Albums in order of preference

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Ross
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Albums in order of preference

Post by Ross »

Just realised we don't actually have one of these on this version of the board (or if we do, I can't find it).
Although, over the past ten years, FSOL have successfully blurred the description of what an 'album' is beyond easy definition, I've tried to keep it to stuff that isn't based on remixes / alternate versions (no Translations or My Kingdom Re-Imagined), is roughly 40+ minutes (Life in Moments just scrapes in), isn't clearly a collection of experiments (i.e. the early FSOLDigital releases), is commercially available (no library collections) and is credited to both Dougans and Cobain. I've included A : E : V as the CD version, as it's clearly put together as a standalone album rather than the compilation approach given to the 3LP edition.
Which gives a list of 35 albums (I think we had about nine or ten the first time we did this thread on the old board). As always, these lists get more and more difficult to do with more albums, especially away from the clear favourites / least favourites. Still, here's a rough idea of my preferences:

Lifeforms
Environments II
Dead Cities
Environments 4
The Isness (Preference: 2002 Abbey Road)
ISDN (Preference: Black)
Environment Five
From the Archives Vol. 7
From the Archives Vol. 9
Accelerator
Tales of Ephidrina
Environment Six
From the Archives Vol. 6
A Gigantic Globular Burst of Anti-Static
Environments
Archived : Environmental : Views (CD Version)
From the Archives Vol. 5
Archived 8
2018 Calendar
Life in Moments
The Woodlands of Old
From the Archives Vol. 4
Blackhill Transmitter
Environment 6.5
Ignition of the Sun (Preference: LP Version)
Environments 3
2017 Calendar
From the Archives Vol. 1
From the Archives Vol. 2
The SX-One Live Improvisations
The Peppermint Tree
From the Archives Vol. 3
Alice in Ultraland
The Cartel Vol. 1
The Cartel Vol. 2

Cutting that down to the 'main' FSOL / AA albums:
Lifeforms
Environments II
Dead Cities
Environments 4
The Isness
ISDN
Environment Five
Accelerator
Tales of Ephidrina
Environment Six
Environments
Archived : Environmental : Views
Life in Moments
Environment 6.5
Environments 3
The Peppermint Tree
Alice in Ultraland


For all the low places, I'd say everything from Environments 3 upwards is 8/10 and above; FTA3 and Alice I find quite patchy, despite some incredible moments; The Cartel records are more curios for me as the style lies mostly well outside of my own area of musical interest (my favourite Cartel-era record is actually the Psychsploitation library collection).
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mtnsportr
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Re: Albums in order of preference

Post by mtnsportr »

It is tough for me since each album/sound has a place connected. When I go to East Texas the Amorphous psychedelic sounds suits the piney woods. When I go hunting in the hill country in West Texas I like the Archives, the synths and beats go well with the big skies at night. At home in Houston its mostly Environments/Views since the city is loud and busy and the calm is nice. I can't believe 2 guys can create such incredible music!!

Lifeforms
Archived : Environmental : Views (Vinyl Version)
The Isness - US FSOL version
Environments II
From the Archives Vol. 9
Alice in Ultraland
From the Archives Vol. 7
Life in Moments
The Peppermint Tree
Dead Cities
Environment Five
Environments 4
Environment 6.5
Tales of Ephidrina
ISDN (Preference: Black)
2018 Calendar
Environment Six
Environments 3
Environments
The SX-One Live Improvisations
2017 Calendar
The Woodlands of Old
From the Archives Vol. 1
From the Archives Vol. 2
From the Archives Vol. 3
From the Archives Vol. 4
From the Archives Vol. 5
From the Archives Vol. 6
Archived 8
Ignition of the Sun (Preference: CD Version)
Accelerator
The Cartel Vol. 1
The Cartel Vol. 2
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epitome
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Re: Albums in order of preference

Post by epitome »

Well, to just do the main FSOL albums (including Archives) , something like this:

Lifeforms
Dead Cities
Environment Six / 6.5
Environments II
Environment Five
Environments 4
ISDN
Archives 7
Archives 5
Archives 4
Archives 9
Archives 6
Life in Moments
Archives 1
Archives 2
Environments 3
Archives 8
Archives 3
Environments
Accelerator

Some of those are so close that I'm sure that if I wrote this again without looking the order would be different.
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Re: Albums in order of preference

Post by Chris3d »

Lifeforms (their opus magnum IMHO)
Dead Cities
ISDN (white, then black)
Tales of Ephidrina
FTA 5
FTA 7
FTA 4
FTA 9
FTA 1,2 & 3
FTA 6
Environments
FTA 8
Environments II
Accelerator
A:E:V
Environments 6 & 6.5
Life in Moments
Environments 3,4 & 5
I don’t like the AA stuff so that sits at the bottom

I’m more of a fan of their 90s output as you can tell. Less of a fan of the Environments stuff. It was interesting to hear the original one finally get released, and the second one was a decent follow up, but mostly they are pretty lost on me. 6 & 6.5 was also decent but I find it very stop-start and doesn’t gain much momentum. I could never get into the AA stuff, as much as I tried.

