Board 8 > Rank the Tracks 209: Portishead - Dummy

(+) Yeah! (+)

spreadsheets with previous results can be found here:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/12PpZ3uQ093tRPVu-KLewIxmrzfLJf1oo?usp=drive_link

Previous results can be seen here:
https://board8.fandom.com/wiki/Rank_the_Tracks
https://board8.fandom.com/wiki/Rank_the_Tracks_Set_2
https://board8.fandom.com/wiki/Rank_the_Tracks_Set_3
https://board8.fandom.com/wiki/Rank_the_Tracks_Set_4

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 Thursday, April 3rd at 8:00 AM Central Time; If you do get in a vote after the deadline but before I post the results, I will probably include it.
7. Every few weeks, a nomination period will open; there may or may not be a theme. Each user can nominate one album. The following week, everyone will be able to rank their top ~5 among the choices - this will use a bottom-up scoring approach, i.e. voting for one album will give your #1 a single point, voting for five will give your #1 five points, so it is always better to vote for the maximum number of albums. The top ~5 will then be covered (if there is a tie leading to six entries, both get in - if more than that, I will do a tiebreaker)
8. Skits and tracks under 40 seconds will be excluded from the rankings unless argued otherwise

Portishead - Dummy track listing:
1. Mysterons
2. Sour Times
3. Strangers
4. It Could Be Sweet
5. Wandering Star
6. It's a Fire
7. Numb
8. Roads
9. Pedestal
10. Biscuit
11. Glory Box

Future weeks:
4/3: Radiohead - In Rainbows
4/10: Nujabes - Metaphorical Music
4/17: Lauryn Hill - The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (+ album noms)
4/24: AFI - Sing the Sorrow (+ album voting)
5/1: Stone Temple Pilots - Core

Green Day - Dookie results

The participants sorted by deviation from final results:
Bitto (16)
FoolFantastic (16)
MaxGalactica (16)
Sheep007 (20)
Underleveled (20)
PunishedJeezy (24)
Bane_Of_Despair (30)
MetalmindStats (32)
jcgamer107 (34)
Johnbobb (38)
Fluttershy_Pony (40)
HBJDubs (40)
MarkS2222222222 (42)
Mega_Mana (42)
Seanchan (42)
StifledSilence (48)

General Album Comments

Sheep007: Good album. Back third doesnt drag per se, but its not quite as good as the rest. Thankfully, the album is very short, with a breakneck pace, especially for the first third. Great drums and the lyrics really capture that sort of apathetic loser-chic of the 90s. I kind of wish the vocals were mixed differently, because outside of the singles they often feel very dirty before becoming a bit too clean and a lot louder. The swing between the two starting from Longview lost me a little on my first listen with headphones.

Johnbobb: Just a fantastic album all around, and it so clearly set a defining sound for the decade to come, which is crazy because Green Day managed to do that again 12 years later with American Idiot, and it's crazy to see how much they evolved as a band both thematically and musically between those albums. Very hard to rank the individual songs because it all feels like such a cohesive part of a whole and it's basically a blast start to finish.

MaxGalactica: Great punk album. So many catchy, memorable hooks. It does taper off a bit towards the end, but the rest is strong enough that it's not too much of a detriment to the overall experience. It does feel a bit more raw than American Idiot, leading me to prefer the latter, but this is still a classic punk record.

Bane_Of_Despair: Always feel a little bad putting all of an album's singles as the top songs on the album but sometimes the band/label really get it right on what to release as singles! While some songs are definitely samey, it's also surprisingly varied with other songs. A pretty perfect encapsulation of life for a teen/early 20s guy.

MetalmindStats: Have found this album pleasant enough (more so with my top five tracks) but never overly compelling. At least it knows when to get out of the way, if not when to get out of *its* way.

Bitto: Ive never been a big Green Day fan, but they tend to knock it out with their singles. The rest of the songs are fine, but very same-y. Sometimes they switch it up. It works out for Longview and Chump, but not so much for All by Myself.

