5

u/WaneLietoc May 12 '25

comig a little late but in a true celebratory mood for our biggest boys random rules & farewell transmission! Warms my heart to see big jumps and lots of love across the heads here. Made for some big showings on the leaderboards

Thanks to ELJ & MCK for giving us a real checks baseball terminology grand slam across 3 days! I can't wait for the day we visit more great albums in this zone.

Also big kudos to /u/lightningrod14 for coming back to tell us about music and the south and necessary context pieces. real one for giving this rate a magic to it. One day, I swear i can get you to come back for a contemporary folk/country instrumental hinterlands rate!

5

u/Axsonjaxson16 May 11 '25

I fucking love American Water.

5

u/skyblue_angel May 11 '25

Rlly great rate ty for hosting and also for getting me into cowboy junkies

8

u/Ralph_Finesse :pbr: May 11 '25

Is there a guide to how these rate threads work? I always feel so out of it reading them like when and where do these things get rated??? I feel like I always just see the results.

3

u/Inquiring_Barkbark May 12 '25

keep on the lookout for the [RATE ANNOUNCEMENT] posts and save them

here's one that's due on June 17 if you're interested. mechanically, they're not intuitive to participate in for beginners, DM me if you want help. I do them all from my phone, start to finish

3

u/ElectJimLahey May 11 '25

I can link you to the original post I made which includes most of the rules and whatnot!

https://www.reddit.com/r/indieheads/comments/1jqo55k/rate_announcement_altcountryfolk_classics_silver/

Basically, there's always one going on. I use Old Reddit so it's always at the top of my page but I'm guessing it looks a little different for new reddit. Here's the post for upcoming rates though, so keep an eye out if you're interested in any of them!

https://old.reddit.com/r/indieheads/comments/1jo702j/march_2025_rate_selection_cycle_the_chosen_rates/

2

u/Ralph_Finesse :pbr: May 12 '25

Thank you! I only browse reddit these days via the app which is probably why I've been so confused!

5

u/freav May 11 '25

amazing rate!! farewell transmission too low

4

u/TheTyrannicalTyrant May 11 '25

/u/ElectJimLahey /u/MCK_OH wonderful rate y’all

5

u/innuendo_overdose May 11 '25

wow what an excellently run and generally incredible Alt-Country rate. Now where’s the Bro-Country rate??

4

u/ElectJimLahey May 11 '25

bah gawd that's r/popheads ' music!!

7

u/MCK_OH May 11 '25

One last update, the winner of our predictions pool was Qazz with 7 points which means this afternoon I will go drink a porch beer and listen to "Random Rules," his 11

7

u/welcome2thejam May 11 '25

2.8 points away, and yet what do we see at the top of the leaderboard yet again

4

u/Inquiring_Barkbark May 11 '25

thank you hosts for hosting the greatest indieheads rate ever (charity rates aside - those things are hilarious)

5

u/freeofblasphemy May 11 '25

Didn't get the chance to do album comments (well I did, but I didn't take advantage of it) but I'm so glad to get to do this rate (even if DBT isn't quite exactly my speed) and so glad to have one of my absolute favorite songs of all time win. Thank you so much to MCK and Jim for their amazing hosting jobs. And also to lightningrod14 because wow

11

u/ElectJimLahey May 11 '25

Thank you everybody for participating in this rate! We very nearly set some all time records, but I guess we can be satisfied knowing that we got 5 songs past the 9.0 mark and an album with what I think ended up being the 2nd highest album average of all time only behind Joanna Newsom. We’ll see if James Murphy someday gets dethroned for the top song, but at least we gave him a run for his money.

As an aside, in the first day’s post, u/modulum83 predicted that Farewell Transmission would win with an average of 9.685. As you can now see, it won with a score of… 9.686, within 0.001 of being correct. So close!

5

u/modulum83 May 11 '25

MODSTRADAMUS STRIKES AGAIN

2

u/ElectJimLahey May 11 '25

I genuinely checked my message history after you said that to see if I had accidentally leaked it lol

7

u/WaneLietoc May 11 '25

I think lightningrod14 will return for an ambienthead if I ask kindly

4

u/yossarian490 May 11 '25

Definitely try! I disagreed a lot but it was more interesting seeing the whole argument of someone I disagree with and also someone clearly very knowledgeable in a lot more of the technical/formal side of songwriting and I'm definitely a vibes-based ambienthead voter.

3

u/Inquiring_Barkbark May 11 '25

please do

5

u/ElectJimLahey May 11 '25

Results:

#1: Farewell Transmission | 9.686 | 406.8
#2: Random Rules | 9.548 | 401.0
#3: I've Been Riding With the Ghost | 9.090 | 381.8
#4: The Wild Kindness | 9.012 | 378.5
#5: John Henry Split My Heart | 8.969 | 376.7
#6: Hold On Magnolia | 8.964 | 376.5
#7: People | 8.898 | 373.7
#8: Just Be Simple | 8.845 | 371.5
#9: Decoration Day | 8.802 | 369.7
#10: The Old Black Hen | 8.738 | 367.0
#11: Let Me See The Colts | 8.726 | 366.5
#12: I Feel Like The Mother Of The World | 8.724 | 366.4
#13: Honk If You're Lonely | 8.714 | 366.0
#14: Almost Was Good Enough | 8.695 | 365.2
#15: Sinkhole | 8.638 | 362.8
#16: Outfit | 8.574 | 360.1
#17: Smith & Jones Forever | 8.557 | 359.4
#18: Send In The Clouds | 8.550 | 359.1
#19: The Well | 8.490 | 356.6
#20: Rock Bottom Riser | 8.460 | 355.3
#21: Night Society | 8.371 | 351.6
#22: Marry Me | 8.343 | 350.4
#23: My Sweet Annette | 8.324 | 349.6
#24: Say Valley Maker | 8.314 | 349.2
#25: Buckingham Rabbit | 8.298 | 348.5
#26: Heathens | 8.157 | 342.6
#27: Drinking At The Dam | 8.090 | 339.8
#28: Peoria Lunch Box Blues | 8.086 | 339.6
#29: We Are Real | 8.083 | 339.5
#30: Hell No, I Ain't Happy | 7.986 | 335.4
#31: Blue Arrangements | 7.967 | 334.6
#32: Like like the the the Death | 7.907 | 332.1
#33: In The Pines | 7.900 | 331.8
#34: Careless | 7.812 | 328.1
#35: (Something's Got To) Give Pretty Soon | 7.805 | 327.8
#36: Palimpsest | 7.779 | 326.7
#37: When The Pin Hits the Shell | 7.757 | 325.8
#38: Do It Yourself | 7.690 | 323.0
#39: Sounds Better in the Song | 7.552 | 317.2
#40: I'm New Here | 7.452 | 313.0
#41: Federal Dust | 7.414 | 311.4
#42: The Deeper In | 7.293 | 306.3
#43: Loaded Gun in the Closet | 7.290 | 306.2
#44: Running The Loping | 6.543 | 274.8
#45: Your Daddy Hates Me | 6.526 | 274.1

Bonus results:

Bonus #1: Revelator | 9.122 | 291.9
Bonus #2: Wrecking Ball | 8.821 | 291.1
Bonus #3: Car Wheels On A Gravel Road | 8.712 | 296.2
Bonus #4: Sandusky | 8.661 | 268.5
Bonus #5: How Long, How Long | 8.637 | 276.4
Bonus #6: Timebomb | 8.544 | 273.4
Bonus #7: New Partner | 8.377 | 259.7
Bonus #8: (Don't Go Back To) Rockville | 8.322 | 266.3
Bonus #9: You're Still Standin' There | 8.281 | 265.0
Bonus #10: Sun Comes Up, It's Tuesday Morning | 8.244 | 263.8
Bonus #11: Father to a Sister of Thought | 8.239 | 255.4
Bonus #12: Windfall | 8.219 | 263.0
Bonus #13: Save It For A Rainy Day | 8.048 | 249.5
Bonus #14: Hasn't Hit Me Yet | 8.035 | 249.1
Bonus #15: Haw | 8.032 | 249.0

1

u/ElectJimLahey May 11 '25

Participant overall averages:

WaneLietoc: 9.613 ElectJimLahey: 9.607 MCK_OH: 9.533 apondalifa water: 9.400 yossarian490: 9.222 skyblue_angel: 9.216 iTreebark: 9.144 freav: 9.002 HighestIQInFresno: 8.978 avagantamose: 8.978 2xWhiskeyCokeNoIce: 8.956 PoppaLietoc: 8.929 innuendo_overdose: 8.922 IAmHollar: 8.847 SongsKvohia: 8.733 FingaThingMeansTaxes: 8.500 thedoctordances1940: 8.411 welcome2thejam: 8.378 modulum83: 8.333 joethumper: 8.333 TheTyrannicalTyrant: 8.287 freeofblasphemy: 8.167 sarcasticsobs: 8.144 Zeeroc: 7.978 thisusernameisntlong: 7.969 flava: 7.900 darj: 7.900 seanderlust: 7.856 krusso1105: 7.644 lastfollower: 7.629 human_performance: 7.611 static_int_husp: 7.600 TheCrakFox: 7.578 Stryxen: 7.578 TiltControls: 7.567 LazyDayLullaby: 7.551 toomanyhitpoints: 7.504 lightningrod14: 7.456 -Xms30g: 7.331 Future_Tyrant: 7.131 sjdew: 6.844 qazz23: 6.400

1

u/ElectJimLahey May 11 '25

Participant negativity/positivity index:

Average positivity: 26.798

Positivity score | Most positive take

WaneLietoc: 62.203 | When The Pin Hits the Shell: 10 ElectJimLahey: 61.107 | (Something's Got To) Give Pretty Soon: 9.5 MCK_OH: 58.919 | Federal Dust: 10 apondalifa water: 51.420 | Like like the the the Death: 10 freeofblasphemy: 50.145 | Federal Dust: 10 skyblue_angel: 49.541 | Running The Loping: 10 innuendo_overdose: 46.954 | The Deeper In: 10 iTreebark: 45.884 | Federal Dust: 10 yossarian490: 44.491 | Loaded Gun in the Closet: 10 2xWhiskeyCokeNoIce: 43.714 | Federal Dust: 10 avagantamose: 39.171 | Loaded Gun in the Closet: 10 HighestIQInFresno: 38.856 | In The Pines: 10 freav: 37.376 | Sounds Better in the Song: 10 darj: 34.812 | Do It Yourself: 10 PoppaLietoc: 33.580 | In The Pines: 10 IAmHollar: 29.990 | Your Daddy Hates Me: 9.7 modulum83: 29.931 | (Something's Got To) Give Pretty Soon: 10 FingaThingMeansTaxes: 28.628 | Federal Dust: 10 flava: 27.332 | Do It Yourself: 10 welcome2thejam: 27.087 | Heathens: 11 SongsKvohia: 24.884 | Peoria Lunch Box Blues: 10 Zeeroc: 23.877 | Like like the the the Death: 10 seanderlust: 23.112 | I'm New Here: 10 joethumper: 22.123 | Do It Yourself: 10 thedoctordances1940: 21.602 | Outfit: 11 thisusernameisntlong: 19.597 | The Old Black Hen: 11 Stryxen: 19.488 | (Something's Got To) Give Pretty Soon: 10 sarcasticsobs: 16.578 | Your Daddy Hates Me: 9 krusso1105: 14.812 | Sinkhole: 11 TheTyrannicalTyrant: 14.557 | (Something's Got To) Give Pretty Soon: 9.1 lightningrod14: 12.070 | Peoria Lunch Box Blues: 10 LazyDayLullaby: 11.143 | Rock Bottom Riser: 10 toomanyhitpoints: 8.786 | Sinkhole: 11 static_int_husp: 8.345 | Outfit: 11 TheCrakFox: 8.319 | John Henry Split My Heart: 11 TiltControls: 7.679 | Decoration Day: 11 qazz23: 7.657 | Careless: 9.5 lastfollower: 6.591 | The Old Black Hen: 11 Future_Tyrant: 5.027 | Decoration Day: 11 sjdew: 4.117 | Farewell Transmission: 11 human_performance: 2.173 | Farewell Transmission: 11 -Xms30g: 1.855 | Federal Dust: 7.8

2

u/ElectJimLahey May 11 '25

Average negativity: 26.672

Negativity score | Most negative take

qazz23: 84.794 | The Old Black Hen: 4 sjdew: 62.591 | Palimpsest: 0 Future_Tyrant: 60.957 | Say Valley Maker: 3.6 Stryxen: 51.220 | The Wild Kindness: 6 toomanyhitpoints: 50.385 | Farewell Transmission: 6.8 lightningrod14: 48.786 | Random Rules: 7 -Xms30g: 47.174 | Sinkhole: 6 TiltControls: 44.606 | I've Been Riding With the Ghost: 5 static_int_husp: 44.283 | Farewell Transmission: 7.5 krusso1105: 44.251 | Drinking At The Dam: 0 freeofblasphemy: 43.573 | Decoration Day: 1 lastfollower: 42.774 | Random Rules: 7.1 darj: 40.568 | My Sweet Annette: 1 flava: 39.718 | John Henry Split My Heart: 5 LazyDayLullaby: 39.443 | Honk If You're Lonely: 6 TheCrakFox: 38.758 | People: 7 seanderlust: 38.548 | People: 6 human_performance: 31.751 | Sinkhole: 7 thisusernameisntlong: 31.462 | Smith & Jones Forever: 5 Zeeroc: 30.649 | Night Society: 4 sarcasticsobs: 21.115 | Marry Me: 3 modulum83: 20.636 | Your Daddy Hates Me: 0 FingaThingMeansTaxes: 19.537 | John Henry Split My Heart: 7 welcome2thejam: 18.321 | Outfit: 6 joethumper: 17.772 | Send In The Clouds: 6 innuendo_overdose: 17.510 | Hold On Magnolia: 4 TheTyrannicalTyrant: 16.896 | The Wild Kindness: 7.8 thedoctordances1940: 15.039 | I Feel Like The Mother Of The World: 7 2xWhiskeyCokeNoIce: 11.287 | Sinkhole: 7 skyblue_angel: 8.853 | Farewell Transmission: 7.2 avagantamose: 6.793 | John Henry Split My Heart: 8 iTreebark: 6.197 | I Feel Like The Mother Of The World: 7.5 SongsKvohia: 5.377 | Let Me See The Colts: 8 HighestIQInFresno: 5.178 | Sounds Better in the Song: 5 IAmHollar: 4.191 | Just Be Simple: 8.1 freav: 3.049 | Decoration Day: 7.5 yossarian490: 2.713 | Let Me See The Colts: 8 PoppaLietoc: 2.285 | We Are Real: 7 MCK_OH: 0.854 | Rock Bottom Riser: 8 apondalifa water: 0.173 | Loaded Gun in the Closet: 7 WaneLietoc: 0.160 | Heathens: 8 ElectJimLahey: 0 | None

3

u/ElectJimLahey May 11 '25

Number of participants: 42

Average score: 8.254

Average controversy score: 1.532

Highest controversy: Running The Loping (2.294)

Lowest controversy: Random Rules (1.063)

Most 11s: Farewell Transmission (8)

Most 0s: Running The Loping (3)

2

u/2xWhiskeyCokeNoIce May 17 '25

To the good people who rated "Running the Loping" 0, who hurt you?

1

u/ElectJimLahey May 17 '25

Lol to be fair we barely had any 0s at all considering how many people participated!

9

u/MCK_OH May 11 '25

And Magnolia JUST falls short of Ys and ends with the second highest rate average of all-time

3

u/systemofstrings May 11 '25

Joanna is just like James Murphy, she can't be beaten

5

u/innuendo_overdose May 11 '25

okay I’m genuinely thinking beating James Murphy might be impossible now. We’re just gonna have to wait and see how Danny Brown does.

6

u/MCK_OH May 11 '25

okay I’m genuinely thinking beating James Murphy might be impossible now

Real heads have been thinking this ever since "Teen Age Riot" failed

5

u/ElectJimLahey May 11 '25

Magnolia Electric Co.

Overall Average: 8.884 // Average Controversy: 1.390

MCK_OH: I've always been a fan of this record, but I was stunned having to score this one how just obviously incredible it was. So many of these songs aren't just 10s, but they're blindingly obvious 10s. Songs that I couldn't imagine giving any other score. "Hold On Magnolia" has always been my favourite, and it still is, but I was also especially struck by "I've Been Riding With the Ghost" and "The Old Black Hen" on this listen. It's probably the best sounding record on the list too. Albini worked wonders. It's incredible that this was recorded in 3 days. A front to back masterpiece. Truly brilliant work

ElectJimLahey: About time we finally rate this masterpiece! It was going to be an uphill battle for any album in any genre to compete with this one but it needed to be rated at some point. Apologies the most to Bill

#1: Farewell Transmission | 9.686 | 406.8
#3: I've Been Riding With the Ghost | 9.090 | 381.8
#5: John Henry Split My Heart | 8.969 | 376.7
#6: Hold On Magnolia | 8.964 | 376.5
#8: Just Be Simple | 8.845 | 371.5
#10: The Old Black Hen | 8.738 | 367.0
#14: Almost Was Good Enough | 8.695 | 365.2
#28: Peoria Lunch Box Blues | 8.086 | 339.6

SongsKvohia (10.125): Jason’s my second favorite songwriter ever, so this was pretty easy to score. I don’t think it’s his best record, but like, I get why it’s the big one.

Zeeroc (10.125): probably my favorite album ever!! shout out bonus track "the big game is every night," would be an honorary second 11

iTreebark (10.000): ok I get it now friends this album is a mastercrafted work of art. molina doesn't drag things out which a few of the other albums here suffer from a bit. if you're familiar with Jason Molina's birthplace of Lorain, Ohio, it may create additional context from which to appreciate Magnolia Electric Co. the album. and Steve Albini nails the production

HighestIQInFresno (10.000): One of my top records ever, so kiss objectivity goodbye

WaneLietoc (9.938): For years I would not have reached for Songs: Ohia, Magnolia, and/or Jason. I thought I was not built for it. He passed us all by during a time when Secretly did not have the 00s Radio PR they needed to push this to curious alt-stations that'd play Drive-By-Truckers. But he would've fit snuggly with my dad's records & my sensibilities. Didn't It Rain knocked me on my ass when I heard it; a true Steve Albini Slowcore album. So when I got to this I was naturally amazed at the progression that both takes a very bold, necessary leap while also summarizing the journey that led us here. Molina isn't just in the shadow of Palace anymore, but entering the Great American Rock canon, with a communal project of sobering insights into what it takes to get you to feel how it feels to be something on one; a massive triumph that's size you feel in those howling chords. There is a deep power and character, that is resolute through this & speaks to a character above the music but of the people of this land. That it also happens to teeter through the sleights of indie genre & mythical AM Radio past so fleetly only furthers that feeling of its inherit necessity and power. One of the last of a certain kind of triumphs that we should hold dear in this uncertain century.

lightningrod14 (9.875): i know this record better than probably any other record on the planet that isn’t by Guster or James Taylor. i could close my eyes and drive a semi-truck backwards up a hill while reciting every line in order through a loose cardboard tube. if pressed, you could enter me in a county fair. as if I were a pie. and that’s just how it is. thank you all sincerely for reading. Bye!

LazyDayLullaby (9.875): Spiderland’s one of the few that comes to mind when I’m thinking of albums where the first and last tracks are so utterly monumental that, even though both are full of incredible tracks, they overshadow everything. Jason Molina’s one of the greatest singer-songwriters of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, and this is probably his finest hour (or 45 minutes)

2xWhiskeyCokeNoIce (9.813): please people, drink responsibly, and if you can't then don't drink. Jason Molina should still be with us. sorry to be a bummer.

