Weekly Question 3! How do you rank their albums?

[WhiteNoise]

Lurkers and new posters especially invited to answer!

This is an old question but WE HAVEN'T HAD IT IN A WHILE so let's do it. Rank the Chemical Brothers albums from first to last for how much you like them. Controversy and enraged discussion of one another's lists greatly encouraged.


1. Exit Planet Dust
2. We Are The Night (Geoff Edit)
3. Surrender
4. Further
5. Come With Us
6. We Are The Night
7. Dig Your Own Hole
8. Hanna
9. Push The Button
10. Born in the Echoes

[ThePumisher]

2. We Are The Night (Geoff Edit)

What?

1. Dig Your Own Hole
2. Come With Us
3. Fourtheenth Century Sky E.P.
4. Further
5. Exit Planet Dust
6.1. My Mercury Mouth E.P. (both versions)
6.2. Loops Of Fury E.P.
7. Surrender
8. We Are The Night
9. Hanna
10. Born In The Echoes
11. Push The Button (except for Surface To Air, which is #2 after Star Guitar on their best tracks list)

[WhiteNoise]

What?

Androidgeoff put together an altered version of We Are The Night that adds a few b-sides, rearranges things, and it's pretty awesome.

I had to include it on the list because my gut says WATN is number 2, but that's only because I don't listen to All Rights Reversed, The Salmon Dance, Do It Again and Battle Scars in the context of the album, cause they stick out like sore thumbs. They're good on their own, they just sound completely out of place next to Burst Generator or Saturate. That's why actual WATN appears lower on the list...

[Bosco]

Come With Us
Dig Your Own Hole

Further
Born In The Echoes
Exit Planet Dust
Surrender


Push The Button



We Are The Night

[Bendy1001]

Androidgeoff put together an altered version of We Are The Night that adds a few b-sides, rearranges things, and it's pretty awesome.

Please tell me where I can find this version! Is it just a playlist?
I suppose I could set up my own playlist, but this sounds interesting.

1. Come With Us
2. Further
3. Surrender
4. We are the Night
5. Exit Planet Dust
6. Born in the Echoes
7. Hanna
8. Push the Button
9. Dig Your own Hole

There's no Chem album that I dislike, but I never really got that into DYOH. I've never been good at describing music with mah mouth words, but I think the whole album sounds like a mad jam with with blisteringly loud percussion. It's still funky as hell, but it just feels really heavy, and I guess I'm not into that. I hate to risk sounding like an old fogey, but I think I'd like it a lot more if there were a couple of calmer tracks like Chico's Groove or Alive Alone. Much like Pumisher though, I think the final track on my least favourite album is one of their best ever.

Also, I feel like if it weren't for the sentiment I have with most of their other albums, BITE would probably be higher up.

[NiCk.Dj]

Come with Us
We are the Night
push the button
dig your own hole
further
exit planet dust
surrender
born in the echoes

[WhiteNoise]

Please tell me where I can find this version! Is it just a playlist?
I suppose I could set up my own playlist, but this sounds interesting.

Probably wrong but here's how I remember it:

1. No Path To Follow
1. We Are The Night
2. Clip Kiss
3. Electronic Battle Weapon 8
4. Do It Again (Extended) (with ending cut so it transitions into Das Spiegel like on record)
5. Das Speigel
6. The Salmon Dance (Marmite Edition - i.e. you pick the original or instrumental based on your feelings about the song)
7. Burst Generator
8. A Modern Midnight Conversation (the "wind" outro crossfades into the next)
9. Battle Scars (Beyond The Wizard's Sleeve Re-Animation)*
10. Harpoons
11. The Pills Won't Help You Now

*Definitely cheating to use a remix, but I REALLY feel that a Chemical Brothers-made longer and more epic (less silly) version of Battle Scars would fit much better on the album, and the Re-Animation is the next best thing.

If you can't handle that, just use Seal - bridges really nicely between AMMC and Harpoons.

We Are The Night

NOOOOO

[Bendy1001]

Thanks WN! The only chemical track I feel more conflicted about than Battle Scars is Hold Tight London. I think I'll use Seal. I like the Wizard's Sleeve mix, but it doesn't feel right in the album for me.

[Joslyn]

Probably wrong but here's how I remember it:

1. No Path To Follow
1. We Are The Night
2. Clip Kiss
3. Electronic Battle Weapon 8
4. Do It Again (Extended) (with ending cut so it transitions into Das Spiegel like on record)
5. Das Speigel
6. The Salmon Dance (Marmite Edition - i.e. you pick the original or instrumental based on your feelings about the song)
7. Burst Generator
8. A Modern Midnight Conversation (the "wind" outro crossfades into the next)
9. Battle Scars (Beyond The Wizard's Sleeve Re-Animation)*
10. Harpoons
11. The Pills Won't Help You Now

*Definitely cheating to use a remix, but I REALLY feel that a Chemical Brothers-made longer and more epic (less silly) version of Battle Scars would fit much better on the album, and the Re-Animation is the next best thing.

