There’s obviously a lot of ways you can look at rating a song. How much you like the composition/studio version, if they pull it off well live especially vocally, how much they jam it, if you catch it too much etc
IC is a good example because it’s absolutely one of my favorite songs but the chorus vocals are pretty rough live but it’s usually a great jam vehicle so I could go any way with it. (Also the bottom half version with more sax > the SIN version)
Meanwhile I really enjoy the studio version of Walletsworth but I manage to catch that song at basically every run of shows I go to for some reason, so I’m not a fan lately.
For me, my favorite composition will always be Wife Soup but I don’t necessarily want to hear it live that often because it’s an 11 minutes song with no jam, and because I don’t love some of the ways they’ve changed the song from the studio version.
There’s also songs that have great jams often but I still don’t really like. For example I don’t really like Kabump as a song but I still get excited when it pops up at a show for the jamz
Slightly embarrassed to admit that I’m voting purely on what live stuff I’ve heard. As big of a fan that I want to think that I am, I do not own a single studio album. I guess I am convinced that nothing will compare to a killer 25 minute yam when you listen to studio stuff. That mindset is a result of buying Phish studio albums after seeing them live.
I have such a hit & miss relationship with Attachments… I heard it a few too many times back in the release of “It’s You” after a show one night… you know who you are but I luv you guys and appreciate the place to stay after the show!
It just kinda beat the composition into the ground, now that I only hear it when I’m at shows, skip to the jam when listening back to shows and the jam that (usually) gets tacked on at the end is great, so it’s a good payoff. I appreciate the jams it brings and I am so-so on the composition: “now I got your attention, I still have to mention apologies are overdue, and I shouldn’t have to say it, no one is complaining it’s something you already knew…”
Attachments and Bad Friday both got a C from me, but in very different ways. Attachments may actually be my least favorite UM composition (so automatic F), but the jams are fire enough lately it gets bumped all the way to C. Meanwhile, Bad Friday is a fun song but not really anything I seek out, and the jams are fun but not very often anything I seek out, so it averages to C.
F tier was SUPER tempting for Bad Poker. Went D though. It’s not completely without its redeeming qualities, and it established a foothold for them in weird goofy country songs (Phil’s isn’t really a country song), so that’s something?
Believe the Lie is a fantastic composition that I never mind hearing at a show, so gave it a B. Blue Echo A.
Bad Poker was played at my first show, which I have probably listened to 100+ times because I bought the UMLive CDs after the show back before I knew about the Live Music Archive. So I have a soft spot for it, but I recognize it as below-average UM. C-tier.