The following document concludes my survey of people's favourite tracks off the Breathe album. I will try not to interpret too much and will try to bore the pants of you all with statistics. [Me thinks probs the wrong order there]. Feel free to interpret anything you read here and disagree etc.
First off, the DEFINITIVE FIVE FAVOURITE TRACKS of said album:
1) Bring on the change
2) Underwater
3) Barest degree
4) E-beat
5) Time to heal
ME INTRODUCTORY WAFFLE:
It has to be said that no-one in the 51 people who answered the survey listed all these 5 (as far as I can make out - that is anyway) and similarly no-one had a completely different five - so despite the fact that we come from all ends of the world - we share something in what we look for in a good Midnight Oil song! Personally 4 of these are my faves.
Okay my original posting was a bit vague in what I wanted (my fault I will readily admit). Needless to say most sent me 5-tracks in order; some rated the whole album with individual marks and some didn't.
BORING BIT:
Here's what I did in case anyone is interested in the fairness of it all. Each voter was given 30 points to distribute about the songs (10 for favourite down to 2 for fifth favourite). Where a voter had no particular preference in order - each song was awarded six points. Where more or less than 5 songs were voted for - the points were balanced out and similarly for
tied preferences.
NITTY GRITTY STATISTICS:
First looking at the points awarded for each song lead to:
1) Bring on the change (12.6 %)
2) Underwater (11.7 %)
3) Barest Degree (11.2 %)
4) E-beat (11.1 %)
5) Time To Heal (9.5 %)
6) Star of Hope (8.9 %)
7) Surf's Up Tonight (7.9 %)
8) Sins of Omission (7.0 %)
9) Home (6.1 %)
10) Common Ground (5.3 %)
11) In the Rain (3.8 %)
12) Gravelrash (3.3 %)
13) One Too Many Times (1.5 %)
Hope that's all self-explanatory - leading pretty much to the definitive five as above. Now looking at the overall votes awarded (ignoring rank) for each song, lead to:
1) Bring On The Change + Barest Degree (35 votes each)
3) Underwater (33)
4) E-beat (31)
5) Star Of Hope (29)
6) Time To Heal (28)
7) Surf's Up Tonight (24)
8) Sins Of Omission + Common Ground (21)
10) Home (20)
11) Gravelrash
12) In The Rain
13) One Too Many Times
Notice some petty squabbling amongst a few songs, namely:
Barest Degree & Underwater,
Time to Heal & Star of Hope,
Home & Common Ground,
In the Rain & Gravelrash.
But nothing major!
OTHER STATISTICS & BREAKDOWN:
Next, I thought I might break down people's preferences by track:
Bring on the Change
[10 firsts, 8 seconds, 5, 6 and 5 fifths]
The general consensus likes this track and it seems to figure highly in people's preferences when it does. A worthy winner perhaps?
Underwater
[7 - 6 - 12 - 4 - 4]
A-ha the single and second favourite track (depending how you look at it). I generally think a good album's first single should be the third or fourth best track on it at best - because that means there are better tracks. Second perhaps suggests the rumour that the album is a bit weaker than others? The balance suggests that it is a third-placed song in disguise when people come to rating it alongside others so maybe Breathe is a good album by my definition.
Barest Degree
[6 - 8 - 5 - 10 - 6]
Slightly bottom heavy in people's preferences but it makes up the numbers (ie overall the same number of votes as Bring On The Change) so basically a consistent contender on the album.
E-beat
[7 - 8 - 7 - 4 -5]
Again top-heavy when it's present in a top five. Perhaps the first of a love it or hate (as far as you can when the Oils are concerned) class of song on the album.
Time to Heal
[4 - 11 - 2 - 6 - 5]
I must admit that from certain traffic about on this lift (nobody seemed to be mentioning this track positively) - I was surprised that my love of this track was not alone. A strong candidate for rating second or not.
Star of Hope
[4 - 5 - 9 - 4 - 7]
As balanced a set of votes as going, so a worthy sixty place. No more to be
said really about this little number.
Surf's up Tonight
[5 - 3 - 7 - 4 -5]
A-ha the next single (or current depending on where you live obviously). Seventh place suggests that somebody at the record company hasn't been doing their research very well. I know there's been a bit of discussion about who exactly decides what is and isn't a single. But if this survey hints at one thing this track isn't going to those umm-ing and ahh-ing over whether to give the Oils the 'reward' of chart success they deserve...
Sins of Omission
[4 - 4 - 6 - 3 - 4]
Another balanced set of votes... Hmmm.
Home
[1 - 6 - 4 - 5 - 4]
The first of the 'I can point my finger at somebody who thought this their favourite song on the album' songs - and a perfectly respectable choice it is though too. Emmylou is clearly not the high point of the album for the average Powderworker!
Common Ground
[0 - 2 - 9 - 3 - 7]
Nobody thought this worthy of a first - so obvious not-a-single contender no matter how you weigh up the mathematics and finances. But it does figure as a third in a lot of people's votes...
Gravelrash
[3 - 0 - 4 - 3 -2]
Instrumentals obviously go down badly among powderworkers or perhaps the novelty of this B-side has worn off. [See Trends later]
In the Rain
[2 - 0 - 4 - 2 -5]
No cute background vocals can give this little number anything but a lacklustre presence in people's preferences.
One Too Many Times
[1 - 0 - 1 - 2 - 8]
Last but not least (well probably least as well - all things considered); it's good to know that there are people with fresh open minds who appreciate all manner of songs that the Oils pen....
TRENDS I NOTICED:
Just a "breathe" intermission about random thoughts as I processed this lot as I received the many courteous emails.
1) Notably Gravelrash was a very late starter ie majority of votes coming in last batch.
2) Bring on the Change was a very clear favourite faded in the middle and then peaked at the end.
3) Surf's Up Tonight had a surge in the middle to give it respectability.
4) Time to Heal ran second for the early stages but faded badly. Guess it hadn't healed really!
HOW DO POWDERWORKERS CONCUR:
As a last-minute aside; I compared the original data with the results to see how we all fit into the scheme of things by seeing how of THE five we each liked. So classify yourself, people:
4 of 5 tracks preferred (13 voters)
3 of 5 (20)
2 of 5 (20)
1 of 5 (7)
DISCLAIMER:
I have tried to do me' sums as best as I can - but make no guarantees because then I'd have to start charging you lot. A lot of people would probably disclaim me - but that's another matter.
FINAL NOTE:
It's been interesting and rewarding to do this survey; some of your individual comments are most illuminating etc - if only I could quote them here - but the email has long since been deleted. Quote these statistics at your peril but hopefully you'll conclude that Time to heal should've been the second single of the album. And at least I know who the people are, who like the same things from an Oils album/song as me are.
Sorry if the turmoil of choosing between songs to form your top fives wasted valuable drink/work/rest/etc. time.
That's all for now folks and folkesses...
Andrew Freeman ([email protected])
Again thanks to Andrew. If you would like to contribute an opinion on Breathe why not drop me a line and I'll add it here. And if you have opinions on the lyrics, try the Talk In Circles pages