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Last Active 12-13-22 11:46 pm
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| The Weakerthans, All Songs Ranked
I could never decide on a "favorite band of all time," but The Weakerthans are pretty damn close to it. Their discography is remarkably consistent, John K. Samson is easily one of my favorite lyricists ever, and since they're pretty much all I've been listening to for the past month, I went out on a limb and ranked their whole studio discog song by song...which was hard, because like, 80% of their shit is spectacular, but hey, this is what I brought upon myself. If you haven't checked out one of indie rock's best bands yet, you might as well now. | | 49 |  | The Weakerthans
Fallow
"Diagnosis" - As you’ll soon see, the first quarter or so of this list is primarily filled with cuts from the band’s earliest record, and “Diagnosis,” its first distorted track, is like a microcosm of everything that Fallow underwhelms with in comparison to the rest of the band’s discography. The verse melody is weak, Samson’s vocal performance is underwhelming, and while far from “bad,” the song sticks out as their most uninteresting sore thumb. But hey, even songwriting geniuses aren’t always perfect, all is forgiven. | | 48 |  | The Weakerthans
Left and Leaving
"Without Mythologies" - Part of what makes The Weakerthans such a great band is that their music almost unfailingly ebbs and flows with the nuances of Samson’s words. “Without Mythologies” fares fine on the lyrical front; there aren’t any particularly wonderful one-liners, but likewise, it doesn’t have any total duds. What kills it is the dull, repetitive guitar plucking and tom hits that prevent the track from gaining momentum, a problem compounded by its placement at the start of a lengthy slow core to Left and Leaving. | | 47 | | The Weakerthans
Fallow
"Letter of Resignation" - Unlike some of Fallow’s more monotonous swings, “Letter of Resignation” boasts a decent vocal line and some pleasant open chord voicings. Unfortunately, it also includes a passionless backing vocal and interrupts the flow between two of the album’s better offerings. | | 46 | | The Weakerthans
Fallow
"Illustrated Bible Stories for Children" - “Illustrated Bible Stories for Children,” a gentle acoustic piece, likely won’t stand out to you. And that’s fine, because as a brief introduction to Fallow, it really doesn’t need to. Again, nothing terrible here, just nothing to write home about. | | 45 | | The Weakerthans
Left and Leaving
"History to the Defeated" - While the title hits the nail on the head, “History to the Defeated” almost feels too lethargic for its own good. The band would later refine the somber country twang found in this song and inject it with substantially more emotion, but even though “History…” tends to drift in one ear and back out the other, its subject matter and short nature make it far from unbearable. | | 44 | | The Weakerthans
Fallow
"Wellington's Wednesdays" - Far more notable for its fan-played solos live than this studio version, “Wellington’s Wednesdays’” tale of diehard dive bar patrons has some lovely lines (“Lonely people talk too loud”), but sadly feels a bit stilted melodically. On the bright side, New Order fans can enjoy the allusion to “Temptation” that brings the song to a close. | | 43 |  | The Weakerthans
Reunion Tour
"Elegy for Gump Worsley" - Written for the hockey goalie who had passed away shortly before the band’s final release, this folksy, spoken-word track is the obvious low point on Reunion Tour, but it nonetheless functions fine as an interlude and a self-contained ode. The horn addition is welcome and even if Samson is quoting Worsley himself for some of the track’s better lines (“My face was my mask”), he succeeds in painting a valiant, heroic image of the beloved athlete who still battled demons of his own on the road. | | 42 | | The Weakerthans
Fallow
"Greatest Hits Collection" - Fallow’s production job and mix are notably rougher than those on the band’s later efforts, but that actually works in their favor with a cut like “Greatest Hits Collection,” one of the album’s better bursts of energy. There are several aforementioned instances on Fallow where the band’s delivery or songwriting come off as unpolished in a negative way, but here the looseness is an advantage, resulting in a swell transition track from Samson’s days as bassist for the punk band Propagandhi. | | 41 | | The Weakerthans
Fallow
