fan(s): neonreaper (#6)
Biggest Detractor(s): TheArkOfTurus, VeryInsane (#12)

8. Come Alive (The War of the Roses) (Track #10)
Score: 77 (Average Rank: 8.5/18)
Biggest Fan(s): TheArkOfTurus (#2)
Biggest Detractor(s): rwlh (#15)

7. Neon Valley Street (Track #13)
Score: 95 (Average Rank: 7.3/18)
Biggest Fan(s): neonreaper (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): CasanovaZelos (#13)

6. Dance or Die (Track #2)
Score: 97 (Average Rank: 6.7/18)
Biggest Fan(s): Seanchan (#2)
Biggest Detractor(s): SpikeSetsFire (#18)

5. Oh, Maker (Track #9)
Score: 99 (Average Rank: 7/18)
Biggest Fan(s): SpikeSetsFire, VeryInsane (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): HBJDubs (#15)

4. Locked Inside (Track #4)
Score: 103 (Average Rank: 6.3/18)
Biggest Fan(s): Raetsel_Lapin (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): HBJDubs, rwlh (#13)

3. Tightrope (Track #7)
Score: 107 (Average Rank: 6.2/18)
Biggest Fan(s): CasanovaZelos (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): Raetsel_Lapin (#16)

2. Faster (Track #3)
Score: 124 (Average Rank: 4.8/18)
Biggest Fan(s): Johnbobb, Seanchan (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): Raetsel_Lapin (#15)

1. Cold War (Track #6)
Score: 129 (Average Rank: 4.8/18)
Biggest Fan(s): TheArkOfTurus, HBJDubs, rwlh (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): SpikeSetsFire (#12)

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Someday
Is This It
Last Nite
Barely Legal
The Modern Age
Hard to Explain
Soma
Alone, Together
New York City Cops
Take It or Leave It
Trying Your Luck
When It Started


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Damn, so close to having Faster up top

not at all surprised to see the highest rankings are from that first 1/4 of the album, because it's such a strong start

really thought Babopbyeya would've done better

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1. Last Nite
2. Hard to Explain
3. Someday
4. Alone, Together
5. Trying Your Luck
6. New York City Cops
7. Soma
8. Take It or Leave It
9. The Modern Age
10. Barely Legal
11. Is This It

This album is good but the songs kind of blend in to one another to be perfectly honest.

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Going to need to refresh my memory on which songs are which for the reason snake mentioned!

When It Started/New York City Cops are gonna make ranking really complicated for this since versions miss one of them a lot


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In fact I just noticed @Snake5555555555 missed the former

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Derp, reading would be my friend. I'll have it fixed in a few.

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1. Last Nite
2. Hard to Explain
3. Someday
4. When It Started
5. Alone, Together
6. Trying Your Luck
7. New York City Cops
8. Soma
9. Take It or Leave It
10. The Modern Age
11. Barely Legal
12. Is This It

There we go. It's actually one of the better tracks too!

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Take it or leave it fucking owns

bump

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Did a "first" listen today. But kinda not really since I'd already heard like half the songs on this album before. It's a good album though I can't say I felt too strongly about it. Definitely get some of the "same-y-ness" comment but it's a short album so that helps.

In non-Is This It thoughts, I did a listen of The Electric Lady, Monae's The ArchAndroid followup. It's pretty good though I don't think I'd rate it as an album above it's predecessor...at least based on one spin. It's also another case of the first half being stronger than the first half. Likely worth a listen though if you enjoyed The ArchAndroid.

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1. Hard to Explain
2. New York City Cops
3. Someday
4. Alone, Together
5. Take It or Leave It
6. The Modern Age
7. Last Nite
8. Soma
9. When It Started
10. Barely Legal
11. Is This It
12. Trying Your Luck

I was definitely part of this scene back in the day, but I never really got into the Strokes that much. There's some songs in their discography I really like, but as a whole it never really clicked. This listen was probably the most I enjoyed my experience listening to a full Strokes album! I guess that's the difference between attentive listening and background noise.

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This album was so overhyped when it came out that I actually think it's underrated now. Nonstop bangers.

up

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1: Last Nite
2: Someday
3: Soma
4: Hard To Explain
5: The Modern Age
6: Alone, Together
7: New York City Cops
8: Is This It
9: Take It Or Leave It
10: Trying Your Luck
11: When It Started
12: Barely Legal
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I know its a long way off, but I was wondering if it would be possible to substitute a different Of Monsters and Men album for the one I nominated, specifically to substitute the bands debut album My Head is an Animal. After seeing how this topic has gone so far, Im fairly confident that album would go over better, as its more distinctive in sound and a better entry point to the band.

Alternatively, if thats not an option, Ill just withdraw my nomination for Beneath the Skin so I can use the other album as one of my choices when we get to my user select week. Thanks!

Their big hit was Little Talks, right? At least that was the one I'd heard before. I listened to that, went "oh yeah this is a cool song", and backed the nom. Checking now, it looks like that's on their debut album.

I'd be okay with switching it out if that's the "better" choice.

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Seanchan posted...

