I thought this would be a fun exercise to see where people land on certain songs in UM’s repertoire. Basically make a tier-list (From S tier at the top to F tier at the bottom) and pick 2 songs from their entire catalogue for each tier. It’d be better if the songs were in somewhat frequent rotation, but it’s up to you. You can pick covers too but we don’t need 100 posts of Hollywood Nights in F tier.
Here’s mine:
S Tier:
Resolution – Good composition and 2 jam sections that pretty much always get a good treatment. Always happy to see this in a setlist and it’s frequently the best jam of that set.
The Haunt – Probably my favorite composition of theirs, and in the rare occasions it shows up it typically gets jammed, and usually results in a cool unique jam.
A Tier:
HBB – My favorite “balls to the wall” song of theirs (like DBK and Wizard). It’s heavy and fast with multiple cohesive sections to the composition, and multiple places for a jam, might be S Tier if it wasn’t for the frequent cover jams.
Kimble – A really beautiful song that I’d be super happy to hear at any show. I think my favorite single second of any UM song is toward the end of this one when the hit the note with the reverberating, deep-in-your-chest, bass.
B Tier:
Fussy Dutchman – A super fun and unique composition that showcases just how in sync the band can be.
Nemo – A straight forward tune that I liken to their “Farmhouse” in its wide appeal and approachability. The fact that it usually gets jammed, and has a good one at that, is why it’s so high for me. It’s generic for UM standards, but it’s generic done just right.
C Tier:
Nothing Too Fancy – Both my C-tier songs are placed there because of how front-loaded with planned jam they are. They can result in a fun jam later on but it’s pretty hit or miss, and sometimes it’s just a continuation of the intro jam.
In The Kitchen – See above.
D Tier:
Day Nurse – It’s long, kinda boring, and doesn’t have a jam, and the fact that it’s sister song is fun, dancey, and jammy, is why this is an easy D-tier for me.
The Floor – This might be a controversial choice in this tier but I group Floor with Triple Wide, Wappy, and Puppet, and all 3 of those are way more fun in my opinion.
F Tier:
In The Black – It doesn’t really get jammed and it feels like Cemetery Walk but weaker in every regard.
Nopener – Kinda just a meme song and doesn’t feel right in any setlist, other than to reference the opening act when all they really need to do is give them a shoutout between songs.
Hurt Bird Bath - Love the Jam segments and the speed of the song
The Haunt - Very interesting composition, this song really grew on me.
B Tier:
Bridgeless - Rips
Words - This song always gives me the feels. I cried like a man when I saw it live. ;_;
C Tier:
Nothing Too Fancy
The Triple Wide
Both of these songs can be fucking phenomenal, or just average.
D Tier:
The Floor - I feel like a lot of times this song could rip a lot harder, but there’s usually not any heavy jamming. If there is someone please let me know.
where/when/why did this tier list come about? sometime over the past few years obviously, but when someone says S-Tier, to me it sounds like Shit-Tier which = BAD. why not go with the standard grading A-B-C-…? i don’t get it
When I moved from Maryland to Michigan between 4th and 5th grade I had to go to a new elementary school for a year and instead of ABCDE they had E as the highest grade and a bunch of other random to my recollection numbers. I can’t find anything on it right now but it was fucked.
Out of Order - would take this at every single show
JaJunk - rescues any set with consistenly good jams
A
August - first UM song I ever heard, live or otherwise. The direction jams go is usually predictable but I’m usually happy to get taken there.
Draconian - dark and a good jam vehicle
B
The Floor - One of my favorite compositions, but I’m bitter I never caught it in the phase they jammed it out.
Reso - Great jam vehicle that gets marred by Norwegian Wood far too often
C
Day Nurse - Fun live but usually doesn’t give you anything surprising.
Haji - My UM theory is that if you get 2 of Haji, Glory, and Upward in a set it’s an awful set. Also, see below.
D
Andy’s Last Beer - not sure why I don’t like this song, but I don’t.
Women, Wine, and Song - also do not like this song
F
Upward - Represents everything I find wrong with UM. Why use a jam to take your fans somewhere transcendental when you can just pre-plan your way to it?
Forks - Don’t really understand what this song is trying to accomplish when it is played live.
Agreed. Fancy has done nothing interesting over the years. There was a point in time when fancy dropped you knew it was gonna be a killer jam and a killer reprise
Kind of like Much Obliged according to @Andrusy iirc. It is crazy to think 2007 was 15 years ago but it was. For my next milestone I might just ask for a common jam vehicle that hasn’t been given the proper treatment in years and see if Joel delivers.