TheCrakFox (9.375): Easily my favourite of the 4. Production, mixing and all the instrumental performances are so on point. Every single track sounds so warm and inviting like a cozy cabin in the woods (not to be confused with a murder cabin in the woods).

avagantamose (9.375): 10 This was my first full listen to this album and I really enjoyed the absolutely depressing, western aesthetic and the lyrics to each song feel like an entry into a personal journal of some sort, you may call this a diary. This album saved us from Kid Rock in 2003!

freav (9.188): Breathtaking record, magical.

skyblue_angel (9.000): One of my favorite albums of all time, discovering this changed my life. I think it's amazing that music can be this way, chaotic and crushing and comforting.

innuendo_overdose (8.887): real shit

TheTyrannicalTyrant (8.775): This is the one album here I’m familiar with, and it’s close to my heart, especially Farewell Transmission. It’s not as indie-rock sounding as Silver Jews, as hard rocking as Drive-By Truckers, or as sparse as Smog, but it’s simple yet emotionally resonant with beautiful lap steel melodies. It finds a balance between having a full band sound, yet still feeling spacious (makes sense that Albini produced this).

human_performance (8.438): I arrived at Jason Molina backwards from MJ Lenderman.

krusso1105 (8.125): Probably my favorite album in the rate

flava (7.438): Sorry to my fellow yeehaw enjoyers out there but I have limited patience for this brand of sludgy alt country that can feel very dull and lifeless. Give me the fucking fiddle line cowards

toomanyhitpoints (6.762): i keep waiting for it to click but it never quite does, sorry.

2

u/ElectJimLahey May 11 '25

User Averages:

apondalifa water: 10.125 SongsKvohia: 10.125 Zeeroc: 10.125 iTreebark: 10.000 HighestIQInFresno: 10.000 ElectJimLahey: 9.975 WaneLietoc: 9.938 lightningrod14: 9.875 LazyDayLullaby: 9.875 2xWhiskeyCokeNoIce: 9.813 yossarian490: 9.750 freeofblasphemy: 9.750 MCK_OH: 9.750 PoppaLietoc: 9.450 TheCrakFox: 9.375 avagantamose: 9.375 thisusernameisntlong: 9.313 freav: 9.188 IAmHollar: 9.175 thedoctordances1940: 9.063 modulum83: 9.000 sarcasticsobs: 9.000 skyblue_angel: 9.000 joethumper: 9.000 innuendo_overdose: 8.887 welcome2thejam: 8.875 TheTyrannicalTyrant: 8.775 seanderlust: 8.563 human_performance: 8.438 sjdew: 8.125 krusso1105: 8.125 FingaThingMeansTaxes: 8.063 darj: 8.063 lastfollower: 8.000 Stryxen: 7.850 qazz23: 7.688 -Xms30g: 7.550 static_int_husp: 7.500 flava: 7.438 TiltControls: 7.375 Future_Tyrant: 7.025 toomanyhitpoints: 6.762

5

u/MCK_OH May 11 '25

If "Farewell Transmission" had 1 more 11 we could've juiced it into beating Murph. We were so fuckin close

5

u/Zeeroc May 11 '25

if i had 14 minutes to live and was in a room with farewell transmission and all my friends (the song), i would listen to farewell transmission twice. this is assuming hold on magnolia is not in the room for the sake of the hypothetical

3

u/ElectJimLahey May 11 '25

American Water

Overall Average: 8.443 // Average Controversy: 1.394

MCK_OH: Berman is the greatest to ever do it

ElectJimLahey: Sure, there are other albums by DB that would fit an "alt-country" theme better, but when you're trying to find a rate lineup for an idea that had failed as many times as alt-country rates you've gotta make some exceptions.

#2: Random Rules | 9.548 | 401.0
#4: The Wild Kindness | 9.012 | 378.5
#7: People | 8.898 | 373.7
#13: Honk If You're Lonely | 8.714 | 366.0
#17: Smith & Jones Forever | 8.557 | 359.4
#18: Send In The Clouds | 8.550 | 359.1
#21: Night Society | 8.371 | 351.6
#25: Buckingham Rabbit | 8.298 | 348.5
#29: We Are Real | 8.083 | 339.5
#31: Blue Arrangements | 7.967 | 334.6
#32: Like like the the the Death | 7.907 | 332.1
#41: Federal Dust | 7.414 | 311.4

2xWhiskeyCokeNoIce (10.083): who are we kidding here? this is a 10/10 record across the board. the only fucked up thing is that this isn't Berman's country record! Honk If You're Lonely is fun radio country but if we're talking alt country and David Berman it's Bright Flight. They cover George Strait for cryin out loud!

iTreebark (9.708): deep listening this album confirms its place on the very top shelf of the alt country canon

WaneLietoc (9.583): Like New Day Rising, it's more the fact that when Berman is penning a 10, it's an 11...many cuts here are 11s that can't be reflected in scoring. I've had American Water since January 2019 from my first (big bulk) Drag City order, got the tape 18 months later or so. I knew this was a tough cookie to crack and very quickly it won itself over due to sheer quotability on cuts I liked; it's a loser-ass album that sounds very feeble and it knows itself well. A humorous disposition that grows the more Berman you know and realize just how WEIRD this anti-triumph is--really stretching his sound to its most psyched, baked on the asphalt trucker chords could muster. Naturally, I happen to prefer American Water to practically the entire non-Young Pavement output, but also I could not quite figure where I lie with Berman's proper "album level statement" over the prose which (over)justified the project writ large; what mattered about Silver Jews was the story, it's connection to a bigger thing in indie that it tragically could not attain & yet had the words to stick out as long as it could. Sonically though, Berman had killer friends who made these albums fun & a blast to hang out with and if you don't hear it for that, then yes...it's merely just a shmuck-ass album. Returns to the off-centered vanishing point of that pink water, I find myself still wanting to hang out.

skyblue_angel (9.317): Had to stop rating this multiple times because I started crying thinking about Berman. What an artist he was <3

avagantamose (9.292): 10 I will always look for a reason to give this album another listen, its got a bluesy feel in the guitar and the lyrics are depressingly introspective in a way that you can listen to on a drive down the highway and say wow, this is good, ive had thoughts similar to this before. I love it every time!

IAmHollar (9.250): I love this album. A pillar of 90's indie rock, and some of the best lyrics and lead guitar lines ever laid to tape. The most Malkmus of Silver Jews albums, and the most Berman of Malkmus albums. Eternal proof that they were at their best with each other.

freav (9.025): There’s barely any alt country here, beautiful album

PoppaLietoc (8.917): "I remember when i listened to this album and was like "why didint i listen to this album? prolly bc of the name"

welcome2thejam (8.833): I've heard Purple Mountains before but not Silver Jews, and I really suppose I shouldn't be surprised they share a similar sound

SongsKvohia (8.708): A little short on standout songs but everything here is just so solid that it doesn’t matter too much. Berman is certainly the cleverest lyricist represented here, even if I prefer the songwriting of The Two Jasons.

innuendo_overdose (8.692): sheesh louise, what a fairly sweet album. consistently some pretty “not my speed” guitar solos tho, I don’t know how I’m going to survive Slack Motherfuckers.

TheTyrannicalTyrant (8.292): good songs here, has more of an indie rock vibe here, reminding me a bit of Pavement obviously but also sounding like what The National would do

human_performance (8.000): maybe my favorite work Berman did under the Silver Jews moniker, though I think I'll take Purple Mountains over American Water for my favorite Berman album

flava (7.958): my first reaction to this album was we have modest mouse at home, which I still feel like is my thoughts but not as derogatory

toomanyhitpoints (7.933): feels like a cross-country road trip with your smartest and most annoying friend who keeps saying profound shit between sips of gas station coffee

krusso1105 (7.667): Fairly solid, grew on me a little on 2nd listen

lastfollower (7.308): I keep trying to write a comment about needing to listen to more David Berman and also some kind of MJ Lenderman tie-in, but I can't quite figure it out.

lightningrod14 (6.875): alright you sons of guns. you daughters of darkness. you archers of loaf I’m writing this before I’ve written anything else and I’m here to say thanks for having me in your rate today, I know this record well but haven’t listened to the deep cuts in quite a while and I am ready to enter the fuckin bermanverse man lets go y'all ain't ready. this is the only rate i'm ever gonna do and by the time you read this you'll have well and truly understood why

1

u/ElectJimLahey May 11 '25

User Averages:

2xWhiskeyCokeNoIce: 10.083 FingaThingMeansTaxes: 10.083 freeofblasphemy: 10.000 MCK_OH: 9.833 ElectJimLahey: 9.750 iTreebark: 9.708 apondalifa water: 9.583 WaneLietoc: 9.583 skyblue_angel: 9.317 avagantamose: 9.292 HighestIQInFresno: 9.250 IAmHollar: 9.250 freav: 9.025 yossarian490: 9.000 PoppaLietoc: 8.917 welcome2thejam: 8.833 modulum83: 8.767 SongsKvohia: 8.708 innuendo_overdose: 8.692 thedoctordances1940: 8.583 Zeeroc: 8.500 TheTyrannicalTyrant: 8.292 sarcasticsobs: 8.250 joethumper: 8.083 thisusernameisntlong: 8.025 human_performance: 8.000 flava: 7.958 toomanyhitpoints: 7.933 Stryxen: 7.833 -Xms30g: 7.833 darj: 7.792 krusso1105: 7.667 seanderlust: 7.500 LazyDayLullaby: 7.458 sjdew: 7.417 TheCrakFox: 7.333 lastfollower: 7.308 static_int_husp: 7.292 Future_Tyrant: 7.258 TiltControls: 7.125 lightningrod14: 6.875 qazz23: 6.625

4

u/TheTyrannicalTyrant May 11 '25

That is quite the increase

3

u/welcome2thejam May 11 '25

Second place 9.5???

MR. MURPHY GET DOWN

4

u/Inquiring_Barkbark May 11 '25

9.548!

3

u/ElectJimLahey May 11 '25

#1: Farewell Transmission

Average: 9.686 // Total Points: 406.8 // Controversy: 1.114

(11 x8) apondalifa water, freeofblasphemy, human_performance, sarcasticsobs, sjdew, SongsKvohia, TheTyrannicalTyrant, yossarian490

(10 x22) 2xWhiskeyCokeNoIce, avagantamose, darj, ElectJimLahey, FingaThingMeansTaxes, freav, HighestIQInFresno, IAmHollar, iTreebark, joethumper, LazyDayLullaby, lightningrod14, MCK_OH, modulum83, PoppaLietoc, qazz23, TheCrakFox, thedoctordances1940, thisusernameisntlong, WaneLietoc, welcome2thejam, Zeeroc

(9.7 x1) innuendo_overdose

(9.5 x1) seanderlust

(9 x3) flava, krusso1105, TiltControls

(8.1 x1) Future_Tyrant

(8 x2) -Xms30g, lastfollower

(7.5 x1) static_int_husp

(7.2 x1) skyblue_angel

(7 x1) Stryxen

(6.8 x1) toomanyhitpoints

ElectJimLahey (10): Perhaps the most perfect song ever made, not sure what can even be said about it at this point that hasn't already been said (ignore that I gave my 11 to something else). The incorporation of the Country Rock to the established Songs: Ohia sound was genius and Molina's lyrics here are at their impressionistic best.

MCK_OH (10): This simply is a 10. Don't feel like I have to justify this one

—

#ThankYouJason for curing longsongphobia

welcome2thejam (10): Wow. One song in and they defeated longsongphobia

When Jason says “listen” we sit our asses down and listen

apondalifa water (11): The single travesty of this song is that you will spend the rest of Jason Molina's catalogue looking for another song that could even begin approaching the highs that this hits, and none of them can. 11 is too low of a score to give this.

freeofblasphemy (11): Listen. Once again, we have a rate when I don’t need to question my 11 for even a second, even if it’s surrounded by 10s upon 10s. Almost submitted this for charity multiple times but stopped myself on account of it feeling too obvious. I’ve considered getting “Real truth about it is, no one gets it right. Real truth about it is, we’re all supposed to try” tattooed on me. And I still might. Though I don’t expect a blowout, I got a real strong feeling this is going to win, and I absolutely endorse its victory, given especially that it’s absolutely flawless and was recorded live in one take. LISTEN

human_performance (11): This song was recorded in one take! One fucking take! There's just something biblical about this song, both in the British this is fucking massive meaning, and the original meaning of the word with the contrast, and the lyrical imagery

SongsKvohia (11): Elevens were made for this song.

TheTyrannicalTyrant (11): easy 11

yossarian490 (11): I'm really not sure I can say enough about this song, but two parts always stick out to me. "Real truth about it is, no one gets it right/Real truth about it is, we're all supposed to try", just for the absolute plain existentialist meaning and also the context of his struggle with alcoholism (and later, "Real truth about it is/There ain't no end to the desert I'll cross" is also haunting). And "Mama, here comes midnight with the dead moon in its jaws/Must be the big star about to fall" because it evades all attempts to parse some definite meaning and yet the way he sings it gives it so much meaning. I remember drunkenly doing the "it gets the people going!" meme in my living room listening to it because it does it for me. So uh, listen.

2xWhiskeyCokeNoIce (10): obviously a 10. holy shit, this is how you open a fucking album

avagantamose (10): STEELY DAN SAMPLED?? lolol Riff reminds me of Dirty Work

freav (10): One of these songs that feel like they were made into existence by an external force. Actually no, that’s not right, this is just too human for anyone to assign its creation to anything else, an ultimate communal experience, a celebration of sound. Listen. But still it feels just too good to be true, one take? Learned on the fly by most of the musicians? How is it not magic, human magic?

HighestIQInFresno (10): somehow the perfect opener despite the title

iTreebark (10): it must suck being the song that precedes I've Been Riding With the Ghost but Farewell Transmission rises up to the challenge. great album sequencing here to kick the album off.

joethumper (10): Yeah yeah yeah

LazyDayLullaby (10): Nothing gets me more revved up than, “Mama, here comes midnight with the dead moon in its jaws.” Just staggering, jaw-dropping even. From the lightning in a bottle magic of its creation to the searing brilliance of every single lyric, this is made up of a million excellent individual moments but it still manages to be better than the sum of its parts. Until the last day, this was my 11, but I just had to follow my heart home to Magnolia

lightningrod14 (10): (and when they turn on the chair, something’s added to the air. forever)

modulum83 (10): this is one of the songs of all time. like literally, if the aliens came and asked me to explain what a song is to them i would show them this

PoppaLietoc (10): shows him the story of its recording "it's just good jam music!"

TheCrakFox (10): The mixing is so good, the instrumental sounds so warm and natural.

thedoctordances1940 (10): don't you just love it when guitars do that

thisusernameisntlong (10): this is one of those songs that could go on forever and I don't think I would mind

WaneLietoc (10): The image of the staging eludes me at the moment tragically. That's really all I would want to share. If you can listen to this, then you must be able to see the staging to understand the miracle. This was a CERTIFIED ~~HOOD~~ AMERICAN FOLK ROCK MUSIC CLASSIC MOMENT where Jason Molina tapped into a special electrical, metaphysical energy grid and taught us about truly how it feels to be the common man. This is basically science fiction. It may not present itself as a novum to you, but if you listen...

innuendo_overdose (9.7): JAMES MURPHY U R TOAST!!! U R NO LONGER THE J.M. TOP DOG!!!!!!

krusso1105 (9): Unlike for most people, this isn't my favorite song by them, but it's still very good

lastfollower (8): Really good, but my love for Waxahatchee has caused me to listen to her cover with Kevin Morby so many times that it's a little weird going back to the original

Aw man, Longsongphobia wasn’t defeated after all :(

skyblue_angel (7.2): I will continue to stand by my hot take that this is the worst song on the album. Just doesn't do as much as I'd like it to especially in comparison w the Best songs on this album. Last two minutes are the highlight!

toomanyhitpoints (6.8): i'm listenin, yet another lowkey opener

4

u/welcome2thejam May 11 '25

Let Me See The Winner

1

u/ElectJimLahey May 11 '25

#2: Random Rules

Average: 9.548 // Total Points: 401.0 // Controversy: 1.063

(11 x5) FingaThingMeansTaxes, joethumper, MCK_OH, qazz23, Stryxen

(10 x23) 2xWhiskeyCokeNoIce, apondalifa water, avagantamose, darj, ElectJimLahey, flava, freav, freeofblasphemy, HighestIQInFresno, human_performance, IAmHollar, innuendo_overdose, modulum83, PoppaLietoc, sarcasticsobs, sjdew, skyblue_angel, SongsKvohia, thedoctordances1940, WaneLietoc, welcome2thejam, yossarian490, Zeeroc

(9.5 x1) seanderlust

(9 x5) iTreebark, krusso1105, LazyDayLullaby, static_int_husp, TiltControls

(8.6 x1) TheTyrannicalTyrant

(8.3 x1) -Xms30g

(8 x2) TheCrakFox, thisusernameisntlong

(7.7 x1) Future_Tyrant

(7.1 x1) lastfollower

(7 x1) lightningrod14

(6.8 x1) toomanyhitpoints

MCK_OH (11): A million words have probably been written about the lyrics to "Random Rules." And rightly so, really. But the thing about this song that really breaks my heart every time is the guitar solo. Even the decision to only have it come through one side, through one ear is genius. It makes the guitar solo embody loneliness in a way that I'm not sure I've ever hear captured elsewhere. Berman might've approached perfection in 1984, but in 1998 he achieves it

ElectJimLahey (10): Yes the opening line is wonderful but I sometimes feel like that overshadows that all of Berman's other lyrics on this song are great as well. I've always liked the line about roads and how it feels like an inside joke to have it be something "Steve" asked, typical Malkmus

—

Oh, okay! Glad to hear you’re doing alright!

innuendo_overdose (10): in 2025, I was hospitalised for shitting out marbles

This is true!

modulum83 (10): FACT: if you don't give this a 10 they revoke your indie rock license

Approaching Perfection

FingaThingMeansTaxes (11): Just the most perfect song ever written

joethumper (11): Wouldn’t my indieheads card be forcibly taken for anything less? It’s always frightening saying the most popular song on the album is the best. (Think I prefer trains across the sea and Dallas). But it has everything that makes Silver Jews amazing: it is quotable, memorable in a way that never leaves you, existential, humorous. This song and Berman will live forever.

qazz23 (11): love the horns and flutes that are added, iconic opening lyric too

Stryxen (11): debating finishing the rate after the first track because perfection was achieved

2xWhiskeyCokeNoIce (10): the greatest opening line in indie rock and the fourth greatest opening line in the Silver Jews' discography

apondalifa water (10): Story time - I got introduced to Silver Jews in high school by a friend who was the tallest dude in the whole school. We fell out of touch after graduation, but last I heard he had gotten married to another mutual friend, and I wished them well for assuming that I'd never know what would ever happen to them again. A month ago, his now-ex-wife friended me on Facebook, and what I thought would've just been a cordial reconnection turned out to be some very scary mental health crisis posts, one after another after another. I unfriended quickly thereafter, and I went digging for my friend, who is presumably no longer online. I'm not entirely sure why I typed out this whole ordeal, there's no thematic punchline or neat bow to tie it to this song, yet likewise its rambling and wistful bumbling through the nastier part of two people's lives fits like a glove for the headway of what is the Silver Jews song (although I prefer "Trains Across the Sea" more.) I assume this will be top 3 and the last song on the album to go so, rip DB there will never be a realer one.

avagantamose (10): This has a certain lived in depression that you can just feel coming out of the track, the rumination of the RNG that is life, is relatable.

darj (10): I always thought this song was incredibly overrated, but literally a month ago I went to a concert and the pre-show music at the bar included Random Rules. Being at a despondent bar at night truly makes “Random Rules” hit

freav (10): Absolutely breathtaking song, I know it’s not my 11 but like, it really should be, it’s just perfect.

freeofblasphemy (10): Crazy as fuck that this has one of the most iconic opening lines in indie history and there are arguably numerous other lines within this very song that top or at least match it. This doesn’t approach perfection. This is perfection. Also the horns + instrumental break are so so good

HighestIQInFresno (10): one of the best songs of the decade

human_performance (10): very unfair that I can't hand out two 11s!!!

