"Come Sail Away" vs. "More than a Feeling" vs. "Don't Stop Believing"

Not Journey.

Gotta be Boston

Tough one.

This is seriously impossible on the merits -- these three represent the absolute apex of the form. So with no rational basis for choice I'm going to go with the one that I heard first, and that blew my mind the most, and that I played twenty-three times in a row so that I'd be sure my red felt-tip transcription of the lyrics onto the paper record sleeve was exactly accurate, and also the one with aliens in it, and that is "Come Sail Away."

if this were a poll of boston, styx & journey there'd be no contest (boston). still prob gonna go with "more than a feeling"

Oh, see, if I had to pick between the BANDS it would be Styx, easy. They could do more different things than Boston could, and they just weren't as dopey as Journey.

My 6th grade yearbook was called "The Best of Times", and on the inside cover it said:

...Well take the best, forget the rest
And someday well find, these are the best of times...

"Come Sail Away" is much better though.

Also, 6th grade is most certainly NOT the best of times.

That's a killer Boston song but I'm gonna have to side with Styx as well.

I love "Don't Stop Believing," am lukewarm to "More Than A Feeling," and I don't really like "Come Sail Away"

O_O. This is tough.

I think Journey, frankly, both in a contest between these songs and in a contest between these bands. You can call them dopey, but their big, sweeping vocal harmonies were thrilling. Steve Perry knew the drama in the hearts of 80s kids.

But that may be reactionary, since just a few days ago, I felt like Come Sail Away was one of the only 15 perfect songs in the world. So I may be guilty of inconsistency.

"Come Sail Away" has the best synths.

curtis otm. i actually just sang nailed 'more than a feeling' at a singstar party on saturday night lol but i could stand not hearing it for a very long time, which i'd never say about 'don't stop believing'. xp daniel otm re: journey, big fat feelings ftw

I'm always happy to vote for Styx. After all these years "More Than a Feeling" sometimes seems a little underwritten...I mean it's great, but it needs a long spacy proggy synth interlude.

After all these years "More Than a Feeling" sometimes seems a little underwritten

I like it better when they embellished and re-released it as Smells Like Teen Spirit.

It's Come Sail Away because it's not the other two.

The Journey tune is from '81, but that still counts as late 70s.

Boston.

virtually impossible but my gut says "don't stop believing" even though i like boston way better than journey. i am still not worthy of embracing "come sail away." that is some celestial shit beyond my ken. maybe some day

i love "Come Sail Away" with "More Than A Feeling" is a notch below with "Don't Stop Believing" not really belonging but like the song alright.

What "Don't Stop Believing" has going for it here is that you can imagine almost any living human in America, say under 75, digging this song, and I think that's not true for the proggier "Come Sail Away."

come sail away gonna get wrecked here. tough to decide between other two.

More than a Feeling.

come sail away gonna get wrecked here.

it's getting the most rep so far!

Another vote for Boston. Esp. by virtue of the song being essentially a Tom Scholz demo.

journey. for me, no contest. one of the greatest songs of all time.

Styx in a heartbeat.

Come on! The bit where the angels gather around his head, and then turn into SPACE ALIENS and take him sailing to THE STARS is the most cosmic prog sentiment ever written.

And it takes on new meaning when Cartman sings it.

This is just the most beautifully pompous and overblown ridiculously beautiful thing evah. I am instantly, like, 9, every time I hear it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BARLfUmyBJA

More Than A Feeling is alright, but it's not nearly EPIC enough to go for the win. Journey is a freaking joke, Constipation Rock at its worst. Get out of town.

Voted "Come Sail Away"

Hate Don't Stop Believin' but luv this version

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5vrtZKvxWM

I hate Dont Stop Believing. The other 2 songs rule.

I always thought More Than A Feeling was Kansas - Boston, Kansas, only a short hop apart, right? But perhaps I'm thinking of Dust In The Wind?

The guitar solo on More Than A Feeling is pretty classic, but still. That song hath no alien/angels, it hath not the Win.

Never heard the Styx till now. It don't do much for me, but I can imagine if I'd heard it when I was 9 it would have much more of an impact. Journey is indeed a load of old toss.

"Carry On Wayward Son"
But voted "More than a Feeling", out of the three in this poll

"Don't Stop Believin'" has that terrific piano intro and the guitar lick/scales coming in up to a big growl is one of my favorite things ever in music, so that one.

