Best song on Intrigue: Steven Wilson presents Progressive Sounds in UK Alternative Music 1979-89

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Inspired by the chat about this compilation on the Steven Wilson thread. As I understand it, the maximum number of options in a poll is fifty. Unfortunately there's 58 songs on the full 4CD/7LP box set, so this poll is taken from the cut-down 2LP version of the compilation.

Poll Results

Option	Votes
XTC – Complicated Game	6
This Heat – Health and Efficiency	6
Cardiacs – R.E.S.	4
Thomas Dolby – Airwaves	3
Durutti Column – Sketch for Summer	3
Bill Nelson’s Red Noise – A Better Home In The Phantom Zone	2
Dif Juz – No Motion	2
Cocteau Twins – Donimo	2
Twelfth Night – Three Dancers	2
A Certain Ratio – Knife Slits Water	1
Dead Can Dance – The Host of Seraphim	1
Robert Fripp and the League of Gentlemen – Cognitive Dissonance	0
Magazine – Back to Nature	0
Slab! – Gutter Busting	0
Stranglers – The Raven	0
Perennial Divide – Beehead	0
Punishment of Luxury – Puppet Life	0
Ultravox – Astradyne	0
No-Man – Night Sky, Sweet Earth	0

― lord of the rongs (anagram), Friday, 4 November 2022 16:27 (two years ago) link

Complicated Game

― Urbandn hope all ye who enter here (dog latin), Friday, 4 November 2022 16:35 (two years ago) link

Yeah.

― Mark G, Friday, 4 November 2022 16:36 (two years ago) link

Dif Juz – No Motion

this is an all-time favourite for me, beautiful burst of joy and sorrow, been listening to it for years and it still thrills me now

― o shit the sheriff (NickB), Friday, 4 November 2022 16:54 (two years ago) link

Nearly impossible.

The Cocteaus, Perennial Divide, ACR, This Heat, Dead Can Dance and Durutti Column tracks are all ALL TIME. love several of the others too - Slab!, The Stranglers, Slab!, Dif Juz & Magazine.

Gonna go This Heat.

― stirmonster, Friday, 4 November 2022 18:48 (two years ago) link

Cocteaus

That song is one of their moments of pure transcendence. Lots of other great tracks, but "Donimo" is on another level.

― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Friday, 4 November 2022 18:53 (two years ago) link

my favorite This Heat song

― sleeve, Friday, 4 November 2022 19:01 (two years ago) link

it's maybe not as great as some of the others but I definitely encourage people to hear the Thomas Dolby track, given when I knew about him at the time I was pretty floored when I first heard it

― frogbs, Friday, 4 November 2022 19:05 (two years ago) link

kindness or sympathy to the other tracks, but

mind you i need to check all the ones i've not heard out

― imago, Friday, 4 November 2022 19:11 (two years ago) link

Yep, This Heat for me too. xp I agree, it's a lovely tune, available on the excellent From Brussels With Love comp

― paolo, Friday, 4 November 2022 19:25 (two years ago) link

If there's a Bill Nelson track, I'm voting for it, though truth be told I could've picked around 10 of these and been happy. Very strong comp, and the box set looks great though I have so much of it I'm not picking it up.

(any mention of "From Brussels With Love" gets a big thumbs up from me, I hope you caught the expanded edition that came out a couple of years ago)

― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Friday, 4 November 2022 20:04 (two years ago) link

the Thomas Dolby track, given when I knew about him at the time I was pretty floored when I first heard it

There are several tracks on that album that are standouts that have been largely bypassed. In addition to "Airwwaves," "Leipzig," "Flying North" and "Radio Silence" come to mind.

― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Friday, 4 November 2022 20:26 (two years ago) link

^^ yep, all great

― sleeve, Friday, 4 November 2022 20:28 (two years ago) link

"Cloudburst" too! but "Airwaves" was definitely the "whoa, dude can actually write a song" moment for me (probably cuz it's track #3)

― frogbs, Friday, 4 November 2022 20:28 (two years ago) link

Heath and Efficiency pretty much guaranteed to be the best song in any list that contains the song Health and Efficiency

― meat and two vdgg (emsworth), Monday, 7 November 2022 04:58 (two years ago) link

^^ pretty much my take on this

― sleeve, Monday, 7 November 2022 05:11 (two years ago) link

three weeks pass...

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

― System, Tuesday, 29 November 2022 00:01 (two years ago) link

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

― System, Wednesday, 30 November 2022 00:01 (two years ago) link

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