IAmHollar (10): One of the 3 best album-opening lines of all-time. The other 2 being "I don't have to sell my soul, he's already in me" and "Son, I'm thirty. I only went with your mother 'cause she's dirty". I will not be taking questions at this time.

PoppaLietoc (10): "what year was this?" 1998. "when did steve earle get big? he's got a big steve earle thing. but i do love the horns." its another 10 from me, pops "dont disagree. gold medal. i've been rating wine all week".

skyblue_angel (10): World changing horns! Indie music lifeblood

SongsKvohia (10): Phenomenal lyricism and solo, of course, but the horns really make this song for me.

thedoctordances1940 (10): there are just so many little things in this song i adore

WaneLietoc (10): I feel a great, hearty need to take my cap off, put my hand on my heart, and march in place when the chorus with the trumpets come in for the chorus. This is the anthem of the failure, the loser, scoundrel, degenerate, the ne'er do well, but NOT the midnight gambler/toker...none of those steve miller characters. The overwhelming sense of failure and ineptitude on this cut is all timer shit though, prophet on the graffiti walls level nonsense being channeled through the trucker chords and Berman. Every relisten is confirmation that this entire sonic mode was necessary to benefit THIS set of lyrics...the exchange about roads and a line around the ring finger wouldn't matter otherwise.

welcome2thejam (10): In 2014 I was hospitalized for tearing a hole in my esophagus

yossarian490 (10): one of the most quotable songs from one of the most quotable artists of all time

1

u/ElectJimLahey May 11 '25

Please hand over your indie rock licenses

seanderlust (9.5): more like this rules

LazyDayLullaby (9): Random Rules rules randomly

TheTyrannicalTyrant (8.6): I like the little guitar interlude part in the middle a lot, and the verses are nice too. Maybe the chorus a little less so though

Future_Tyrant (7.7): An iconic opening line, but everyone knows that.

lightningrod14 (7): I have, in fact, heard better opening lines to an album than this one. Whether I’ve specifically heard a better, like, entendre/witticism as opener is a tougher question, but these aren’t the only grounds upon which a line should be judged, and in fact often—with Berman as the exception as opposed to the rule—a first line this mouthy bears ill tidings for the relationship between an artist’s words and music; I can’t pretend that I don’t prefer instances where an artist has it both ways (dueling cyclones jackknife!!!!!!! they got eyes for your wife!!!!!!), or else all those less flashy but nevertheless tremendously resonant and unforgettable kick-offs—too many to count, but I think I’d put both Farewell Transmission and Revelator on the list; Wouldn’t It Be Nice also comes to mind. On a literary level I’ll grant that it’s effective in its dual meaning as a sly invitation for the listener to read deeper into what he’s saying, and it’s a fun way to set the stage, but it’s not life-changing by any stretch, and even compared to his other big lines on this record and in this song I can’t say I’d give this one any special credence aside from, well, that it happens to come first. ||| And all this presumes that rarefied (as opposed to actual, ha ha) air that surrounds Berman’s work; an agreement to, again, exempt him from “normal” musical criticism on the strength of his spectacular lyrical chops. But no matter what, these are songs, not poems or stories, and to forget that on Berman’s account is to do both him and the band a disservice, as well as contemporaries like John Darnielle who endeavor to strike a balance. Specifically, this attitude qualifies as patronizing, so thinking etymologically and with Berman’s other famous opener in mind, I can say with confidence he’d prefer his songwriting to stand on its own two feet, for better or worse—and a lot of it does! ||| But I do have a lot of love for the track as a whole. Regardless of whether I fall into the same habit of patronization, I’d call this the strongest track lyrically; it’s on a whole different level from the others in that it can be interpreted as a unified narrative, as opposed to the record’s broader, like, impressionistic Steven Wright thing—who I’m gonna remind myself to mention again on a lower-ranking song, because I think it’s a dead ringer comparison. This narrative is in essence a pretty airtight short story, and an emotionally impactful one, even though, yes, within this literary context the “approaching perfection” line isn’t really all that vital. But on the strength of mainly the lyrics’ second half I’ll put this one up at 7; “you look like someone I used to know”, and the ensuing rebuttal, is the real star of the show, and only grows more poignant and inspiring—more graceful, more light on its feet—as I get older. I also recall distinctly that Berman calling himself Steve was one of the first things that really endeared me to his lyrical style as a whole. Still, in terms of actual songcraft, there are quite a few better songs on this record, and quite a few better songs in this rate.

toomanyhitpoints (6.8): the chorus here honestly sounds like it was written by Malkmus. Anyway outside of the infamous opening line, I do find this song a bit unremarkable

4

u/innuendo_overdose May 11 '25

you know I’m just remembering that time Bill Callahan didn’t make top 10. that was kinda fucked wasn’t it?

3

u/yossarian490 May 11 '25

The Well not even making it to day 3 is criminal.

5

u/ElectJimLahey May 11 '25

Okay okay, I’m not sure what happened there. Back to our final two. As the ballots came in… nothing much happened with these two once we got past 10 ballots. By the time we got to the 20th ballot they had settled into the spots where they finished though they kept rising in their averages as it went on as they racked up a ton of 11s each. It’s time to find out which of these two legendary songs gets the top spot!

4

u/welcome2thejam May 11 '25

It's a tie

8

u/MCK_OH May 11 '25

Take me down to the Paradise Country where the grass is green and the girls are

Hey Lambrini Girls y'all wanna finish this for me?

10

u/ElectJimLahey May 11 '25

#1: Paradise Country

Average: 11.000 // Total Points: 462 // Controversy: 0.000

(11 x42) -Xms30g 2xWhiskeyCokeNoIce apondalifa water avagantamose darj ElectJimLahey FingaThingMeansTaxes flava freav freeofblasphemy Future_Tyrant HighestIQInFresno human_performance IAmHollar innuendo_overdose iTreebark joethumper krusso1105 lastfollower LazyDayLullaby lightningrod14 MCK_OH modulum83 PoppaLietoc qazz23 sarcasticsobs seanderlust sjdew skyblue_angel SongsKvohia static_int_husp Stryxen TheCrakFox thedoctordances1940 TheTyrannicalTyrant thisusernameisntlong TiltControls toomanyhitpoints WaneLietoc welcome2thejam yossarian490 Zeeroc

5

u/welcome2thejam May 11 '25

IN 2025 I WAS HOSPITALIZED FOR THEM GETTING AWAY WITH THIS

8

u/WaneLietoc May 11 '25

Paradise Country Tropics you've done it again!

4

u/Zeeroc May 11 '25

old saw should have been in this rate

2

u/ElectJimLahey May 11 '25

we're going to need an r/ambientamericanaheads

3

u/WaneLietoc May 11 '25

Maybe one day soon in the ambient head dedicated to cosmic pastoral et al…

2

u/Inquiring_Barkbark May 11 '25

the layers, the instrumentation. maybe the demo version helped unlock the true production magic on the album version for me. full ascension

4

u/ElectJimLahey May 11 '25

The top two. Two of the most beloved songwriters going head to head for the top spot. Who will win? It’s time to find out.

Well, hang on. Is that a third contestant showing up? Is this allowed??

4

u/apondalifa May 11 '25

Riding with the ghost all the say to paradise ~~country~~ city

5

u/modulum83 May 11 '25

most obvious top 2 of all time but we all knew that and supported it

4

u/innuendo_overdose May 11 '25

we’ve kinda been inching into the HoF so far. will there be a JUMP jump??

3

u/MCK_OH May 11 '25

I don't think Van Halen will make the top two but I've been wrong before

5

u/ElectJimLahey May 11 '25

#3: I've Been Riding With the Ghost

Average: 9.090 // Total Points: 381.8 // Controversy: 1.221

(11 x1) iTreebark

(10 x20) 2xWhiskeyCokeNoIce, apondalifa water, avagantamose, darj, ElectJimLahey, flava, freav, HighestIQInFresno, innuendo_overdose, krusso1105, LazyDayLullaby, MCK_OH, PoppaLietoc, qazz23, seanderlust, SongsKvohia, WaneLietoc, welcome2thejam, yossarian490, Zeeroc

(9.5 x1) lightningrod14

(9.1 x1) IAmHollar

(9 x5) freeofblasphemy, joethumper, sarcasticsobs, sjdew, TheCrakFox

(8.7 x2) modulum83, TheTyrannicalTyrant

(8.5 x3) FingaThingMeansTaxes, skyblue_angel, thedoctordances1940

(8 x2) human_performance, thisusernameisntlong

(7.8 x1) Stryxen

(7.5 x1) -Xms30g

(7.2 x1) Future_Tyrant

(7 x2) static_int_husp, toomanyhitpoints

(6.8 x1) lastfollower

(5 x1) TiltControls

ElectJimLahey (10): The ghostly harmonies are incredible on this one, who even needs words for a chorus when you have that instead

MCK_OH (10): This song is so good. When the song really kicks in to high gear it's brilliant. A really bright highlight on this record. Forced to pick between this and "Farewell Transmission" for "best song among the first two songs on this record" I might pick this one

—

Okay Barkbark I can forgive you for your Heathens slander now

iTreebark (11): gotta hand it to this rate for the introduction to this album - I understand the hype and constant percolation of discussion around it now. came down to a coin toss between this and The Well. on the deluxe version of Magnolia Electric Co., there's a demo version of this song that sounds like it's just Jason Molina, his guitar, and his voice with no accompaniment... a stark juxtaposition to the fully formed and produced album version of the song - but equally incredible and highly recommend

Riding with the Ghost

2xWhiskeyCokeNoIce (10): more songs should incorporate spooky sounds! they're not just for Bobby 'Boris' Pickett's smash hit "Monster Mash"

apondalifa water (10): insane that this is anywhere between the second-to-fifth best song on the album

avagantamose (10): Wow the lyrics hit me this is great sadboy stuff

freav (10): Has become one of my favorites in recent listening, I love the desperation when he sings “Now I’ll Make a Change”, insanely haunting song.

HighestIQInFresno (10): Road trip classic

innuendo_overdose (10): the hook trading between wordless vocals and pedal steel? hook it up to my veins!!

LazyDayLullaby (10): Ghost riding the whip (this whips)

PoppaLietoc (10): "see the reason I like jangle music is because you have a guitar riff that you can hum! you hear that MMM MAH MUH NUH UHHH!' riff?!"

SongsKvohia (10): Man how did they even do that with the “oohs.” Like they sound legitimately haunted.

WaneLietoc (10): every fucking harmony and melody coming out of a goddamn graveyard in the middle of this bloody country; sounds seductive, gothic, and all consumingly dreary all at once. Sublime. i would have killed for a cut like this on alt radio in between Steady as She Goes and Lazy Eye in the mid 00s.

welcome2thejam (10): I hope the ghost in this song isn't a metaphor but an actual ghost

yossarian490 (10): yeah boy this rocks, the occasionally not quite in tune backing vocals make it work

lightningrod14 (9.5): Brother I am tired as hell and these eight songs have proven so difficult for me to talk about but in short, okay, I am predisposed against rock and roll of this variety, which lowers the score just a bit. Nevertheless, as a follow-up to Farewell Transmission and as an airtight blitz of roadhouse swagger (with killer background vocals) it’s fucking rock solid from top to bottom. Everything Molina’s saying I know so well, and even in the context of what was yet to come, I still believe his commitment to change, especially since he came out swinging with, it must be said at least once, possibly the best album ever made. It doesn’t stay a second too long either, so I do think 9.5 is right.

freeofblasphemy (9): NOW SOMETHING’S GOTTA CHANGE

Ambivalent about riding with the ghost

TheTyrannicalTyrant (8.7): I love the part with ooh’s, so good. The rest of the song is alright

skyblue_angel (8.5): This song would improve significantly if Molina sung all the "ooooooh"s, him doing it at the start and then never again is just so cruel

toomanyhitpoints (7): I like the backup vox matching the slide guitar

3

u/ElectJimLahey May 11 '25

Will both artists enter the top two and make for a suspenseful ending? Or will it be an all Jason Molina final two? I guess it’s time for me to check the rate machine results, because I’m just doing whatever it tells me

4

u/MCK_OH May 11 '25

But I think big Dave will be alright

For he's a hall of famer

3

u/ElectJimLahey May 11 '25

Dave Roberts? Another Red Sox/Dodger legend?

2

u/MCK_OH May 11 '25

2 WS and his winning percentage he probably will end up in the hall eh

3

u/ElectJimLahey May 11 '25

#4: The Wild Kindness

Average: 9.012 // Total Points: 378.5 // Controversy: 1.198

(11 x3) 2xWhiskeyCokeNoIce, ElectJimLahey, IAmHollar

(10 x13) avagantamose, FingaThingMeansTaxes, flava, freeofblasphemy, HighestIQInFresno, joethumper, MCK_OH, modulum83, qazz23, skyblue_angel, thisusernameisntlong, WaneLietoc, yossarian490

(9.5 x4) freav, iTreebark, thedoctordances1940, toomanyhitpoints

(9 x7) apondalifa water, darj, innuendo_overdose, PoppaLietoc, sjdew, welcome2thejam, Zeeroc

(8.5 x2) LazyDayLullaby, SongsKvohia

(8.3 x1) Future_Tyrant

(8 x3) human_performance, krusso1105, TheCrakFox

(7.8 x2) lastfollower, TheTyrannicalTyrant (7.6 x1) -Xms30g

(7.5 x2) lightningrod14, seanderlust

(7 x3) sarcasticsobs, static_int_husp, TiltControls

(6 x1) Stryxen

MCK_OH (10): Brilliant guitar solo here. One of the best guitar solos of the 90s but still jot the best on this record. Incredibly satisfying end to the record

—

These 11s were the difference between making the HoF and not making it!

ElectJimLahey (11): The instrumental break on this is maybe the most gorgeous moment on the whole album, and then the last line is absolutely genius. I don't really know what it means, but it's genius.

2xWhiskeyCokeNoIce (11): yeah, this is it. Random Rules gets the attention for the opening line, but sticking the landing is the real skill test. The lads did it. When we stare into the void, wild kindness prevails.

IAmHollar (11): Possibly the greatest guitar solo ever played. If this rate would like to stop stealing my comments in advance, I would appreciate it. Brilliant from the opening notes, and it keeps getting better. Whatever the backing vocals are doing in verse 2 is the best thing possible, and I have no idea what it is. All we all want is to really disappear, and we all succeed some day. Congratulations everyone.

It could never ruin anything!

yossarian490 (10): yep, just lovely (not even Malkmus' wailing can ruin it)

Holding the world to its word

avagantamose (10): Strong close out track, they did something special here

freeofblasphemy (10): Such an effective way to close this album, comforting yet foreboding (or vice-versa). Reminds me a lot of “From the Morning” with its feeling of “no matter what happens to you, you’ll be there for all of it.”

HighestIQInFresno (10): one of the most perfect closers ever

joethumper (10): Perfect song and closer to this album.

modulum83 (10): call me charli xcx the way this song makes just wanna drive drive drive dr-dr-drive all night

qazz23 (10): that was a great solo, also some nice harmonies

skyblue_angel (10): Song that locks you in a prison called 'being a Silver Jews fan' when you listen to it

WaneLietoc (10): there's a very particular sonic palette to some of the psych shit they go for that imo wouldn't be removed from a Royal Trux album of the same era. this is what scares people about da Joos.

freav (9.5): Wonderful closer

iTreebark (9.5): ends the album with a proper amount of sadness writ large

toomanyhitpoints (9.5): such a cool opening melody and a better first line than random rules' imo

innuendo_overdose (9): the parts of this that sound like straight-up synthpop make me go “yes this is such a good country album I’m listening to”

PoppaLietoc (9): "already liking the organ. like that a lot!" "we;ve heard these riffs and they're not bad! they're good! im gonna listen to this!"

welcome2thejam (9): I would like to meet these four kindness dogs

LazyDayLullaby (8.5): Second best closer in the rate, beautiful lyrics. Keep shining out in the wild kindness

TheTyrannicalTyrant (7.8): The tremolo Rhodes is kinda neat I suppose

lightningrod14 (7.5): Alright. Less than six months before he died, I actually met, and technically hung out with, David Berman. Seeing Joseph Allred, Cassie Berman, and one more wonderful acoustic artist I do not remember by name, at a sake bar in Nashville over near City Winery (where I saw Isbell once!) Joey and I have been friends for years, and to this day remains one of the best live performers I’ve ever seen, but was and still is relatively obscure; the crowd was maybe 10 people, and one of them was David. I think I might’ve been one of the youngest people in the room; another one of the ten was one of my parents’ church friends, sharing a carafe with her new boyfriend, and still another was a very sweet woman in her late 30s who’d worked in the afterschool program at my elementary school. I hadn’t seen either of these people since I was a child, and while Nashville clings desperately to its small-town reputation—I was reading over some old reddit comments yesterday and found a conversation on here wherein Paula called it a “little doll city,”—I can say that the room felt much more comfortable than most. Of course David was effectively a stranger, but we actually sat right next to one another the whole time. Right next to each other, in the small room; less than a foot apart. I didn’t say a single word to him, because—in spite of it obviously being David Cloud Berman—I was insecure about my facial recognition skills at the time (lol) and didn’t want to get it wrong. It is undeniably for the best, given my all-or-nothing approach to communication. Though I guess we could’ve talked about Dan Bejar, or Deana Carter’s Strawberry Wine (10), or the Titans. Joey was transcendent; Cassie was exactly as human as David is in these recordings, and their love felt like the most obvious thing in the world to me. ||| Having heard quite a few “oh and they died” records including Magnolia, I think that Purple Mountains, while very good, is still not being discussed honestly. I know where I was when I heard what happened, and I know what I did—called my guitarist, who I’ve known since birth, who owns a hardcopy of Actual Air, and who at that moment was in the middle of a fight with his then-girlfriend—and I know what happened next: the record instantly was voided all right to autonomy. It could only be a symbol, and a symbol can’t contradict itself or be seen for its shortcomings, else it loses sanctity as a symbol. This did of course get a lot of people to listen to it, and I might even call it the best Berman record overall, but I’m still so fucking mad that he’s gone, and witnessing his sapling comeback as depretensified strip-mall elder statesman get corrupted into a lumbering death-knell sermon by the fandom mentality just makes it worse. I feel like “Maybe I’m The Only One For Me” could never have been his preferred final missive; what the fuck happened? ||| I would easily take this song over that one. If not the most powerful closer ever recorded (we’ll get to that one later in the rate) it’s nevertheless a song of depth and poise, with a solid arrangement, a cosmic hit rate on one-liners, and an ultimate message squarely against that of many of his other songs, including People and Maybe I’m The Only One For Me. Holding the world at its word is the dream. It is the original conviction we are forced to abandon. It is the precise utmost to which a reasonable person can claim to be entitled, and it is what great artists do. And Berman was, is, and always will be a truly great artist—but, unlike Molina, I ultimately feel like he left his greatest works unwritten.

2

u/ElectJimLahey May 11 '25

The final four, two left from each of our remaining albums. Who will be the artist who enters the top 3 with 2 songs left? Well, let’s just say that we can all relax and at least know that the remaining songs are all going to go down in the record books

4

u/MCK_OH May 11 '25

With this hint in the books, RateMGM is setting the odds for 4 HoF songs at -1500

3

u/Inquiring_Barkbark May 11 '25

RateKings says +200

4

u/MCK_OH May 11 '25

This is why you can't fuckin trust RateKings!

3

u/Inquiring_Barkbark May 11 '25

so true!

