The Books - Albums Poll

The Way Out is one of my fav albums of all time. the rest are pretty good too though

calling them "folktronica" is a major disservice IMO but I get it. this is a *tough* choice, I think it comes down between Lemon and The Way Out for me, but Lost and Safe has some of my favorite individual tracks and the first album has its charms as well.

I haven't really spent any time with French Elevator, think I heard it once but it didn't leave much of an impression

On a recent re-listen to both catalogues, struck me how much thematic and sometimes musical similarity there is between The Way Out and some Boards Of Canada... but yeah The Way Out was the first i really got into and i do think still my fave.

This may be one of those acts where every album is better than the last, which is pretty remarkable given how enjoyable Thought for Food is and the fact that Lemon of Pink is kind of a perfect album. But the next two are somehow even better. Personally I may go Lost and Safe, one I initially thought was kinda boring but really resonates with me now. But I really do appreciate how The Way Out brings back their humor and playfulness, one of those where it's clear they knew it was their last go round so they wanted it to be their definitive statement. Hmmm...I'll have to think about it

I honestly think they're one of the best bands of the 2000s. Incredible 4 album run (not counting the French Elevator EP). The Lemon of Pink is the first one I fell in love with so remains my favorite, but Lost and Safe is a very close second.

Haven't listened lately, but voted Lemon of Pink, going w my collegetown alt.weekly show preview from Sept. '09:

The Books
Thursday @ Wexner
The Books play (and sample) plucked, strummed and bowed instruments, while talking and singing with countless other sounds, also sampled (and played). Waves of fragments move calmly, and, on their first album, The Lemon of Pink*, venerable voices provide “helpful” gibberish. The Books like to ricochet through such decay, although the subsequent Lost & Save risks spelling this out a little too plainly, before zigzagging through unexpected insights and comedy. Their new version of Nick Drake’s “Cello Song,” feat. Jose Gonzalez and rec. for the Red Hot Organization’s AIDS charity comp Dark Was The Night, even grooves with the glitches of a reviewer’s cheapo CD-R!

Lost and Safe is the best album of the 00’s, so that one.

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okay I relistened to them all and I think it goes Lost > Way Out > Lemon > Thought. funny because at the time the subsequent albums never quite gave me the same rush as the debut but they've all grown on me considerably.

imo the Books signature is samples or lyrics that are kinda like badly translated fortune cookies, phrases that seen profound but are contradictory or botched. Lost and Safe has the most of this, including some great lines like "your head is made of clouds but your feet are made of ground"

The Lemon of Pink is so good, so based off memory.

the Zammuto website about 6-8 years back was something i would regularly turn to for my life goals.

relistening to "Thought for Food" and it's an absolutely glorious "swing-for-the-fences" unin/in-tential first album release.

ya kinda odd that Zammuto went from a guy blogging his every move and writing/filming detailed breakdowns of each of his tracks to just total radio silence for nearly a decade. I guess he did kinda seem like someone who might just go off the grid one day.

xps "With your eyes closed, close your eyes" comes into my head randomly all the time

"You are something that the whole world is doing" is the one for me

The Way Out is a perfect album

Ended up voting for The Way Out, which is an album that feels oddly in dialogue with the new BoC

to expand a bit on what I mean, The Way Out uses found speech to engage with spirituality in a wryly amused way, and is anchored in a steady optimism. Whereas Inferno approaches similar material with cosmic dread and pessimism about the human condition. Each albumfeels emblematic of the time in which it was made.

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I voted lemon for sentimental reasons and the title track

one thing that always sticks with me about these guys is how adamant they were about not using samples people could actually trace back. they wanted their music to have no digital footprint which is why they stuck mostly to home recordings and things like answering machine tapes. the only sample they use where I actually know the source is the bit on "Enjoy Your Worries" that comes from an episode of Judge Judy (which I only know because Zammuto mentioned it in his blog). I think BoC is kinda similar but most of their samples have been identified by now right? granted there are way more people looking.

The one where a radio voice says 'Nyheder fra Grønland' is from the Danish radio show 'Nyheder fra Grønland'.

Sometimes listening to the Books feels like rummaging through a junk drawer of nostalgia or unresolved memories buried in my subconscious. I don’t always enjoy the experience, but I respect the band for bringing those feelings on.