Andrew McMahon In The Wilderness - Tilt At The Wind No More (March 31, 2023) Album • Page 4

Who wants to get mad?

Every Andrew McMahon album ranked

 

My only complaint is People and Things being so low.

 

That ain’t it, Alt Press.

 

They got off to a bad start immediately for me.

Bad list is bad.

 

Honestly not that bad, they got last and second to last right

 

EIT
Glass
North
Leaving
AMITW
Zombies
People
Flowers

 

EIT
Leaving
North
Glass
Wilderness
People
Zombies
Flowers

The order of 1-3 and 4-6 could easy change depending on my mood.

 

For the record, I adore each of these albums:

Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness
People & Things
The Pop Underground EP
Everything in Transit
Upside Down Flowers
Zombies on Broadway
North
The Glass Passenger
Leaving Through the Window

 

Is everyone making bad lists on purpose to be like Alt Press?

 

Everything In Transit
The Glass Passenger
Upside Down Flowers
North
Leaving Through The Window
Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness
Zombies on Broadway
People & Things

Seems like a lot of people cooled on Flowers after what I seem to recall being a very positive reaction when it came out, but man, I still adore that album. Just some of his sharpest, most emotionally dialed in songwriting ever. The way those songs reckon with nostalgia and lost youth and mortality is so, so moving to me. Cried twice when I saw him live on that tour, on "This Wild Ride" and "House in the Trees," respectively.

 

It's a broken record at this point, but the consistent vocal effect hurts that album way too much

 

This is the closest to what mine would be.

I have cooled on TGP in recent years, but I still love it and it has high highs. Super agreed on Flowers. It’s easily my favorite Wilderness album, at the moment. House in the Trees is his best song of that decade, maybe even going back to EIT. Maybe just back to TGP. Teenage Rockstars and Everything Must Go and perfect bookends for the album.

Honest, switch TGP and North and that’s probably my ranking.

Edit: by best song of decade, I meant for Andrew. Not best overall song of the decade. I don’t think I could ever narrow that down.

 

I only notice it on Goodnight Rock and Roll. Like, I can hear it if I focus on it. But otherwise, I don’t really hear it.

 

I'm assuming the writer was maybe 12-13 or younger when Leaving Through The Window came out so perhaps it being formative was why it's #1 but...yikes....that album is only slightly ahead of a lot of the other twerpy sounding stuff Drive-Thru was pushing at the time.

 

I also love Flowers

 

Passenger is very near and dear to my heart for personal reasons, but I also think the things that didn’t work about that record for me back in the day eventually clicked. I just wish a few of the b-side tracks were on there.

 

I’m a weirdo who didn’t instantly love EIT and it was TGP that brought me back in. So, TGP also means a lot to me. I just love North and Flowers more.

 

People and Things is the only one I can’t seem to form an attachment to, but I think my opinion is well documented at this point.

I like Glass Passenger and Zombies more every time I hear them

 

HOUSE
IN
THE
TREES

 

I really understand that. It took a specific situation for P&T to really click for me, and when it did, there was no looking back. Kind of like how your enjoyment of TGP and Zombies has evolved with time. AMITW was love at first sight (listen?) though, lol.

 

Everything In Transit
The Glass Passenger
Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness
Upside Down Flowers
Leaving Through the Window
North
Zombies on Broadway
People&Things

Truth be told I haven’t given the last 4 on this list a lot of full listens through the entire album. I didn’t know SoCo back in the day so.

2-4 could probably shift depending on the day. Upside down Flowers gets that high just on the strength of Blue Vacation and House in the Trees alone. That run of the first 5 songs is so good there.

 

Was discussing with a friend and trying to determine if People or Zombies should be last. I originally had Zombies, but the more I think about it at least that album had a few decent songs and a sense of fun

 

Yeah as much as I don't like the "every alt/indie/pop band on alternative radio stations" sound of Zombies, there are some catchy as hell songs on there that are hard to deny.

I literally found almost nothing to like with People&Things. I don't know if it was just because it wasn't hte direction I was expecting Jacks Mannequin to go or what. I loved Restless Dream and the rest of them ranged from "meh" to "I couldn't even tell you what that song sounds like today".

The best buy bonus tracks were the best part of that album and that's because they were demos from the previous two albums

 

Island Radio and Love and Great Buildings are top tier Andrew.

 

There are a lot of good songs on People & Things, but it doesn't have any all-timers and is the only album of his that doesn't really feel to me like more than the sum of its parts. Hence the lower ranking on my list. But c'mon, go back and listen to "My Racing Thoughts," "Release Me," "Television," "Amelia Jean," "Casting Lines"...plenty of great stuff there.