"Anchorless" - And on the subject of Propagandhi, “Anchorless” appears in a quicker, abridged form on Samson’s last album with the band, 1996’s Less Talk, More Rock. That version runs circles around the one on Fallow, but it still packs enough of a relatable punch to hold up fairly well here. In addition, it acts as a lyrical precursor to much of what the band would explore on their subsequent album, Left and Leaving. | | 40 | | The Weakerthans
Reunion Tour
"Tournament of Hearts" - If you’re partial to curling, you’ll likely love “Tournament of Hearts.” If you don’t know jack shit about curling, you’ll probably be puzzled by every single line in it. Sadly, I fall into the latter camp, and while I admire Samson’s seemingly clever use of the sport’s terminology in metaphor after metaphor here, I also can’t personally connect to much of it. Instrumentally the song is vintage Weakerthans; nothing mind-blowing, just solid is as solid does. | | 39 |  | The Weakerthans
Reconstruction Site
"Uncorrected Proofs" - Reconstruction Site is widely considered the band’s best album, and that’s a sentiment I share. “Uncorrected Proofs” is its weakest link, but as far as weak links go, it’s still remarkably sturdy. The riffs are angular and shifty and the band’s energy is right there in the foreground. Its only downfall is that it doesn’t feel particularly essential to the album’s success. | | 38 | | The Weakerthans
Fallow
"The Last Last One" - For a band whose lyrics are mostly empathetic, “The Last Last One” is somewhat bitter and disillusioned, but that helps it stick out as one of Fallow’s more unique soft spots. The clean electrics sway and build to a sublime climax, and the pacing is tightly controlled, an asset to the group’s sound that they would quickly refine even further not long after. | | 37 | | The Weakerthans
Reconstruction Site
"Psalm for the Elks Lodge Last Call" - “Uncorrected Proofs’” only competition for Reconstruction Site’s least-engaging song is “Psalm…,” whose repetitive series of “Let…” lines can start to feel lazy with repeated listens. Still, it perseveres with an aged sense of abandon and a feeling of nostalgia that refuses to completely stand down. Furthermore, it’s a pleasant segue between the album’s strong opening trio and one of the band’s greatest hits. | | 36 | | The Weakerthans
Fallow
"Confessions of a Futon-Revolutionist" - Handily a contender for the best song title in their catalogue, “Confessions…” shows The Weakerthans at their most punk, acts as the first real hit on Fallow, and effortlessly grabs the ear with great lines about how the daily grind can unwillingly quell our motivation to reform restrictive institutions. The bridge ends things a little abruptly, but it’s still a fun tune that shouldn’t have trouble resonating with the social activist in all of us. | | 35 | | The Weakerthans
Fallow
"None of the Above" - Another one of Fallow’s break-up songs, this one features a stronger melody than nearly anything else on the record, backed up with a smattering of incisive lyrics about a stalled, toxic relationship. | | 34 | | The Weakerthans
Left and Leaving
"Left and Leaving" - This whole album references Winnipeg’s two types of people: those who stay there, and those who leave. The narrator of its title track is no exception; his take on the dilemma is far from the band’s most elaborate or interrogative, but the relaxed guitar’s sense of longing and the song’s relative simplicity suit his questioning quite well. | | 33 | | The Weakerthans
Left and Leaving
"Watermark" - There are a few callbacks to The Weakerthans’ punk rock side scattered throughout their post-Fallow catalogue, and “Watermark,” despite its mid-tempo pace, is among their best. Lyrically it’s one of Left and Leaving’s most jubilant and affective songs, the only things restraining it from registering any higher being a bit of roughness around the edges and coming after two of the band’s best hits. | | 32 | | The Weakerthans
Fallow
"Leash" - “Leash” blares out of the speakers with a brilliant, provocative opening one-liner (“Had one of those days when you want to try heroin…”), and that’s just the start of its sneering and seductive carelessness. I’d rarely describe a Weakerthans song as lumbering, but this is an instance where that description’s not only applicable but a welcome release of power. | | 31 | | The Weakerthans
Left and Leaving
"This is a Fire Door, Never Leave Open" - Left and Leaving shows The Weakerthans expanding and fine-tuning their musical palette and sense of melody. “This is a Fire Door…” is one of its more obvious transition tracks, stuck between their newer progressive songwriting and a more straightforward rock sound. The album’s “should I stay or should I go?” motif is also prominently on display here, and it plays well to the album’s final kick of first-half momentum before it enters a lengthy stretch of slow burners. | | 30 | | The Weakerthans
