Fave Albums

By Frank T Miller, FREDDIEMERCURY@PRODIGY.COM

Here's the final vote:

Based on 56 responses. Totals were gathered by giving #1 choices three points, #2 choices two points, and #3 choices one point. Half a point was also added to each title that was mentioned as a CLOSE runner-up to the top three.

Comments and the story behind the chart

Ok, boys & girls. We all picked 'em, here they are:

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 1. The Turn Of A Friendly Card
 2. Tales Of Mystery And Imagination
 3. Eye In The Sky
 4. Pyramid
 5. Try Anything Once 
 6. I Robot
 7. Freudiana
 8. Eve
 9. Ammonia Avenue
10. Vulture Culture
11. Stereotomy
11. Gaudi
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Now for the story behind the chart, which some might find more interesting...

Stereotomy and Gaudi tied for the bottom (#11) with 10 points each. They were never really in the running for anything much higher (although Vulture Culture flirted with them for a while). Gaudi was buried in last place, but bounced back in the last week when it made a few people's charte. No one chose Gaudi as their #1 album. Ironically though, Stereotomy got two mentions as #1 album, but also got two mentions as WORST album (something I kept track of when it was mentioned - it did not figure into totals, though) when no one said Gaudi was the worst.

Vulture Culture fared better, making a small rebound toward the end of the month, finishing with 14 points (#10). It was tight for a while between VC and Ammonia Avenue, which pulled ahead into the #9 spot at the very end with a 16 point total. Ammonia Avenue did not get a mention as anyone's #1 album. Vulture Culture got one, but also got the most mentions as WORST album (with three people doing the honors).

Above that, things start to get REAL interesting. Eve finished at #8 with 20.5 points. It started STRONG, then faded a bit as the month went on. FIVE people said Eve was their #1 choice, one person said it was the worst. The totals were an absolute traffic jam from this point on, with Freudiana coming at #7 with 22.5 points, I Robot at #6 with 23 points, and Try Anything Once at #5 with 23.5 points. VERY CLOSE, indeed. At the beginning, Freudiana led TAO, but then TAO exploded, and jumped up from the bottom half of the chart to where it finally ended up, leaving Freudiana in the dust, at least at first. In the last week, Eric and Freudiana made a great comeback, and the album springboarded to #6, but was pushed down to #7 ON THE LAST DAY OF VOTING, AT 11:56PM!!!, when I Robot was mentioned as someone's third favorite album, moving it over Freudiana by HALF A POINT. Yikes... All in all, NO position between #4 and #8 was EVER a lock, down to the last four minutes of the month. Two people said Try Anything Once was their favorite album; Freudiana got three nods in that direction. No one choice either as the worst. I Robot's final placing on the chart is the result of a VERY SLOW, but steady gathering of votes. It was almost at the BOTTOM of the chart at first, but kept gaining and gaining (and then leapfrogging with 240 seconds left in April) until it sat proudly at #6. Two people said I Robot was the best, no one said the opposite.

#4 went to Pyramid, and it seemed to gather it points QUICKLY, then slow down, but not enough to lose any ground. A SOLID choice overall, FIVE people said Pyramid was tops (as with Eve), with one mention as worst.

As I've said #4 through #8 were a free-for-all, but anything above that was NEVER in question. Eye In The Sky was only given three mentions as top album (no one chose it as worst), but amassed a TON of second and third place finished on people's top three, giving it a solid 32.5 point total, well over it's nearest competitor, but well UNDER...

Tales Of Mystery And Imagination kicked some serious ass, finishing at #2, getting TWELVE mentions as best album, and stomped it's way to a 56 point total. No one dared call it the worst album, and hardly anyone had it come in third for that matter. Most of those who chose it (which is MOST of us, heheh) had it in our top two.

There might have been SOME small doubt as to the final positions of ALL twelve albums (albeit little for ToMaI), but NO such doubt existed for The Turn Of A Friendly Card. From the starting gate, it ran and never looked back. EASILY trouncing the others to claim #1, it was chosen by TWENTY people as the GOD album (with no one saying the opposite) and finished with 82(!) points. An album to always come back to? I guess so. Hell, it was MY #1 pick too... :)

Well, that's it. I hope this was as fun for you to read as it was for me to make. If there's anything else about the final totals you are wondering about that I didn't mention, let me know. I'm off to blast Maybe A Price To Pay...

(14 points) 11. Stereotomy (10 points) 11. Gaudi (10 points) ----------------------------------------------------- But you can forget that now, and chalk up a BIG victory for Eric Woolfson. HERE'S the FINAL vote:

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 1. The Turn Of A Friendly Card         (82 points)
 2. Tales Of Mystery And Imagination    (56 points)
 3. Eye In The Sky                      (32.5 points)
 4. Freudiana                           (25.5 points)
 4. Pyramid                             (25.5 points)
 6. Try Anything Once                   (24.5 points)
 7. I Robot                             (23 points)
 8. Eve                                 (20.5 points)
 9. Ammonia Avenue                      (18 points)
10. Vulture Culture                     (14 points)
11. Stereotomy                          (10 points)
11. Gaudi                               (10 points)
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