What's you current Taylor and Paul (solo) album ranking?
I have a really hard time ranking Taylor's albums, especially because I struggle to rate consistency against high highs.
I can tell you my four faves are folklore, evermore, TTPD, and Red – I generally would say folklore is the most flawless out of all of them, which is why I uphold it as my favourite. The other three are all slightly messy in their own way, though that's also part of what makes them so great: they capture something emotionally complex and real and the slight unwieldiness of their tracklists is a part of that complexity.
Next, I think I would say Fearless, Speak Now, Midnights and reputation. Fearless is less complex but also kind of a perfect album and I kind of feel similarly about Midnights (the standard edition – the 3AM edition is actually more that unwieldy thing with some high points). reputation feels like a true statement piece, even if the individual songs are maybe a bit less impressive in isolation. Speak Now has stellar songwriting, it just is a bit overwhelming as a single album.
Then next I'd put Lover and 1989 into a category. I think Lover maybe has a few higher highs, at least in terms of singer-songwriteriness, but 1989 is a much more fun full listen and better produced. Lover is highkey front-loaded, but 1989 always felt like it was keeping me slightly at arm's length, emotionally, which is kind of not what I want from a Taylor album.
Then I have debut and TLOAS – debut has a few songs that very much just feel like filler, and I actually don't dislike anything on TLOAS, it just doesn't have the 1-3 new faves I usually expect from a Taylor album. I do think it's a fun, breezy listen.
(also really it's top 4 - middle 6 - bottom 2 in the subdivision, the difference between those 2 sub-middle categories are quite small and mood-dependent)
For Paul, it's a bit easier. It's still too early to decide where Dungeon Lane will end up, so I bolded the general area I think it'll land in. This one's slightly different than the last one I made.
Chaos & Creation = Band On The Run > Ram > Tug of War > Venus & Mars > McCartney II > Egypt Station > Memory Almost Full > Back To The Egg > Flowers In The Dirt > Red Rose Speedway > McCartney > New > Pipes of Peace > Flaming Pie > London Town > Kisses On The Bottom > Off The Ground > Wings at the Speed of Sound > Press To Play > McCartney III > Driving Rain > Wild Life > Run Devil Run > CHOBA B CCCP
With Paul it's like: the top 6 are albums I'd recommend to basically any music lover, then the albums up to and including New I'd recommend to people who enjoy the Beatles and are curious about Paul's career, and then after that it's like "well if you're still into it, let's dive deep!"
I think Run Devil Run is probably actually a better constructed album than Wild Life, I just have little interest in these covers. I love Kisses On The Bottom though <3
Also Electric Arguments is good but I struggle to get into it, Rushes is cool but hard to rank, I lowkey hate Strawberries, Oceans, Ships, Forest with a passion, and Liverpool Sound Collage is delightful. I have listened to the classical stuff too but don't have a super strong opinion lol.
