Simple concept: take every song on The New Pornographers' five full-length releases and rank them. Mass Romantic, Electric Version, Twin Cinema, Challengers, Together. No B-sides (sorry, "Graceland"). Sixty-three songs. To the chase we cut.
63. execution day
62. the mary martin show
61. the fake headlines
60. the end of medicine
59. failsafe
58. valkyrie in the roller disco
57. breakin' the law
56. daughters of sorrow
55. entering white cecilia
54. if you can't see my mirrors
53. chump change
52. centre for holy wars
51. my shepherd
50. the bones of an idol
49. testament to youth in verse
48. a bite out of my bed
47. mystery hours
46. the spirit of giving
45. it's only divine right
44. star bodies
43. myriad harbour
42. challengers
41. jackie
40. three or four
39. streets of fire
38. july jones
37. my rights versus yours
36. the jessica numbers
35. to wild homes
34. jackie, dressed in cobras
33. from blown speakers
32. silver jenny dollar
31. falling through your clothes
30. these are the fables
29. go places
28. unguided
27. all for swinging you around
26. adventures in solitude
25. the laws have changed
24. all the old showstoppers
23. loose translation
22. twin cinema
21. your hands (together)
20. miss teen wordpower
19. the new face of zero and one
18. all the things that go to make heaven and earth
17. mutiny, i promise you
16. the slow descent into alcoholism
15. moves
14. up in the dark
13. mass romantic
12. we end up together
11. letter from an occupant
And then, the Top 10
10. crash years
9. the body says no
8. broken breads
7. the electric version
6. ballad of a comeback kid
5. sweet talk, sweet talk
4. the bleeding heart show
3. use it
2. sing me spanish techno (song starts at 0:23)
1. stacked crooked
So there that is. The fun part about this is that A) yeah, I know I'll never write anything as good as #63 on this list and B) even #63 is still a pretty good song.
Shouldn't be a total surprise that my four favorites are all on the same album. Twin Cinema is just genius.