Reconstruction Site
"Our Retired Explorer (Dines with Michel Foucault in Paris, 1961)" - Normally a band throwing their silliest song smack dab in the middle of their most emotional album would be a recipe for disaster. I won’t lie and say that “Our Retired Explorer…” always feels like a highlight when I’m in the mood for Reconstruction Site’s more bittersweet sentiments, but lines like “A penguin taught me French back in Antarctica” still never fail to make me chuckle. Next time your date isn’t going smoothly, just think back to this and let it help you shake off the jitters. | | 29 | | The Weakerthans
Reconstruction Site
"Time's Arrow" - When I think of “well-rounded,” one of the first songs that pops into my head is “Time’s Arrow.” Effectively the end to Reconstruction Site’s side A, it’s got a subtly catchy melody cloaked in tender beauty and superb musicianship. Jason Tait’s fills throughout the chorus are especially lovely, as are the winding guitar lines, flickering in and out of each other. It may not be one of the album’s standalone highlights, but it’s still remarkably solid. | | 28 | | The Weakerthans
Left and Leaving
"Pamphleteer" - Poking its head in long before Left and Leaving’s subdued section really arrives, “Pamphleteer” is among the record’s strongest slow tracks, Samson’s metaphors of emotional soliciting continuing the album’s resonant opening lyrical run. And while the lyrics are great, it’s the contrast between the soft, gently sung sections and the dynamic, sweeping instrumental breaks that makes this one a highlight. | | 27 | | The Weakerthans
Reunion Tour
"Relative Surplus Value" - The band had largely shelved their punk roots by the time Reunion Tour rolled around, but “Relative Surplus Value” just fuckin’ rocks, no way around it. The lyrical dissonance is part of the charm; the chord progressions are so confident and proud, but the narrator is increasingly hopeless, relegated to a humbling position as he loses his job and connections in the 2000’s tech bubble burst. | | 26 | | The Weakerthans
Left and Leaving
"Slips and Tangles" - Left and Leaving’s closer is lo-fi folksy perfection; “Slips and Tangles’” quivering strings, creaky piano, and crackling percussion have a distinctly different flavor to anything else on the album. What’s more, unlike some of its lengthier counterparts, its concise two verses in three minutes are captivating in their entirety, bringing the record to a warm and cozy close despite (or maybe because of) Samson’s nervousness. | | 25 | | The Weakerthans
Reconstruction Site
"The Reasons" - “The Reasons” is a true rock ‘n’ roll anthem, another example of the band at their most well-rounded; passionate and earnest but also calculative and tight. For a band whose calling card is often lyricism, this Reconstruction Site classic riffs surprisingly hard. | | 24 | | The Weakerthans
Reunion Tour
"Reunion Tour" - The title track on the band’s final album outlines a roadie’s scattered thoughts as he and his touring partners get reacquainted with gig life. Samson’s delivery is unstructured and free, letting the instrumentation actually take center stage for once, and between Tait’s militant drum rolls and a comforting flurry of synths, flutes, and chimes, it remains one of the band’s most underrated tracks. | | 23 | | The Weakerthans
Reconstruction Site
"A New Name for Everything" - Full of slide licks and held together by Tait’s steady rhythmic work, “A New Name for Everything” is another break-up lament as well as The Weakerthans at their most country. It isn’t the first nor will it be the last time they tread that territory on Reconstruction Site, but who can blame them? The sorrowful instrumentation just pairs incredibly well with the album’s journey through emotional turmoil. | | 22 | | The Weakerthans
Reunion Tour
"Night Windows" - The second in a row of two songs on Reunion Tour inspired by Edward Hopper paintings, “Night Windows” stars a fantastic bass line and shimmery atmosphere, culminating in a downright beautiful finale of layered harmonies. For all its brightness, it also feels very safe for The Weakerthans, but there’s nothing wrong with perfecting a formula, and I don’t think anyone would argue that “Night Windows” is what the band’s older mid-album cuts like “Left and Leaving” and “None of the Above” aspired to someday be. | | 21 | | The Weakerthans
Reconstruction Site
