Board 8 > Rank the Tracks 231: Johnny Cash - At Folsom Prison

(+) Yeah! (+)

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

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, September 4th 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

Johnny Cash - At Folsom Prison track list:
1. Folsom Prison Blues
2. Dark as the Dungeon
3. I Still Miss Someone
4. Cocaine Blues
5. 25 Minutes to Go
6. Orange Blossom Special
7. The Long Black Veil
8. Send a Picture of Mother
9. The Wall
10. Dirty Old Egg-Suckin' Dog
11. Flushed from the Bathroom of Your Heart
12. Jackson
13. Give My Love to Rose
14. I Got Stripes
15. Green, Green Grass of Home
16. Greystone Chapel

Future weeks:
9/4: Cocteau Twins - Heaven or Las Vegas
9/11: Katamari Damacy Soundtrack "Katamari Fortissimo Damacy"
9/18: Mort Garson - Mother Earth's Plantasia
9/25: The National - Alligator
10/2: The Killers - Sam's Town

Bob Dylan - Highway 61 Revisited results

The participants sorted by standard deviation:
FoolFantastic (6)
Sheep007 (6)
PunishedJeezy (8)
MarkS2222222222 (10)
MaxGalactica (10)
Mega_Mana (10)
totamech (10)
Bitto (14)
Johnbobb (14)
RyoCaliente (14)
MetalmindStats (18)
Seanchan (18)

General Album Comments

Seanchan: In a continued trend of my ignorance, this is better than I expected, even given my tendency to be a bit lyric blind. Like, theres a reason Bob Dylan is acclaimed and had a movie made of his career, and yada yada, and its because he was able to marry songwriting with good enough instrumentation to bring popular, generational appeal. Im not sure why I should be surprised by this and yet here we are yet again.

Johnbobb: I feel like I hear Bob Dylan all the time but never actually sit down and listen to Bob Dylan and goddamn this is a fantastic album start to finish.

Seanchan: One of those "something has to be last" albums, where there are not really any bad songs. I was very impressed by this album overall; much more approachable and listenable than I expected.

MaxGalactica: A lot of good, high quality songs. But the only one that really sticks out to me and I really love is Like a Rolling Stone. Still a great album regardless.

Bitto: Fun album! Like A Rolling Stone is way ahead of the other songs though; it feels like the perfect Dylan song out of all I know.

MetalmindStats: I certainly respect this album, think I admire it, but would have to deliberate further about the degree to which I like it.

9. It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry (Track #3)
Score: 26 (Average Rank: 7.83/9)
Biggest Fan(s): Bitto (#6)
Biggest Detractor(s): totamech, Johnbobb, MaxGalactica, MarkS2222222222 (#9)

8. From a Buick 6 (Track #4)
Score: 28 (Average Rank: 7.67/9)
Biggest Fan(s): Seanchan (#4)
Biggest Detractor(s): RyoCaliente, PunishedJeezy, Sheep007, FoolFantastic, MetalmindStats (#9)

7. Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues (Track #8)
Score: 41 (Average Rank: 6.58/9)
Biggest Fan(s): RyoCaliente (#4)
Biggest Detractor(s): Seanchan (#9)

6. Highway 61 Revisited (Track #7)
Score: 54 (Average Rank: 5.67/9)
Biggest Fan(s): totamech, MetalmindStats (#3)
Biggest Detractor(s): Mega_Mana (#9)

5. Queen Jane Approximately (Track #6)
Score: 57 (Average Rank: 5.5/9)
Biggest Fan(s): RyoCaliente, MaxGalactica, Mega_Mana (#3)
Biggest Detractor(s): Bitto (#9)

4. Tombstone Blues (Track #2)
Score: 83 (Average Rank: 3.83/9)
Biggest Fan(s): Johnbobb, Seanchan, Bitto, MetalmindStats (#2)
Biggest Detractor(s): totamech, MaxGalactica (#6)

3. Desolation Row (Track #9)
Score: 101 (Average Rank: 3.17/9)
Biggest Fan(s): totamech, Johnbobb, MarkS2222222222 (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): Seanchan (#8)

2. Ballad of a Thin Man (Track #5)
Score: 103 (Average Rank: 2.92/9)
Biggest Fan(s): RyoCaliente, Sheep007 (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): MetalmindStats (#6)

RyoCaliente: Before rap battles, there was Ballad of a Thin Man. A complete takedown of a person, probably too dimwitted to even realize the song was about them

1. Like a Rolling Stone (Track #1)
Score: 131 (Average Rank: 1.83/9)
Biggest Fan(s): PunishedJeezy, FoolFantastic, Seanchan, MaxGalactica, Mega_Mana, Bitto, MetalmindStats (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): totamech, MarkS2222222222 (#4)

RyoCaliente: The intro, those first musical notes, are s warm. It just instantly evokes a summer feeling

Public Enemy - It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back results

The participants sorted by standard deviation:
FoolFantastic (16)
Sheep007 (16)
PunishedJeezy (22)
Seanchan (26)
MarkS2222222222 (32)
Johnbobb (36)
MaxGalactica (36)
Mega_Mana (42)

General Album Comments

Seanchan: YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH BOYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

There's a very annoying undertone to large parts of this album.

