The National Band • Page 17

thinking Sad Songs is better than IAETF is truly batshit but I love a hot take

 

IAETF is beautiful and precious and I want to live inside that album. a masterwork

 

is it

 

it is

 

okay!

 

Bad Takes Are Easy to Find

 

Could be their best album if it only had 10 or 11 tracks. As is, it’s like their 5th or 6th best.

 

TWFM > Boxer > Alligator > SWB > HV > SSFDL > IAETF > S/T

 

sorry but IAETF is a massive slog

 

there are standout, career best tracks, but unfortunately there are also like eight tracks between them for no explicable reason

 

I find it so crazy that IAETF has proven to be so polarizing. There’s a whole bunch of tracks on there that feel like vintage The National and a bunch that continue to push the exploratory tendencies of SWB. I guess the length and sequencing is a killer for some but I find it an extremely satisfying full album listen. Other than SWB as my #1, I find it difficult to rank their discography. But on the right day I would probably call IAETF my second favourite.

 

IAETF is easily among their best work

 

fine i'll bite. not subbed to this thread so getting mad at me is useless wont be back to check for a week

alligator
trouble will find me
high violet
boxer
sad songs for dirty lovers
sleep well beast
---------------
i am easy to find
the national

 

Alligator only recently became my favorite album by them. The last months it really clicked.

Alligator
TWFM
HV
Boxer
IAETF
SWB
SSFDL
The National

 

Boxer = SWB > TWFM = Alligator = HV > IAETF > SSFDL > S/T

I guess

 

Me, thinking about IAETF: 'OK maybe it's too long'
Also me, listening to IAETF: 'WTF are you talking about this being too long, I don't get it'

 

Exactly how I feel about it

 

HV
Boxer
Alligator
TWFM
SWB
IAETF

Haven't listened to the other two enough to place them. They're all incredible though.

 

putting IAETF near the top is like putting AMSP near the top of a radiohead list. both are fine late career albums that would be great for basically any other band but don’t come close to touching what made the earlier handful of albums special. some great songs but few and far between

 

Boxer
SWB
TWFM
HV
Alligator
Sad Songs
The National
IAETF

 

HV is still their peak for me, whole album just grabs me in every time with Terrible Love (either version but do prefer the alternate) and never lets me go.

 

the more i revisit HV the more it cools for me. definitely was a point where it was my #1 though

 

there's no way their next record won't be better than the last imo

most boring and generic thing they ever put out

 

Lol what? How is it generic? If you cut not in Kansas, her father in the pool, dust swirls, and underwater it’s a perfect album.