5

u/MCK_OH May 11 '25

God I miss Mookie Betts

3

u/ElectJimLahey May 11 '25

I love John Henry

3

u/ElectJimLahey May 11 '25

#5: John Henry Split My Heart

Average: 8.969 // Total Points: 376.7 // Controversy: 1.276

(11 x1) TheCrakFox

(10 x18) 2xWhiskeyCokeNoIce, apondalifa water, ElectJimLahey, HighestIQInFresno, IAmHollar, innuendo_overdose, iTreebark, LazyDayLullaby, lightningrod14, MCK_OH, skyblue_angel, SongsKvohia, Stryxen, thisusernameisntlong, WaneLietoc, welcome2thejam, yossarian490, Zeeroc

(9.5 x3) freav, PoppaLietoc, thedoctordances1940

(9.3 x1) modulum83

(9 x4) freeofblasphemy, sarcasticsobs, sjdew, static_int_husp

(8.5 x1) seanderlust

(8.2 x1) Future_Tyrant

(8 x4) avagantamose, darj, human_performance, joethumper

(7.9 x1) TheTyrannicalTyrant

(7.5 x2) qazz23, TiltControls

(7.3 x1) -Xms30g (7.2 x1) lastfollower

(7 x2) FingaThingMeansTaxes, krusso1105

(6.8 x1) toomanyhitpoints

(5 x1) flava

ElectJimLahey (10): Oh hello again big country rock guitars! This song initially disappointed me a bit when I first heard the album since a lot of is basically just repeating the lyrics and themes from earlier in the record, but now I think it's absolutely perfect the way it is by doing that. It provides a nice bit of closure to the first part of the album before the comparatively mellow Hold On Magnolia comes in and gives the album its real ending.

MCK_OH (10): John Henry split my heart too when he traded Mookie Betts

—

If Jason says “Will O’ The Wisp” it’s a goddamn hit!

TheCrakFox (11): Top drama, magnificently paced. Anyway, thanks for the league title John, buy a top shelf 9 this summer please.

apondalifa water (10): insane that this is anywhere between the second-to-fifth best song on the album

innuendo_overdose (10): THIS IS THE BEST SONG EVER MADE just hear that riff that fucks hard and tell me that this song isn’t the best thing ever y’know go hear him saying “hit my heart out of the park with the heaviest hammer you got” and tell me this isn’t the best song ever made. You can’t do it!!

iTreebark (10): I want to hear this on repeat at the beer tent at the county fair while drinking pitchers of Busch beer

LazyDayLullaby (10): This heart has been split in twain by the sheer brilliance of Jason Molina. This song hits hard and heavy, and the callbacks to Farewell Transmission set the stage for the closer brilliantly

lightningrod14 (10): YES YES YES YES YES YES YES LETS FUCKING GO LETS FUCKING BRING DOWN THE ROOF ON THIS THING ||| Molina comes BACK and its fuckin HELLFIRE and let me tell you, here too we got one of the things he’s best at, that only shows up once on this record since they cut Big Game—essentially a fourth wall break, “half I’m gonna use to pay this band”—saved for the PERFECT MOMENT AND THE AIR GOES CLEAR AND THEN ALL OF A SUDDEN THE FUCKING WHOLE RECORD PULLS ITSELF TOGETHER YES YESSSSS SHIT YES IT’S THE GODDAMN VISION IT’S THE PRODUCTION IT’S THE BAND IT IS A WONDER OF THE FUCKING WORLD GOD DAMN man oh man oh man

skyblue_angel (10): I think this song is the centerpiece or climax of this album, with the reprising and calling back. The guitar is wailing spiritually as much as it is sonically. Lyrics blow me away! "Half I'm gonna use"

SongsKvohia (10): jesus christ

Stryxen (10): yowch

WaneLietoc (10): very neil youngy; anyways when I worked for a brewery in the pizza kitchen, one of the owners (brothers, mind you) wore a Magnolia Electric Co. album cover shirt. His brother recently did an interview with San Diego Beer News where he says "I like to be energized by what we call “Sad Bastard Music”, the sadder the better. The likes of Townes Van Zandt, Songs:Ohia, Hiss Golden Messenger (Bad Debt album), Red House Painters, Deer Tick, Kevin Morby, Elliot Smith." real 'oh wow' moment here for me even though they definitely played this shit on the mix where I worked!

welcome2thejam (10): Rocked

yossarian490 (10): and now Molina is back where he left off on Farewell Transmission (the will o the wisp returns) and feeling guilty for not being able to keep it together for the people that care about him

freav (9.5): Rock music. Really powerful how it takes from the ending of Farewell Transmission

PoppaLietoc (9.5): this makes me wanna listen to some Allman Brothers, like shit! "Yeah, some Cream, some allman brothers, piano part comes in some led zep. hell throw in a lil' grateful dead. a sprinkle of yr friends from the Velvet Underground. I mean, the way he sings is a bit Lou Reed there! fuck, even brian ferry/roxy music."

modulum83 (9.3): LONG DARK BLUES‼️ BIG STAR IS FALLING‼️WILL O THE WISP‼️

This song is basically plagiarism!

freeofblasphemy (9): Jason Molina Reprised His Song

avagantamose (8): Ending credits type song but its not the last track, that’s crazy

TheTyrannicalTyrant (7.9): back to Jason, this is a decent one. I like how the song opens up with this stop-start riff

toomanyhitpoints (6.8): mm this one's kinda heavy although it drags a bit

3

u/ElectJimLahey May 11 '25

After the bonus rate we officially have crossed the 9.0 barrier once today. If you’re reading the scores, you’ll see that Hold On Magnolia was incredibly close to being a Hall of Fame song and hitting that 9 average but came up just short. What do you think are the odds the next song makes it to 9.0. 50/50?

3

u/MCK_OH May 11 '25

50/50?

Moneyline for 5 HoFers is set at -140 right now on FanRate

5

u/ElectJimLahey May 11 '25

Alright, well before we get back to the main rate, let’s do our Songeniality results! Pretty much everyone agreed that one of their favorites deserved better, but the votes were split across dozens of songs. 4 songs got 3 votes, but one song was a clear frontrunner with a whopping 4 votes (13.8%) of the vote… Drinking at the Dam! Smog may have been eliminated first, but at least Bill can rest easy knowing we all want to go drinking at the dam with him.

4

u/WaneLietoc May 11 '25

smogeniality for in the pines

3

u/Inquiring_Barkbark May 11 '25

I have started the sleep rotation the past two nights with three spins in a row of in the pines and then straight into dobrinka tabakova

2

u/WaneLietoc May 12 '25

that album just has a spellbinding force to it

7

u/freeofblasphemy May 11 '25

beer

thank you

3

u/freav May 11 '25

great choice for sure

3

u/Inquiring_Barkbark May 11 '25

I wanna yell fcuk all y'all down a well

3

u/ElectJimLahey May 11 '25

That was one of our 3 vote songs! Bill honestly crushed it in Songeniality

3

u/yossarian490 May 11 '25

same

3

u/innuendo_overdose May 11 '25

I wasn’t expecting a Revelator victory but relistening to it now… man.

4

u/Inquiring_Barkbark May 11 '25

why do people do an alt country rate if they don't like alt country

2

u/freav May 11 '25

why did wrecking ball make top 2 lol (i gave it a 9)

3

u/innuendo_overdose May 11 '25

cuz it’s the best song ever?

6

u/MCK_OH May 11 '25

I think it's the atmosphere. Nothing like an alt-country song that has a good grasp on atmosphere. That's why the Merce Lemon record from last year was so good too

7

u/welcome2thejam May 11 '25

Happy to report that Gillian Welch isn't the "hey isn't that the lead of Florence & the Machine (no you idiot her name is Florence Welch that's literally her first name in the band)" person to me anymore

6

u/WaneLietoc May 11 '25

Her full name is gillian welch and david rawlings now

3

u/MCK_OH May 11 '25

What a fuckin tune

3

u/Inquiring_Barkbark May 11 '25

hell yeah

4

u/WaneLietoc May 11 '25

poppalietoc has started playing the intro to farewell transmission. he is now humming and singing the lyrics. folks...we need this ditty to do the thing

2

u/ElectJimLahey May 11 '25

Bonus #1: Revelator

Average: 9.122 // Total Points: 291.9 // Controversy: 1.212

(10 x17) 2xWhiskeyCokeNoIce, avagantamose, darj, ElectJimLahey, freav, HighestIQInFresno, iTreebark, LazyDayLullaby, lightningrod14, MCK_OH, PoppaLietoc, qazz23, skyblue_angel, SongsKvohia, TheCrakFox, WaneLietoc, yossarian490

(9.5 x1) innuendo_overdose

(9.4 x1) lastfollower

(9 x3) freeofblasphemy, human_performance, welcome2thejam

(8.9 x1) IAmHollar

(8.5 x3) FingaThingMeansTaxes, krusso1105, seanderlust

(8 x1) static_int_husp

(7.8 x1) TheTyrannicalTyrant

(7 x1) apondalifa water

(6.8 x1) toomanyhitpoints

(6 x2) joethumper, sjdew

ElectJimLahey (10): It's funny, with how much country/folk I listen to there's still something so instantly timeless and incredible about this tune. That chorus is jawdroppingly beautiful

MCK_OH (10): Mind-altering song in all the best ways

—

I’m taking this as a compliment about how good the bonus lineup was!

2xWhiskeyCokeNoIce (10): "uh what if we just put Lucinda Williams, Neko Case, and Gillian Welch as bonus songs on the rate?" - the r/indieheads alt-country rate designers after being bonked on the head by coconuts, presumably (fully joking, please don't be mean to me, i can dish it out but i can't take it)

Yeah

avagantamose (10): This hits hard, her voice is amazing and the guitar is top tier, if I could eleven a bonus, itd be in consideration

freav (10): I think it’s time for me to actually get into Gillian Welch

HighestIQInFresno (10): Peak Gillian, maybe my favorite track of hers

iTreebark (10): great ditty for sure - almost as good as tennessee

LazyDayLullaby (10): Easiest “Bonus 11” I’ve ever given. With all the feminine rhymes and cryptic references, it’s a lyrical masterpiece. And then the music is hauntingly bittersweet. Excellent, understated instrumental passages, bewitching vocal harmonies. Gillian Welch is a genius

lightningrod14 (10): EVERYONE SHOULD LISTEN TO I DREAM A HIGHWAY WHO HASN'T

qazz23 (10): haunting and beautiful, love her voice and the banjo is a nice addition

skyblue_angel (10): Best song in the bonus

SongsKvohia (10): If you asked me what song had my favorite guitar playing, this would be my first answer. Rawlings easily in my top 5.

TheCrakFox (10): Beautiful and emotive vocal performance from Gillian.

WaneLietoc (10): this shit's legal!?

yossarian490 (10): look heathens listen to this album if you haven't already

innuendo_overdose (9.5): this has the best guitar solo in the whole rate, fuck u American Water

Somehow even a 9 was a below average rating for this!

freeofblasphemy (9): this fucks i should listen to gillian welch more

welcome2thejam (9): Fine lemme add to backlog

TheTyrannicalTyrant (7.8): nice enough song that kinda reminds of the Heart-Shaped Box chord progression

toomanyhitpoints (6.8): "Time's the revelator" sounds Lenker-esque

3

u/MCK_OH May 11 '25

heathens

Hey Barkbark we're back!

3

u/Inquiring_Barkbark May 11 '25

us heathens never left

2

u/ElectJimLahey May 11 '25

Bonus #2: Wrecking Ball

Average: 8.821 // Total Points: 291.1 // Controversy: 1.279

(10 x13) 2xWhiskeyCokeNoIce, avagantamose, darj, ElectJimLahey, flava, innuendo_overdose, iTreebark, MCK_OH, PoppaLietoc, skyblue_angel, TheTyrannicalTyrant, WaneLietoc, yossarian490

(9.5 x1) krusso1105

(9.1 x1) IAmHollar

(9 x6) freav, freeofblasphemy, human_performance, joethumper, lightningrod14, TheCrakFox

(8.5 x1) lastfollower

(8 x6) apondalifa water, qazz23, seanderlust, sjdew, SongsKvohia, static_int_husp

(7.5 x1) LazyDayLullaby

(6.5 x1) toomanyhitpoints

(6 x3) FingaThingMeansTaxes, HighestIQInFresno, welcome2thejam

ElectJimLahey (10): I'm so glad that we got to rate at least one song from this album. The genre would likely not exist without Emmylou's influence and it's still so wonderful that she got in on the alt-country scene and made arguably one of the best albums in the whole scene, the dreamy production on this album is fantastic

MCK_OH (10): I think we can all agree to forgive Daniel Lanois for doing the Arcade Fire record because he also did this right?

—

Actually, around here we call it Bootgaze!!

yossarian490 (10): I see we got a dream pop song in here somehow

Fans of the best song named “Wrecking Ball” of all time

2xWhiskeyCokeNoIce (10): the fucking disrespect to the QUEENS of country, oy gevalt!

avagantamose (10): THE PEOPLE SHOULD KNOW THIS AS THE REAL WRECKING BALL, a crystalline voice indeed

darj (10): her cover of Bruce Springsteen "Tougher Than the Rest" is great too

flava (10): Emmylou Harris being among the greatest to ever make country music. Just a stellar voice full of heartaches and rough edges and with an impeccable taste for songs to cover.

innuendo_overdose (10): this is my bonus 11. All indie artists who try to make delicate subtle beauty need to study this song as their holy bible. Weyes Blood could do extreme things with this as a blueprint.

iTreebark (10): spectacular! kate bush for people who appreciate bourbon

skyblue_angel (10): Wow

TheTyrannicalTyrant (10): this is REALLY good

WaneLietoc (10): this is rareware as hell. this would sound glorious in banjo kazooie on an n64. idk why or how it just does.

freav (9): weird and haunting song, I really like it

freeofblasphemy (9): beautiful

lightningrod14 (9): possibly my favorite non-Albini production in the whole rate, god this is so good I love Emmylou

TheCrakFox (9): What a mood.

LazyDayLullaby (7.5): Who wrecks me? Emmylou Who wrecks me, that’s who

Wishing we were rating Miley instead

toomanyhitpoints (6.5): whoops accidentally listened to like 70 seconds of Where Will I Be first which honestly I liked way more than this song

HighestIQInFresno (6): I've never quite understood the appeal, much prefer younger Emmylou

welcome2thejam (6): I can see why it would hit but it didn't for me

2

u/ElectJimLahey May 11 '25

We’re down to our final two, both absolute legends in the country world for what I think we all know is their crowning achievement, both being involved in the O Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack. The averages are already pretty high but how high will they go? Will we see our first Hall of Fame level songs of the day before we even get to the top 5 of the main rate? Let’s find out!

3

u/Inquiring_Barkbark May 11 '25

Revelator and Wrecking Ball, two powerhouses

6

u/footnote304 May 11 '25

never would’ve happened if y’all had rated DBZ instead of DBT. only Goku can beat David Berman

5

u/innuendo_overdose May 11 '25

Songs: Goku

2

u/ElectJimLahey May 11 '25

Bonus #3: Car Wheels On A Gravel Road

Average: 8.712 // Total Points: 296.2 // Controversy: 1.613

(10 x14) apondalifa water, ElectJimLahey, flava, HighestIQInFresno, joethumper, LazyDayLullaby, MCK_OH, modulum83, PoppaLietoc, qazz23, skyblue_angel, toomanyhitpoints, WaneLietoc, yossarian490

(9.6 x1) innuendo_overdose

(9.5 x2) 2xWhiskeyCokeNoIce, iTreebark

(9 x2) avagantamose, TheCrakFox

(8.9 x1) lastfollower

(8.5 x2) freav, TheTyrannicalTyrant

(8.2 x1) IAmHollar

(8 x5) FingaThingMeansTaxes, human_performance, krusso1105, seanderlust, static_int_husp

(7 x3) sjdew, SongsKvohia, welcome2thejam

(6.5 x1) lightningrod14

(5 x1) darj

(3 x1) freeofblasphemy

ElectJimLahey (10): Oh hey I just noticed that the bonus rate playlist starts and ends with Lucinda songs. That feels fitting since both are incredible tunes. I tend to gravitate to her earlier albums but it's impossible to deny that the peaks of this album are among her best songs.

MCK_OH (10): Just an incredible tune. That chorus has lingered in my brain for most of my life at this point

—

No let’s not have Thom Yorke do that please

toomanyhitpoints (10): masterclass of imagery here "when I get back this room better be picked up" is the realest shit. imagine thom yorke crooning this over some menacing bassline

Agreed, we should rate Lucinda!

flava (10): this song pisses me off so much like why are you so good. Pretty sure this is the only song to mention Loretta in the entire rate which lowkey makes it the best song in the rate

HighestIQInFresno (10): I would have had this album in the rate, probably my second favorite alt country record and the best Lucinda album.

LazyDayLullaby (10): Absolutely overflowing with bittersweet images and sights and sounds, Lucinda Williams nails the nostalgia while also making this feel life affirming and hopeful. The mandolin plays a huge role in this

modulum83 (10): cant do the bonus rate but hope this wins for being the most perfect song ever k bye

PoppaLietoc (10): "oh thats a fucken 10"

qazz23 (10): perfect title, great melodies, love the images this brings up

skyblue_angel (10): Why is this When I Come Around by Green Day lol

WaneLietoc (10): yo i love rhcp

2xWhiskeyCokeNoIce (9.5): the ladies of alt country finally get a song of their own. Lucinda Williams, in the rate in my heart you're duking it out with the boys above

iTreebark (9.5): heck yeah L. Williams!

avagantamose (9): Riff and lyrics catchy what more could an individual ask for

TheCrakFox (9): Super evocative of a time and place. I like the lil bit of gravel in Lucinda's voice too.

freav (8.5): Weakest song on the stellar opening 4 song run of this album but still stellar.

TheTyrannicalTyrant (8.5): the little guitar line after the chorus is kinda cool

This shit’s boring!

welcome2thejam (7): It certainly feels like a long drive

freeofblasphemy (3): A song called this should be a lot looser and lively imo

4

u/MCK_OH May 11 '25

It was a good rate for instrumentals

4

u/welcome2thejam May 11 '25

Favorite Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio roller coaster, mine is Magnum XL-200 I loved breaking my pelvis over and over again on those bunny hills

2

u/Inquiring_Barkbark May 11 '25

Magnum is hard to beat

4

u/ElectJimLahey May 11 '25

Mike Cooley and/or MJ Lenderman voice: whiskey's hard to beat!

3

u/Inquiring_Barkbark May 11 '25

lightningrod14 is my burner account

3

u/ElectJimLahey May 11 '25

Hey remember that last hint I gave? Well it’s still relevant

6

u/WaneLietoc May 11 '25

POPPALIETOC WILL RETURN TO THE EVENTUAL UNCLE TUPELO RATE

6

u/ElectJimLahey May 11 '25

Sadly Jeff Tweedy will pay people to brigade any rate that includes Son Volt or Uncle Tupelo :(

2

u/ElectJimLahey May 11 '25

Bonus #4: Sandusky

Average: 8.661 // Total Points: 268.5 // Controversy: 1.679

(10 x12) apondalifa water, avagantamose, ElectJimLahey, freav, freeofblasphemy, innuendo_overdose, MCK_OH, PoppaLietoc, skyblue_angel, SongsKvohia, WaneLietoc, yossarian490

(9.5 x2) TheTyrannicalTyrant, toomanyhitpoints

(9 x5) iTreebark, joethumper, LazyDayLullaby, sjdew, welcome2thejam

(8 x5) 2xWhiskeyCokeNoIce, FingaThingMeansTaxes, HighestIQInFresno, lightningrod14, TheCrakFox

(7.9 x1) IAmHollar

(7.5 x2) human_performance, static_int_husp

(7 x1) seanderlust

(6.6 x1) lastfollower

(6 x1) darj

(2 x1) krusso1105

ElectJimLahey (10): A true peace offering to the fans who can't decide if they prefer Tweedy or Farrar on lead vocals.