Sheep007: I just couldn't stop laughing at yeah boiiiiiiiiii

Has the same impact as the "unghhh" in Rage Against the Machine for me, where it makes so it hard to take anything seriously when you hear it more than a few times. Sometimes it's fine and fun. Other times it just sounds like one of them's got this little brother and mom said he has to be on every song so they give him that because even if it's annoying, they can make it clear it's really important that he does this bit, then he's not gonna go complain to her but the big boys can still get some work done.

The middle of the album drops the ball a bit imo, and it's where I really started to notice how goofy some of it is, but the top songs all work well enough, I was very impressed by Black Steel in particular on both listens. On the other hand, Show 'Em Whatcha Got is very lucky it wasn't on this ranking, because I've had "Show 'Em Whatcha Got (E. E, E. E)" stuck in my head the entire time I was typing this."

PunishedJeezy: Stone cold hip-hop classic, probably the greatest hip-hop album of the 80s. I love Hank Shocklee's "Wall of Noise" production on this album.

Seanchan: As you might expect, not a big fan of this one. I like the beginning of Bring the Noise but a lot of the rest of this wasn't great for me, with Flavor Flav being exceedingly annoying.

MaxGalactica: Yeah, wasn't a fan of this one. But I suppose that's mostly due to the production being so antiquated.

12. Cold Lampin' With Flavor (Track #4)
Score: 25 (Average Rank: 9.88/12)
Biggest Fan(s): Mega_Mana (#4)
Biggest Detractor(s): PunishedJeezy, Seanchan, MarkS2222222222 (#12)

11. Party for Your Right to Fight (Track #16)
Score: 27 (Average Rank: 9.63/12)
Biggest Fan(s): Johnbobb, Seanchan (#6)
Biggest Detractor(s): FoolFantastic, Sheep007, Mega_Mana (#12)

10. Caught, Can We Get a Witness? (Track #8)
Score: 32 (Average Rank: 9/12)
Biggest Fan(s): Johnbobb (#4)
Biggest Detractor(s): FoolFantastic, Sheep007, PunishedJeezy, Mega_Mana, MaxGalactica (#11)

9. Louder Than a Bomb (Track #7)
Score: 48 (Average Rank: 7/12)
Biggest Fan(s): Seanchan, MaxGalactica (#4)
Biggest Detractor(s): Sheep007 (#10)

8. Night of the Living Baseheads (Track #11)
Score: 52 (Average Rank: 7/12)
Biggest Fan(s): Mega_Mana (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): Johnbobb (#12)

7. Terminator X to the Edge of Panic (Track #5)
Score: 53 (Average Rank: 6.5/12)
Biggest Fan(s): Mega_Mana (#3)
Biggest Detractor(s): Seanchan (#9)

6. She Watch Channel Zero?! (Track #10)
Score: 59 (Average Rank: 6.63/12)
Biggest Fan(s): MaxGalactica, MarkS2222222222 (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): Seanchan (#11)

5. Rebel Without a Pause (Track #14)
Score: 61 (Average Rank: 6/12)
Biggest Fan(s): FoolFantastic, PunishedJeezy (#2)
Biggest Detractor(s): MaxGalactica (#12)

4. Prophets of Rage (Track #15)
Score: 68 (Average Rank: 5.25/12)
Biggest Fan(s): Johnbobb (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): FoolFantastic, PunishedJeezy (#8)

3. Don't Believe the Hype (Track #3)
Score: 68 (Average Rank: 5/12)
Biggest Fan(s): Mega_Mana, Seanchan (#2)
Biggest Detractor(s): MarkS2222222222 (#9)

2. Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos (Track #12)
Score: 87 (Average Rank: 3.38/12)
Biggest Fan(s): Sheep007 (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): MarkS2222222222 (#7)

1. Bring the Noise (Track #2)
Score: 100 (Average Rank: 2.75/12)
Biggest Fan(s): FoolFantastic, PunishedJeeszy, Seanchan (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): Mega_Mana (#7)

Wow, I should probably go back and figure out my reasoning why my thoughts were way off from the rest.

I stick by them completely though. I can definitely say "Cold Lampin' With Flavor" became funnier with every listen that I just began to enjoy it, especially the outro about breakfast and lunch.

I had Black Steel as my second lowest song and Caught as my third highest so that would have been big on outlier.

Pretty good album, but Cold Lampin is a contender for worst song of the cycle.

Bitto posted...

Pretty good album, but Cold Lampin is a contender for worst song of the cycle.

