Poptimists Album Science #1

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

This is about Proving By Science how good an album REALLY is. How do you do this? The best way to go about it is to mark each track out of ten and then calculate a percentage from the total score. So that is what we're going to do!

Instructions: simply give each track from the album below a mark out of ten by clicking the corresponding radio button - it's that simple!

If you've not heard the song before or need a reminder there are several ways you can remedy this. if you have iTunes you can search for the album on there and listen to the 30 second clips - or you can use Amazon and other sites in a similar way. If the song was released as a single you may well find the video on YouTube.

If you've not heard the song and can't hear it you could either not mark it (if you dislike the artist generally) or give it a 5 for balance if you do like the artist generally (seems fair to me all in all).

The first album to be rated will be Michael Jackson's 'Thriller'. If the experiment proves popular and successful I'll do two more albums from the 80s and then three from the 90s and 00s over the next few weeks.

[Poll #847685]
Don't worry too much about the position of the song in the tracklist and it's relation to what comes before and after it - unless you think that sort of thing affects your response to a track significantly or indeed your judgement of an album as a whole (see comments for big argument about this, probably).

Comments

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

Heeeey where are you all going? noooo, come baaaaaaack!

I had not heard the non-singles on this album before, truth be told. They do seem to be the weaker tracks though.

[nicolars.livejournal.com]

Baybe be Mine and The Lady In My Life are pretty dull, but th rest of the album is awesome. Though I seem to be more partial to it than most!

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Haha I have only heard THREE of the songs here, I really should get this album or indeed any M Jacko work.

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

I think you'll be more familiar with the other proposed choices (except maybe the next one).

[juror8.livejournal.com]

"Crooked Rain Crooked Rain"?

[jauntyalan.livejournal.com]

OK Computer, surely

[hoshuteki.livejournal.com]

There should be a Talking Heads album... Fear of Music, perhaps?

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

It strikes me this would be a good format for new albums (given a month or so for interested parties to hear them, anyway)

[blue-russian.livejournal.com]

Also "controversial" older ones. As always, of course, the problem is that you actually have to listen to the album before you can vote on it.

[martinskidmore.livejournal.com]

as long as we don't have to mark the skits...

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

i applied this formula to the Basement Jaxx albums when testing this Advanced Scientific Method at home in preparation and found myself giving on average a 5 to the 'ludes' they do usually except when they're really good (e.g. Cosmolude).

so you could aproach 'skits' or other kinds of 'interlude' in the same way perhaps. potentially they can be as entertaining as a song altho in practice the stats may well not back this up.

[anatol-merklich.livejournal.com]

I support Tom's idea here! Especially as I've signed up for Evil Corporation MSN Music Streaming Service thing, and so can listen to albums without having to buy them as such or faff about with p2p.

[blue-russian.livejournal.com]

Hmm.... Were there really only two non-single tracks on this album? "Baby Be Mine" I don't remember at all, and my recollection is that "The Lady in My Life" is a sappy ballad (and definitely written by Rod Temperton - I remember thinking at the time, who the hell is this guy? and why are people saying Quincy Jones is important, he only co-wrote one song!).

Lex should definitely hear this.

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

so what's up with you hating on the title track br?

[blue-russian.livejournal.com]

funny, i expected more people would be lukewarm about it. and i certainly didn't expect so many perfect scores!

to be honest, i have just never really liked the song, end of story. and to the extent that i would change the channel if it came on. it's got a good hook, the video of course, but no sale. (the vincent price rap didn't help but that isn't the motivating factor.)

[lockedintheatti.livejournal.com]

Don't think Human Nature was a single in the UK - it may have been elsewhere though.

Speaking of which, the main thing I like about Human Nature is that whenever I hear it I think of SWV's Right Here, which samples it and is heavenly.

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Yeah this is why it got bigger points from me too.

[fathands.livejournal.com]

I have not heard this album I am afraid

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Excellent poll work there Mr Mannion.

And three 10's for me in a row up there. Alas I can't remember much of the rest.

The funk of forty thousand years.

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

The title track is the best on the album!

Re: The funk of forty thousand years.

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

toss up between it and Billie Jean (the only 10s i gave)

Re: The funk of forty thousand years.

[lockedintheatti.livejournal.com]

I always thought Thriller was let down by the chorus, it feels like it doesn't fit with the sense of menace that the verses and the Vince Price bit conjure up.

Beat It, on the other hand, is marvellous from start to finish.

The Girl is Mine

[dickmalone.livejournal.com]

Those who gave it higher than a 5, pls to explain. It's the reason I can't play this album at parties!

Maybe I've just seen the video too many times...

Re: The Girl is Mine

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

i don't like Macca on this much but 'say say say' still roolz

Re: The Girl is Mine

[dickmalone.livejournal.com]

Oh, good point. But then the spoken-word part comes along and yargh!

[juror8.livejournal.com]

Here's former ultimate fighting icon Bob Sapp doing a Thriller-pose:

[jauntyalan.livejournal.com]

quick shout out to the Cleethorpes Possee http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rod_Temperton

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

wow, what a legend!

[w3ft.livejournal.com]

some of these songs are ten. but if some are ten, then some are... eleven

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Steve I think you should include an overall 1-10 rating for the album as a whole. We could then see which songs were driving overall opinion of the record :)

[braisedbywolves.livejournal.com]

Popbitch's finest moment:


"A friend of mine was in Los Angeles 79 thru 87.
Michael Jackson had had a huge hit with Off The
Wall, and was recording the follow up.

"The sessions were arranged for a very late start,
and, after a night on the town, my mate popped
around to the studio to see the producer.

"He got into the control room to find that
everyone's attention was fixed on the glass
window. On the other side, Quincy Jones was kicking
a pile of rags on the floor while shouting
"Silent, you motherfucker! I said NO SQUEAKS!"

"It turned out the pile of rags was a gibbering
Michael Jackson. They were recording a new song
called Billie Jean, and Michael had decided
to fill every gap with his trademark whoops,
clicks and squeaks. Quincy, however, had decided
that the track would be a pared down.

"After several hours of trying to get the
singer to do what he wanted, and having consumed
large quantities of ragedust, Jones had finally
snapped and attacked the poor freak. Needless
to say, after the outburst, MJ sang the song
how he was told to, and the rest is history."


[blue-russian.livejournal.com]

so I guess QJ was important then, wasn't he?