Seanchan: American Idiot is one of my favorite albums of all time. Dookie just wasn't doing much for me outside of the singles (of which there are many) that I've heard a million times before.

Underleveled: This was tough. All of these songs are at least "okay," and to be honest, a lot of them sound very similar so it's kinda hard to say some are better than others. This ranking could shift drastically on any given day.

Dookie track ranking

15. All by Myself (Track #15 (hidden track))
Score: 33 (Average Rank: 13.94/15)
Biggest Fan(s): MetalmindStats (#6)
Biggest Detractor(s): PunishedJeezy, Sheep007, Fluttershy_Pony, StifledSilence, FoolFantastic, HBJDubs, Bane_Of_Despair, Bitto, Seanchan, jcgamer107, MarkS2222222222, Underleveled (#15)

Johnbobb: so glad Spotify separated this and FOD rather than having a several minute block of silence. This should be the case for all hidden tracks tbh. Also, this is on par with Nirvana's Endless, Nameless as my favorite hidden track

Underleveled: This song amused me as a teenager and that's worth something but not enough to put it over any legit songs on the album.

14. Pulling Teeth (Track #6)
Score: 69 (Average Rank: 11.69/15)
Biggest Fan(s): MarkS2222222222 (#6)
Biggest Detractor(s): Johnbobb, MaxGalactica (#15)

13. Emenius Sleepus (Track #12)
Score: 82 (Average Rank: 10.88/15)
Biggest Fan(s): Johnbobb, Bitto (#8)
Biggest Detractor(s): Sheep007 (#14)

12. Coming Clean (Track #11)
Score: 89 (Average Rank: 10.5/15)
Biggest Fan(s): Fluttershy_Pony (#3)
Biggest Detractor(s): MetalmindStats (#15)

11. In the End (Track #13)
Score: 91 (Average Rank: 10.31/15)
Biggest Fan(s): StifledSilence, Seanchan (#6)
Biggest Detractor(s): Mega_Mana, FoolFantastic, jcgamer107, Underleveled (#14)

10. Sassafras Roots (Track #9)
Score: 103 (Average Rank: 9.56/15)
Biggest Fan(s): Mega_Mana, HBJDubs (#5)
Biggest Detractor(s): Johnbobb, MarkS2222222222 (#14)

9. F.O.D. (Track #14)
Score: 106 (Average Rank: 9.38/15)
Biggest Fan(s): StifledSilence, Johnbobb (#4)
Biggest Detractor(s): Mega_Mana (#15)

8. Having a Blast (Track #2)
Score: 108 (Average Rank: 9.31/15)
Biggest Fan(s): StifledSilence (#3)
Biggest Detractor(s): Bane_Of_Despair (#14)

7. Chump (Track #3)
Score: 123 (Average Rank: 8.31/15)
Biggest Fan(s): HBJDubs (#4)
Biggest Detractor(s): Bane_Of_Despair, Seanchan (#13)

Underleveled: the last 30 seconds annoy me; otherwise it'd be a little higher

6. Burnout (Track #1)
Score: 134 (Average Rank: 7.75/15)
Biggest Fan(s): MetalmindStats, Underleveled (#3)
Biggest Detractor(s): Seanchan (#14)

5. She (Track #8)
Score: 187 (Average Rank: 5.06/15)
Biggest Fan(s): StifledSIlence, Johnbobb (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): HBJDubs (#14)

4. When I Come Around (Track #10)
Score: 207 (Average Rank: 3.94/15)
Biggest Fan(s): jcgamer107 (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): Mega_Mana (#8)

3. Longview (Track #4)
Score: 207 (Average Rank: 3.81/15)
Biggest Fan(s): HBJDubs (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): StifledSilence (#9)

2. Welcome to Paradise (Track #5)
Score: 219 (Average Rank: 3.69/15)
Biggest Fan(s): Bane_Of_Despair, MarkS2222222222 (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): Fluttershy_Pony (#12)

1. Basket Case (Track #7)
Score: 274 (Average Rank: 1.88/15)
Biggest Fan(s): Mega_Mana, PunishedJeezy, Sheep007, Fluttershy_Pony, FoolFantastic, MaxGalactica, MetalmindStats, Bitto, Seanchan, Underleveled (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): StifledSilence (#8)

PunishedJeezy: When I was a tiny little kid, this is first song I remember hearing on the radio and recognizing and loving.

