Board 8 > Rank the Tracks Week 86: Kylie Minogue - Fever (+ black midi - Hellfire results)

(+) Yeah! (+)

Previous results can be seen here:
https://board8.fandom.com/wiki/Rank_the_Tracks
https://board8.fandom.com/wiki/Rank_the_Tracks_Set_2

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. For albums with greater than 15 tracks, everything ranked below #15 will be given 0 points and the scale for the top 15 will be the same as a 15-track album. For albums with more than 20 tracks, you only have to list your top 15 (with 16-20, I still like having the average rank listed)
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, October 30 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 the user cycle (a new user will be added to the end of the current cycle as long as there are four weeks remaining) - 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. I have added a tiered vote structure - the least popular album will be removed and its backup votes distributed to the other two entrants.
8. Starting with the next cycle, every four weeks will be a competitive week where those listed choose a single album to face off against others.

Kylie Minogue - Fever track list:
1. More More More
2. Love at First Sight
3. Can't Get You Out of My Head
4. Fever
5. Give It to Me
6. Fragile
7. Come into My World
8. In Your Eyes
9. Dancefloor
10. Love Affair
11. Your Love
12. Burning Up

Current Cycle:
10/30: Giggsalot (Duke Ellington - Far East Suite)
11/06: RyoCaliente
11/13: darkx (Alanis Morissette - Jagged Little Pill)
11/20: neonreaper
11/27: Great_Paul
12/04: jcgamer107
12/11: ChichiriMuyo
12/18: BlueCrystalTear

Future cycle (dates subject to change if anyone new signs up before 11/27):
12/25: MetalmindStats
1/1: HBJDubs
1/8: Raetsel_Lapin
1/15: BlueCrystalTear/darkx/neonreaper
1/22: Steiner
1/29: Snake5555555555
2/5: Jesse_Custer
2/12: RyoCaliente/VeryInsane/FoolFantastic
2/19: ZaziGuado
2/26: firefdr
3/4: Johnbobb
3/11: Steiner/ChichiriMuyo/Great_Paul
3/18: VeryInsane
3/25: FoolFantastic
4/1: Seanchan
4/8: Johnbobb/ZaziGuado/jcgamer107
4/15: Giggsalot
4/22: RyoCaliente
4/29: darkx
5/6: Snake5555555555/Raetsel_Lapin/Seanchan
5/13: neonreaper
5/20: Great_Paul
5/27: jcgamer107
6/3: Giggsalot/MetalmindStats/Jesse_Custer
6/10: ChichiriMuyo
6/17: BlueCrystalTear
6/24: HBJDubs/firefdr

I'm holding off on posting the Hellfire results as neonreaper has expressed interest in possibly voting. If anyone else has simply been busy this week but might have time today, go ahead and say something over there. This is something we can probably do going forward, as long as someone says something - I'd rather have more votes than a timely reveal. I'll be at a board game meetup until 5 central, so you have at least 5 and a half hours to say something in the previous topic:
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/80200062

As for the album choices this week, I believe this is the first time someone has chosen three albums from my own top 100 of all time - even I haven't done that yet, for some reason!

black midi - Hellfire results

The participants sorted by deviation from final results:
Snake5555555555 (8)
neonreaper (10)
Seanchan (14)
Raetsel_Lapin (16)
FoolFantastic (16)
Giggsalot (16)
MetalmindStats (16)
Johnbobb (18)
rwlh (20)
HBJDubs (28)

General Album Comments

FoolFantastic: When I nominated this, I mentioned that it fulfills a certain aspect of aggression that I expect but rarely find from metal. This is far from a metal album, falling squarely into experimental prog, but something about it hits me harder. Part of this is the constant shift in dynamics - at any given moment, the band is as likely to be blowing shit up as they are to be belting it out like old-school lounge crooners. This contrast is key to the Hellfire experience - whatever the current atmosphere, a general unease seeps through. The band has multiple vocalists, but Geordie Greep's mad preacher/deranged drill sergeant delivery is what makes black midi true standouts. He's not a pleasant vocalist in any traditional sense, but he sells the alien horror found on their best tracks.