If you can't handle that, just use Seal - bridges really nicely between AMMC and Harpoons.

You should swap Clip Kiss with All Rights Reversed (Fight the Drabs remix)
We Are The Night needs a proper live release. I really love the bassline and vocal leading up to the frenzy that is WATN

[Joslyn]

Tough one ranking the albums. There are no dissapointing albums, my favorite tracks are on albums which aren't my favorite. Let's give it a try.

1. Dig Your Own Hole
2. Come With Us
3. Exit Planet Dust
4. Born in the Echoes
5. Further
6. Surrender
7. Hanna
8. We Are The Night
9. Don't Think
10. Push the Button

a. Singles '93-'03
b. Brotherhood

PTB has tracks I absolutely adore, Hold tight London and Surface to air but it's not flowing as an album. CWU for me has one significant track, the Test. But I love the album without skipping any tracks.

It could also be the timeframe of it's release. All the artwork of the first four albums is amazing and marketing is low profile. With PTB this changed. The artwork was simple industrial but tv ads where all over the place. Therefor it didn't fit me at the time and the album has no particular connection with me in that timeframe. It did bring the Chemical Brothers their commercial succes they diserve.

[satur8]

1. Exit Planet Dust
2. Dig Your Own Hole
3. Further
a. Singles 93-03 (2 discs)
b. Brother's Gonna Work It Out
4. Surrender
5. Come With Us 
c. Live at The Social Vo.1
6. Born in the Echoes
d. Brotherhood (2 discs)
7. Hanna
8. We Are The Night
9. Push the Button
f. Don't Think

If live albums and soundtracks count, I'm including (official) DJ mixes. I think the first Singles collection and bonus disc are great listens, and I almost bumped Brotherhood up based on the EBWs alone.

We crave live albums, but there are plenty of bootlegs from major shows that are better than Don't Think. And...we never even got a Superflash single.

EDIT - I didn't include the Dust Brothers EPs or Loops of Fury, but we are overdue for an anniversary compilation.

[sneakerbeater]

Interesting thread this one away liked the idea re-editing some albums, always wanted to do dig your own hole. Id just go extended cuts all the way and bin off block rockin beats  for not another drugstore, maybe even with the Willie hutch anti Nazi mix at the begining.

Seems to be a common theme that "Come with us" scores quite highly even thought when it came out it was panned by the fan, but it's definitely an album that has aged we with time. Also "Push the button" nearly bottom on all list, and probably rightly so. 

1, 2 & 3 - For me the top 3 would have to be the classic trilogy,  surrender will always edge it as my #1 but not sure which order exit and dig would go

4. Born in the echoes - was a great album, there is a lot of the first 3 albums in that album. It has the bombasticness of dig your own and the mood swings of surrender

5. Come with us

6. Further

7. We are the night - definitely would re-edit fright the drabs mix, salmon out and add no need

8. Push the button

[Stefan]

Hmmm, although I have a clear favourite, the runner-up are hard to place in a meaningful order. It's difficult to favour one over the other and it might change from day to day, or mood. I'll try anyway.

1. Further
2. We Are The Night
3. Surrender
4. Push The Button
5. Come With Us
6. Born In The Echoes
7. Dig Your Own Hole
8. Exit Planet Dust

[Bosco]

It's a small sample size, but I'm quite surprised at the early reception to Come With Us. I'm waiting for more of the old heads to even the playing field.

Furthermore, it's difficult to find ways to politely criticize albums that aren't your favorite without it coming off discouraging. 

[Wolkenkrabber]

my favorite tracks are on albums which aren't my favorite.

Yep.

It's a small sample size, but I'm quite surprised at the early reception to Come With Us. I'm waiting for more of the old heads to even the playing field.

Furthermore, it's difficult to find ways to politely criticize albums that aren't your favorite without it coming off discouraging. 

True, but I'm gonna try - by saying mostly nice things about my bottom choices.

Exit
Further
Dig
Surrender
Hanna
BITE
Push
Night
Come

The top four was easy to pick: The initial trilogy of albums punctuated at #2 by the album that reaffirmed my faith in ChemBros - spectacularly. Hanna is a great soundtrack but it's difficult to compare it to other albums, so I stuck it in the middle.

Thoughts on the lower placed albums under the spoiler tags (for fear of a tl;dr situation).

Spoiler

Why is CWU bottom for me? Well I had all four 'singles' tracks before buying the album.  When I played the thing I thought, "what else is there to really enjoy here?"  Well, there's Pioneer Skies which is lovely, even though it ripped off the chords from Roxy Music's Pyjamarama .  There's a Beth Orton track again – hmm, a bit predictable. And there are four other tracks which are fairly forgettable.  Having bought each Chems album chronologically, it wasn't as impressive, overall, as the first three.  Hence my opinion being: nice singles, shame about the album.