Their big hit was Little Talks, right? At least that was the one I'd heard before. I listened to that, went "oh yeah this is a cool song", and backed the nom. Checking now, it looks like that's on their debut album.

I'd be okay with switching it out if that's the "better" choice.

Yes, Id say Little Talks was the song that was the biggest from them, probably followed by Mountain Sound (also from the debut album).

Of course, I think the album I nominated is fantastic and I prefer it personally. But in thinking about it more, Id say Beneath the Skin is one of those albums that really takes a lot of listens to grow on you. It didnt really click for me until Id heard it at least five times, whereas the debut album is easier to connect with initially and probably a better fit for this topic series.

Acclaimed Music has this listed as the second most critically acclaimed album of the 2000s, beaten out only by Arcade Fire's Funeral. I've always found this kind of funny, as I was too young to experience this at the time, and I've never met anyone as wild about this as there are people who obsess over Radiohead's Kid A/In Rainbows, Sufjan Stevens' Illinois, and really so many others. Though I think it lacks a sound that evokes a strong emotional attachment, this is one of the more consistent albums I know. Even the weakest song on this album is pretty strong; there's not a weak link here. If you like plain ol' rock and roll, the only real competition that decade was The White Stripes. I put this in the same league as Ramones' debut, a band who essentially does variations of the same sound exceptionally well - the difference here being that The Strokes build each song around a distinct hook. I don't think it's 'samey' as much as it is unusually consistent. If nothing else, Is This It signaled the garage rock revival era, which just might be rock's swan song as a mainstream entity.

My ranking:
Last Nite (#736 all-time)
Hard to Explain (#1476)
Someday (#1982)
The Modern Age
Is This It
Take It or Leave It
Barely Legal
New York City Cops
When It Started
Alone, Together
Soma
Trying Your Luck

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As for the Of Monsters and Men request, I think I'll make a poll next topic? The problem is that other people voted to support the nomination, so I don't think it's fair to go off just the original nominator. At the same time, I'm sure everyone would be fine with that particular switch, but I want to confirm.

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I would have supported any album by the band and, having not heard either album, would not have a frame of reference to know the difference anyway. So, I'm fine with the album being switched.
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bump

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up

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Bump

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up

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1. Someday
2. Last Nite
3. Trying Your Luck
4. Hard to Explain
5. Soma
6 When It Started
7. Alone, Together
8. Take It or Leave It
9. Barely Legal
10. Is This It
11. New York City Cops
12. The Modern Age

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Someday
Hard To Explain
Is This It
Last Nite
The Modern Age
New York City Cops
Alone, Together
Barely Legal
Take It Or Leave It
Soma
When It Started
Trying Your Luck

I listened to this album twice. The first time was in the background and the second was a more active listening. This is definitely an "in the background" album for me. Every song has a natural toe tapping beat, but the sound started to wear on me towards the end of the album during my second listen. Going it, I had heard what I assume were three singles in Someday, Last Nite, and Hard To Explain. Those three songs were easily the top ones with the addition of the opening track. Everything else kind of just jumbled together a bit. That said, I will again reiterate that this is an excellent album for putting on and going about your business because it's easy to be taken over by the rhythm.

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Take It Or Leave It
Soma
Someday
Last Nite
Is This It
Hard To Explain
When It Started
The Modern Age
Trying Your Luck
Barely Legal
Alone, Together
New York City Cops

God this album is so good

Hard to Explain
Someday
Is This It
Last Nite
New York City Cops
The Modern Age
Take it or leave it
Soma
Alone, Together
Barely Legal
When It Started
Trying Your Luck

Pretty good gateway album

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1. Last Nite
2. New York City Cops
3. Someday
4. Take It Or Leave It
5. Soma
6. Trying Your Luck
7. Is This It
8. Hard to Explain
9. The Modern Age
10. Alone, Together
11. Barely Legal
12. When It Started - I hate this song because the opening drumline sounds almost identical to Ocean Man by Ween and then I just wish I was listening to that instead

Was surprised to find I really didn't care for this album. Aside from the big singles and maybe another song or two being generous it all just sounds the same and gives me a headache, like the tone its hitting in literally every song just twings on a bad nerve or something. The Strokes are definitely a solid band as far as their singles but this kinda killed my desire to hear more by them.

also when nominations roll around someone remind to nominate Ween - The Mollusk

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1. Someday
2. Last Nite
3. Hard to Explain
4. Barely Legal
5. Trying Your Luck
6. The Modern Age
7. When It Started
8. New York City Cops
9. Take It or Leave It
10. Soma
11. Alone, Together
12. Is This It

This is such a weird album for me. It's perfectly okay as an album but I didn't have a lot of fun doing the ranking. In many ways it just reinforced my thoughts that I already had about their singles; I kinda enjoy them in the moment but I also have almost no desire to actively seek them out. There's just something about the way the lead singer sounds (or maybe it's just the mix?) that just doesn't hit the mark for me.

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Final bump

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1. Is This It
2. Soma
3. Last Nite
4. Barely Legal
5. Take It Or Leave It
6. Alone, Together
7. Someday
8. Trying Your Luck
9. The Modern Age
10. Hard To Explain
11. When It Started
12. New York City Cops

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Counting results now

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