Seanchan: First listen done.

Wow, this one is a lot to take in! At times, a true cacophony of noise. Some jazz influences? Some discordant piano. It's like an approaching tornado where I was just strapping myself down and holding on tight because who knows what's coming; loud, wild and overwhelming, then suddenly soft and more thoughtful. My mind immediately went to Rain Dogs, which probably isn't a super great comparison, but like that, this feels singular amongst what we've covered so far.

I think I was enjoying it? Certainly I wasn't expecting the end, and it's not too often where I finish an album and I'm anticipating another song or two. Looking forward to some more listens.

HBJDubs: Definitely an interesting album, but I wasn't really feeling it. I'll probably need to play this several times to "get" it, but it is good enough to warrant replays.

rwlh: I enjoyed the more aggressive/intense parts of the album a lot more than the calmer ones.

Giggsalot: I've only had time to listen to this album twice this week, but I've had fun with it! It's certainly a striking piece of work and wrapping my head around it has been enjoyable, but I must admit that I don't actually like it all that much - the vaudeville theatricality and deadpan emotional distance of it all is just gives off more "prodigious theater kid energy" than I can personally stomach. I could probably write a book about how Black Midi and BC,NR have taken similar conceptual paths in the last two years (trading in their early punk snarl for bombast and lush arrangements) yet ended up in completely different places - BC,NR becoming Arcade Fire and BM becoming... I dunno, Mr. Bungle? - but this probably isn't the place for that.

Generally, since none of this made a real emotional impact on me, I was torn here between the songs where I enjoyed the lyrical narratives and the ones where I enjoyed the music (sadly, they didn't often align). I think if you gave me another month with this record, I'd rank it completely differently

Seanchan: Two more listens and I never enjoyed this as much as I did on my blind initial listen. I think a big part of that is just the nature of those 2nd and 3rd times being about figuring out a ranking, rather than just taking in the album. For me, there's no particular stand out songs here, at least in terms of singles I'm likely to want to revisit. Which is to say that I think this is better as a holistic album experience, rather than a bunch of individual songs.

Johnbobb: I don't know how to explain this album at all but I really dug it

Snake5555555555: This album freakin' rules.

neonreaper: I think this was 3 songs I like, 3 I was OK with, and 3 I just wasnt feeling. I do appreciate how this album made me think about Mr Bungle!

Hellfire track ranking

9. Hellfire (Track #1)
Score: 32 (Average Rank: 7/9)
Biggest Fan(s): rwlh, MetalmindStats (#3)
Biggest Detractor(s): Raestel_Lapin, FoolFantastic, HBJDubs, Seanchan, Snake5555555555 (#9)

8. The Defence (Track #8)
Score: 37 (Average Rank: 6.5/9)
Biggest Fan(s): Raetsel_Lapin, HBJDubs (#3)
Biggest Detractor(s): Johnbobb, MetalmindStats (#9)

7. Dangerous Liaisons (Track #7)
Score: 38 (Average Rank: 6.4/9)
Biggest Fan(s): HBJDubs (#2)
Biggest Detractor(s): Giggsalot (#9)

6. The Race is About to Begin (Track #6)
Score: 52 (Average Rank: 5.1/9)
Biggest Fan(s): Johnbobb (#2)
Biggest Detractor(s): HBJDubs, Giggsalot (#8)

rwlh: to me the middle part of this exceeds anything else from the album, but I wasnt into the beginning and end at all

5. 27 Questions (Track #9)
Score: 55 (Average Rank: 5.1/9)
Biggest Fan(s): HBJDubs (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): neonreaper (#9)

4. Still (Track #5)
Score: 56 (Average Rank: 4.9/9)
Biggest Fan(s): Raetsel_Lapin, Giggsalot (#2)
Biggest Detractor(s): rwlh (#9)

