Top Thirty EC Tracks Ever

[migdd]

Interesting results! It's not surprising that Riot Act would make it onto so many top 30 lists but I wonder how many of the voters would put it at the top of a list of the best songs EC has written if they had to list the top 30 songs in descending order.

Sometimes it's best just to accept these things rather than analyze them!

[RinghioStarr]

1. Invisible Man
2. You Tripped At Every Step
3. Taking My Life In Your Hands
4. Little Savage
5. Girls Talk
6. When It Sings
7. Imagination Is A Powerful Deceiver
8. Veronica
9. Who Do You Think You Are
10. Big Tears
11. Dear Sweet Filthy World
12. In The Darkest Place
13. Ghost Train
14. Last Boat Leaving
15. Radio Sweetheart
16. Alison
17. Almost Blue
18. Still
19. You Turned To Me
20. Heathen Town
21. Turning The Town Red
22. Lover's Walk
23. Shipbuilding
24. The Letter Home
25. The Other Side Of Summer
26. Everyday I Write The Book
27. Toledo
28. Favourite Hour
29. All The Rage
30. Just A Memory

Or something quite like it.

[bambooneedle]

Interesting list, Ringhio - you don't rate anything very much up there from his early period (MAIT to Imperial Bedroom), or anything from All This Useless Beauty, WIWC or The Delivery Man. Not a criticism, just an observation.

[Gillibeanz]

Hard call - so many very wonderful songs to select from....

1.Red Shoes
2.You Tripped At Every Step
3.Either Side of the Same Town
4.I'll Wear It Proudly
5.I'm In the Mood Again
6.Alison
7.Sleep of the Just
8.I Want You
9.Man Out of Time
10.I Hope You're Happy Now
11.Brilliant Mistake
12.Watching the detectives
13.All This Useless Beauty
14.Jack of All Parades
15.Shipbuilding
16.Last Boat Leaving
17.I Dont Want to Go to Chelsea
18.Accidents will Happen
19.Motel Matches
20.Oliver's Army
21.You Little Fool
22.Green Shirt
23.Welcome To The Working Week
24.Suit Of Lights
25.Pigeon English
26.Less Than Zero
27.Man called Uncle
28.The Beat
29.How Much I Lied
30. boy With A Problem

[RinghioStarr]

Interesting list, Ringhio - you don't rate anything very much up there from his early period (MAIT to Imperial Bedroom), or anything from All This Useless Beauty, WIWC or The Delivery Man. Not a criticism, just an observation.

The fact is that I don't like the early albums very much.
I found many songs from MAIT quite boring. Anyway, it is represented in my list by a song that is undoubtledy a masterpiece (Alison) and a couple of remarkable bonus tracks (Imagination and Radio Sweetheart).
This Year's Model had a strong impact on me ten years ago, the sound is claustrophobic and sharp, the songs are neurotically furious - too much neurotically furious... I grew up, I suppose. Or I'm less neurotic.
Armed Forces: it never fascinated me. Even Party Girl and Accidents Will Happen lost their grip on me.
Among the early "angry" albums I prefer Trust.
I think that Costello made better albums than these, with songs that have more emotional depth or with more variety, and that I find more rewarding (Imperial Bedroom is in my top five - or six).
All This Useless: quite weak.
WIWC: huge disappointment.
The Delivery Man: didn't fascinate me.

Yeah, so your observation about my list and the list itself match my opinion about the albums.

P.s. I often found that I like more the bonus tracks than the songs that were in the original album (i.e. Big Tears, how could he put it on the b side of a single?).

[bambooneedle]

And of course everyone's entitled to have their unique slant with whatever criteria they apply to someone's work. I admit to hardly listening to EC's early albums much anymore, or to some others. I have certain specific associations with Armed Forces for example that I formed upon initially discovering it that come flooding back from the subconscious after being allowed to settle properly ie. by not putting AF on for ages and really forgetting about it as much as I can. Or else that effect doesn't work nearly as well and it seems like a disservice to the album and to me. With other EC albums, I may be listening to them more often in recent times, but maybe not because I think they're better but just because I'm still trying to form meaningful associations I can feel about them. Sometimes the process seem to have nothing to do with what EC might be thinking. An album may be considered to be brilliant but just not really resonate with me at the time, like TRIR seems not to yet. But, on that note, I also suspect that TRIR is just kind of lightweight, not having near as much substance as ATUB or TDM, or even WIWC (also find it stylistically unsatisfying, but won't go into that now).

[RinghioStarr]

Personally, I prefer the albums (and the songs) that mantain a certain continuity in my appreciation, even though I don't listen to them very often (i.e. BY, Spike, TJL) - I don't need to listen to them very often because they've settled quite deep in me, there are elements in them that make their effects lasting.
These are the albums (... and songs) that I consider "better", or, anywy, the ones I put above the others.
While TYM, as strong as it this (and it is), is lacking in those elements, in my opinion.
It is a good display of juvenile fury, frustration, sarcasm and arrogance.
"But can't you see he's only the imposter?".
Something I don't dislike. But not enough to keep me linked to it in the way I described above.
I agree that listening more to recently discovered albums or recent albums doesn't mean that "they're better", but it just means that we already "elaborated" the older, and we're getting inside the new ones.
I also agree that it may happen that we appreciate a song not because of the general meaning of it, but for the general feeling of it, which sometimes grows on us because of certain specific passages of music/melody plus lyrics - which connect with our "associations" or experiences.
To be able to reach the emotional core of these "experiences" means to be a good songwriter.
(about TRIR, still I don't have a clear opinion of it).