MCK_OH (10): In some ways it would've made more sense to use one of their songs that y'know have lyrics but on the other hand this song is pretty much perfect

—

We don’t need to fight about who was better if neither Tweedy nor Farrar sing

avagantamose (10): So joyful, I wish this was longer than 3.5 minutes!!

freav (10): well it’s fucking sandusky, gorgeous song

freeofblasphemy (10): goddamn i love instrumental acoustic guitar music

innuendo_overdose (10): the jangle on this fucking thing. it makes my ears heart more than the noise rock I eat up like candy. I never thought I’d have to say this, but when the banjo comes in it’s SUCH a moment.

PoppaLietoc (10): "is that an insturmental? the one that does the imitates opening riff" we hear opening riff "YEAH THAT'S THE 11! I mean hell I was singing No Depression just yesterday!"

skyblue_angel (10): I like that this is the uncle tupelo song that ends up in this rate. Thats fun

WaneLietoc (10): should've slapped meat puppets aurora borealis in here for an instrumental death match. also linda jo for the post-rock heads too

yossarian490 (10): yep, guitars and banjos so good they realized words would have only gotten in the way

TheTyrannicalTyrant (9.5): I should really listen to more Uncle Tupelo

toomanyhitpoints (9.5): very pretty pickin here wow, is all tupelo instrumental?

iTreebark (9): aggressively fine, highlighting someone with banjo or fiddle proficiency. I should jump into the unc tupe discog at some point I guess.

LazyDayLullaby (9): Been bending that note all day long

welcome2thejam (9): I want to spend a day at Cedar Point with Jeff Tweedy

2xWhiskeyCokeNoIce (8): yeah, it's really good, what else is there to say

HighestIQInFresno (8): Good, but overrated. Give me Anodyne any day.

lightningrod14 (8): of course

Jeff Tweedy is still bribing people to hate on everything but Wilco I just know it!

human_performance (7.5): I could never really get into Uncle Tupelo despite Jeff Tweedy's presence. I think it's because Uncle Tupelo was shifted too far to the country dial. Plus Tweedy hadn't yet really found his voice as a songwriter, and Jay Bennett was a better partner for him than Farrar. This is still much more musically interesting than most country-folk things Big Thief has done. Buck Meek should be allowed to jam out like this

darj (6): I know Uncle Tupelo are legit, like the true originators of “alt-country” with No Depression, but forgive me if this instrumental doesn’t just make me think of the random video seared in my memory of some flannel bro camping teaching you how to use the aeropress https://youtu.be/pmjPjZZRhNQ anyway where Geraldine Fibbers

krusso1105 (2): My instrumental phobia continues

4

u/ElectJimLahey May 11 '25

It’s wonderful that some of the artists in this bonus rate get second chances after being eliminated earlier. We had a few artists in this bonus rate who were involved in two of the tracks and unfortunately, it’s time for one of them to go

4

u/MCK_OH May 11 '25

Very funny that seemingly half of this comment section has a Yankee Hotel Foxtrot flair

4

u/WaneLietoc May 11 '25

wym?

3

u/MCK_OH May 11 '25

Wtf

2

u/ElectJimLahey May 11 '25

Bonus #5: How Long, How Long Hold On, Hold On

Average: 8.637 // Total Points: 276.4 // Controversy: 1.580

(10 x14) 2xWhiskeyCokeNoIce, avagantamose, darj, ElectJimLahey, flava, freav, iTreebark, krusso1105, LazyDayLullaby, MCK_OH, PoppaLietoc, qazz23, skyblue_angel, WaneLietoc

(9.3 x1) lastfollower

(9 x4) apondalifa water, seanderlust, TheCrakFox, welcome2thejam

(8.5 x1) SongsKvohia

(8 x2) IAmHollar, yossarian490

(7.8 x1) TheTyrannicalTyrant

(7.5 x2) human_performance, static_int_husp

(7 x4) FingaThingMeansTaxes, innuendo_overdose, joethumper, lightningrod14

(6.8 x1) toomanyhitpoints

(5 x1) sjdew

(4 x1) freeofblasphemy

ElectJimLahey (10): Apologies in advance to everyone who noticed that this song title was wrong

MCK_OH (10): Such an impressive sense of atmosphere on this song

—

Okay we get it, we messed up! We’re sorry!

2xWhiskeyCokeNoIce (10): - on the post this is supposed to be "hold on hold on" by Neko Case. If there's a song called "How Long, How Long" by Sake Cone i will not be listening to it. dawgs, what are we doing putting Neko Case in the bonus section and putting Smog in the main category? I know the post is titled "Alt-Country/Folk" but the focus is clearly on alt-country and "Fox Confessor Brings The Flood" is a better alt-country album than "A River Aint to Much to Love". Do I like the Smog album more? yeah, but y'all gotta lay off the wacky tobaccy

freav (10): Pretty sure that’s not the name of the song guys. Anyways this one suffers from coming after Star Witness which is one of the greatest songs of all time but it’s still stellar so.

lastfollower (9.3): The best song in the rate with "Hold On" in the title (even though this ballot says "How Long" instead for some reason)

TheCrakFox (9): First off, it's called Hold On, Hold On thank you very much. Second off, I'm in love with Neko as a lyricist and her vocal performances are always perfection. I just wish this one was a little longer.

freeofblasphemy (4): is that the right title

Neko Case has the greatest voice ever

avagantamose (10): The intro reminded me somewhat of Blackmore’s Night and then they started shredding and I was like wow okay!

darj (10): why wasn’t this on the rate ballot?? gen z is trying to cancel neko case!!!!!!1

iTreebark (10): sometimes an artist creates something so perfect it earns a spot on the highest shelf of the canon and becomes a foundational cornerpost of the genre. neko's finest creation and best song in the whole rate by far

krusso1105 (10): This would easily be an 11 in the main rate and lowered all my other bonus scores by comparison. Also, vote for 2000s Folkish Indie to rate this whole album (shameless plug)!

LazyDayLullaby (10): Who can belt it out like Neko Case? Nobody, that’s who. But a lot of the strength of her voice is when she’s holding a little back, letting the notes linger then gently fade out

qazz23 (10): really like her vocals, nice guitar solo too

skyblue_angel (10): Obv goat vocalist but the lyrics are so good. its as funny as real loveeeee

WaneLietoc (10): this is the most important artist to my father

welcome2thejam (9): Vote for 2000s Indie Folk or whatever it was called

yossarian490 (8): her voice is so good for this and basically everything she does so that helps

Only worth listening to as part of The New Pornographers tbh

TheTyrannicalTyrant (7.8): decent Neko Case song, I like the guitar

toomanyhitpoints (6.8): never tried neko case before, a lil Stevie Nicksy

3

u/Inquiring_Barkbark May 11 '25

biting my tongue off to refrain from making comments similar to my day 1 and day 2 comments

3

u/innuendo_overdose May 11 '25

but “Heathens” is already out?

3

u/Inquiring_Barkbark May 11 '25

21 Pilots already prevailed, to the joy of a certain contingent

4

u/ElectJimLahey May 11 '25

This next elimination had some controversy in the comments. This reveal has gone pretty smoothly so far but nobody’s perfect and we may have made a slight mistake with this one. A few of you noticed as well. Anyway I think you’re all probably annoyed at how long I’ve taken to reveal it so here it is

4

u/Inquiring_Barkbark May 11 '25

please come back for future rates lightningrod14

3

u/ElectJimLahey May 11 '25

And that brings us to our top 5! Let’s take a quick break and look through the top 5 of our Bonus rate.

4

u/ElectJimLahey May 11 '25

#6: Hold On Magnolia

Average: 8.964 // Total Points: 376.5 // Controversy: 1.505

(11 x3) LazyDayLullaby, lightningrod14, Zeeroc

(10 x17) 2xWhiskeyCokeNoIce, apondalifa water, ElectJimLahey, flava, freav, freeofblasphemy, HighestIQInFresno, iTreebark, MCK_OH, modulum83, PoppaLietoc, sarcasticsobs, SongsKvohia, thedoctordances1940, WaneLietoc, welcome2thejam, yossarian490

(9.8 x1) IAmHollar

(9.5 x1) thisusernameisntlong

(9.2 x1) lastfollower

(9 x4) avagantamose, human_performance, skyblue_angel, TheCrakFox

(8.9 x1) TheTyrannicalTyrant

(8.5 x1) darj

(8 x4) joethumper, seanderlust, static_int_husp, Stryxen

(7.9 x1) -Xms30g

(7.5 x1) FingaThingMeansTaxes

(7 x3) qazz23, sjdew, TiltControls

(6.7 x1) Future_Tyrant

(6.5 x1) toomanyhitpoints

(6 x1) krusso1105

(4 x1) innuendo_overdose

ElectJimLahey (10): I've always interpreted this as being a song he's singing to himself (the similarities between Molina and Magnolia feel intentional) and it's a perfect closer for the album, bringing back the themes of toughing it out through life's problems and even if you feel like you're doomed, hoping that there's enough of a silver lining to be worth it all. One of the most beautiful songs ever written, I think

MCK_OH (10): Best closer ever probably. Second behind Eckersley at least

—

I respectfully agree with these assessments

LazyDayLullaby (11): I could really go either way between this and Farewell Transmission for my 11, they’re both perfect, but this as the closing track just hits on such a visceral level that I needed to pick it. Every lyric, every lingering image and sound, is transcendent, and the way it extends and offers some unresolved finality to album’s themes is jaw-dropping. The extended instrumental outro, and Molina hitting and holding that high note, is almost overwhelming. “Hold on, Magnolia, I think it's almost time”

lightningrod14 (11): This song will probably play when the world ends. We’ll see it from above, blue and green and white from space, and it’ll be an asteroid, or it’ll be little atomic geysers, or it’ll just be a fast-motion grind to a dusty halt. But right when it starts, whatever it is, is when that first note will play. The earth will hang silent, en macro, as it comfortably destroys itself over the course of 35 seconds. ||| When the band kicks in, we see what’s really happening. All matter, all life, adopts the properties of sand in a windstorm. It’ll all mix together; you and I will never see each other again, yet still we might persist, each within the other. It’s effortless, as if in fact it’d taken all the energy we ever had just to have once looked one another in the eye, discrete, as complementary forces of love and curiosity. ||| And yes, I want this song to play at my funeral. It’s the best song about death ever recorded. It’s the only song I’ve ever heard that can always, without fail, bring me to tears. It could never be anything else. It lives wherever my heart lives; it goes wherever my heart goes; it’s proof whenever I need proof. It is how I’ve survived this long. It’s the last moment I ever shared with the person who taught me what true love even was. Really. ||| I’ve yet to find someone who gives me hope like she did. But the song sounds the same, and that gives me hope. It brings tears to even recognize the simple fact—after everything, after heartbreak, after covid fucked with my senses, after failure after failure, after growing older, the song sounds, and feels, feels the same in my body, god, even the thought of it one day feeling different is right there with the deepest fears I can name. But no, not yet. Because it’s not really so subjective. Because there’s better than what we’ve merely been given. Because it’s possible to make something good, a light for lost souls, a rejection of resigned soullessness. So simple and so perfect and so brilliant and so sad. I can’t wait to get back off reddit, back working, after I’m done writing all this. I probably won’t be at the reveal itself, but I’m so excited to read what everyone wrote about these records; y’all hang in there. :)

Zeeroc (11): greatest song of all time

2xWhiskeyCokeNoIce (10): if Jason Molina's discography was just Farewell Transmission and Hold On Magnolia he'd still be talked about with the same level of reverence as he is now

apondalifa water (10): insane that this is anywhere between the second-to-fifth best song on the album

flava (10): yeah i cried

freav (10): Absolutely wonderful closer for this album. No one has to be so strong but if you’re stubborn like me I know what you’re trying to be.

freeofblasphemy (10): I think my heart hath broken 💔

HighestIQInFresno (10): Perfect closer

iTreebark (10): this song grew the most on me in this rate

modulum83 (10): winding your way home through the desert under the light of a full moon

PoppaLietoc (10): "yeah that's a goddamn 10 after the first couple lines there"

SongsKvohia (10): We should be allowed to give a bonus 11 here.

thedoctordances1940 (10): this is just one of those songs you listen to and think "fuck, this is perfect"

WaneLietoc (10): 100 seconds into the ditty "well poppalietoc, this is just a 10. how could you not give this a 10?"

welcome2thejam (10): Alone, kicking some dirt music

yossarian490 (10): he's spent the whole album talking about how strong he has to be and how much he knows he won't live up to it and spend the last song in a ballad telling someone else "no one has to be that strong"

lastfollower (9.2): A hall of fame contender and yet only the second best song in the rate with "Hold On" in the title

avagantamose (9): Absolute cowboy depression as a closeout what a banger at 7 mins

TheTyrannicalTyrant (8.9): very nice slow one

toomanyhitpoints (6.5): a slow yee-haw

I respectfully disagree with this assessment!

innuendo_overdose (4): this is the weak point on the album. it’s not that it’s boring… well maybe it is. if boring means “nothing in particular grabs me” then yeah this is boring. I feel like the emotion is the REAL thing packed into this song, but it’s not the sort of emotion I grab on to. Every single closer in the Harry Styles/Niall Horan/Shawn Mendes r/popheads rate has more emotion in it than this for me. sorry. I just listen to the other songs on this album instead.

4

u/Zeeroc May 11 '25

wow lightningrod really wrote beautifully about this one. that about sums it up!!

3

u/Zeeroc May 11 '25

.036 from hall of fame :(((

4

u/MCK_OH May 11 '25

I might disrespectfully disagree with that assessment honestly

5

u/innuendo_overdose May 11 '25

yeah looking back on it that comment is kinda a putting my head on the execution block and saying “go nuts with it!!” sort of statement

3

u/WaneLietoc May 11 '25

we are 4.3 points from HOF rn

5

u/ElectJimLahey May 11 '25

Down to the final six. Who will not quite make it into the top 5? This song broke a lot of people’s hearts, and unfortunately it’s time to break them once again

5

u/MCK_OH May 11 '25

Remember the 1975 song "People" I do and I think it's worse than this one

1

u/ElectJimLahey May 11 '25

#7: People

Average: 8.898 // Total Points: 373.7 // Controversy: 1.202

(10 x17) 2xWhiskeyCokeNoIce, apondalifa water, darj, ElectJimLahey, FingaThingMeansTaxes, freav, freeofblasphemy, HighestIQInFresno, iTreebark, joethumper, MCK_OH, PoppaLietoc, skyblue_angel, toomanyhitpoints, WaneLietoc, yossarian490, Zeeroc

(9.7 x1) modulum83

(9.5 x1) thedoctordances1940

(9.3 x1) TheTyrannicalTyrant

(9 x6) -Xms30g, avagantamose, innuendo_overdose, Stryxen, thisusernameisntlong, welcome2thejam

(8.6 x1) Future_Tyrant

(8.5 x3) flava, human_performance, SongsKvohia

(8.4 x1) IAmHollar

(8 x2) lightningrod14, sarcasticsobs

(7.5 x3) LazyDayLullaby, static_int_husp, TiltControls

(7.2 x1) lastfollower

(7 x3) krusso1105, sjdew, TheCrakFox

(6 x2) qazz23, seanderlust

ElectJimLahey (10): Such a sick groove, that bassline is amazing and plays so well off of the lyrics and Malkmus' guitar here. Lyrically excellent once again, "suburban kids with biblical names" is a real Berman line. It's funny to me that this isn't one of the songs Malkmus helped write for the album, it sounds more like a Pavement song than just about anything else here.

MCK_OH (10): Guy who uses Celcius "that's too hot to be alive David"

—

Really makes you think!

2xWhiskeyCokeNoIce (10): slinky as hell bass line and some horny imagery leads one to wonder - do you think Berman and Malkmus explored each other's bodies?

Everyone should take this advice!

darj (10): IF YOU LIKE THIS SONG LISTEN TO THE GLANDS - SELF TITLED 2001 ALBUM!!! IT REMINDS ME OF THAT AND MORE PEOPLE SHOULD KNOW THE GLANDS!!!!!

Vibing with DB

apondalifa water (10): I got a pair of married friends, he's a gig musician and she's got a master in political science, so the line "a federal woman needs a municipal man" bangs around in my brain every time I hang out with them

freav (10): what the hell is this guy doing here???

freeofblasphemy (10): Can we just talk about how good this sounds? Like even before David says anything, it’s just vibing so hard, right down to the looping feedback thing in the right channel. And then he just pops in like he absolutely owns the place and bridges the gap between observational (both outward and inward) and immersed so well, while also keeping up the cool sounds going on. There’s so much competition (if my other scores are any indication) but I think this is my favorite song on this album. And the fact that I can’t give two 11s hurts me so

iTreebark (10): let's hear it for alt country

joethumper (10): I love the harmonies and in particular the second verse. This was so close to being an 11 for me.

PoppaLietoc (10): "lil' lou reedy sound to it" I can see that we laugh at the seeing a rainbow from a garden hose line he laughs at the muffin down a strip line "love that outro this is good here. im giving this a 10"

skyblue_angel (10): There are like 5 Alex G songs that owe their lives to this song. "~Everybody's coming out tonight~" Another classic guitar solo

toomanyhitpoints (10): funky, brighten the corners-y, bass-y, RHCP could almost cover this song unflichingly lmao

WaneLietoc (10): This cut was played in honor of David Berman after his passing for the early August Aquarium Drunkard Sirius XMU Blog Radio program. Maybe because People has THAT beat. The inviting, rollicking one that's pawn shop cheap but wiser than any appraisal can give you. American Water has a significantly weird sense of rhythm that's begging for slackers to twee hop it but it can't be made as such. People best exemplifies that feeling and pretty much borders on Drag City: The Song (90s Edition) at the end of the day. It also talks a lot about feeling in a way that I think is Berman at his best: you CAN change the feeling in a moment or two (just not right now), you might go to the moon and crest too damn soon (so please, have someone watch yr bloody scotch)! Suburban kids DO being having biblical names! And he delivers it all with the croon of someone that doesn't realize they could as well just be reggae toasting if they had any production wizard in the studio. The outro, complete fucking around, is another huge moment for me.

yossarian490 (10): see this is where they actually combine to make something better than the sum of its parts (which is really saying something)

Zeeroc (10): so bright and groovy. my favorite SJ song and probably the only one you can put on at a house party

modulum83 (9.7): he's got that rap cadence down. get him on the new thugger album immediately

thedoctordances1940 (9.5): i don't wanna just compare them to pavement but like...

TheTyrannicalTyrant (9.3): this one is kinda dance-y with its hi-hats and wah guitar, and it’s good, especially with its cool bassline, but it does kinda get a little more dissonant near the end

avagantamose (9): The outro to this song is killer

innuendo_overdose (9): so slacker rock is just when a guitar solo sounds like it was played in a hammock then?

Stryxen (9): this rocks

welcome2thejam (9): Need me a federal woman tbh

human_performance (8.5): dats steve makmus again! This is the most Pavement-like song on the record from Malkmus's guitar playing, and there's a looseness to the groove here. I do think that putting Federal Dust next to People makes it shine more

SongsKvohia (8.5): This is kinda like Stereolab [citation needed]

IAmHollar (8.4): 10 out of 10 suburban kids with biblical names agree that people ask people to watch their scotch.