3. Welcome to Hell (Track #4)
Score: 68 (Average Rank: 4.2/9)
Biggest Fan(s): FoolFantastic (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): Seanchan (#8)

2. Eat Men Eat (Track #3)
Score: 77 (Average Rank: 3.7/9)
Biggest Fan(s): Giggsalot, Snake5555555555, MetalmindStats (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): rwlh (#7)

1. Sugar/Tzu (Track #2)
Score: 105 (Average Rank: 2.1/9)
Biggest Fan(s): Raetsel_Lapin, rwlh, Seanchan, Johnbobb, neonreaper (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): HBJDubs (#6)

oh good the correct winner won

1: Love at First Sight
2: Come Into My World
3: Fever
4: Dancefloor
5: Fragile
6: Give It to Me
7: Can't Get You out of My Head
8: Love Affair
9: Your Love
10: More More More
11: Burning Up
12: In Your Eyes

The Smiths - The Queen Is Dead

Probably the best album by my favourite band of all-time (Louder Than Bombs does exist). Funny, emotional, and the entirety of the band at their musical peak. Iconic 80's record.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siO6dkqidc4

Interpol - Turn on the Bright Lights

Honestly for me the start of the alternative rebellion against pop music of 2002. Effortlessly cool, dark, and a great debut.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OC5zHACynR4

Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not

This album could actually be seen as a kind of response to TotBL. Arctic Monkeys feel more like popular kids rock music; there's a definite sense to party/dance music to a lot of the tracks without them ever feeling bland. A good time for sure.

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

bump

Just a reminder that Kylie's first hit was all the way back in 1988 with The Loco-motion, which is simply crazy to think about:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POWsFzSFLCE

If you told 14 year old me that I wouldn't just listen to an album like this but actually enjoy it, I don't think I would have believed you. My tastes changed quite a bit over the course of my high school years and by the time this album came out I was ready for some Kylie. I find this album to just be an absolute delight, despite a couple of songs not being all that great. This is absolutely an album I would listen to on repeat.

1 Love Affair - An absolute hidden gem in my eyes. Why this song was never released as a single is beyond me.
2 Come Into My World
3 Love At First Sight
4 Can't Get You Out of My Head
5 Your Love
6 In Your Eyes
7 Fragile
8 More More More
9 Burning Up
10 Dancefloor
11 Give it to Me
12 Fever

Bump

So I actually did want to listen to last week's album but it just slipped by me (a common thing for me). I did decide to go ahead and listen to Sugar/Tzu since it came out on top (and happens to be the second track). I get the sense that black midi isn't a band/artist I'd really be into, but I did appreciate what they have going on. Lots of talent in there. What many would call "noise" I can see as intensely skillful. Again, not my thing, but I might still try to give the full album a listen sometime.

We should do a one off week sometime where rather than rank an album we rank 10-15 songs with the same title.

Just thinking about this because In You Eyes is on this album but its also a Peter Gabriel song that weve covered on So. Its also on Jessie Wares Whats Your Pleasure

To be fair, this is probably more difficult than I make it out to be but, I dont know, could be fun?

Can't Get You Out of My Head
Fragile
Your Love
Love Affair
Burning Up
Come into My World
More More More
In Your Eyes
Dancefloor
Love at First Sight
Fever
Give It to Me

Seanchan posted...

We should do a one off week sometime where rather than rank an album we rank 10-15 songs with the same title.

Just thinking about this because In You Eyes is on this album but its also a Peter Gabriel song that weve covered on So. Its also on Jessie Wares Whats Your Pleasure

To be fair, this is probably more difficult than I make it out to be but, I dont know, could be fun?

I'm not sure I like this specific idea, but I have been trying to conceptualize weeks with unrelated songs. Like, instead of an album, everyone in the user cycle chooses 1 song each and we rank them. That way, we can share our individual favorites. Maybe it could be a bonus round to end the full cycles with or something.