Interesting that Lifeforms is appearing at the top of each list so far. Long overdue that they do something like that again.

Non-album stuff I like is the Ramblings EPs. They would appear high on the list. I’d love to hear an album of this kind of material all neatly sewn/segued together.
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Dennis
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Re: Albums in order of preference

Post by Dennis »

Then I will step out of line and nominate a different one on top of the list :P

Dead Cities
Lifeforms
Accelerator
ISDN
Isness (Abbey Road Version)
Tales of Ephedrinia
Environments 2
Environments 4
FTA 9
Environments 6
Environments 6.5
Life in moments
AEV
FTA 6
Archived 8
Environments Five
Peppermint Tree
Alice in Ultraland
FTA 7
FTA 5
Woodlands of Old
Environments
Environments 3
The Cartel
FTA 4
FTA 1
FTA 3
FTA 2

The fact that their 90ies stuff ranks also nearly completely in top of my list has more to do with nostalgic feelings rather than with the actual quality I'm afraid. I mean stuff like most of the Environments stuff or the glorious FTA 9 is really not that much away from their 90ies peak stuff imo.
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Ell
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Re: Albums in order of preference

Post by Ell »

From Ross’ list, this is how I’d rate them:

ISDN (Black)
Lifeforms
The Isness
Tales of Ephidrina
Dead Cities
The Peppermint Tree
Accelerator
Environment Five
Environments 4
Alice in Ultraland
Environments II
Environments
Archived : Environmental : Views
Environments 3
Environment Six
Life in Moments
Environment 6.5 (haven’t heard it)

I guess like others have said that maybe nostalgia/where you were when you first heard these has a big influence on how you rate these.
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Ross
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Re: Albums in order of preference

Post by Ross »

Yeah, there's definitely a touch of nostalgia when it comes to the '90s stuff - the older you get, the harder it seems to find a new album that seems like absolute magic. I think there's probably something about the fact that the two guys aren't just jamming in a room together these days that might make the newer ones seem maybe a touch more disjointed: track-for-track I think Environment 6.5 is tremendous, for example, but it doesn't really hang together as well as their best albums.

That said, I think 4 and 5 hold together brilliantly and sit comfortably alongside their best works; 6 is, for me, one of their most consistent albums, mood-wise, but it lacks the big memorable epics a la Eggshell / Dirty Shadows / My Kingdom / Hollow Earth / Factories and Assembly / etc. that just keep it down a step.

I'm really curious to hear how Environment Seven will sound. The 2016 double, Environmental, plus a lot of the calendar and Ramblings tracks all sound like they were born of a similar creative mindset (a heavy focus on analogue gear and rhythmic IDM-style tracks) - in some ways they all feel like extensions of 6+6.5 - so I'd imagine 7 will take us by surprise with something very different in sound.
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epitome
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Re: Albums in order of preference

Post by epitome »

As a relatively new FSOL fan - certainly not one from the 90s - I think I can be a bit more objective in saying that Lifeforms and Dead Cities truly *are* masterpieces, no nostalgia needed! 8-)
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Dennis
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Re: Albums in order of preference

Post by Dennis »

Yeah, curious about Env7 too. Maybe it will be full of the more FSOL sounding outtakes from their recent AA sessions, I could imagine.
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Ell
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Re: Albums in order of preference

Post by Ell »

Ross wrote:
That said, I think 4 and 5 hold together brilliantly and sit comfortably alongside their best works; 6 is, for me, one of their most consistent albums, mood-wise, but it lacks the big memorable epics a la Eggshell / Dirty Shadows / My Kingdom / Hollow Earth / Factories and Assembly / etc. that just keep it down a step.
Do you think the epics are missing as they’re holding these back for future releases? The early archives were tracks that they had but never used on their albums (but did on radio/ISDN shows in some cases). I still like to think they are working in reverse now releasing new archives and keeping other tracks back for when the time is right. I’ve got high hopes for the new AA album - there’s an oldish video of them doing “Machines of Loving Grace” which sounds as good (to me) as some of the best 90s stuff. Just hope we get to hear more gems from the “sock drawer” soon....
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Ross
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Re: Albums in order of preference

Post by Ross »

The Environments are definitely being worked on as standalone albums in their own right, hence tracks like Point of Departure and Hollow Earth appearing (which are both up there with the best FSOL epics for me). That said, I think there is still stuff going on behind the scenes for a 'proper', non-Environments new album. I'll be honest, I can't actually get my head around their way of releasing these days and have just chosen to go along with it and enjoy the music!