Come on! The bit where the angels gather around his head, and then turn into SPACE ALIENS and take him sailing to THE STARS is the most cosmic prog sentiment ever written.

^^this is admittedly pretty fuckin awesome

voted "More Than A Feeling" -- when I was a kid and that song would come on the radio, my friend's dad (a semi-pro musician) would always be like "Listen to those DRUMS! So crisp! So perfect! Listen to those GUITARS! LISTEN!!" We listened.

also, i now have an unholy combo of these three songs running through my head this morning. Thanks, ILM! (Jerks.)

Not going to say which songs specifically, but I feel like people who like one of these songs more than another one must be hearing music in a completely different way than I do! One song is good, another is really good, and I'm happy for you and all but the other is one of the greatest songs of all time!

One song is good, another is really good, and I'm happy for you and all but the other is one of the greatest songs of all time!

Which is which?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=adVB7tamdWI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adVB7tamdWI

haha, oops, that is not actually what I meant to post there ... weird.

What the hell?? I thought ILM loved "Don't Stop Believing"!

(It's my third choice and always was)

I thought everyone loved "Don't Stop Believing".

The Journey tune is from '81, but that still counts as late 70s.

Really? It screams "80s" to me.

I'm voting Boston just because it's the one I remember hearing most as a kid and the only one of these I've seen live. Just feels like suburban summer or something? (Journey does seem to get the most airplay now.)

I mean, I like them all, obv.

I'm guessing that Spencer's ranking is
Journey
Boston
Styx

Really? It screams "80s" to me

This is a highly subjective way to determine these things but in the Bay Area, at least, Journey was playing on the Classic Rock radio stations that preceded the New Wave stations that emerged in '81, '82 and '83. Part of it is personal history (I spent my adolescence in Marin County in the 80's) and part of it is just Perry's voice, but I still loathe Journey.

COME SAIL AWAY

This could actually be really close; can't wait to see how it turns out.

Boston > Journey > Styx (these particular songs anyway; I'd take Styx over Journey overall, but mainly because of their Wooden Nickel stuff.)

CSA: the Virgin Suicides AND Freaks n Geeks

Yeah, and it's brilliantly used in Virgin Suicides. I got goosebumps.

Turangalia that kids choir "Don't Stop Believin'" has put hope into my world today and I thank you for it so much I couldn't even begin to really express it.

come sail away = we can reach enlightenment through pot
don't stop believing = we can reach enlightenment through booze
more than a feeling = ?????

for years I thought the line in more than a feeling was "when I am tired, I'm thinkin' coke"

the fat kid taking lead vocals in "don't stop believing" has redeemed my faith in humanity for about another 10, 15 minutes.

The Journey song annoys the shit out of me, in part because it's been so universally adopted as a song that everyone likes, so you can just bet on any karaoke night or dance party or whatever having this turn up in the mix and you're supposed to be not only delighted but somehow SURPRISED that this universally beloved song has ONCE AGAIN reared its gorgeous head. Which is to say if you already are lukewarm to the song you're very rapidly going to move to associating it with feelings of alienation and resentment to the crowd even when you've long outgrown such things. Plus Steve Perry's voice is annoying.

"Come Sail Away" probably punches harder than "More Than A Feeling," just from the way the hook is constructed as a real walloping singalong thing. And the narrative is WAY cooler. However, the long synthy breakdown (essential though it is to the rise-fall-rise of the song) means it's less of a juggernaut than Boston is here. "More Than A Feeling" is overpowering, relentless, indomitable - if you don't like it I'm sure it's just oppressive, but when you're grooving on it, it's just MIGHTY. Love the last little trick, where the riff leading into the chorus gets one half-go-round longer, just to delay the release of that titanic beast. Plus just the SOUND of the guitars on that part - tylerw's dad OTM - they're like giant neon swords flying across each other. Amazing recording.

xpost: clearly the message is "we can reach enlightenment through listening to old records and daydreaming about girls with whom we screwed up relationships!"

the fat kid taking lead vocals in "don't stop believing" has redeemed my faith in humanity for about another 10, 15 minutes.

I am totally serious here that this is exactly how shit went down for me

I saw that, and felt a temporary surge of faith

you can't even front on temporary surges of faith

"More Than A Feeling". Music: commanding, a giant wave. Lyrics: purest loss and evanescence. Like a tensegrity.