"(Hospital Vespers)" - Reconstruction Site is introduced, concluded, and rooted at its center with three sonnets about a man’s relationship with a dying, bed-ridden hospital patient. Of the three, “(Hospital Vespers)” contains the most inconsistent set of lines and a near swing-and-a-miss with the echoed vocal effects, but its scene, the patient requesting the narrator to obstruct a camera so that he can pray without the hospital staff watching, is both charming and poignant, signaling the end to come. | | 20 | | The Weakerthans
Fallow
"Sounds Familiar" - “Sounds Familiar” is another one of Samson’s solo acoustic performances, and more than nearly any other, it’s a piece of poetry before it is a song. It doesn’t fit any specific melodic mold, feeling instead like an honest, rambling ode to the woes of growing up, and it does that vibe oh so well. | | 19 | | The Weakerthans
Reunion Tour
"Civil Twilight" - Break-up songs have always struck me as fairly easy to write, but “Civil Twilight” isn’t content with just being about the separation itself. Life has to continue, and for the transit bus driver who Samson adopts the perspective of here, fatigued distractions during a repetitive routine can’t prevent him from thinking about his mistakes and how he could’ve mended his behavior. And beyond all that, the song is also just damn fun, a phenomenal, energetic introduction to Reunion Tour’s juggled and nuanced personas. | | 18 | | The Weakerthans
Reconstruction Site
"Reconstruction Site" - Only the incredibly abrupt ending prevents the twangy title track from Reconstruction Site from climbing any higher here; up until this point, the album starts on an optimistic roll, but reflections of uncertainty in the form of extended metaphors pertaining to small-town life burst into the picture here, introducing doubt that refuses to disappear for the rest of the record. “Reconstruction Site” is the turning point, and it’s a damn well-written alternative country track to boot. | | 17 | | The Weakerthans
Reunion Tour
"Hymn of the Medical Oddity" - Written after David Reimer, who for most of his upbringing lived as an unwilling experiment in gender identity before eventually committing suicide, this track showcases Samson’s narrative prowess and empathetic lyricism at its finest. It’s hard to not feel his pain upon the closing remarks of “Make them remember me,” the “me” meaning the individual they should’ve treasured, not the experimented-on body. Rarely played live and often viewed as an underdog on Reunion Tour, “Hymn…” may just be the darkest horse of The Weakerthans’ discography. | | 16 | | The Weakerthans
Left and Leaving
"My Favourite Chords" - Samson has flirted with Communist ideologies throughout most of the band’s discography, but “My Favourite Chords’” negative depiction of capitalist life (“The mayor’s out killing kids to keep taxes down”) and empathy for the working class (“We’ll write some notes to tape to the heavy machines / like ‘We hope they treat you well’”) is his most striking example. The performance here is intimate and hypnotic, and to his credit, these are some damn appealing chords. I can see why they’d be his favorite, and he gets some impressive mileage out of them for Left and Leaving’s penultimate track. | | 15 | | The Weakerthans
Fallow
"Fallow" - If it seems like I’ve belittled some of Left and Leaving’s “go or remain” material, it might be because the band’s best song about that very topic didn’t even end up on the album. “Fallow” instead closes The Weakerthans’ debut as far and away its best track and an underrated, soothing gem that those who don’t want to check out all of Fallow should still lend an ear to. | | 14 | | The Weakerthans
Reconstruction Site
"Benediction" - The slide guitar comes back in full force with “Benediction,” continuing Reconstruction Site’s pessimistic second half. Mistakes are easy to make in life and can’t always be solved with a “Put a small ‘X’ where I lost my way,” as this song’s protagonists soon learn. The “impending defeat” outlined here could be insulated, pertaining to the unhappy characters of “Benediction” alone, but the tone of drudgery and naiveté is just as fitting in broader context as the album draws closer to its inevitably mournful conclusion. | | 13 | | The Weakerthans
Left and Leaving
"Elegy for Elsabet" - I consider music such an essential part of my life that the very thought of deafness is enough to make me depressed, so “Elegy for Elsabet,” presumed to be about a girl who is starting to deal with that very impairment, never fails to make me tear up. The song’s dynamics (irony, I know) are also fantastic, slowly rolling like thunder across the plains and then dissipating back to a whimper. It may be surrounded by some of the band’s weakest material, but “Elegy for Elsabet” makes the middle of Left and Leaving wholly worthwhile. | | 12 | | The Weakerthans
