Weekly Poll: Favorite The Wonder Years Album • Page 2

As time passes I've gravitated toward Suburbia most. Weird comp but I think of Elliot Smith. His later works may have been more technically impressive/expansive etc. But either/or has his best songs so that one is my favourite. I think Suburbia has the best songs of any TWY record so I give my vote to Suburbia.

 

If they would remaster NCTH and SC, those would be massively improved. As it stands, the best execution is TGG. I'll always love The Upsides and it might technically be my favourite but TGG does almost everything better. I love Suburbia but it doesn't beat out TGG. SC has by far the best songwriting though, if the mix/master was better I could most definitely say that was my favourite. NCTH is a transitional album and would probably rank last no matter what, but a remaster would just help so much.

Ugh, picking between albums from your favourite band is like picking your favourite kid. Still, this is me throwing my name in the hat as someone who would pay soooo much money for a remaster of SC and NCTH.

 

Greatest Generation
No Closer
Suburbia
Upsides
Sister Cities

 

The Greatest Generation, with Sister Cities a close second.

 

This is vvvvvv hard for me. I had to pick TGG as my favorite because I think it's going to be their defining record, at least thus far in their career. It has their best songs, a lot of divisity of sounds, and all comes together into a neat package at the end of the record.
Sister Cities is them taking the next step and I think it might be an even better record, but I had to put it second here.

also do silverstein or manchester orchestra next poll

 

I don't know what's more concerning right now: that GSOI has 2 votes or the NCTH literally has the exact same number of votes as an album that the band doesn't even acknowledge

 

Tough look for NCTH. I like almost every song on it, and Cigarettes and Saints is their best song (probably a top 5-10 song of the decade for mine). The fact is is their worst-sounding and least-cohesive LP (apart from GSOI) seems to knock it down a peg for most. I'd probably rather listen to it than Sister Cities a lot of the time to be honest.

 

I have done A-B comparisons many times and every time I feel that Sister Cities is by far the worst record sonically. I think NCTH really suffers from being a transitional record with weird artwork (that I love!) and the first record with a bad mix/master - although the SC mix makes it look decent in comparison. I do enjoy everything on NCTH but it's not surprising that it's in that position.

I'll agree though, Cigarettes and Saints is up there for their best song.

 

Upsides is my favorite because of strong personal attachment but Suburbia or TGG is obviously their best

 

I don't think album artwork has anything to do about someones preference for an album.

 

Well, anecdotally, I disagree. There are plenty of albums where the visual elements of the record have turned me off from listening too many times or really digging into the record. Or, I had to overcome that initial feeling to actually get into the record. A lot of albums are tied to their artwork, for better or for worse. My argument was that if you're a fan of TWY and you see that artwork, you might be like "that does not look like a pop punk album" and start to form preconceptions about how you feel about it if you were mainly into them because they were pop punk.

And judging by how many people turned on them after NCTH (I've seen countless comments on social media that the band lost them with this record), I think the artwork played a part in setting that tone. I'm not saying that's definitively what happened, just my own guess.

 

The results of this in regards to Sister Cities really surprised me.

 

Fair enough, I hadn't seen or heard such comments.

 

I think NCTH has some very high marks and moments for their career, but as a whole its so much less cohesive and paced weirdly and lacks the concept or being a completely formed statement-ness of the other records.

you can really tell soupy had mad writers block on it.

 

NCTH just kind of started a new era of the band for me and after being my favorite band for several years they really just lost me in that cycle

Their shows started to lack the same energy and they didn't seem to be having much fun anymore. They also always used to do cool shit and I feel like they stopped around then too aside from a few things here and there

I also think if you cut Patsy Cline, Palm Reader and the title track and move Cigs & Saints to the closer the album would actually be on par with the others (if also mixed properly)

Sister Cities I think they did the sound they were going for better but it's just not that memorable of a record and I rarely want to listen to it. It also starts off strong and takes a dip

I will say Bled Fest this year was my favorite time seeing them since the 10 year shows in Philly and I hope they continue to surprise me with what they do

 

Just popping in to say Palm Reader is a jam. One of the few I like off that album.

 

I just can’t wrap my head around following this band and not liking Sister Cities. It’s an absolutely natural progression for them, and honestly, they’ve gotten so much better live in the past few years.

 

No Closer to Heaven

Forgetting about the mix/master issues for a second - the album is otherwise flawless. I can't fully agree with the comments about its lack of cohesiveness. I've personally always felt that's it's one of their easiest albums to get lost in, and that's largely thanks to the brilliant writing. I love the imagery throughout NCTH, especially in Cardinals, Patsy Cline, C&S, Bluest Things On Earth, and Palm Reader. And it's only gotten better with age. It's definitely a "non-traditional" TWY album, and maybe that's why it continues to stand out for me while others don't exactly give it the same amount of praise.

Honorable Mentions: TGG & Sister Cities

 

I like Sister Cities but don't feel like putting it on a lot. In oz the weather is just warming up and I instantly want to listen to The Upsides and Suburbia and TGG and even NCTH. Sister Cities is just too dark and sad for me to listen to a lot. I know it has happier and more hopeful songs too but the whole vibe seems super heavy to me. Looking back, Kyoto, Pyramids and Ocean are my three clear favourites. Overall I'd say I find Sister Cities more impressive than actually enjoyable.
Also Soupy is an incredible singer but his voice constantly breaking on SC annoys me.

 

Really, my only issue with NCTH is that they seem to be going with the "we're no saviors" motif super frequently early on in the record, but then completely lose it in the second half. That's the on thing that always felt it lack cohesion for me. The mixing never really bothered me to be honest, although it's definitely worse than all their other albums in that respect.

 

1. No Closer to Heaven
2. The Greatest Generation
3. Suburbia
4. Sister Cities
5. The Upsides.
6. Get Stoked on It

 

Patsy Cline is a top 3 song on that album for me. I somewhat agree with you on Sister Cities. It just isn't interesting or enjoyable to me. Outside of Kyoto and the title track, I find it largely unlistenable.

 

NCTH feels very dark, even more so than is usual for Dans lyrics. I think it was an interesting way for him to touch on topics that were much heavier than usual (drug abuse, racism, abusive parents, toxic masculinity) which I loved but the production and general sidestep feel holds it back a lot

 

1. The Greatest Generation
2. Suburbia
3. No Closer to Heaven
4. Sister Cities
5. The Upsides
6. Get Stoked On It

 

I’d probably go

Suburbia
Greatest Generation
Sister Cities
The upsides
No closer to heaven
Get stoked on it