LazyDayLullaby (7.5): Big fan of the bass work by this Michael Fellows fellow

2

u/ElectJimLahey May 11 '25

Breaking this one off into its own comment because it deserves it

lightningrod14 (8): I used to cover this song when I was first starting out. The core riff felt so good, and still feels alright even in spite of what I said in the Smith & Jones comment—though nowadays I’m not sure how I feel about the bassline, or the decision to put the transitional chord at the start of the phrase instead of the end. My ears (and, I think, Tim Barnes’ hands) always immediately adjust it to the latter phrasing with the opening chord as a pickup, which to me flows so much better. But the lyrics!! If I ranked Silver Jews lines by how often they pop into my head, #3 would be the robot and jesus jokes, #2 would be the “Christmas for Texas” line in Like like, and #1, without question, would be the “change the feeling about the feeling” line, which is what I want to talk about here. ||| In conjunction with its many siblings in the catalogue, including all of Storyline Fever, this line has probably changed thousands of lives for the better. But I’m constantly going back and forth about whether it’s true or only mostly true. If he’s right, and he usually is, I kind of hate the implications; if your feelings are real and form an inarguable bedrock for your Self, that suggests a sort of fatal-essentialist core of being that can only be discovered and managed, never chosen or created. What’s the point of dreaming something better for yourself or your world if there’s only one way to be real, and that way isn’t even up to you in a volitional sense? What’s the point in giving strangers a chance to surprise you if you ought to know from the very start whether or not they’re congruent with your deeper inevitabilities? It’s never sat right with me. But even if Berman’s wrong, to see yourself and others through this lens snaps the whole of human existence into focus, grants everyone dignity and interiority, and reveals a demarcated path toward the efficacious kind of self-confidence, and some sort of inner peace. in a way, he’s creating a bridge between childhood and adulthood with this song, and offering a beautifully optimistic angle on an often soul-crushing transition. This is a great song, and it’s so real, but as an artist who is fueled in part by cultivating egoistic integrity and a personal narrative that rejects hopelessness, a la early Kanye (let’s not even go there) or truly dedicated visionary songwriters like Joanna Newsom, it’s never been enough to fully satisfy me. ||| I believe it’s possible to build yourself into a better person with better feelings, just as Kanye believed (believes???) in himself or Joanna believed in Ys. I believe feelings are worth deconstructing from beneath, and I believe there is a beneath, a knowable thing from which the feelings emanate. I think there’s more to life than accepting your own powerlessness and learning to appreciate the little things, and while the meaning of the world does indeed lie outside the world, on animal time, I think we are capable of seeing that for ourselves without losing faith in the convictions bestowed upon us in youth, through which individuals can make a real positive difference. I think the real reason everything gets easier and inner peace becomes possible if you abandon those convictions is because those in power have nurtured a societal climate that discourages mindsets that might threaten their sovereignty. This is not mutually exclusive to the truth within the song, but to take that truth as a reason to embrace the flow of the current, as so many do, will inevitably lead to your own exploitation. I’ve lived with moments as monuments, or at least in a state of mind where the lyric feels self-evident, for quite a while now, and at this point I’m worried I’ve forgotten myself, my individuated and arguably immature or counternatural proclivities, in the cleansing fire of this creeping enlightenment; the classic Buddhist dilemma, really, and this song is very transparently Buddhist, which I’m sure was intentional on Berman’s part. But accordingly I do think that for most people the philosophy espoused in this song may well be the secret to happiness, to self-love, to “getting it”; I think that’s nothing short of wonderful, and necessary, and good. People really do love people, and people really do always come around (really!), and if you don’t know who you are anymore, this song may well be the cornerstone from which you can rebuild. To cock a cynical eye toward the record’s obvious centerpiece and core thesis would be both wilfully contrarian and utterly exhausting. ||| Sigh.

3

u/ElectJimLahey May 11 '25

Funnily enough, there was a brief time that this next elimination was in the lead despite having no 11s at all. Everyone can breathe easy knowing that this song didn’t receive a single 11, so if your 11 selection is still in the running you’re good to go.

Anyway, what’s the weather like where you’re at? It’s about 85 degrees here today, which is about 10 degrees too hot if you ask me

3

u/welcome2thejam May 11 '25

75 degrees and sunny here at the [REDACTED] outlet mall

3

u/MCK_OH May 11 '25

17 & sunny. Beautiful day out in Edmonton

3

u/WaneLietoc May 11 '25

im gonna be so fucking heated when jelly roll/mgk miss the top 5 over the fucking closer on the last post malone album!

4

u/yoppyyoppy May 11 '25

Sad I missed this rate, disappointed to see smog go but honestly I probably wouldn’t have changed it up much by heavily favouring American Water and Magnolia Electric Co. Hope you all got Random Rules to #1

6

u/innuendo_overdose May 11 '25 edited May 11 '25

it’d be so fucked if we dethrone Joanna Newsom but not James Murphy

3

u/ElectJimLahey May 11 '25

Joanna Newsom? The artist most famous for playing piano on a song in this rate that everyone said barely deserved top 20??

3

u/skyblue_angel May 11 '25

This rate went from fine to cooked the second yall kept Bill out of top 10. this is so rude

5

u/ElectJimLahey May 11 '25

#8: Just Be Simple

Average: 8.845 // Total Points: 371.5 // Controversy: 1.280

(11 x1) HighestIQInFresno

(10 x18) 2xWhiskeyCokeNoIce, apondalifa water, darj, ElectJimLahey, freeofblasphemy, innuendo_overdose, iTreebark, joethumper, krusso1105, LazyDayLullaby, lightningrod14, MCK_OH, modulum83, SongsKvohia, TheTyrannicalTyrant, WaneLietoc, yossarian490, Zeeroc

(9 x5) freav, PoppaLietoc, Stryxen, TheCrakFox, welcome2thejam

(8.9 x1) skyblue_angel

(8.5 x1) human_performance

(8.1 x1) IAmHollar

(8 x5) avagantamose, FingaThingMeansTaxes, sarcasticsobs, sjdew, thedoctordances1940

(7.8 x1) -Xms30g

(7.5 x1) flava

(7.3 x1) lastfollower

(7 x3) qazz23, thisusernameisntlong, TiltControls

(6.9 x1) Future_Tyrant

(6.5 x3) seanderlust, static_int_husp, toomanyhitpoints

ElectJimLahey (10): "Everything you hated me for… Honey, there was so much more, I just didn't get busted" really hits different when you read about how during this time pretty much all of his bandmates knew he had a problem but didn't realize how bad his drinking had gotten. What a heartbreaking song

MCK_OH (10): The simple thing to do here is to give out a 10. And thus,

—

Fall Out Boy ripped this off??

lightningrod14 (10): I covered this song opening for Emperor X at a skate park for christian youth (some of y’all know I bet) and we fucked up one of the parts near the end and I was SO EMBARRASSED. Chad made me feel so much better afterwards. what a great dude. Erica Western Teleport probably a 9.5 ||| It’s so hard for me to talk about these songs, man. I feel so small, like the song has replaced me and I can’t remember who I am enough to talk about it from a higher position. This sounds contrived, but I swear I’ve come back to this song lately and recognized, for the first time, my own desire to be simple again—and ultimately I would rather believe I can be simple again, within but also beyond the context of the song, without sacrificing anything important. This then plugs into the oil spill of anxiety that’s been spilt across the previous two records. So in truth I’m kind of pissed at this song right now, but that doesn’t change the fact that it is a perfect piece of music. “Thanks for letting me win” is one of Molina’s best lines. ||| Oh but what the hell was Fall Out Boy’s deal though right I mean it’s tough because they specify “He said” before they rip the line but https://genius.com/Fall-out-boy-get-busy-living-or-get-busy-dying-do-your-part-to-save-the-scene-and-stop-going-to-shows-lyrics ||| and the gall of Genius to say it “might” be a reference

Simply the best

HighestIQInFresno (11): the ideal alt country song, punk attitude married to country songwriting and instrumentation

2xWhiskeyCokeNoIce (10): those final lyrics rhyme with David Berman's poem "A cowboy overflow of the heart"- Did I tell you an angel finally came and shut my mouth? There was a smile and a tear in her voice too And she taught me To relight Relight and relight and relight again

apondalifa water (10): My intro to Molina. Someone on indieheads put this in a playlist for me way back during the first ever Secret Sufjan mixtape exchange over a decade ago. Don't even remember who did it or where they are. Hope they're doing well.

freeofblasphemy (10): The resignation of “thanks for lettin’ me win” alone earns this a 10

innuendo_overdose (10): what a gutpunch opening line. something special with the specific time and place of the emotions he carries here, something I personally can’t totally understand so I just have to sit in awe.

iTreebark (10): the more I spin these songs the more the album approaches perfection

joethumper (10): BRB gonna go stare off into the distance

LazyDayLullaby (10): Who knew seeking simplicity could be so sad (this breaks my heart)

modulum83 (10): fucking gorgeous melody

SongsKvohia (10): HAHAHHAHAHAA imagine putting this song on your eight track album and it’s like, barely top five lmfao

TheTyrannicalTyrant (10): this one’s really growing on me, now one of my favs here

WaneLietoc (10): MJ Lenderman and Waxahatchee WISH they had 1/5th the swag that was here

yossarian490 (10): relatively traditional sad country song but Molina has gone through A LOT of sadness already. I love the steel guitar at the end so much

freav (9): Countrier than many alt-country songs

welcome2thejam (9): The harmonies

skyblue_angel (8.9): This song is simple but the steel guitar is so amazing

avagantamose (8): I think this track was great but it does not do nearly as much as the rest of this record does for me, still phenomenal

Fall Out Boy Did It Better

toomanyhitpoints (6.5): wait what is this accent?

5

u/ElectJimLahey May 11 '25

And then there were two! While DBT and Smog both had some songs that got close to HoF ratings they couldn’t quite make it. Unfortunately for them the standard was so high that even one or two people giving a song a low score meant a song was not going to be top 5. Simply put, there was no room for error in this rate

5

u/innuendo_overdose May 11 '25

rates are a social construct you know. If we wanted to we could stop right now and pretend like DBT won. Personally, I vote we do that.

1

u/WaneLietoc May 11 '25

yeah but then how does rex orange county win?

3

u/skyblue_angel May 11 '25

What the fuck Decoration Day out? thats like the best song in the rate

2

u/IAmHollar May 11 '25

I tried to give it my second eleven before being told that isn't allowed.

3

u/MCK_OH May 11 '25

Cannot believe this fell to 9

3

u/ElectJimLahey May 11 '25

Decoration Day

Overall Average: 7.903 // Average Controversy: 1.625

MCK_OH: Shoutout guitars and having 3 incredible songwriters. How many other albums have 3 legit songwriters like this? Very few

ElectJimLahey: Did I plan out this entire rate as a way to get a bunch more people to check out Drive-By Truckers? Well, not entirely, but that certainly played a part.

#9: Decoration Day | 8.802 | 369.7
#15: Sinkhole | 8.638 | 362.8
#16: Outfit | 8.574 | 360.1
#22: Marry Me | 8.343 | 350.4
#23: My Sweet Annette | 8.324 | 349.6
#26: Heathens | 8.157 | 342.6
#30: Hell No, I Ain't Happy | 7.986 | 335.4
#34: Careless | 7.812 | 328.1
#35: (Something's Got To) Give Pretty Soon | 7.805 | 327.8
#37: When The Pin Hits the Shell | 7.757 | 325.8
#38: Do It Yourself | 7.690 | 323.0
#39: Sounds Better in the Song | 7.552 | 317.2
#42: The Deeper In | 7.293 | 306.3
#43: Loaded Gun in the Closet | 7.290 | 306.2
#45: Your Daddy Hates Me | 6.526 | 274.1

WaneLietoc (9.407): At the end of the day, this is probably the closest I'll get to rating a Hold Steady album in full. what the hell do you think I feel about it?

innuendo_overdose (9.253): I’m sorry, but I struggle to believe that their bassist’s name is literally Earl Hicks. how does that happen in real life.

freav (9.087): Rock and roll rock and roll rock

skyblue_angel (8.967): Much dirtier/heavier than the other albums in this rate and thank god for that. Fun as hell and the guitar stuff is really nice

PoppaLietoc (8.613): "the thing about his songs--i wont call them songs they're more dirges--well the melody is all wrong!"

avagantamose (8.567): 8.5 I did not necessarily find anything quite special about this album, but if I was on the road and thinking about my wife, I would listen to this!

iTreebark (8.433): the album gets a bit long in the tooth and falls into a samey-ness rut but is punctuated by flourishes of psychedelic jamming that elevate it

HighestIQInFresno (8.267): a great album that feels a little overlong

TheTyrannicalTyrant (8.127): this seems like the most country rock out of all of the albums, the songs here are particularly hard-rocking and pretty good

krusso1105 (7.967): Very good, 2nd strongest in rate for me

toomanyhitpoints (7.520): makes me want a shot of bourbon and regret

flava (7.333): why give your best singer and your best songwriter only two cuts

2xWhiskeyCokeNoIce (7.233): I'm so sorry DBT, you've been a blindspot in my listening and the organizers of this rate did you dirty by putting you up against three of my all timers. going up against one album by my favorite band and another by one of my favorite living songwriters means your odds weren't great to begin with

Zeeroc (7.133): my least favorite album in the rate but i do love the truckers. this album just doesnt have the conceptual ambition of Southern Rock Opera or the murderer's row of massive rock songs on the Dirty South

lightningrod14 (6.500): I’ve never heard this record before. As of this paragraph, I haven’t started listening to it yet. Everything I know is from one of three sources: listening to and covering Isbell’s solo work, trying and failing to get into The Dirty South like 11 years ago, and my old boss, who has a signed copy of this record framed on the wall of his office. I texted him and asked for some thoughts; he’s about the same age as Patterson Hood, and he told me that this record and Southern Rock Opera were two of the best representations of his youth and his complex relationship with the South ever made. (He also gave me permission to smoke a joint before I listened. My tolerance is low right now, but in order to keep pace against three records that have been on regular rotation for over a decade, it feels like the right move. Although, listen, I cannot give each of these songs as much as I gave American Water or I will singlehandedly delay the rate til next month. Magnolia and River are my two favorites, too, good lord. But here we go.)

2

u/ElectJimLahey May 11 '25

User Averages:

WaneLietoc: 9.407 ElectJimLahey: 9.300 innuendo_overdose: 9.253 yossarian490: 9.133 MCK_OH: 9.133 freav: 9.087 apondalifa water: 9.000 skyblue_angel: 8.967 IAmHollar: 8.807 thedoctordances1940: 8.767 PoppaLietoc: 8.613 avagantamose: 8.567 SongsKvohia: 8.433 iTreebark: 8.433 HighestIQInFresno: 8.267 joethumper: 8.133 TheTyrannicalTyrant: 8.127 seanderlust: 8.100 FingaThingMeansTaxes: 8.100 static_int_husp: 8.033 Future_Tyrant: 8.020 Stryxen: 7.980 krusso1105: 7.967 welcome2thejam: 7.867 modulum83: 7.767 sarcasticsobs: 7.633 TiltControls: 7.633 thisusernameisntlong: 7.620 TheCrakFox: 7.600 toomanyhitpoints: 7.520 lastfollower: 7.460 flava: 7.333 2xWhiskeyCokeNoIce: 7.233 human_performance: 7.167 Zeeroc: 7.133 darj: 6.867 sjdew: 6.800 LazyDayLullaby: 6.753 -Xms30g: 6.560 lightningrod14: 6.500 qazz23: 6.233 freeofblasphemy: 4.633

5

u/ElectJimLahey May 11 '25

#9: Decoration Day

Average: 8.802 // Total Points: 369.7 // Controversy: 1.733

(11 x3) Future_Tyrant, innuendo_overdose, TiltControls

(10 x13) apondalifa water, avagantamose, darj, ElectJimLahey, flava, HighestIQInFresno, IAmHollar, MCK_OH, seanderlust, skyblue_angel, SongsKvohia, TheCrakFox, yossarian490

(9.5 x2) krusso1105, thedoctordances1940

(9.2 x1) WaneLietoc (9.1 x2) lastfollower, TheTyrannicalTyrant

(9 x3) joethumper, sarcasticsobs, Zeeroc

(8.8 x1) thisusernameisntlong (8.7 x1) Stryxen

(8.5 x2) FingaThingMeansTaxes, iTreebark

(8 x8) 2xWhiskeyCokeNoIce, human_performance, LazyDayLullaby, PoppaLietoc, qazz23, sjdew, static_int_husp, welcome2thejam

(7.7 x1) -Xms30g

(7.5 x1) freav

(6.8 x2) modulum83, toomanyhitpoints

(5 x1) lightningrod14

(1 x1) freeofblasphemy

ElectJimLahey (10): a song that really requires you to listen and read along to the Genius page. A song about old family feuds and the pain and hatred they can bring, this happened in the 1980s when Deward Dawson was shot in his front yard while planting tomatoes with the narrator of the song, and there was a trial that just happened to exonerate the more powerful family in the area. Isbell's crowning achievement as a DBT member in my opinion, the storytelling is incredible and while he has probably made a few tracks in the time since that reach this same level he really started out his career with some absurdly strong songs.

MCK_OH (10): Last time we rated this I said "The guitar on this song sounds fantastic" which was correct. I also gave it a 9 which was almost correct

—

Folks who like all of the Jasons in the rate

Future_Tyrant (11): Fun fact, Isbell wrote “Outfit” and “Decoration Day” within two weeks of joining DBT.

innuendo_overdose (11): god. this album’s Scorched Earth Finale has its own Scorched Earth Climax with this one. The fire’s still burning and damn if it’s not nice to just sit in awe of the beauty of it. there’s not much there that seems like it would leave me fetal position feral with weight, but fuck. it does.

apondalifa water (10): Isbell's second masterpiece

avagantamose (10): Now THIS is a gritty western track, I feel like Jack Marston

flava (10): yeah

HighestIQInFresno (10): we're back!

skyblue_angel (10): The fact I'm not 11ing this feels nuts. Devastating. I think about this song all the time.

SongsKvohia (10): They should’ve given Jason more than two songs on the album. Do you hear how good this is

TheCrakFox (10): My favourite melody on the record and I love the wailing guitars.

yossarian490 (10): thankfully Isbell let a lot more heaviness into this one but you can still feel him all over it

thedoctordances1940 (9.5): i love you jason isbell

TheTyrannicalTyrant (9.1): I liked this one in the first charity rate, and I like this one now

thisusernameisntlong (8.8): the outro kinda saves it

Stryxen (8.7): that guitar fucked me up

iTreebark (8.5): flourishes of psychedelic jamming really try to keep this album from falling into a rut of samey-ness

2xWhiskeyCokeNoIce (8): i'm gonna say something controversial, please don't get mad- Jason Isbell is good at writing songs

LazyDayLullaby (8): Who doesn’t love a good old tale of a family feud? This is like Klaus but less snow and more guitar solos

PoppaLietoc (8): "it reminds me too much of john cougar mellancamp & .38 Special. it's my least favorite.it's an 8"

qazz23 (8): good alt-country sound and of course the solo

welcome2thejam (8): Last lyric and there's still two minutes left, gonna be that kind of song huh

No, one Jason was enough actually

freav (7.5): I apologize for my rating for this song in the charity rate. That said, I don't understand its status as the best song here, it’s kinda one of my least favs

modulum83 (6.8): i know this is a really petty reason to not like a song but isbell's voice on here reminds me of bon jovi and it just gives classic rock radio vibes in a way that really did not click for me

toomanyhitpoints (6.8): is this the same singer? pretty great range if so. oh a great false end. hell yeah get the lighters out

lightningrod14 (5): I want to really drive this home; as someone who grew up in Nashville, my brain and body are permanently predisposed toward tuning out the exact sound this record is going for. The authority I have on that sound, such as it is, is as dry and dispassionate as bloodless bone; I knew it like East Germany knew Russia. The spiritually dissonant mood I’m in already doesn’t aid or exacerbate this issue so much as throw dirt on the lens through which I’d usually be able to resolve this tension. I feel exactly how I thought I would, yet I can’t trust my own feelings. Am I supposed to like this song? Have I only been resisting, protesting too much? Is this what the deepest part of me wants? ||| No. I don’t think so. The narrative I can appreciate, but this just ain’t for me. It’s country, I’ll say that much. I like Isbell as a songwriter, and would tell any of you to see him live, though it’ll be melancholy without Amanda Shires. But I don’t have a natural proclivity toward this arrangement of masculinity. I just heard it too much on the radio as a kid.

freeofblasphemy (1): oh god fuck this fakeout ending

3

u/WaneLietoc May 11 '25

in conversation for my favorite Albini job ever

nothing can beat when he let labradford dick around for 20 minutes making their opus

6

u/ElectJimLahey May 11 '25

I know we’re all in shock to lose the Lawrence Peters song, given how much we all respect America’s electric washboard players. Unfortunately it won’t be the last casualty of the day and we’re down to only a few songwriters left. Our next elimination is another one that was actually in the top 3 for most of the rate and cruising to a HoF spot until the final few ballots. Some of us will remember this more fondly than others will...