Reunion Tour
"Sun in an Empty Room" - If ever The Weakerthans released a perfect radio-friendly single, it’d be “Sun in an Empty Room,” the other Hopper painting-based offering from Reunion Tour. While I’d hesitate to call nearly anything this band has done “inaccessible,” “Sun in an Empty Room” represents whatever the closest antithesis to that is; its chorus hook will stay lodged in the deepest recesses of your brain forever once you hear it, and the tasteful, contemplative instrumentation backs up the song’s resigned tenor with grace. | | 11 | | The Weakerthans
Left and Leaving
"Exiles Among You" - I’m pretty privileged to be a heterosexual white male with a caring family in this society. Any one of these things being different can make life that much harder, as the narrator of “Exiles Among You” knows far too well. Her search for acceptance meets dead end after dead end, and if the last few lines are any indication (“[She] spends the afternoon willing traffic lights to change”), the roadblocks she faces won’t budge, and she just has to find solace within herself. And then the band goes fucking apeshit with tremolo distortion and feedback. “Exiles…” feels like a journey in and of itself that most bands would feel amazed to write. And it’s still a considerable distance away from being The Weakerthans’ best. | | 10 | | The Weakerthans
Reconstruction Site
"The Prescience of Dawn" - Most of Reconstruction Site’s more emotionally draining tracks breeze into focus with hints of country, but “The Prescience of Dawn” keeps the distortion up, offering a no less tumultuous ride of anxiety and hopelessness than its superb surrounding tracks at the end of the record. The second half of the song is one of the band’s best moments musically as well, both guitarists channeling beautiful solos overlapping one another and rising from near-silence to a pained, emotive fury and back. I don’t see it talked about very often, but I can’t imagine Reconstruction Site ending as fulfillingly without this linchpin in its closing stretch. | | 9 | | The Weakerthans
Reconstruction Site
"(Manifest)" - The first of Reconstruction Site’s sonnets as well as the album’s introductory track, “(Manifest)” is optimism incarnate. Everyone is still alive, and while the hospital patient at the center of its story may or may not yet know of their diagnosis, spirits are high with the awe that nothing may matter, so you might as well enjoy everything life grants you. Between that and the triumphant brass outro, “(Manifest)” kicks off the band’s best album with dignity. | | 8 | | The Weakerthans
Left and Leaving
"Aside" - “Aside” endures as a fan favorite for a reason – songs about transitional periods and uncertainty rarely sound this upbeat and confident, and there’s a weird juxtaposition between its negative lines (“I’m unconsoled, I’m lonely…”) and how they’re immediately followed by retorts (“…I’m so much better than I used to be.”) Even the band missing a beat towards the end of the song can’t prevent it from feeling like every indecisive person’s perfect anthem, slowly moving forward with baby steps and not getting too down when the clumsiness catches up to you. | | 7 | | The Weakerthans
Reunion Tour
"Utilities" - I can’t speak for the man himself, but it seems telling to me that after nearly a whole album of placing himself in other people’s shoes, Samson closes Reunion Tour with “Utilities,” a song whose refrain is “Make me something somebody can use.” Throughout the album’s exploration of painting subjects, working men, and folks down on their luck as narrators, it’s this final wish for fulfillment in failed escapism that nearly sticks out the most, and it makes for a beautiful and humble way for The Weakerthans to close out their studio discography. | | 6 | | The Weakerthans
Reconstruction Site
"(Past-Due)" - The last of the Reconstruction Site’s sonnets is also the album’s final track, and just as “(Manifest)” was the epitome of hope and “(Hospital Vespers)” was the definition of tension, “(Past-Due)” is fittingly the sound of closure, the album’s theme of perseverance in the face of hardship and loss coming full circle. The song’s organ and clunky percussion give a reverent feeling of finality, as Samson relays the last phrase “Give what you can to keep, to comfort this / Plain fear you can’t extinguish or dismiss” among a scattering of electronic beeps and boops that vanish into oblivion. | | 5 | | The Weakerthans
Reconstruction Site