Hmm, didn't expect to have a high deviation this time with a fairly clear cut top 5 and bottom 1 tracks

Oh, it's because there were 15 tracks isn't it

Portishead sounds straight out of The Bronze from Buffy

Yeah that's the top 4, any way you want to order it. Gave 'When I Come Around' the top spot because it has such a pleasant, catchy riff, it crosses into pop territory. Then I'd put 'Welcome to Paradise' 2nd, one of their best songs to see live:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDtuof3eE5w

No ranking for me this week. I've done 2 listens to this and it was not grabbing me at all. Not surprising, given that I didn't enjoy Third.

Would you all want to see a list of albums we've selected so far by original nominator? Stumbled on my previous list thereof from a few years back and got interested in updating it but want to find out whether or not we'd actually like that first.

MetalmindStats posted...

Would you all want to see a list of albums we've selected so far by original nominator? Stumbled on my previous list thereof from a few years back and got interested in updating it but want to find out whether or not we'd actually like that first.

I would personally love to see who nominated all the albums we've covered! It's something I've wondered about for a while but never kept track of.

1. Glory Box
2. Sour Times
3. Wandering Star
4. Biscuit
5. Roads
6. Mysterons
7. Strangers
8. It Could Be Sweet
9. Pedestal
10. It's a Fire
11. Numb

One of my long-time favorite records, been listening to it for about as long as I've listened to music. The definitive Trip Hop album in my mind. No fat, all killer.

MetalmindStats posted...

Would you all want to see a list of albums we've selected so far by original nominator? Stumbled on my previous list thereof from a few years back and got interested in updating it but want to find out whether or not we'd actually like that first.

Same!

I also disliked Third, but I'm enjoying Dummy slightly more than expected.

1. Glory Box
2. Wandering Star
3. Roads
4. Biscuit
5. Sour Times
6. Numb
7. Mysterons
8. Strangers
9. It's A Fire
10. Pedestal
11. It Could Be Sweet

As much as it's undeniably a great album and hugely influential on trip hop, I personally prefer the other two albums from Portishead even more

Billy Joel - An Innocent Man results

The participants sorted by deviation from final results:
MaxGalactica (8)
Arti (10)
PunishedJeezy (12)
Bitto (16)
Mega_Mana (16)
Seanchan (16)
MetalmindStats (18)
Fluttershy_Pony (24)
MarkS2222222222 (24)
Bane_Of_Despair (28)
HBJDubs (28)
Johnbobb (30)

General Album Comments

PunishedJeezy: I remember finding Uptown Girl very obnoxious in the past, but when I'm listening through the album, it definitely stands out as a highlight. This is okay, but it kind of grates on me by the end. I'm not Billy Joel-pilled yet.

Sheep007: First listen and probably only listen down. This is no The Stranger. It's fine, where that's a genuinely brilliant album which feels it has a lot of heart in and a wide selection of good songs. I was a little surprised this came after The Stranger, since it feels a lot less mature and complete, and kinda shallower? Most of the album feels like kinda generic and disconnected love songs, and there's not much special to most them. The Stranger might be a bit of an unfair comparison to make, but I went in expecting good things and just ended up a bit disappointed. Even the best songs (Uptown Girl and The Longest Time, pretty obviously) are moreso catchy than actually doing much for me. I don't foresee myself doing a ranking because of that, since it'd basically just be choosing which of those two I prefer (The Longest Time, probably) and then slapping the other eight songs in arbitrarily, and I don't think I feel like another listen.

Underleveled: Actually, the "disconnected" feel is deliberate - each song was done in the style of a different subgenre that influenced Joel.

Seanchan: I agree that this is no The Stranger but...