Listening to CWU this week with my "2016 head" on has been interesting.  Forgetting (-sort of-) which tracks were singles, it of course, contains some damn fine music. Three of the first four tracks are absolute killers. The full length Test remains majestic, although maybe the synths sound a little dated now.  Beth's track is a beautiful laid-back thing which would probably be a standout on one of her own albums. And the other four tracks? Well they're like fun B-sides that I'd forgotten about.  Perhaps that's a little harsh on Elastic Eye; it's a great experiment in sound, and also drops a hint as to what would come with Hanna ten years later. Galaxy Bounce, Hoops and Denmark may be fun but ultimately they do remain forgettable for me, sorry! So six, maybe seven out of ten tracks are good to great, and as such I feel a little guilty putting it in last place.

WATN in second bottom place. It was a consistent album with just two tracks to skip; Sammy the Frickin Salmon (nice video, shame about the song) and All Rights Reversed. So WATN is the opposite to CWU; it's all about the album tracks waiting to be discovered: Burst Generator, AMMC, hell just about everything. A consistently good offering that just lacked a couple of killer singles.

PTB third from bottom. At the time it felt like a fresh start after CWU. I loved the artwork, the videos, the strong start and blissful finish to the album. But I will admit that it sags a bit in the middle. On another day I might be tempted to swap it's position with CWU.

So, see you all back here next month when we try to shoehorn the Trespass soundtrack into our lists, yeah?

[Ben_j]

1. Surrender
1. Dig your own Hole (tied with Surrender)
3. Further
4. We Are The Night
5. Come With Us
6. Push the Button
7. Exit Planet Dust
8. Born in the Echoes
9. Hanna

[inchemwetrust]

PTB has tracks I absolutely adore, Hold tight London and Surface to air but it's not flowing as an album.

Im skipping tracks in PTB tbh! Its a different album. not that its bad,its just ok.

Furthermore, it's difficult to find ways to politely criticize albums that aren't your favorite without it coming off discouraging. 

These are that exact words i was looking for. Im not dumping on the albums. Im just praising my most listened to albums!

There's no Chem album that I dislike, but I never really got that into DYOH.

Interesting! Because we have had discussions on this forum and why the chems should or shouldn't have sticked to the DYOH formula sound on all the future albums. But when the chems came out with more new albums, the 'DYOH' fans would say something like 'its terrible, i miss the DYOH sound or formula, or 'it doesnt sound like the 'old ' albums or 'DYOH'

We lost fans after the the surrender era imo, but Im glad the chems went with different ideas on future releases. If they didnt do this (and t and E stick with the DYOH formula) you would've had a hard time sticking around with the Chems.

But your here now. And several albums later, your hearing the best shit T and E ever produced!

btw im still trying to figure out how to rank these albums.

[Bendy1001]

Few bands go very far by doing the exact same stuff for their whole careers. I don't think PTB is as good as their other albums, but I would say the attitude that created PTB is the same attitude that created Surrender & Further. We got two amazing albums for the price of one decent album. And PTB still has a destinct enough sound to it that I'm sure there are plenty of people who call it their favourite album. The fact that they make music like this is one of the things I love most about T and E, and is how they manage to keep making awesome music.

[RuneSnake]

I'm only listing to their music for a few months now, but I think for now this is my ranking, although it will probably change in the future when I've spent more time listing.

1. Dig Your Own Hole
2. Exit Planet Dust
3. Surrender
4. Further
5. Come With Us
6. Push The Button
7. Born In the Echoes
8. We are the Night

Of course, the classic three albums, at top, DYOH is in my opinion their best album, Exit Planet Dust was also good, especially the first few tracks, but the sounds in DYOH are just a little more polished and more unique I think. Surrender has some good moments.

I think further is the best modern album, it really shows they are still capable of making modern electronic music, even without their iconic big beat sounds. Come with us, didn't listen that much to it, but there are some unique track on it.

There are a few good tracks on PTB, like Surface to Air, Come inside, Believe and even Galvanize is quite listenable at moments. BITE just doesn't cut it for me, just boring uninspired house tracks, but nothing really bad like WATN. Even if we take the Salmon Dance as a joke, there are still many bad and boring tracks, and Do It Again is just painfull to listen to. So that is why that is in the bottom

[Enjoyed]

1. Come With Us / Surrender
3. Brother's Gonna Work It Out
4. Further
5. Dig Your Own Hole
6. We Are The Night
7. Born In The Echoes
8. Push The Button
9. Exit Planet Dust


Based on how I felt when they come out (/when I first got them) and how often I listen to them.