"Plea from a Cat Named Virtute" - The first of three songs written from the perspective of a cat with a depressed owner, “Plea…” features Virtute trying to get him to realize that his self-deprecation and isolation are making him miserable. But because it’s from the cat’s own perspective, it’s full of lines like “Lick the sorrow from your skin” and “I’m tired of this piece of string,” keeping an adorable sense of humor to the whole ordeal before Virtute’s final encouragement: “I know you’re strong.” We later find that the owner fails to heed the advise in time, but as a self-contained piece, “Plea…” at least seems to conclude with a feeling of victory, one of Reconstruction Site’s few happy endings. | | 4 | | The Weakerthans
Left and Leaving
"Everything Must Go!" - Of all the band’s songs pertaining to expectations about adulthood, Left and Leaving’s opener is probably the most emotionally crushing, as Samson shuffles through kitsch and household items to see what he can sell for a little extra cash. At some point, life does become a series of transactions for sustenance, and lines about discarding his “sense of wonder, only slightly used” hit harder and harder by the day. If it wasn’t already, the weak, fragile, guitar and crisp drums make it stand out as one of the band’s best tracks from a compositional standpoint as well. | | 3 | | The Weakerthans
Reunion Tour
"Bigfoot!" - Samson’s knack for getting inside a character’s head with his lyricism is among the best I’ve heard from any songwriter, and it’s tracks like “Bigfoot!” which show him at the top of his game. Prickly and cold, his narrator here describes the unwanted mockery and tourist dollars he and his locale have received as a result of him reportedly seeing the song’s titular beast. Everyone seems to buy in for a headline or quick laugh, but despite it all, he’s content with knowing that the creature he stumbled upon also reacted to him. Primarily backed up by Samson’s acoustic guitar and a foggy trumpet, the song is at peace in an almost haunting way, a sonic predecessor of the frontman’s post-Weakerthans solo work. | | 2 | | The Weakerthans
Reunion Tour
"Virtute the Cat Explains Her Departure" - The only Weakerthans follow-up to “Plea…” (the saga’s finale “Virtute at Rest” is featured on Samson’s solo album Winter Wheat), “Virtute the Cat Explains Her Departure” is exactly what it says on the tin. “Plea…” hinted at a feel-good close, but neglect is all that actually followed, prompting the feline to take her leave and venture out into the city as a stray instead. Soft and yearning for comfort, the song slowly builds to a cathartic climax of “I can’t remember the sound that you found for me” – the “sound” of course being her name, Latin for “strength.” In other words, this song is how you make grown men cry. | | 1 | | The Weakerthans
Reconstruction Site
"One Great City!" - Winnipeg is an essential, nearly omnipresent figure in The Weakerthans’ work, and “One Great City!” explores the love/hate relationship that everyone inevitably has at some point with their hometown. It’s sarcastic, somber, and sappy all at once in a way that no other “this place sucks” song I’ve ever heard could possibly hope to replicate, and while its specific shout-outs to the Jets and loonies make sure it stays firmly rooted to the Manitoba capital, it’s also hard to not imagine your own hometown and its residents as you listen along. Anchored by Samson’s acoustic plucking once again, the earnestness and empathy here are a perfect representation of what just works when it comes to The Weakerthans, and why they’ve now cemented a spot as one of my favorite bands ever. | |
ashcrash9
03.03.17 | also check out the much more neatly-formatted version on my blog, with Bandcamp links to each song: https://insidetheheistrevengeblog.wordpress.com/2017/03/02/the-weakerthans-all-songs-ranked/
enjoy, sput | TumsFestival
03.03.17 | Damn must've taken a long time, worthwhile band to put the effort into though. One Great City is actually probs my least fav off of RS | butcherboy
03.03.17 | I'm not a particular fan of the band, but I loved reading this.. this is pretty damn great.. | SandwichBubble
03.03.17 | Their discography is remarkably consistent [2]
Very cool list! | Gyromania
03.03.17 | Prescience is obviously #1 | Rowan5215
03.03.17 | disturbs me how low Without Mythologies is seeing as that's one of their best | Satellite
03.03.17 | "the saga’s finale 'Virtute at Rest' is featured on Samson’s solo album Winter Wheat"
i'm still not fucking ready to for this :/
gr8 list | ashcrash9
03.03.17 | Thanks for the kind words so far and the feature!