I think the best comparison for myself is with The Beatles and how Rubber Soul ""is no Abbey Road"". Ain't no shame in not being one of the best albums of all time, yet Rubber Soul is still a very, very good, listenable album. The Stranger is basically a greatest hits collection; An Innocent Man has 3 of Joel's big hits and then 7 more songs that, while not as good, are still very, very listenable.

Bane_Of_Despair: I do think this album is perhaps a bit too indebted to its influences, which is the point he was drawing from I know but I'd much rather listen to the doo-wop songs from where it's taking from. And I wouldn't say doo-wop is my favorite genre, but when it's done well and from the classics it's nice. I don't think we really needed Billy Joel's version. He does clearly have a great voice regardless though.

Bitto: Joel has such a pleasant voice and can work well for both faster songs and slower songs. Really enjoyable listen.

Seanchan: Not quite The Stranger but still pretty damn good. One of those ""something has to be last"" albums, where even the worst ranked song is still pretty great. I was going to say this is an easy front runner for my favorite album for Rank the Albums 9 but then I remembered Discovery...so...great chance for second position.

Joel's 2 CD Greatest Hits collection would easily rank among my top 5 albums of all time. Despite that, I'd never listened to a full album of his until we covered The Stranger. Now with An Innocent Man under my belt, I feel like I really just need to dive in and start listening to more of his discography.

Arti: I'm not the biggest fan of this Billy Joel album and I vastly prefer his early works a lot more than this, but it's not a bad listen overall. However, it doesn't have any really standout tracks to me, but I still like listening to the album as a whole, so ranking the tracks here is actually quite difficult. Going with this ranking but I could easily swap some songs around if I listened to this on a different day.

HBJDubs: I have reasons for strongly disliking The Longest Time. Otherwise, I'm not really into this at all outside of Uptown Girl and This Night.

MaxGalactica: Great album. The run from An Innocent Man to Uptown Girl is just banger after banger. It's not as good as The Stranger, but this one's not too far behind it. Joel was so consistently good throughout his career that you can pick pretty much any of his albums and find at least some hits on there. Definitely recommend a deep dive into his discography if you enjoyed this one and The Stranger. Turnstiles, 52nd Street, and River of Dreams are especially good if you don't have time to go through all of it.

MetalmindStats: My expectations for this album weren't high at all going in, but it's been handily exceeding them. So far, it seems about on par with The Stranger for me - similarly an easy listen that goes by pleasantly enough, if not as polished and refined, but then I'm not such a fan of that album anyways.

FoolFantastic: I listened to the album last night but I think I'm allergic to Billy Joel so didn't bother to rank the tracks

An Innocent Man track ranking

10. Careless Talk (Track #7)
Score: 25 (Average Rank: 8.92/10)
Biggest Fan(s): Bane_Of_Despair, Seanchan, HBJDubs (#7)
Biggest Detractor(s): Johnbobb, Mega_Mana, Bitto, MaxGalactica, MetalmindStats (#10)

9. Christie Lee (Track #8)
Score: 55 (Average Rank: 6.83/10)
Biggest Fan(s): Johnbobb, Bane_Of_Despair (#2)
Biggest Detractor(s): PunishedJeezy, Arti (#10)

8. Easy Money (Track #1)
Score: 56 (Average Rank: 6.5/10)
Biggest Fan(s): MetalmindStats (#2)
Biggest Detractor(s): Mega_Mana, Bane_Of_Despair, Seanchan (#9)

7. This Night (Track #4)
Score: 60 (Average Rank: 6.33/10)
Biggest Fan(s): Fluttershy_Pony, HBJDubs (#2)
Biggest Detractor(s): Seanchan (#10)

MaxGalactica: The Beethoven interpolation in the chorus is a neat touch. The sax solo is great too.