The new Amorphous is definitely going to be epic - Gaz said at some point that all of the tracks they were working on were over eight minutes. 'Machines of Loving Grace' is a beaut, and the strings and choir that have been recorded for 'We Persuade Ourselves We Are Immortal' are incredible, so I'm sure it'll be a magnificent record.
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Rob
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Re: Albums in order of preference

Post by Rob »

Ross wrote:The new Amorphous is definitely going to be epic ...so I'm sure it'll be a magnificent record.

I'm sure of that too and i really really hope they will promote it as it would deserve.... like Lifeforms era.... even there's not a major label behind them at the moment, or there is??? ;)
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Ross
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Re: Albums in order of preference

Post by Ross »

It'll be a FSOLDigital release. FSOLDigital sales have been steadily increasing since the site launched and that, coupled with the scale of the recording sessions involved here, means I think they will actually be a promotion campaign of some kind this time.
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Re: Albums in order of preference

Post by Blinker »

I've seen this thread loads of times and I've been meaning to do this. What a task though! I have to say before I start that I can't think of another group who have been so consistent over such a long period, also, I think I own more FSOL related releases than any other group.
With that said, lets have a go...

Dead Cities/Lifeforms/ISDN (Black Edition)/Environment 5

Perhaps this is unsurprising mostly. I first heard of these guys in the mid nineties like many of you. The first track I heard was You're Creeping Me Out on a documentary called Rave New World, it had clips from the Lifeforms video playing behind it. Certainly made and impression exactly at the time when I was at my most impressionable! The first thing I bought of theirs was the My Kingdom EP and blimey, I know I'm not the only one here who thinks that Part 1 of that is just mind blowing! I received both Lifeforms and Dead Cities as presents later on that year... I have so many memories of playing those over and over. I remember how I felt when I first heard Room 208, it was sublime. Dead Cities probably just inches Lifeforms for me, it was full of those sublime moments. Particularly Glass, Yage and Herd Killing (What a killer opener!) It also has amazing continuity, I love how the WHE sounds appear again at the beginning of Quagmire!
So those two records will forever be among my favourite records of all time... Definitely some nostalgia there, Ha!

I didn't get ISDN until much later, was very happy when I found out that it had the first track I heard of theirs on it! Again though, I couldn't get enough of it when I first heard it and still now absolutely love it. Also really enjoy Far Out Son Of A Lung single/EP, love that version of Snake Hips.

I suppose that the surprise in there must be Environment 5 but I really love it. Again, it has amazing continuity with repeated themes and for me there is not a dull moment. It was a bit of slow burn for me though. I didn't like it at first really and left it for ages then one day I gave it another go and it just blew me away!

Environments 2/Environments 3/Environments/Archived 8/Environment 6.5

These are all really strong records, it's really hard to choose between them so I haven't! :P I have one nitpick though, I don't like the mix of The Empty Land on E3. The drums are pushed too far to the back of the mix, there's a much better version on one of the ISDN broadcasts that is much better. With Archived 8, if it had not been for the title I wouldn't of known it was archive material.

The list gets a bit easier from here...

From The Archives 1-7
Accelerator/Tales From Ephidrina
Life In Moments
Environment 6
From The Archives 9

There's so much good stuff on the Archives, although I agree that perhaps the first 3 have a bit more filler than the rest. The amount of amazing tracks throughout is mind boggling really. It's great to be able to hear the paths that were not pursued for the albums we know and love. It's interesting how different they could have been.

Weirdly it took me quite a long time to come round to Accelerator, for the longest time I only really like Papua New Guinea and Expander. I really do enjoy it now though. I think Moscow is my favourite track on there now.

2017 Calendar
2018 Calendar
Environments 4

For some reason E4 doesn't click with me like the other ones. I don't know why but it just seems to float by. I do really like Murmurations and Architektur. Excellent tracks!!!

The only other album I have is The San Monta Tapes and I haven't spent anywhere near enough time to form a proper opinion on it so it doesn't seem fair to put it on my list. I hope I haven't bored you all to tears with my ramblings!
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Ross
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Re: Albums in order of preference

Post by Ross »

Nah, it makes more interesting reading that a straight list (might have to do some writing about it myself...). Interesting choices - especially the low placing on E4, which seems to be one of the most popular. But then, until the past couple of years, I rated ISDN pretty low on my list, so we all have our own interesting takes on them all.
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