Even if we don't agree on which songs go where, it's always nice seeing some love for these guys | TheSupernatural
03.03.17 | +1 for the incredible effort. Can't remember the last time I listened to the Weakerthans | Pheromone
03.03.17 | I'm about to read through the entire thing because I agree, one of the best bands of all time. However, Diagnosis as their worst song??????? best song on Fallow | Astral Abortis
03.03.17 | 37 is way too low | Pheromone
03.03.17 | Psalm for the Elks Lodge Last Call is amongst the best on recon site, it has the emotions.
edit - great minds, ov
Edit - 28 is best on L&L | Pheromone
03.03.17 | This list is fantastic, also. The writing is brilliant, and any love for Weakerthans is good love. Can't say I agree with this order at all, but that shows the brilliance of them - don't think there's a bad song in their discog. | Astral Abortis
03.03.17 | yeah Pamphleteer has my favourite lyric ever | Astral Abortis
03.03.17 | and yeah too hard to rank because they're all perf | Dylan620
03.03.17 | The feature is well-deserved, I already said as much but fantastic effort. I do think that some of your placements are a wee bit on the low side, though; 11 is my 1, 10 is my 2, 15 is my 3, agree with Rowan, Ov, and Phero on 48, 37, and 49 being too low, respectively... but then again, if it's Weakerthans then it's usually "good" at the absolute bare minimum (hell, the average Weakerthans song is at least a 4/5), so it's pretty damned hard to go wrong with them. | WhatKeepsMeHere
03.03.17 | Guess it's a Weakerthans kind of weekend to revisit these great albums. Awesome list that you clearly put some time into! | hogan900
03.03.17 | 2 is still to this day one of the saddest songs ever | hogan900
03.03.17 | Great list though man, not to far off from how I would rate each song | NorthernSkylark
03.03.17 | Pamphleteer is top 10 imo | AsleepInTheBack
03.03.17 | been meaning to check this band for ages, gotta get on that | strawberriesandgravy
03.03.17 | "Samson has dismissed Communist affiliations before"
No he hasn't! He literally embraces it--there's a video of him playing "Pamphleteer" calling it 'a Marxist love song', and the Manifesto is all over his writings... | ashcrash9
03.04.17 | Embraces the literature and theoretical teachings, yes, though from the tone I took from this interview (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6E4Odw7bWA&t=1m48s), he came off as more interested in Marx's work as a philosophical tool than a political one, which is what I meant by that line. I can go back and edit it later if you'd like. | AngryJohnny
03.04.17 | Thanks for this, it's a great list. Description for 2 is spot on.
My nitpick? Why is left and leaving so low? | tom79
03.06.17 | Best band. I once gave John K my tallboy to do a toast to the crowd for 'Elegy for Gump Worsley'. It was awesome. | Point1
03.06.17 | Ugh after 30 they're all classic so I won't get too mad at you about low ratings for some of my favourites. Was nice to go over all these songs again. Although as stated above, John K runs a leftist publishing house so I doubt he's too committed to anti-communism.
(Fire Door and Left and Leaving so low? What the hell?!?!?) | Point1
03.06.17 | Oh, and "Utilities" should absolutely have been the first track on Reunion Tour and it's so weird to me that it isn't. | ashcrash9
03.06.17 | Updated the blurb for "My Favourite Chords" both here and on the blog version, thanks for correcting me on that. | tom79
03.07.17 | Leash is the only song I ever skip whenever I'm playing a Weakerthans CD in my car...maybe I'll give it another chance next time. | Minushuman24
03.09.17 | I always feel like Left and Leaving is low on weakerthans lists | user
09.13.17 | 5 makes me bawl | Hendoi
01.14.18 | Pretty interesting seeing how a lot of my favourites didn't even make the top 30. Great list regardless might make my own sometime. |
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