I believe I liked Split Emotion the most. If I were to rate them, I'd say Split Emotion gets a 94, Movement a 92, Gloomy Night an 85.

Because apparently I'm a teacher now and I'm grading papers.

Some niggles on each track, but overall I felt it was a quality release. With Split Emotion, I'm not a fan of the few [i]too sharp[/i] notes in the beginning of the solo, kinda makes me wonder why they didn't have Manabe fix those notes or bring them down a bit. They have ears too... Overall, I felt it the most unique and it had the best pacing.

Gloomy Night, I think the best parts are exactly what the preview clip showcased, which is to say the intro theme, and the lead in the chorus. The verses are ok, but it seems a bit standard fare stuff. Dodgy vocals in places as pointed by GR.

[quote="Cloudy_One"]Split Emotion gets a 94, Movement a 92, Gloomy Night an 85.[/quote]

Guys. Guys.

If you're gonna give Split Emotion a 94, what does Lemon Drops get? New Animal? Century Creepers? Third Eye?...etc etc...Like a Lovesong? I hope your scale goes far beyond 100.

Again, not trying to be a downer. Let's just try to put these tracks into context though.

Lemon Drops: Solid A
New Animal: A-
Century Creepers: A+
Third Eye: A
Like a Lovesong: A+

I'm trying to get at something here. Say I had the power to EITHER: 1) Take away your ability to listen to Little Busters, Happy Bivouac, and Runners High forever. All gone, dashed from your library and iPod permanently. 2) Take away your ability to listen to My Foot, Wake Up 3x, and Pied Piper forever.

Sure you'd be much more pissed off at suggestion #1. I'm saying that that amount of hardcore RAGE is much different than the difference between an "A+" and an "A-" on a grading scale.

Change the example to: 1) Kim Deal, Midnight Down, Blues Drive Monster. 2) Ladybird Girl, New Animal, BOAT HOUSE.

A+ songs versus A- songs? Dude, if you smited Kim Deal, Midnight Down, and BDM from my discography I would probably murder you. The last three? I'd be highly irritated, but it's not nearly the same.

I also am loving the vocals on Split Emotion. Sawao sounds beasty on the chorus and I sense that it's more because of the mix than the performance (not to say the performance wasn't good). What does IM think?

The PV brings to mind a Spiral Chord PV.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mo8qcqQ1Pqg

[quote="GoldenRhino"]Change the example to: 1) Kim Deal, Midnight Down, Blues Drive Monster. 2) Ladybird Girl, New Animal, BOAT HOUSE.

Dude, if you smited Kim Deal, Midnight Down, and BDM from my discography I would probably murder you. The last three? I'd be highly irritated, but it's not nearly the same.[/quote]

I totally agree. I rate releases according to how much I like them, not about how good I think they are in comparison to another song. Different styles, etc.

Pretty solid single, all three songs are good. I've only listened to them on a laptop with crappy speakers, I'll have to find my headphones so I can give these a proper listen!

[quote="GoldenRhino"]I'm asserting musical taste as logical fact[/quote]

[quote="Spike"][quote="GoldenRhino"]I'm asserting musical taste as logical fact[/quote][/quote]

Not at all, it's not about my personal opinions. I'd just like to see you guys scale your favorite songs accordingly. Our existing scale is the entire pillows discography. The discography, while huge, is something nearly every active member on this forum has a great grasp of.

I think Lemon Drops is pretty good, probably the best track on OOPARTS. But if I gave it an A, I'd be saying "This song is just 5 points away from being one of the greatest pillows songs ever." I don't think that's right.

Of course since we're diehard pillows fans, a TON of songs are gonna end up in that A-, A, A+ range. Lots of A+s probably.

But when you say Split Emotion gets an A, you're saying: "Split Emotion doesn't just kick ass,[b] it's nearly as fucking flawless as most of Please Mr. Lostman or the Holy Trio[/b]." But hey Cloudy, maybe that's how you feel. Just double checking.

When I give my grade ratings, I assign them as if the Kool Spice - TYMT albums were college/grad school, and the newer stuff were high school.

[quote="GoldenRhino"]But when you say Split Emotion gets an A, you're saying: "Split Emotion doesn't just kick ass,[b] it's nearly as fucking flawless as most of Please Mr. Lostman or the Holy Trio[/b]." But hey Cloudy, maybe that's how you feel. Just double checking.[/quote]

I'm not sure why you have this idea that all songs need to be compared.

It's entirely possible that I could give Split Emotion an A for a certain set of reasons, and give PML the same rating for different reasons. Maybe I love Split Emotion because of it's cool vibe and mellow chorus, and maybe I love PML because of the mood it sets for me and the memories I have attatched to it from listening to it so much.

You don't have to over-analyze and compare and contrast every piece of their discography, each song can have its own merits and be good for it's own reasons, or maybe you just have more of a desire to justify a songs 'worth'. Me? I just like music.

[quote="Spike"]Maybe I love Split Emotion because of it's mellow chorus[/quote] Are we listening to the same Split Emotion?

Split Emotion is a great track. I'm still seeing Movement as the stronger track though. Also, the chick in the PV is creepy and hot at the same time.

What is the big deal with Split Emotion?

To me, Split Emotion gets a D+.

I am not adding this song on my Ipod. I find it really boring :/

I know pretty much everyone on this site will strongly disagree with me, but I really don't know why you all like it so much.

Movement should be getting the praise here.

*Gloomy night, you mean, but don't worry about fixing your typo, we all understood what you meant. ;D

No, but seriously, I agree 100% with Spike's point. Maybe I'm just more forgiving of style changes than some people (I'm a lot happier with Art-School and Ajikan's direction than many hardcore fans from their old days), but I really feel like the pillows are putting out A-rank songs WITHIN THE GENRE THEY'RE NOW WRITING IN. That's the key. They're not trying to write Strange Chameleon. They're on the fucking top of the world practically right now, they've never been more popular or successful, commercially, so Sawao's going to be writing more "fun" songs and whatnot. I get that, and I respect it. New pillows work is of course objectively less IMPORTANT to me than old pillows work, and thus personally less good, but I feel that Sawao's quality of musicianship hasn't really changed, just his style and aim.