6. Leave a Tender Moment Alone (Track #9)
Score: 69 (Average Rank: 5.33/10)
Biggest Fan(s): MetalmindStats (#3)
Biggest Detractor(s): Bitto (#9)

5. Keeping the Faith (Track #10)
Score: 74 (Average Rank: 5.33/10)
Biggest Fan(s): Johnbobb (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): HBJDubs, MaxGalactica (#8)

MaxGalactica: points for the melody of a mallsoft track I really like

4. An Innocent Man (Track #2)
Score: 81 (Average Rank: 5/10)
Biggest Fan(s): Bane_Of_Despair (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): Fluttershy_Pony, MarkS2222222222 (#10)

3. The Longest Time (Track #3)
Score: 89 (Average Rank: 4.58/10)
Biggest Fan(s): MarkS2222222222 (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): Bane_Of_Despair, HBJDubs (#10)

2. Tell Her About It (Track #5)
Score: 100 (Average Rank: 3.83/10)
Biggest Fan(s): Fluttershy_Pony, Seanchan (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): MarkS2222222222, MetalmindStats (#7)

1. Uptown Girl (Track #6)
Score: 135 (Average Rank: 2.33/10)
Biggest Fan(s): PunishedJeezy, Mega_Mana, Bitto, Arti, HBJDubs, MaxGalactica, MetalmindStats (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): Johnbobb (#7)

I was very close to putting "Tell Her About It" at #1, but I always heard something new and interesting in "Uptown Girl".

Dummy is not going well. Even though I said I liked it better than Third, it's still easily bottom 10 of the 159 I've listened to. My favorite song is probably a D+, C- at best? Nothing is an F. There is no hate, but there is also no anything. It's an that mysterious E tier. Not E+ for terrible songs I still enjoy or E- where confusion reigns and I don't know whether I hate it or not, but that score of 2 where I do not care and does not register and if I heard it 100 times, I would still never recognize it in the wild.

Mega_Mana posted...

I was very close to putting "Tell Her About It" at #1, but I always heard something new and interesting in "Uptown Girl".

Dummy is not going well. Even though I said I liked it better than Third, it's still easily bottom 10 of the 159 I've listened to. My favorite song is probably a D+, C- at best? Nothing is an F. There is no hate, but there is also no anything. It's an that mysterious E tier. Not E+ for terrible songs I still enjoy or E- where confusion reigns and I don't know whether I hate it or not, but that score of 2 where I do not care and does not register and if I heard it 100 times, I would still never recognize it in the wild.

Just co-signing for what you said about Dummy.

1. Glory Box
.
.
.
.
2. It's A Fire
3. Pedestal
4. Sour Times
5. Numb
6. Mysterons
7. Strangers
8. Wandering Star
9. Roads
10. Biscuits
11. It Could Be Sweet

"Glory Box" I will listen to again, and have added to a few playlists. It's grown above a C- for sure. Everything else is the same flavor of "Ehh, it's not bad but it does nothing for me." "Numb" did go from the very bottom initially to a pretty high surprise. And I know, it may end up failing, too, but at least I'm not completely disappointed in it.

1. Sour Times - The instrumentation caught on me the moment I heard this song.
2. Mysterons
3. Numb
4. Strangers
5. Biscuit
6. Glory Box - I knew I heard this before. Alessia Cara sampled it.
7. Roads
8. Wandering Star
9. Its a Fire - Different from a mostly similar sounding album. I actually do like what its going for, but the mood in the rest of the album is just better.
10. It Could Be Sweet
11. Pedestal

Solid album. I enjoy the sound and vibe the album is going for, with me actively enjoying all but the last 2 songs. I love listening to lo-fi so its interesting to hear a lot of influences from something in the 90s.

Sour Times
Glory Box
Roads
Numb
Mysterons
It Could Be Sweet
Wandering Star
Strangers
It's a Fire
Pedestal
Biscuit

Will try and get this in tomorrow if that's ok? Not listened since Friday and I really want to rank this one

Portishead has been on my list of bands to listen to but I never got around to, really enjoyed this! Trip Hop is such a vibe, one of the many reasons I love Bjork's Post so much and this album does a great job with it too. Beth's vocals are classy, and the backing beats and instrumentals are so eerie yet pleasant. I could understand the album maybe running a bit long for some once you hear like, the first 6 or 7 songs but I think it uses its time well.