Styx

the fat kid taking lead vocals in "don't stop believing" has redeemed my faith in humanity for about another 10, 15 minutes.

― strongohulkingtonsghost, Tuesday, September 22, 2009 10:33 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

his eyebrows tell an epic story all by themselves

J0hn D., you're very welcome. :D Fucking transcendent.

faded glory TS: "Mr. Roboto" vs. "Amanda" vs. "Separate Ways."

(Styx wins again in my book, but God help me, I love Styx.)

Mr Roboto! I bought the 7" single at Bi-Mart for 75 cents when it was hot on the charts.

Separate Ways was released at the hight of Journey's popularity, not when they were fading. Maybe Girl Can't Help It would work, but -- as good as that song is -- it probably wouldn't stand a chance against Mr. Roboto and Amanda.

A "faded glory" poll between Mr. Roboto and Amanda, however, would be interesting. No idea which I'd choose.

so clearly More Than A Feeling. then journey but as people say the recent resurgence is pretty irritating and has led to some major overplay. Styx? more like SHyTz! *turns off prindle mode*

Easy - Don't Stop Believing is one of the greatest songs ever written.

Separate Ways was released at the hight of Journey's popularity, not when they were fading

"glory" in the sense of "awesomeness," not "glory" in the sense of "popularity."

BTW, I think the relevant Kansas song here is not "Carry on Wayward Son" but "Point of Know Return," and there are days when I'd take that over any of these three (though tbf those days were mostly consecutive and the last one might have been when I was 12)

gut sez More than a Feeling. went with my gut.

Separate Ways is even better.

I love "Don't Stop Believin'" as much as nearly anybody, but "More Than a Feeling" was definitive from the beginning.

Can we have a poll of the PS22 songs? Because "I'll Be Your Mirror" is amazing.

start one!

I know that my utter devotional love of Styx is one of the more perplexing oddities in my musical tastes, but god, they're just one of those bands that are utterly burned into my pre-teen psyche. I think I had a "boyfriend" (as much as you can have one of them when you're, you know, 12) who made me a tape of Kilroy Was Here and I was just instantly hooked. Their songs were just stalwarts of the kind of FM radio that the schoolbus driver used to listen to (along with, like Asia and Kansas and all that continent rock) and they've never quite got out.

"Come Sail Away" was my high school class's senior song. I was in the choir, had to play guitar. Eight years later, I still can't listen to it.

Voted Journey. I heard a shitty cover band attempt and fail "Don't Stop" once. It was just a hair slower than the Journey version and that somehow turned it into this ponderous, dragging flab of blah, and somehow that's made the song impressive to me ever since.

I think all the Steve Perry haters are forgetting something.
http://blogs.pitch.com/wayward/robocopSmall.jpg

A "faded glory" poll between Mr. Roboto and Amanda, however, would be interesting. No idea which I'd choose.

If you really want to stack the deck, replace "Mr. Roboto" with the execrable "Music Time," the token new song off of their 1984 live album.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zs78x6jfr8Q

MUSIC TIME!!! omg, I haven't heard that since 1984.

oh god, early 80s videos, hilarious.

I always thought "Don't Stop Believing" was underwritten, actually. And the Styx song is, um, overwritten. Which leaves the Boston song, which is not only just right, but features that awesome moment where Brad Delp's high note fades right into the high soaring guitar.

"Don't Stop Believing" bugs me because because the song never really kicks in rhythmically, it's like the drums are slowly building to this release that never happens. Maybe the whole song is one big release, I don't know.

The Sopranos' finale had me listening to Journey without wanting to cut my ears off with dull shears, so that.

more than a feeling > > don't stop believing > > > > > > > > come sail away

more than a feeling >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> come sail away > dont stop believing

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

we have a winnah

This is a sad moment for this board.

come sail away gonna get wrecked here. tough to decide between other two.

― call all destroyer, Monday, September 21, 2009 11:00 PM (6 days ago) Bookmark

what just happened here

64 people stopped believing

Actually 84 people, but only 20 of them took me up on my offer to sail away.

REO's "Roll With the Changes" is better than all of these.

that song is about 1/500th as transcendent as any of these songs

More than a feeling is one of the greatest songs since the invention of recorded sound.

REO's "Roll With the Changes" is better than all of these.

Yes. That is REO's Stairway To Heaven. I could play that song 100000 times and never get sick of it.

Heard It From A Friend Who Heard It From A Friend Who pwns other REO songs.