On so many levels, this is true. But whereas other horrible songs are straight up awful, ear-grinding, or so dull and lifeless to be completely forgettable, I'd put "Cold Lampin'' in rarefied air where its audacity and insane grasping at theme and random inserts of nursery rhymes and cadence and what sometimes sounds like a sample from the Macarena years before that existed... it fills me with mirth and laughter. Of all the tracks I've listened to for this project, this was experiencing The Room once again. What the fuck are tombstone chips? Did Flava commit murder if I try to figure out what the hell he's talking about? It's madcap and I'm appreciating even more looking into my outlier.

*fails a fifth time at listening to "Give My Live to Rose" as I type*

I put Cold Lampin last out of the non-interludes, but it still rules. That's just how strong the album is. It's a nice funny palate cleanser.

1. Folsom Prison Blues
2. Cocaine Blues
3. The Long Black Veil
4. Jackson
5. Green, Green Grass of Home
6. The Wall
7. 25 Minutes to Go
8. Dark as the Dungeon
9. Give My Love to Rose
10. I Got Stripes
11. I Still Miss Someone
12. Send a Picture of Mother
13. Greystone Chapel
14. Orange Blossom Special
15. Dirty Old Egg-Suckin' Dog
16. Flushed from the Bathroom of Your Heart

1. Folsom Prison Blues
2. Greystone Chapel
3. 25 Minutes to Go
4. Send a Picture of Mother
5. Cocaine Blues
6. The Long Black Veil
7. The Wall
8. Green, Green Grass of Home
9. I Still Miss Someone
10. Dark as the Dungeon
11. Jackson
12. Give My Love to Rose
13. Orange Blossom Special
14. Flushed from the Bathroom of Your Heart
15. I Got Stripes
16. Dirty Old Egg-Suckin' Dog

Folsom Prison Blues
Greystone Chapel
Orange Blossom Special
Cocaine Blues
Dark as the Dungeon
The Wall
25 Minutes to Go
I Still Miss Someone
Send a Picture of Mother
I Got Stripes
The Long Black Veil
Green, Green Grass of Home
Jackson
Give My Love to Rose
Flushed from the Bathroom of Your Heart
Dirty Old Egg-Suckin' Dog

Folsom Prison Blues
Greystone Chapel
Flushed From The Bathroom Of Your Heart
Give My Love To Rose
Dark As The Dungeon
I Still Miss Someone
Green, Green Grass Of Home
The Long Black Veil
Send A Picture Of Mother
The Wall
Dirty Old Egg-Suckin' Dog
Orange Blossom Special
Cocaine Blues
I Got Stripes
Jackson
25 Minutes To Go

First listen through. Its good. I like live albums every now and then just to feed off the energy of the audience and the performer.

I had a bit of a wild moment with 25 Minutes To Go. I was listening intently to see what happens at 1 minute to go. I get there and right when he speaks, I get a call. Im listening through earbuds and the volume difference between music and a call notification is loud and abrupt, so it really too me out but it immersed me at the same time.

Need to do 1 more listen to this one. Hopefully by Tuesday at the latest.

1. Folsom Prison Blues
2. Jackson
3. Green, Green Grass of Home
4. I Still Miss Someone
5. Cocaine Blues
6. 25 Minutes to Go
7. I Got Stripes
8. Give My Love to Rose
9. Orange Blossom Special
10. Greystone Chapel
11. Send a Picture of Mother
12. The Wall
13. The Long Black Veil
14. Dark as the Dungeon
15. Dirty Old Egg-Suckin' Dog
16. Flushed from the Bathroom of Your Heart

I enjoyed the live vibes of this one. A lot more playful and funny than I expected. Not a favorite of mine but it moves along at such a clip that it's hard to get bored.

Gonna finish this today

1. Cocaine Blues
2. Folsom Prison Blues
3. Green, Green Grass of Home
4. Orange Blossom Special - Love the harmonica.
5. The Long Black Veil
6. Jackson - The other vocalist adds a lot to this one.
7. 25 Minutes to Go
8. Greystone Chapel
9. Dark as the Dungeon
10. The Wall
11. I Got Stripes
12. Send a Picture of Mother
13. I Still Miss Someone
14. Give My Love to Rose
15. Flushed from the Bathroom of Your Heart
16. Dirty Old Egg-Suckin Dog

Older country wouldnt seem like my vibe, but it works pretty well here. The songs are fairly short and the more energetic ones pretty much are always fun. Cash has a nice voice that works well for both singing and his ad-libbing throughout the concert.

Chilling to put yourself in the place of one of the prisoners, think about what their life must have been like, some actually on death row, and then getting to experience these songs and this performance.

25 Minutes to Go
The Wall
Give My Love to Rose
Folsom Prison Blues
Cocaine Blues
Orange Blossom Special
The Long Black Veil
Dark as the Dungeon
I Still Miss Someone
Send a Picture of Mother
Greystone Chapel
Dirty Old Egg-Suckin' Dog
I Got Stripes
Jackson
Green, Green Grass of Home
Flushed from the Bathroom of Your Heart