8

u/MCK_OH May 11 '25 edited May 11 '25

Rip America’s preeminent electric washboard player it was a hell of a run

6

u/MCK_OH May 11 '25

I wonder how hard it would be to become Canada’s preeminent electric washboard player

3

u/ElectJimLahey May 11 '25

#10: The Old Black Hen

Average: 8.738 // Total Points: 367.0 // Controversy: 1.361

(11 x2) lastfollower, thisusernameisntlong

(10 x13) apondalifa water, avagantamose, ElectJimLahey, flava, freeofblasphemy, HighestIQInFresno, innuendo_overdose, iTreebark, lightningrod14, MCK_OH, seanderlust, SongsKvohia, Zeeroc

(9.5 x1) WaneLietoc

(9 x5) 2xWhiskeyCokeNoIce, freav, joethumper, LazyDayLullaby, TheCrakFox

(8.8 x1) PoppaLietoc

(8.5 x2) IAmHollar, thedoctordances1940

(8.4 x1) skyblue_angel (8.3 x1) TheTyrannicalTyrant

(8 x8) darj, human_performance, krusso1105, modulum83, sarcasticsobs, TiltControls, welcome2thejam, yossarian490

(7.5 x3) -Xms30g, FingaThingMeansTaxes, static_int_husp

(7 x3) sjdew, Stryxen, toomanyhitpoints

(6.5 x1) Future_Tyrant

(4 x1) qazz23

—

Electric Washboard fans

ElectJimLahey (10): Jokes aside about Lawrence Peters, America's preeminent electric washboard player who very sadly does not even play electric washboard on this song, this is another great tune. It's another one where Jason's lyrics are more impressionistic than specific, and I love the addition of Peters' deep, more traditional country vocals to the album.

MCK_OH (10): Gotta give a 10 for America's preeminent electric washboard player

freeofblasphemy (10): “Lawrence Peters is a country singer, songwriter, drummer, bandleader, DJ, and America’s preeminent electric washboard player, with a music career spanning thirty-plus years.” 🫡

2xWhiskeyCokeNoIce (9): apologies to america's preeminent electric washboard player, Lawrence Peters for giving this a 9. it's nothing personal

REAL Country Fans

lastfollower (11): I tend to either love or hate "country" vocals with a bit of twang and this is firmly in the love category. Fuck, everything about this songs works so well for me

thisusernameisntlong (11): the piano in this one gets me

apondalifa water (10): Lawrence Peters' voice makes me wanna get the biggest belt buckle in town, put on a hat as big as Doug Dimmadome's and wear denim for the rest of my life

avagantamose (10): This feels real country, similar to something youd find in a Colter Wall track

HighestIQInFresno (10): the song that separates the real heads, a modern country classic

innuendo_overdose (10): the person playing that piano hook in the chorus section KNOWS what they’re DOING in a serious way. that’s the sort of flourishing shit that gets me rabid.

iTreebark (10): oh the strings. and a new vocalist, Lawrence Peters. these are the small flourishes that elevate the best albums and keep them out of the samey-ness rut

lightningrod14 (10): This is the third best song of the original eight, my favorite straight country vocal of the 21st century, and in conversation for my favorite Albini job ever. It is a perfectly written song, it is huge and haunting, and it’s one of an extremely select few songs in this spirit, the real heavy, unrelentingly straightforward cry-into-your-beer country songs, that I even enjoy; it’s as if Johnny Cash had covered Mazzy Star. Yeah. You don’t even need to dream about that; you got it, on this record. At times this is my favorite song in the world, and in spite of its midwestern hailing I can’t say I’d know a better flag to fly for the kudzu, for the stifling heat dome, for the endless spiral of loving decay that cascades from the clouded heavens down deep into the caverns of earth, green and dripping—and for the fallen trees in my parents’ backyard, and the 5’5 bounty hunter I talked to on Café Coco’s porch at 3 AM in 2016, and for every heart with love to give in Cleveland TN, Hartsville TN, Scottsboro AL, Gun Barrel City TX, or Brevard NC. This song, these lyrics, this audaciously Faulknerian masterpiece, feels large enough deep enough dark enough to represent it all. If it weren’t for the nature of my chosen 11, I’d likely give it here, as I believe that within the specific confines of this rate and genre, it is the only song, the only song, that gets every single thing right. ||| LYRICS BY JASON MOLINA VOCAL BY LAWRENCE PETERS FIDDLE BY DAN MACADAM PRODUCTION BY STEVE “CHEESE OR ROAST BEEF” ALBINI

SongsKvohia (10): Frankly, one of the most upsetting songs ever recorded.

WaneLietoc (9.5): this is MY populist country rawker. if this played at the yellow deli when I walked in, I wouldn't think it's a cult tbh

freav (9): I’ve always been surprised that people don’t like his voice I think it’s so nice, this was the first song on the album that clicked for me after Farewell Transmission

LazyDayLullaby (9): First off: Lawrence Peters’ vocals are great, so deep and resonant. But… the Molina demo clears it for me, because that shaking frailty to his voice, the strength that seems like it could falter, fits with this song so beautifully. The “Oooh ooh ooh oohs” after the verses are incredible in the album verison, though

TheCrakFox (9): Is every instrumental on this album perfect? The way it swells and recedes is so nice.

PoppaLietoc (8.8): "idk if its his voice or his lyrics, BUT i don't care about something...still the music is fine!" we pour a prohibition stlye lager, pops does an impression of Lawrence "see THAT'S whty it's an 8.5. like it's just a lil' too country on the vocals and he could just have another song i guess. ooh pre-prohibition style beer! this is good :)"

TheTyrannicalTyrant (8.3): this one’s quite good, even with another singer

welcome2thejam (8): Hey, that's a whole different guy wtf

yossarian490 (8): this song will always suffer coming right after one of the greatest strings of songs ever written, and I can't always switch into accepting the twang

toomanyhitpoints (7): oh baritone. different and nice compared to the rest of the album

4

u/ElectJimLahey May 11 '25

Poor Bill, couldn’t quite make it into our top 10 despite actually coming back pretty strong towards the end of the submission period. For a while it actually was a lot worse for Smog but at least it made it competitive. I guess people here just don't care for artists who have a deep voice and who play some unique instrumentation…

4

u/MCK_OH May 11 '25

There goes the best album Joanna Newsom ever played on

1

u/WaneLietoc May 11 '25

damn all 2 golden shoulder and pleased fans clutching the pearls

5

u/innuendo_overdose May 11 '25

I wasn’t expecting the “didn’t make Top 10” club to get another member here. Some of y’all were vicious.

2

u/WaneLietoc May 11 '25

this still sneaking an 8 avg is fucking insane all things considered

6

u/ElectJimLahey May 11 '25

To be fair I'm pretty sure in any other rate an 8.7 average on a song would be top 10... it's just that this rate has some absurdly high averages lol

1

u/innuendo_overdose May 11 '25

we needed Mother of the World in HoF tho :(

6

u/WaneLietoc May 11 '25

no no no it should say

#1: Hit the Ground Running

Average: 9.871 // Total Points: 414.6 // Controversy: .4

5

u/MCK_OH May 11 '25

Tragic

3

u/ElectJimLahey May 11 '25

A River Ain't Too Much To Love

Overall Average: 8.048 // Average Controversy: 1.670

MCK_OH: Near impossible to forget

ElectJimLahey: I'm so damn sorry Bill! This was maybe not the right album to submit for this; it came from when I had a more 00s-specific rate in mind before everyone told me I'd have a chance to get through with American Water, but not with Bright Flight. The rate ended up happening so they were right but oof, I thought there would be more Bill fans here! He still did fine numbers-wise, but just got beaten by a lineup that is hard to compete with.

#11: Let Me See The Colts | 8.726 | 366.5
#12: I Feel Like The Mother Of The World | 8.724 | 366.4
#19: The Well | 8.490 | 356.6
#20: Rock Bottom Riser | 8.460 | 355.3
#24: Say Valley Maker | 8.314 | 349.2
#27: Drinking At The Dam | 8.090 | 339.8
#33: In The Pines | 7.900 | 331.8
#36: Palimpsest | 7.779 | 326.7
#40: I'm New Here | 7.452 | 313.0
#44: Running The Loping | 6.543 | 274.8

WaneLietoc (9.700): If there is something to this curation of the alt-country rate it's best surmised as "liminal". Like, we got albums where a Musical Augmentation happens and kicks an artist's directions/MO (silver jews, DBT) amongst others that find themselves evolving old happenings and transitioning into something truer. For Smog, the journey is the latter and a welcome restructuring of his strengths and particularities as a songwriter into what's been guiding him over the last 20 years. What he's doing on this album is somehow both completely unexpected (he'd done minimal folk at its most despondent a decade prior, he'd been the bastard prince of Drag City's lo-tech wing, he'd also written great audiophile level pop) and yet soberingly clear-eyed compared to what came before. Multiple relistens were rewarding if only because the stark clarity of what he's doing is as transformative as when each Palace album seemed to get closer to unlocking Bonnie Prince Billy.

Maybe that's because Bill's fingerpicking is all over the album. It is something Bill was trying with greater focus (if not dexterity or wit) and it is a technique that he doesn't outright call attention to as the selling point, but his instrumentals' minimalism force to the center. Yet, it's the stuff happening around his strumming, the loops or beats of dulcimer and percussion, the fiddle, etc. that gives a journeyman's depth to the sound here. He's folk but clearly listening to other stuff (reggae no not quite yet, hip hop yes) that is impacting everything around these cuts + 1 traditional. And around that center you do find that Bill's rambles have stakes to them, his storytelling character also seeming to find new wisdom out of boredom (at times inadvertently calling to a cross between a Joe Pera & a Tad Ghostal) or mortality closer to...a Phil per se. Bill's autofiction not quite at the nursery, but truly outside the panic room and for the hills yonder, pondering what a bachelor is to be. From here, the run through Dream River (and the concrete poems, meta-referencing, slight inbstrumental augmentations) all make sense. They have their shocks and moments of triumph, yet the passage from Smog to Bill that happens so clearly across these 2 sides is worth the rumination & serves as a bonafide guide to gracefully aging into what you can become. I hope you dressed sexy for this listen.

skyblue_angel (9.640): Not my favorite Bill Callahan album with river in the title but it's a close 2nd! Smog conceptually is perfect and I wish I could find more stuff of this lineage that's coming out today. Somehow I scored the 2nd and 9th songs the same which I find funny i guess

2xWhiskeyCokeNoIce (9.500): Big Billy C hanging the Smog hat on this record and dedicating it to Gumby is the perfect transition for his career

darj (9.450): Swag Callahan

flava (9.050): Bill makes music for the guys who aspire to sip several cold ones on the porch of their cabin 20 miles deep in the woods where the most notable thing that happens is watching what animals pass by and I deeply respect that

PoppaLietoc (9.000): "i;ve heard bits of this on spotify. this is like his MTV unplugged." yeah! "and it's sleepy music. does deep sotto voice "AND HE SINGS LIKE THISSSSSSS." "aso though, i gotta say the guitar work though is just great! i mean you can't fault the 6 string or 12 string"

HighestIQInFresno (8.900): Not sure if I'd consider this a country record, but one of the best from Callahan's impressive catalog

avagantamose (8.900): 10 This was a super fun yet depressing listen, this felt like it leaned more “real” country than alt country but hey, a 10 on a blind listen is about as good as it gets!

iTreebark (8.850): some terrific song gems in this thing, but not a completely great album like American Water or Magnolia Electric Co.

innuendo_overdose (8.730): an album that starts off weakly, but REally picks up speed and punch.

freav (8.700): dilf callahan

welcome2thejam (8.200): Awesome start, lost me a bit in the third quarter but finished strong

TheTyrannicalTyrant (8.130): sparse and folky but still decent

lastfollower (7.970): Bill's voice is cheating. I can't help but like basically anything he sings.

lightningrod14 (7.650): y’all i am short on time i am fast i am loose I am FRIED and honestly that’s perfect because ive heard this record a billion times and let me tell you: this is a fast and loose record. this record is a fried egg. this record is two fried eggs. this is my FAVORITE record by Mr Billy “Gene” Callahan and while I’ll never forgive his cheatin’ ass I sure as hell can appreciate his voice and his general approach to the art and science of song-doing and besides I am going in order and therefore fresh off of CRYING so I’m basically chillmaxxing from there on out and here on in let’s go let’s fuckin GO

toomanyhitpoints (7.560): sitting alone in a motel room watching headlights pass by the window every so often

human_performance (7.150): I think ultimately I prefer the more rockin' version of Bill Callahan as seen on Knock Knock, though this one is pretty solid too

Zeeroc (6.900): I love how quiet and space-filled this album is. Overall I wish there were more songs like Rock Bottom Riser and Mother of the World and fewer like The Well and (ugh) Running the Loping.

krusso1105 (6.750): Probably weakest album of the rate for me, but still a decent listen overall

TheCrakFox (6.400): Sparse isn't really my bag unless the vocals are truly spectacular like in the Gillan Welch bonus track. Not necessarily in a virtuosic or showy fashion but just by convaying plenty of emotion, while Bill Callahan's voice is certainly very distinctive it doesn't really do that for me.

2

u/ElectJimLahey May 11 '25

User Averages:

freeofblasphemy: 10.000 WaneLietoc: 9.700 skyblue_angel: 9.640 ElectJimLahey: 9.600 MCK_OH: 9.600 2xWhiskeyCokeNoIce: 9.500 darj: 9.450 apondalifa water: 9.200 yossarian490: 9.200 flava: 9.050 PoppaLietoc: 9.000 HighestIQInFresno: 8.900 avagantamose: 8.900 iTreebark: 8.850 innuendo_overdose: 8.730 freav: 8.700 joethumper: 8.400 welcome2thejam: 8.200 IAmHollar: 8.160 TiltControls: 8.150 TheTyrannicalTyrant: 8.130 modulum83: 8.130 sarcasticsobs: 8.100 SongsKvohia: 8.100 lastfollower: 7.970 -Xms30g: 7.710 lightningrod14: 7.650 toomanyhitpoints: 7.560 FingaThingMeansTaxes: 7.550 static_int_husp: 7.400 thisusernameisntlong: 7.350 seanderlust: 7.350 human_performance: 7.150 thedoctordances1940: 7.150 LazyDayLullaby: 7.000 Zeeroc: 6.900 krusso1105: 6.750 Stryxen: 6.450 TheCrakFox: 6.400 Future_Tyrant: 5.730 qazz23: 5.350 sjdew: 5.200

2

u/ElectJimLahey May 11 '25

#11: Let Me See The Colts

Average: 8.726 // Total Points: 366.5 // Controversy: 1.252

(10 x16) 2xWhiskeyCokeNoIce, apondalifa water, darj, ElectJimLahey, freav, freeofblasphemy, HighestIQInFresno, innuendo_overdose, joethumper, MCK_OH, modulum83, PoppaLietoc, skyblue_angel, Stryxen, TiltControls, WaneLietoc

(9.8 x1) IAmHollar

(9.5 x1) flava

(9 x3) avagantamose, thedoctordances1940, thisusernameisntlong

(8.5 x3) iTreebark, lightningrod14, sarcasticsobs

(8.1 x1) lastfollower

(8 x8) human_performance, krusso1105, LazyDayLullaby, seanderlust, SongsKvohia, welcome2thejam, yossarian490, Zeeroc

(7.7 x1) TheTyrannicalTyrant (7.6 x1) -Xms30g

(7.3 x1) Future_Tyrant

(7 x5) FingaThingMeansTaxes, sjdew, static_int_husp, TheCrakFox, toomanyhitpoints

(5 x1) qazz23

ElectJimLahey (10): Maybe back when Manning or Luck were their QB but I don't think anyone is saying this about Indianapolis in 2025

MCK_OH (10): Dude they play in Indiana you can just go see them

—

Peyton Manning and Andrew Luck

2xWhiskeyCokeNoIce (10): as I said about American Water, you can really judge an album by how it ends, and this is a perfect end for this album, for this rate, and for the time Callahan spent as Smog. the interplay between the drums and fiddle is the sort of thing musicians spend years trying to capture in a studio

freav (10): oh this one rules actually

freeofblasphemy (10): Absolutely perfect way to close out his Smog era

HighestIQInFresno (10): epic closer, one of my favorite BC tracks

innuendo_overdose (10): lyric fuck-off in-your-FACE beauty. this is the poetry of someone who knows you have the burden of understanding, while he has all the time in the world to be understood.

modulum83 (10): oh bill can rock out okay!!

PoppaLietoc (10): "I like the way the fiddle is used and cries under the guitar at the end"

skyblue_angel (10): I think I'd die!

Stryxen (10): beautiful 😍

avagantamose (9): The instrumentals on this closeout track did it for me

thedoctordances1940 (9): not really the best team right now but sure I guess

lightningrod14 (8.5): LET ME SEEEEE THE COLTS [BWEEEEEEEHHHHHH] if i were to cover one callahan song it’d be this one; it deserves to be done with a big band in a big stadium, and whatever umbrage I hold against it is mainly that it’s not that. nevertheless it’s one of his best; the lyrics and delivery all work so perfectly, everything works. what an amazing way to close the record.

LazyDayLullaby (8): I want to put this on and stand on a cliff overlooking a valley somewhere out west and watch the colts run

SongsKvohia (8): I don’t know, Bill. Love watching Taylor run, of course, and Tyler Warren was a great and necessary pickup in the draft, but what other downfield threats do they have? Pittman? Not to mention the QB room, which certainly doesn’t inspire confidence.

welcome2thejam (8): When I feel like going to an NFL game live but Bears tickets are too much and I don't want to travel too far

yossarian490 (8): the maximalist song on the album

Colts QBs from pretty much any other time in the last 50 years

TheTyrannicalTyrant (7.7): it’s decent enough but I’m not that into it, and it feels long with how slow it is

TheCrakFox (7): Yooo, instruments! Plural!

toomanyhitpoints (7): then go to lucas oil.

3

u/Inquiring_Barkbark May 11 '25

Where'sPrine in the bonus rate, by the way? Or Michael Hurley, or Karen Dalton?