In REO circles, we call that Take It On The Run. And great as it is, it can't match Roll With The Changes.

Why do people hate Journey?????

Love love love Journey. Besides, Journey beat Styx by 12 votes.

This is almost justice enough to cancel out all the shitty results on the Beatles polls.

I eagerly await the "Are there more bad songs or good songs on such-and-such Beatles album?" polls.

I'm pretty sure that if I had 116 votes in this poll, this is exactly how I would distribute them. Well done

mandate

I dare anybody to do polls for best song on/worst song all the journey albums & styx albums

I'm new here, but I do know that ^^that^^ is what the "Suggest Ban" button is for

madness

come sail away so obviously the worst

I endorse these results.

TS: this thread versus the youtube comments for "Come Sail Away":

thekingofbs (3 hours ago) 0 Reply
I hope he sets his course for virgincy.

oliver7552 (6 hours ago) 0 Reply
just pure awsome

swissndl (9 hours ago) 0 Reply
the resounding voice... love it

oompalord (9 hours ago) 0 Reply
They need more music like this in my generation, this rap shit is making me sick... PLAY MORE ROCK LESS COCK!

ReggaeLioness (17 hours ago) 0 Reply
Ohhhh....This song brings back so much memories, I luv it

gh4pwner (1 day ago) 0 Reply
he reminds me of freddy mercury, idk y

CameronWasmund (1 day ago) 0 Reply
...When your on death row? you planning on murdering someone?

iliketorake (1 day ago) 0 Reply
nope twice.

Dhghgoddbhtr (2 days ago) 0 Reply
when im on my death roe im going to sing this song!

gabi326jjk (2 days ago) 0 Reply
this is the song I'm gona listen to if the worlds about to end^^

That youtube "thread" brings it all: horrid spelling and grammar, rap haters, gnomic references to "virgincy".

I'm pretty amazed that that many people are thinking about Styx in 2009.

Styx is far and above the best band on this poll.

But I can live with that Boston song winning.

Journey beating Styx--that's just based on the power of second wave nostalgia; not the original power of the track.

Not on my part. When I was little I was compelled to listen to that Journey song, when I got older and decided that I didn't really like stuff like Journey I would still listen to that song whenever it came on the radio, and now I think I like it more than I did when I was little. Boston has just left me colder and colder and colder. I would take "Come Sail Away" over "More Than A Feeling" in a heartbeat as well. Plus, Journey had their own fucking video game and Boston is named after Boston. Fuck that shit. Journey's spaceship was cooler as well.

these poll results OTM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANQ9bFvGtjc

why wasn't "you're the voice" in this poll

runaway winner imho

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJrXN0VPqnc

I only know "You're the Voice" from a memorably bad David Archuleta cover on American Idol!

that was a great performance!

I only know "You're the Voice" from a memorably bad David Archuleta cover on American Idol!

I thought David Archuleta was just a made-up character on an episode of iCarly! lol he's a real singer?

This poll just proves how much people hate anything even perceived as prog.

Fuck that shit. Journey's spaceship was cooler as well

Poll! Who had the better spaceship? Journey vs. Boston vs. E.L.O.

Answer: Funkadelic

http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w104/jackphantom13/reviews/heavymetal13.jpg

real answer: carl sagan, especially after that rap he did with stephen hawking

I don't know Come Sail Away, but I can confirm that the other two are awful songs.

man imo anybody who doesn't rep for that first boston album had better be a beach boys hater too because scholz is basically brian wilson with better taste in riffs

As a guy who voted for "Come Sail Away" in this poll, and as a guy who occasionally willingly listens to college a capella groups, let me say that the a capella "Come Sail Away" in the vid above is weak, weak, weak. Entrance of ten skinny dudes going "aaaaaaah" does not function in the same way as entrance of wall of guitar, thus 80% of the greatness of the song is lost. And: no attempt to do the keyboard solo!

It made me grumpy.

ayo John D. check out these live Boston shows from 1976/77:

http://bigozine2.com/roio/?p=354

http://bigozine2.com/roio/?p=353

I was listening to them the other day and it really hit me that, even though I already liked the band, their live shows really highlighted the power-pop over the arena-rock in their sound!

I don't know Come Sail Away, but I can confirm that the other two are awful songs.

― The New Dirty Vicar, Friday, December 18, 2009 10:02 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

^ i can confirm that you are an idiot.