1. Wandering Star
2. Sour Times
3. Roads
4. It Could Be Sweet
5. It's a Fire
6. Strangers
7. Mysterons
8. Glory Box
9. Biscuit
10. Numb
11. Pedestal

I'll do my best to get a listen in tomorrow so I can get a first impressions ranking in. Been a busy week.

1. Roads
2. Wandering Star
3. Mysterons
4. Glory Box
5. Its A Fire
6. Sour Times
7. Pedestal
8. Strangers
9. Numb
10. Biscuit
11. It Could Be Sweet

When I started my own track rankings way back in the day, this was one the first albums I did. Coming back to it now, the top 4 stay the same (with 2 and 3 swapped), It Could Be Sweet is still last, but the rest shuffled pretty wildly. Very good album

man I was really into the last Portishead album we did, but this one just was not clicking for me in the same way. Good sampling going on but the vocals over them just feel so drab

1. Glory Box
2. Sour Times
3. Biscuit
4. Strangers
5. Numb
6. Wandering Star
7. Pedestal
8. Mysterons
9. Roads
10. It's a Fire
11. It Could Be Sweet

1. Mysterons
2. Roads
3. Glory Box
4. Strangers
5. Sour Times
6. Numb
7. Pedestal
8. Wandering Star
9. Biscuit
10. It Could Be Sweet
11. It's a Fire

I do get why this one is as well-regarded as it is, but I don't get much excitement from it. Mysterons is the only song that's somewhat interesting to me. The rest is rather dull unfortunately.

Total classic, and an album I thought basically everyone adored. Slightly baffled by the negative takes in this topic. Ranking this from memory:

Roads (a contender for my favourite song)
Glory Box
Numb
Mysterons
Sour Times
It's a Fire
Wandering Star
Strangers
Biscuit
It Could Be Sweet
Pedestal

Pedestal
Mysterons
It's a Fire
Glory Box
Biscuit
Strangers
Wandering Star
Roads
Sour Times
It Could Be Sweet
Numb

Good album. No songs I love, but an abundance of songs that I like.

Also on the Giggs side of being baffled by these responses. I can understand being put off by the experimentation of Third, but Dummy seems to be one of those universally beloved albums pretty much everywhere but here, apparently.

Also slightly surprised that a lot of people don't seem to like this, though I kinda get it? It's an absolute all-timer in my eyes. Nothing else quite sounds this way, oppressive and beautiful in equal measure with spine-tingling drums and bass. This is a debut album. Beth Gibbons has a gorgeous voice: mixing her kinda soul-y vocals with 90s hiphop beats is a bit of dissonance I absolutely adore. Wandering Star is one I want to highlight for the elements which come in and out: the record scratch, the clapping, the thumping heartbeat-esque sound in the gaps, the bass, the... harmonica sample? I am constantly astonished that so many elements come together in these songs and not once does the album sound messy: if anything, it almost feels stripped back a lot of the time.

Sour Times
Wandering Star
Glory Box
Mysterons
Roads
It Could Be Sweet
Numb
Strangers
Biscuit
Pedestal
It's a Fire

Sorry for my delay - have been having a busy week+, plus forgetting to try ranking songs (not easy for me for this album anyways) on my second and last listen since Dummy's week went up means I lack any sort of ranking to post. I'll have a track ranking hopefully paired with a few thoughts out in likely about 24 hours, if that's okay.

1. It's a Fire - It's the song here I'm most uniquely drawn to and that has the greatest emotional impact on me nowadays.
2. Roads
3. Sour Times
4. Wandering Star
5. Mysterons
6. Biscuit
7. It Could Be Sweet
8. Numb
9. Strangers
10. Glory Box
11. Pedestal

I'm fond of all these songs, even if none of them are quite an all-time favorite of mine - rather, what I'm really partial to here is how effective and compelling and impressive I find Dummy as a unified album.