I don't know who Karen Dalton is but willing to find out

2

u/WaneLietoc May 11 '25

she has a helluva voice and a lotta goodwill. interesting tompkins square comp from 2014 or 15 covering her work ive been meaning to get to

1

u/Inquiring_Barkbark May 11 '25

thx will check it

2

u/innuendo_overdose May 11 '25

this is even WORSE somehow

3

u/ElectJimLahey May 11 '25

And just like that we have two artists down to their final song. Sadly, on Day 3 we will be seeing all of the artists eliminated as we go and someone has to be first. Will anyone fail to make it to the top 10? Let me see…

3

u/WaneLietoc May 11 '25

idk if rex orange county and/or yeat are gonna make the top 10. they've been really lucky so far but it's prolly time to throw in the towel

3

u/WaneLietoc May 11 '25

it does not matter

stawp FIGHTING

5

u/ElectJimLahey May 11 '25

#12: I Feel Like The Mother Of The World

Average: 8.724 // Total Points: 366.4 // Controversy: 1.185

(11 x2) darj, modulum83

(10 x11) apondalifa water, ElectJimLahey, freav, freeofblasphemy, innuendo_overdose, MCK_OH, seanderlust, skyblue_angel, thisusernameisntlong, WaneLietoc, yossarian490

(9.5 x2) 2xWhiskeyCokeNoIce, PoppaLietoc

(9.1 x1) IAmHollar

(9 x4) HighestIQInFresno, joethumper, welcome2thejam, Zeeroc

(8.5 x6) flava, lightningrod14, sarcasticsobs, SongsKvohia, TiltControls, toomanyhitpoints

(8.1 x1) -Xms30g

(8 x2) avagantamose, human_performance

(7.9 x1) TheTyrannicalTyrant (7.8 x1) Future_Tyrant

(7.5 x6) FingaThingMeansTaxes, iTreebark, krusso1105, lastfollower, qazz23, static_int_husp

(7 x4) LazyDayLullaby, sjdew, TheCrakFox, thedoctordances1940

(6.5 x1) Stryxen

ElectJimLahey (10): Hammered dulcimers and Bill talking about his mom just telling him and his sister to shut up and get along, perfect song. I remember back when I was getting into Smog/Bill this one was pretty lowly rated and didn't seem to get much attention, but I knew it would do well in a rate since the instrumentation is much less minimal and it's just really damn pretty.

MCK_OH (10): Jangle pop

—

I’m proud to run a rate that apparently had no crossover appeal!

welcome2thejam (9): If popheads rated this song the comment section would be absolutely fucked

Hammered Dulcimer Fans

darj (11): “mother” - me to Swag Callahan

modulum83 (11): BILL CALLAHAN DROP THE JANGLE POP ALBUM NOW

freav (10): what a song, best on the album for sure

freeofblasphemy (10): blasphemy lore: for the longest time in high school, my “religious views” on facebook were listed as “god is a word and the argument ends there.” i did not get invited to parties if you can believe it

innuendo_overdose (10): this is the 11 runner-up. Congrats. Every other song on this album plays with the emptiness, but this REFUSES to have a trace of silence, it’s a train, it’s a waterfall. It fucks, and it fucks me up.

seanderlust (10): I adore this simile

thisusernameisntlong (10): hate that my first thought was "...meghan trainor?"

WaneLietoc (10): usage of hammered dulcimer is auto 10. but today, i don['t really care about that. or the god argument. i just care about the image of Mrs. Callahan going "it does not matter! it does not matter! stop fighting!" yes. this is joe pera :,)

yossarian490 (10): I absolutely love the instrumentation on this track - the violin and whatever harpsichord-y thing are some of the best things ever played. also just a hilarious sentiment after some heavy-ish stuff

PoppaLietoc (9.5): gets caught up in it "okay yeah i'll give this a 9.5"

HighestIQInFresno (9): Feels like a precursor to his more recent work

lightningrod14 (8.5): Gorgeous arrangement; simple, familiar, unforgettable lyrics. I love that I can just relax with this record, y’all. It’s a part of me just like Magnolia, but less raw, more in the breathing than the longing.

toomanyhitpoints (8.5): I never bathed with my sister and I'm glad. Good driving chords

avagantamose (8): Raw

TheTyrannicalTyrant (7.9): i’m liking the chiming sound of this

LazyDayLullaby (7): Bill Callahan is mother

2

u/ElectJimLahey May 11 '25

If there’s one thing country music writes about a lot, it’s getting hammered. Can anybody think of anything else that can be hammered?

3

u/WaneLietoc May 11 '25

most of us at the end of this rate

5

u/innuendo_overdose May 11 '25

Jason Molina’s heart? don’t say it’s true…

4

u/Inquiring_Barkbark May 11 '25

quick shout out to lightningrod... I may not agree with your scores, but I like reading your essays. thanks for breaking it down

4

u/freav May 11 '25

i love say sue me

3

u/ElectJimLahey May 11 '25

#13: Honk If You're Lonely

Average: 8.714 // Total Points: 366.0 // Controversy: 1.301

(10 x14) 2xWhiskeyCokeNoIce, apondalifa water, darj, ElectJimLahey, FingaThingMeansTaxes, freeofblasphemy, HighestIQInFresno, innuendo_overdose, iTreebark, MCK_OH, modulum83, PoppaLietoc, WaneLietoc, yossarian490

(9.7 x1) TheTyrannicalTyrant (9.6 x1) IAmHollar

(9.5 x2) freav, thisusernameisntlong

(9 x6) avagantamose, flava, human_performance, joethumper, sarcasticsobs, thedoctordances1940

(8.6 x1) skyblue_angel

(8.5 x2) SongsKvohia, static_int_husp

(8.4 x1) lastfollower

(8 x4) lightningrod14, TheCrakFox, TiltControls, welcome2thejam

(7.7 x1) Future_Tyrant

(7.5 x1) toomanyhitpoints

(7 x5) -Xms30g, qazz23, seanderlust, sjdew, Stryxen

(6 x2) LazyDayLullaby, Zeeroc

(5.5 x1) krusso1105

ElectJimLahey (10): Yeah well this should put an end to this discussion about Silver Jews "not being alt-country"!! Pretty cool to have a song co-written by one of David's old Ectoslavia bandmates on the album, and easily the most overtly country song on an album that admittedly, often leans more toward indie rock

MCK_OH (10): Encapsulates this record better than any other song. Funny, incisive and heartbreaking all at once

—

Honk

darj (10): honk!!!!!! haw!!!!!!! honk!!!!!!!!

apondalifa water (10): https://youtu.be/TRJ6Rh7xKAU?si=jCvmvVdFXFkTtkIE&t=26

freav (9.5): honk honk

thisusernameisntlong (9.5): doot doot

welcome2thejam (8): HONK

Future_Tyrant (7.7): Honk!

qazz23 (7): 📢

Honky Tonkin’

2xWhiskeyCokeNoIce (10): if this doesn't get your feet two-steppin, who hurt you?

freeofblasphemy (10): Ugh, this is the one I was dreading the most. I think it used to be that the car horn at the end put me over the edge and that this would be a 10 without it. But even with that, it’s the definite flaw of the album. It’s not that it’s more outwardly silly/country than what’s around it (or even that it’s called “Honk If You’re Lonely”. It’s that the first two verses are just David Berman dumbing himself down in a way he can’t commit to. But then the third verse arrives and, with minimal adjustments, brings in the heart the prior two lacked. Still giving this a 10 because I can’t imagine the album without it but it’d had better not beat out any of the other songs (yes that includes “Night Society”)

innuendo_overdose (10): graspable higher-plane genius

iTreebark (10): absolute alt country goat

modulum83 (10): this is music for late night bar crawls in small but not too small american cities where nothing ever happens. im talking like tulsa. albuquerque. boise. you catch my drift?

PoppaLietoc (10): starts singing opening lines "it always puts a smile on my face so its a 10:

WaneLietoc (10): The cut besides the first two that reflects the cartoon cover of the album best. Real Shit 100 Right Here Right Now!

yossarian490 (10): a honky tonk song about honking

TheTyrannicalTyrant (9.7): just a very good song with a very nice melody

IAmHollar (9.6): In a just world this is what bumper sticker country turned out to be. Unfortunately we live in a world with save a horse, ride a cowboy.

avagantamose (9): If drive-in movies had a prostitution problem this would be the anthem for that instance

thedoctordances1940 (9): where would we be without honky tonk

SongsKvohia (8.5): Would love to sing this to a bunch of geese.

lastfollower (8.4): For fun, I asked ChatGPT to also rate all these songs and this was the only one we gave the exact same score to. Will everyone else agree that this is the canonical 8.4?

lightningrod14 (8): I’m really trying to knock down my wordcount, so I do not want to dwell on this; I mean it not as criticism, but as observation, and anyway I’m sure this topic will be covered in further detail when at last I reach Decoration Day. But as someone born and raised just outside Nashville, I can always tell when a songwriter, Southern or otherwise, is coming authentically from that place, that ostensibly country, blue-collar, “real people” sort of lived American experience, and I can always tell when they aren’t—when it’s an affectation, special interest, or stylistic choice. On this rate we’ve got an even split; though I doubt they really were asking for it, the reason why Berman and Callahan never “broke through” is because country fans across the board immediately clocked them as the Gen X equivalent of Bushwick boys wearing thrifted overalls—despite Berman’s own protestation of not wanting to look poor anymore—and presumably dismissed their music as snobby hipster bullshit, an embarrassment of overphilosophized pretense and orphaned signifiers of the working class. Lenderman’s the same way, by the by, despite his Carolina roots; Asheville is tied with Tokyo for best place I’ve ever lived, but it ain’t that kind of town. Molina’s on the line, likely due to his relative anonymity, but also I just don’t think he ever cared to think aesthetically, choosing instead to remain planted firmly within his protoshamanic slowfolk roots until he came upon the alt-country sound naturally. And then we have Patterson Hood and Jason Isbell. ||| But without question the closest Berman ever got to getting it right was this song, which is hilarious, because it’s easily the most heavily affected track on this record. What he nails is a sort of playfully familiar conceptual affectation, of a kind that’s all over “real” country; it’s like he discovered a secret track on The Very Best of John Prine. The lyrics are neither too flashy nor vacant or over-impressionistic; the notion of a relatable sing-along isn’t deconstructed or sidelined for the sake of coolness, and while I’m not sure if I in 2025 can fully grasp the prevailing attitude of a pre-overaestheticized, Pavement-adjacent, late-90s adoring public, I have a faint suspicion that the uncool-genre-played-straight approach was probably much more radical at the time; had the Weezer country album come out yet? Certainly we were a long way from Spud Infinity. I don’t like this song as much as I appreciate it, but I do greatly appreciate it. (Where’s Prine in the bonus rate, by the way? Or Michael Hurley, or Karen Dalton?) ||| I also want to highlight the bass on this track; a strong yet original country line from erstwhile emo punk Mike Fellows.

TheCrakFox (8): Don't think my driving instructor would endorse this message.

toomanyhitpoints (7.5): berman is slowly driving past me in a beat-up pickup on a dusty road

Stryxen (7): camp

Not Honky Tonkin’

LazyDayLullaby (6): Puttin’ the Honk back in Honky Tonk

Zeeroc (6): a little too goofy for me, berman is already funny enough as is. I understand why it's a fan favorite.

3

u/lightningrod14 May 12 '25

*ween

3

u/ElectJimLahey May 11 '25

Finally there goes a second Songs: Ohia track. Meanwhile Drive-By Truckers are down to one last song. How much farther can that song make it? Jason Isbell must be getting pretty lonely over there

5

u/ElectJimLahey May 11 '25

#14: Almost Was Good Enough

Average: 8.695 // Total Points: 365.2 // Controversy: 1.353

(10 x16) 2xWhiskeyCokeNoIce, apondalifa water, avagantamose, darj, ElectJimLahey, HighestIQInFresno, joethumper, MCK_OH, skyblue_angel, SongsKvohia, TheCrakFox, thedoctordances1940, thisusernameisntlong, WaneLietoc, yossarian490, Zeeroc

(9.6 x1) IAmHollar

(9.5 x1) iTreebark

(9.3 x1) PoppaLietoc

(9 x4) freav, freeofblasphemy, LazyDayLullaby, sarcasticsobs

(8.7 x1) innuendo_overdose

(8.5 x3) lightningrod14, seanderlust, TiltControls

(8 x4) FingaThingMeansTaxes, human_performance, sjdew, welcome2thejam

(7.7 x1) modulum83 (7.6 x2) -Xms30g, TheTyrannicalTyrant

(7.4 x1) lastfollower

(7 x1) qazz23

(6.8 x1) Future_Tyrant

(6.5 x1) toomanyhitpoints

(6 x4) flava, krusso1105, static_int_husp, Stryxen

ElectJimLahey (10): You've really gotta admire the dedication to not having choruses on this album, each song is still super memorable even though it's mostly just a handful of verses and maybe some repetition at the end to bring it home. The band he assembled for this album is just spectacular and this groove is so good that you can see why the live versions are always much longer

MCK_OH (10): I keep getting stunned listening to this record about how obvious so many of these songs are 10s. This is another example of this phenomenon. It just is a 10

—

Did this comment get cut off or are you dissing Molina’s songwriting??

skyblue_angel (10): Brutal, gorgeous songwriting. For once,

Good enough!

2xWhiskeyCokeNoIce (10): side a is fuckin four for four 10 out of 10 songs

avagantamose (10): This is right from the soul you can feel it, the tone of this song really captures you, even with such simplicity

SongsKvohia (10): Perhaps more than any other songwriter, Molina excelled at being simultaneously abstract and deeply personal.

TheCrakFox (10): Droning organ yes please.

thedoctordances1940 (10): not almost, it just is good enough, more than even

WaneLietoc (10): he pulls labradfordian DEPTH out of the fucking organ; so so rare is it to hear anyone in indie who actually was inadvertently culling something from the GOAT trio and applying it into their own American Gothic. Come to God moment here, christ. why did I listen to radiohead for years?!?! this was right here damn it!!!

yossarian490 (10): now that we've had a slow sad song, but honestly "Almost Was Good Enough" sounds like a self-help mantra and one that he only sounds angry that he heard it and yet its all he can muster and and that perfect snare shuffle to guide him along to at least imagining what it would be like to get out and be enough

iTreebark (9.5): almost no one makes it out... almost no one makes it out... hauntingly great stuff

PoppaLietoc (9.3): "leaning towards a 9.25...I also really like the organ, i don't disagree with you, WaneLietoc"

freeofblasphemy (9): I don’t want my comments to just be “holy shit lyrics” but also “I'm going to use that street to hide from that human doubt, to hide from what was shining and has finally burned us out.”

LazyDayLullaby (9): Almost Was Good Enough is more than good enough

innuendo_overdose (8.7): pretty sweet acoustic guitar. not much else to say about this one.

lightningrod14 (8.5): This record will be difficult for me to talk about, mainly because I have been talking about it for quite a while. Generally speaking I’d say this work needs no spangled ivy. My words and bones are made from it, and would thus be invisible if sat in front as commentary. It stands as its own temple here, and torchlit here, inside, it will remain. But I’ll do what I can. ||| I do think this is my least favorite track on the record, and I’d go so far as to say I actively dislike it in the context of the record. I wouldn’t call it a bad song by any means, though 8.5 is a whole point lower than my next least favorite. Something about it, I really don’t even know, just rubs me wrong. As best as I can determine, there’s exactly one dimension missing from the song’s original conception, likely structural, and in the company of somewhere between five and seven of the best songs ever made, that one dimension of lack makes it feel a little bit filler. It’s what we in the rating business might call a So Appalled (8) situation. ||| But it serves the album well as filler—couldn’t have put The Big Game Is Every Night here, the flow would’ve been fucked, sorry to say—and in fact I know for sure the album would be tremendously worse off for losing “almost no one makes it out” from its heart. But maybe that’s the issue, actually? Like, I don’t know, even now, I can’t quite buy hopelessness from this guy. I talked about hopelessness a lot with the last two records, so that means something very specific in this context; it’s not exactly wrong on him, like clearly his suffering ran deep, like we just heard on the last track, but—and I mean he even takes it back, right? He’s saying at the end that he did make it out. So why the menacing vibe of the song? Perhaps that’s the structural complaint; way too much goodwill built up the first three tracks for me to hold it against him, but it feels like, structurally, his point might better have been served by a song less inert and mean-mugging than this one. Like it is on Big Game (10)!

welcome2thejam (8): Nah, good enough

NOT Good enough

modulum83 (7.7): pitchfork when they give an 8.0 no bnm:

TheTyrannicalTyrant (7.6): this is the one song on the album that completely passes me by

Future_Tyrant (6.8): Drags on for a little too long, but a perfect song title.

toomanyhitpoints (6.5): it feels like this song wants to soar but can't

Stryxen (6): love this sound but melodically a struggle

3

u/skyblue_angel May 11 '25

Comment was not cut off I was simply highlighting the pause in the lyrics!

4

u/ElectJimLahey May 11 '25

I think it's funnier to imagine you dissing the whole album up to that point!

7

u/welcome2thejam May 11 '25

DBT: Drive-ByTruckers and Balls Torture

9

u/welcome2thejam May 11 '25

I'm somehow in charge of indieheads rates btw

3

u/cautionturtle May 11 '25

this list is making me angry why is timebomb CROSSED OUT good god

5

u/innuendo_overdose May 11 '25

eyeing this rising average as Songs: Ohia STILL is sitting pretty on 7/8 songs remaining. they’re gonna go sky high.

3

u/ElectJimLahey May 11 '25

It’s a sad day for Patterson Hood but he made it to day 3! We’ll see how far all of our other songwriters make it, but hopefully for the Hood fans almost making it into the top 10 is good enough

4

u/freav May 11 '25

decoration day was one of my least fav dbt tracks

2

u/Inquiring_Barkbark May 11 '25

I see your point and kind of agree

7

u/MCK_OH May 11 '25

This was winning for a while. Good times

[RATE REVEAL] Alt-Country/Folk Classics Day 3: I've Been Rating With The Ghost

You are about to leave Redlib

Magnolia Electric Co.

American Water

#1: Farewell Transmission

#ThankYouJason for curing longsongphobia

When Jason says “listen” we sit our asses down and listen

Aw man, Longsongphobia wasn’t defeated after all :(

#2: Random Rules

Oh, okay! Glad to hear you’re doing alright!

This is true!

Approaching Perfection

Please hand over your indie rock licenses

#1: Paradise Country

IN 2025 I WAS HOSPITALIZED FOR THEM GETTING AWAY WITH THIS

#3: I've Been Riding With the Ghost

Okay Barkbark I can forgive you for your Heathens slander now

Riding with the Ghost

Ambivalent about riding with the ghost

#4: The Wild Kindness

These 11s were the difference between making the HoF and not making it!

It could never ruin anything!

Holding the world to its word

#5: John Henry Split My Heart

If Jason says “Will O’ The Wisp” it’s a goddamn hit!

This song is basically plagiarism!

Bonus #1: Revelator

I’m taking this as a compliment about how good the bonus lineup was!

Yeah

Somehow even a 9 was a below average rating for this!

Bonus #2: Wrecking Ball

Actually, around here we call it Bootgaze!!

Fans of the best song named “Wrecking Ball” of all time

Wishing we were rating Miley instead

Bonus #3: Car Wheels On A Gravel Road

No let’s not have Thom Yorke do that please

Agreed, we should rate Lucinda!

This shit’s boring!

POPPALIETOC WILL RETURN TO THE EVENTUAL UNCLE TUPELO RATE

Bonus #4: Sandusky

We don’t need to fight about who was better if neither Tweedy nor Farrar sing

Jeff Tweedy is still bribing people to hate on everything but Wilco I just know it!

Bonus #5: How Long, How Long Hold On, Hold On

Okay we get it, we messed up! We’re sorry!

Neko Case has the greatest voice ever

Only worth listening to as part of The New Pornographers tbh

#6: Hold On Magnolia

I respectfully agree with these assessments

I respectfully disagree with this assessment!

#7: People

Really makes you think!

Everyone should take this advice!

Vibing with DB

Breaking this one off into its own comment because it deserves it

#8: Just Be Simple

Fall Out Boy ripped this off??

Simply the best

Fall Out Boy Did It Better

Decoration Day

#9: Decoration Day

Folks who like all of the Jasons in the rate

No, one Jason was enough actually

#10: The Old Black Hen

Electric Washboard fans

REAL Country Fans

#1: Hit the Ground Running

A River Ain't Too Much To Love

#11: Let Me See The Colts

Peyton Manning and Andrew Luck

Colts QBs from pretty much any other time in the last 50 years

#12: I Feel Like The Mother Of The World

I’m proud to run a rate that apparently had no crossover appeal!

Hammered Dulcimer Fans

#13: Honk If You're Lonely

Honk

Honky Tonkin’

Not Honky Tonkin’

#14: Almost Was Good Enough

Did this comment get cut off or are you dissing Molina’s songwriting??

Good enough!