Five Faves

[Tree of Schnopia <as010b@uhura.cc.rochester.edu>]

My five favorite Happy songs?  Let's see...how 'bout

1.)  Wrong Century
2.)  Under And Over The Brink
3.)  The Flaming Threshold
4.)  Terra Incognita
5.)  In Hiding

Go figure.  Why only five?  That hurt; I left out I Am A Legend, Be Careful
What You Say, Don't Want To Hear It, The Wretches Gone Awry, and Would That
I Could, to name just a few.  Oh, well, a poll is a pole is a Poe'll.

Oh, to those who are dismissing song-by-song evaluations of TRS: why not? 
"I love it" is a bit uninformative, don't you think?  IMNSHO, there's no
better way to spark discussion than making remarks about the songs on the
album, even if that discussion consists largely of "Prince sucks!"  (He
doesn't, by the way.  Chacun a son gout.)  Did I think to myself, "oh, gee,
I'd better look cool like the rest of these bozos and post my ratings"?  No,
I didn't.  I said to myself, "the Internet's various newsgroups and mailing
lists are all about discussion and the voicing of opinion, so why not speak
up?"  I've been called pretentious before, but usually for the content of my
opinion, not merely for the act of *voicing* my opinion.  My current
opinion?  Bite me, it's fun!

And to those who are putting forth this ridiculous postulate that the order
of songs on TRS is (gasp) adulterated...why not run along and invent some
more conspiracy theories and let us do our thing?  Has it not occurred to
you that perhaps *KaTe* chose the final order of tracks, and that the
"original" was just a first idea?  Has it not occurred to you that she
looked at the order of the postulate and said "my God, that would sound like
shit", as I did?  I mean, program your disc however you please, but don't
try and pass it off as the "real" order, lyric sheet be damned.

Finally, to those who are questioning the validity of any opinion formed on
the basis of a few listens...well, let's put it this way.  There are some
novels/stories/poems whose meanings and facets were eminently clear to me
as I was reading them, so that I could form a fairly detailed critical
opinion of them on one or two readings.  Others still obscure themselves
from my view.  HoL took me awhile.  TD took me a while.  NFE wasn't too
difficult.  TKI wasn't bad.  L was pretty easy.  TSW was easier still.  TRS
is pretty easy, too...it all depends on the material, how closely you
listen, and how in sync you are with the ideas.  My opinions haven't really
changed and I've been listening to the album constantly.  I love it, but
TotC and CotH still are the low points for me.  New appreciation may yet
unfold, but I know it well enough to say what I like and what I don't.  And
going back two paragraphs, why shouldn't I?

Apologies to ecto people annoyed by the last three paragraphs, and to
love-hounds people annoyed by the first.  But to both sets, I say...

BITE ME, IT'S FUN!

Mystery Science Drewcifer 3000