In a way, Fever as a full album felt more relevant a decade after its release. With the shift to so-called 'poptimism' in the early-2010s, Fever seems an obvious predecessor to the particular sound that spurred that change (at least among critics). This is a set of pop songs that are somehow catchy yet non-infectious - despite the title, "Can't Get You Out of My Head" is a perfect anti-ear worm. It commands attention as it plays, but is just mellow enough not to stick around and annoy. The full album largely sustains that perfect balance.

My ranking:
Can't Get You Out of My Head
Come into My World
Love at First Sight
In Your Eyes
More More More
Fever
Dancefloor
Burning Up
Give It to Me
Love Affair
Your Love
Fragile

Seanchan posted...

We should do a one off week sometime where rather than rank an album we rank 10-15 songs with the same title.

Just thinking about this because In You Eyes is on this album but its also a Peter Gabriel song that weve covered on So. Its also on Jessie Wares Whats Your Pleasure

To be fair, this is probably more difficult than I make it out to be but, I dont know, could be fun?

yeah I don't know what the logistics of that were but it'd be fun, I could see like 15 songs with "Mama" in the title

My Chemical Romance - Mama
Abba - Mamma Mia
Kenny Loggins - Your Mama Dont Dance
Ozzy Osbourne - Mama, I'm Coming Home
2Pac - Dear Mama

and so forth

FoolFantastic posted...

I'm not sure I like this specific idea, but I have been trying to conceptualize weeks with unrelated songs. Like, instead of an album, everyone in the user cycle chooses 1 song each and we rank them. That way, we can share our individual favorites. Maybe it could be a bonus round to end the full cycles with or something.

Id imagine that would suffer from tonal shift too! I think taking a break week to do something different would be fun. Maybe during the week we do the Rank the Albums results. I think wed just need a theme of some sort like Favorite Song or Song that brings back good childhood memories or something like that. Hell maybe just Favorite song from this cycle which would make it easier.

bump

Live albums could be a fun shift too. Because of the track list they'd fall in the greatest hits category for this, but some show the true sound of the band more than any studio recording (Stop Making Sense comes to mind).

yeah this really was not my thing

1. Can't Get You Out of My Head
2. More More More
3. Dancefloor
4. Your Love
5. In Your Eyes
6. Give It to Me
7. Love Affair
8. Burning Up
9. Come into My World
10. Fever
11. Fragile
12. Love at First Sight

1. Love at First Sight
2. In Your Eyes
3. More More More
4. Dancefloor
5. Love Affair
6. Your Love
7. Can't Get You Out of My Head
8. Come into My World
9. Fragile
10. Burning Up
11. Fever
12. Give It to Me

FoolFantastic posted...

This is a set of pop songs that are somehow catchy yet non-infectious - despite the title, "Can't Get You Out of My Head" is a perfect anti-ear worm. It commands attention as it plays, but is just mellow enough not to stick around and annoy. The full album largely sustains that perfect balance.

It's funny you say that!

When I finally decided to listen to a Kylie album, it was her recent one, Disco, since it had that song Real Groove that I posted a remix of during Dua Lipa's week. I thought about nominating that, but wanted to listen to her most popular album, Fever, first, since I like to err on the side of the big hit. I saw that it had "Can't Get You Out of My Head", which is one of those quintessential "oh yeah, THAT SONG" songs. Started listening and took about 5 seconds into "Love At First Sight" before I was overwhelmed by a very specific nostalgia that might just be jamais vu.

I'm dating myself a bit here, but do any of you remember when they'd advertise CDs like "Now That's What I'd Call Music" on TV? You'd hear 5-10 seconds of basically every song on the album, which was just a cavalcade of recent pop hits of all stripes. "Can't Get You Out of My Head" certainly would have been on one of those albums but "Love At First Sight" must have been too. They're the type of songs that I would listen to a 90 second commercial just to hear 10 seconds of, then go about my day and promptly forget about until the next time the commercial aired.

