The New Pornographers + A.C. Newman Poll - cause it's about time

Surprisingly easy for me: Twin Cinema, one of my favorite albums of the decade.

slow wonder is the best thing he ever done.
the dilemma is for the 2nd best:
mass romantic or twin cinema?

huh, I didn't know he had a second solo album. Aaaargh can't choose between the first two, so I'll do a tiebreak on the basis of favourite song. Erm (that's no easier) ... The Laws Have Changed - Electric Version gets it.

Electric Version for me by a longshot.

really can't choose between Twin Cinema and Slow Wonder

twin cinema:
masterpiece from tracks 1-9
no more than ok from 10-14

electric version>mass romantic=slow wonder>twin cinema

Why not include Zumpano? Didn't he share at least half of the songwriting duties?

That said, Twin Cinema consistently blows my mind even four years later.

Newman on Zumpano:

"JR: You don't wan't people to hear them???

AC: I just want them to go away.

JR: Why?! They're excellent!

AC: They're all right. I still feel kind of embarrassed by them. I feel like New Pornographers is the music I've always wanted to make.
"

http://soundbites.typepad.com/soundbites/game-theory/

and regardless of what he think - Zumapno were good, but not as good and quite different from the NP.
there were also Supercondector that could be included for that matter...but most peple don't know about them, and for a good reason.

only heard the first three on the list, so ill say mass romantic, on the strength of "letter from an occupant," which is definitely one of my favorite indie-pop/rock songs of the decade

I love the drumming and how it's mixed on Twin Cinema, which is my pick despite the relative absence of Neko.

Mass Romanatic

there were also Supercondector

I saw Superconductor open for Guided By Voices once and it was just a huge headache.

I love the drumming and how it's mixed on Twin Cinema

OTM. Also, there's a few masterpieces from Twin Cinema Track Nos. 10 -- 14, e.g., the last two songs on the disc.

btw,Superconductor did have at least one awesome song:
The Bastard Overture from Basterdsong: sounds like somewhere between Melvins and Zumpano.
Newman should record that song again!
also from this record: Cloud Prayer, which will appear lately in Slow Wonder.

I think The Slow Wonder has a handful of great pop songs, and a handful of mediocre songs.

The Electric Version is my favourite record of the decade, I think, so I kind of have to pick that by default. :)

I voted fro The Slow Wonder just to give it a boost.

Can't decide between Electric Version and Twin Cinema.

Challengers did grow on me and Slow Wonder is fantastic.

Get Guilty gets the Christgau snips.

Another awesome Superconductor track:
http://new.music.yahoo.com/superconductor/tracks/there-goes-helen--30681520

Saw them open for Drive Like Jehu around this time and was lovin' it.

Love them all, but it's Electric Version for me.

Mass Romantic is still the best, all of these albums are classics, except Challenger, and perhaps Get Guilty.

electric version wins

Well, since Mass Romantic is one of the supreme achievements of humankind, that. Then Electric Version. Then Twin Cinema. Challengers was welcome proof that they actually were part of humankind, i.e. fallible. And from Destroyer to Neko Case to A.C. Newman, the solo albums are useful only insofar as they lend The New Pornographers project its crucial air of offhandedness.

destroyer > new pornos

Bejar's NP songs > destroyer

My phlegm > Destroyer

Haha, I do like Destroyer, I just think he's better when he tries to write three-minute blasts of pop like Newman. I mean, Jackie Dressed in Cobras and Myriad Harbour and Ballad of a Comeback Kid are just so hooky and concise...

TO WILD HOMES

I like the songwriting on Slow Wonder best, but that album does not have Neko Case vox. Toughie, this one.

the clean production and the accurate playing in Slow Wonder never cease to anaze,beside the excellent songwriting.

This is actually pretty tough but I know that it certainly isn't Get Guilty, which was a sad end to a pretty great streak he had going there.

As much as I admire every speck of the New Porno's output, they've never matched Mass Romantic, in particular "The Slow Descent into Alcoholism." Though there are individual tracks (e.g. Twin Cinema title track) as good as anything on the first record.

This thread has made me decide to get Slow Wonder, which I've never heard.

This is actually pretty tough but I know that it certainly isn't Get Guilty, which was a sad end to a pretty great streak he had going there.

The soundscans for Get Guilty soured me on even downloading the album. It just seemed bland. But I generally love Carl Newman's work, and I'm anxious for the next TNP disc (out early in 2010 and a more rock-oriented disc, I believe).

electric version is their best all-around album. mass romantic and new cinema may have more killer tracks but also some boring ones.

fools. get guilty is a grower, and it's fantastic.

and "the bleeding heart show" is possibly the greatest thing they've ever done... but then so is "from blown speakers"... jesus this is ridiculous

Get Guily is good and a little underrated,it's better than Challengers for sure.
on the other hand, Get Guilty does feel like Newman ran out of new ideas at this point.
i hope the upcoming album will prove he can refresh the band for another great achievement, cause if it won't be - they are getting into the dangerous territory of "they USED TO BE great".

I'm not worried. Isn't the new disc more of a rock-affair?

don't know

Challengers may not be their best album -- or my favorite, in any case -- but "Your Rights Versus Mine" and "Adventures In Solitude" are two of my favorite tracks of theirs for sure.

Yeah, Challengers is pretty great. It's not a match for their first three albums, but it's so much better than almost anything else in a similar vein.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

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

I don't like challengers, but failsafe is my favorite new pornographers track

Yeah. The vocal harmonies on the Failsafe chorus give me chills.