Ranked: The Ultimate Showdown Part 3

[xjsb125]

It is now time to choose the best of the 9 studio albums. The poll will be open for 5 days. Defend your vote if you dare!

[xjsb125]

Here's a fun fact from our song poll: Only 1 album had a vote for every track except for 1. All the others had 3-4 tracks (R.K. tracks excluded) that had no votes. That album was Gravity.

[ShatsBassoon]

I have to say Happiness, just so many great tracks. Love naveed, clumsy and spiritual machines but I think Happiness was solid through and through.

[ihatethunderbay]

I went with Spiritual Machines.

I used to be a huuuge fan of Clumsy, but recently I've been listening to the first 4 again and man, SM is solid through and through.

Clumsy I think has the greatest number of A+ tracks (all the singles are solid gold, and there's a reason this was their breakout album) but tracks like Shaking and Hello Oskar drag down the rest of the album.

Happiness is a close second, but I think a few of the deep cuts don't quite stand up as well (thinking Consequences and Lying Awake); it's definitely a more consistent album than both Naveed and Clumsy, and Jeremy's drumming is on point. God, I love the drums on Is Anybody Home?

But SM I feel is the perfect blend of the pop sensibilities that went on to dominate their later releases and the more artistic/alternative/experimental stuff that defined the Clumsy and Happiness sound. Everyone brings their A game. The vocals are fantastic and Raine uses his falsetto to its fullest extent. The deep cuts are amazing (Everyone's A Junkie and The Wonderful Future in particular). And of course, In Repair, in my opinion the greatest song OLP has ever written. There are layers upon layers to every song to the point where 16 years after I first listened to the album I'm still hearing new things.

The only negatives really are the RK tracks, which... I kind of get what they're going for, but I don't think the tracks support the themes of the songs they precede. As a concept album it's sorta half-realized, but if you took away the RK tracks and just focused on the music it's stellar from top to bottom.

[dumbandjaded13]

I went with Spiritual Machines.

I used to be a huuuge fan of Clumsy, but recently I've been listening to the first 4 again and man, SM is solid through and through.

Clumsy I think has the greatest number of A+ tracks (all the singles are solid gold, and there's a reason this was their breakout album) but tracks like Shaking and Hello Oskar drag down the rest of the album.

Happiness is a close second, but I think a few of the deep cuts don't quite stand up as well (thinking Consequences and Lying Awake); it's definitely a more consistent album than both Naveed and Clumsy, and Jeremy's drumming is on point. God, I love the drums on Is Anybody Home?

But SM I feel is the perfect blend of the pop sensibilities that went on to dominate their later releases and the more artistic/alternative/experimental stuff that defined the Clumsy and Happiness sound. Everyone brings their A game. The vocals are fantastic and Raine uses his falsetto to its fullest extent. The deep cuts are amazing (Everyone's A Junkie and The Wonderful Future in particular). And of course, In Repair, in my opinion the greatest song OLP has ever written. There are layers upon layers to every song to the point where 16 years after I first listened to the album I'm still hearing new things.

The only negatives really are the RK tracks, which... I kind of get what they're going for, but I don't think the tracks support the themes of the songs they precede. As a concept album it's sorta half-realized, but if you took away the RK tracks and just focused on the music it's stellar from top to bottom.

This is basically my reasoning as well. 4am is still my favorite song, but SM is top to bottom their most complete album.