Anyway, that's a long winded way of saying that I agree with the ephemeral nature of a lot of these songs and the overall album. To be fair though, I think that's true of a lot of pop songs/albums/artists. It's just the nature of the genre.

So yeah, despite this being my nomination, I can't say I love this album. There's quite a bit of good stuff here, of course! But I've never been a big fan of "Can't Get You Out of My Head" (which will probably run away with the top spot because it's the big recognizable hit). It just suffers from being maybe 30-45 seconds longer than it needs to be, which is a criticism I feel like I could level at quite a few of the songs here; I'm often ready to move on before the song is finished. I also think that 3 song stretch of Fever/Give it to Me/Fragile is completely skippable, which sucks because it's right in the middle of the album.

Love At First Sight
Fever
Love Affair
Can't Get You Out Of My Head
Fragile
Give It To Me
In Your Eyes
Come Into My World
More More More
Dancefloor
Your Love
Burning Up

A great dancepop album. Lots of songs are catchy but not in an annoying way. It kinda tapers off at the end (which is a thing I've noticed with my rankings of pop albums, maybe pop in general just likes to frontload their albums) but even the lowest song is just "eh" rather than bad.

Final night bump!

I found the songs on this album to be heavily redundant; they're all straight-up dance pop that, as Fool stated, makes you want to groove as you hear it, but you forget about each of them a few songs later. While this helps prevent songs from getting stuck in your head, it doesn't make any of them stand out above the others. This collection of songs works best as an album, and as I've stated with albums like this before, it's really hard to rank. I liked it as a singular entity more than I can say I liked any one track - it is truly greater than the sum of its parts, but does what it sets out to do.

1. Love at First Sight
2. Give It to Me - Catchy, and I accidentally listened to it first, so it hooked me. Felt more like an opening than the actual opening.
3. Can't Get You Out of My Head
4. Love Affair - This is indeed a better single choice than "Come into My World"
5. Fever
6. Dancefloor
7. More More More
8. In Your Eyes
9. Whenever You Feel Like It
10. Come into My World
11. Fragile
12. Your Love
13. Burning Up - It's just six words long.

I'm not often into dance music and this album was a bit too dancey for my tastes. I wouldn't say I disliked it, but there was only one song I was super into & most tracks failed to leave much of an impression, positive or negative.

Love at First Sight: I actually kinda love this song. An easy 8/10, *maybe* close to a 9.

Burning Up: I actually like the verses and bridge on this track, but the choruses take the very concept of repetition and beat it into the ground. I complain about repetition a lot, but she says "I'm Burning Up" 51 times! Like... There are elements of a great song here, but this is a very anti-Raetsel song.

Okay, I decided to do this because it kept tempting me on the topic list before I remembered which album this was (I knew a few of the songs already).

Love Affair
In Your Eyes
Give It to Me
Come into My World
Dancefloor
Fever
Fragile
More More More
Can't Get You Out of My Head
Your Love
Love at First Sight
Burning Up

Comments: Like Madonna, Kylie developed a certain style of late 90s/early 00s "dance pop" that was distinct from her 80s origins. It just so happens that in general I tend to prefer the 80s style more. This is a perfectly serviceable album for what it is, it's just not what I'm usually looking for. Although I will say, my top 3 songs from this were all new to me so I could see myself returning to those songs even if not the full album.

Come into My World: This song has an absolutely crazy music video, definitely watch it if you've never seen it before.

Can't Get You Out of My Head: I heard this song playing in a store one time and I correctly guessed who sang it because the part starting at 1:23 sounds so much like Come into My World.

More More More: This song should be shorter. I think it suffers from repetition more than anything else on this album. By the 2 minute mark it already feels like the song hasn't done anything, and then there's nearly 3 more minutes of the same.

Burning Up: This song sounds like real life Animal Crossing music at first (>_>). But the chorus is like, wtf, it's so bad. Easily the worst part of the whole album. And a bonus kick in the head for sharing a song title with a different song that I love.