GOYB I always like, it was the first song on the album I heard so I still enjoy it, but I like Unknown Caller, CoL, Breathe, Winter, and MoS much more. The rest kinda rotate out. WaS was the weakest I thought but I don't dislike it. Oh and I forgot I love Fez, I don't play it a ton but when I do I play it 2 or 3 times before playing something else.
Top five after 6 years (random order):
1. Cedars
2. NLOTH
3. MoS
4. WaS
5. Magnificent
At me for now the top 5 is:
1. Fez-Being Born
2. NLOTH
3. Breathe
4. Unknown Caller (i just hate that edge's "sunshine sunshine" at start - made edit without it for myself )
5. Cedars / Stand Up
I didn't like WaS when it was released, but a couple of months ago the song just 'clicked' with me haha. The song just sparked an interesting image in my head, which didn't happen 6 years ago.
While I did like the album when it came out, I rarely listen to it now, not sure why. But this has rekindled my interest and I watched Magnificent on Youtube again.
Top 5: MofS, Magnificent, Fez, Unkown Caller, WaS.
NLOTH is an album I enjoy very much overall - as an album, cohesive whole I think it's better than ATYCLB and HTDAAB - although, the latter are probably a better collection of songs.
With the benefit of hindsight I see NLOTH as having some of their very best work (Magnificent, MoS, Fez, WAS, NLOTH, Breathe, Cedars) next to some of the most cringe worthy (SUC, Crazy.) The first third and the last third of the album are excellent - it's the mushy middle that's the weak link.
Also, the choice of singles was questionable. IMHO they should have been, in order:
MoS (maybe Eno was right. What a throw down for a first single)
Magnificent
Boots
NLOTH
Incidentally, I'm having similar feelings towards choice of singles with SoI. If I had to choose the single sequence:
Every Breaking Wave
Volcano
Crystal Ballroom
The Troubles
Heartfully agree. The 1st and 3rd thirds of NLOTH are brilliant. Only GOYB and, to a lesser extent, Crazy and SUC put me down - which is still very good for an album written and recorded while the band were hitting their 50s.
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