Blood, Tears & Votes: The Hurts Discography Rate. WE HAVE A WINNER

Ummm....excuse me? Affair is OUT?!

 

Dang, I really LOVE Slow.

 

34. Wish (7.11)
high scores: 10 (@roborovsky @Sprockrooster @londonrain)
low scores: 3 (@CasuallyCrazed)​

Hurts have always excelled at their odes to relationships gone sour, but here, they confront the guilt-ridden pangs of regret and "what could have been" in a more wholesome and innocent way than they do on, say, Affair or Happiness. Does it make it a bit more boring? Yeah. Does it make it any less gorgeous? Nope! Does it make it a lot harder to write more than like three sentences about it? God, yes!

@OspreyQueen (6): It's cute in a boring way.

@abael (6): Nice instrumentation keeps this from being forgettable.

@saviodxl (6.9) (nice!): James Blunt, is that you?

@berserkboi (9.9): Jaw-dropping!

@londonrain (10): The runner-up for my 11. What a gorgeous song.

 

33. Weight of the World (7.14)
high scores: 9.6 (@berserkboi)
low scores: 3.5 (@saviodxl)​

Another Surrender track falls! This eerie falsetto-tinged lament wouldn't sound out of place on The Weeknd's album, right between The Hills and Often. Surrender was criticized for being too pop, too generic, too safe - but I think Weight Of The World does a good enough job of balancing accessibility and uniqueness. It's a delicate balancing act, but they managed it here.

@OspreyQueen (8.5): This moody R&B sound really suits them, and I’d love for them to explore it more in a new album. If they ever get to release another one ddd.)

@abael (9): Perfect production choices give this epic track its gravity.

@Untouchable Ace (9.2): Suspenseful.

@berserkboi (9.6): That voice! It does things to me!!!

​

 

These eliminations are starting to hurt, if you'll pardon the pun.
Wish out before the top 30?

We'll be losing Blood, Tears and Gold before the Top 20 at this rate.

 

It's a strange rate. Lost only one of nine eights, but a third of my nines. There's plenty of lower songs which could be going in their places, (ie. all of Exile) but outside of being overly critical of the fourth album and overly fond of the first, I can't make sense of this order.

 

NOOOOOO not Wish! That’s my favourite song on Surrender and Theo’s high notes are just sublime. It was one of two songs called Wish that I stanned really hard in 2015.

The other one is this:

(Also, I love all the London references in the Hurts song.)

 

Just looked at @saviodxl's comment about James Blunt. What kind of homophobia is this? Dddd

 

32. Perfect Timing
high scores: 10 (@RUNAWAY)
low scores: 2.5 (@saviodxl)​

“Locked in a prison of my own mistakes” seems like a pretty good summation of a lot of Hurts songs - they’re so damn good at songs about grappling with the guilt and self-loathing that comes when your actions hurt someone you love, or ruin your chances with someone new. But even with that heavy subject matter, Perfect Timing subtly bops along without getting too heavy, assisted by a fun Chromeo-esque beat and that snazzy saxophone solo.

@saviodxl (2.5): Total filler.

@abael (8): Nonsensical lyrics, but let me groove.

@VivaForever (8): Okay, I do like a lyric that subverts a cliché like this.

@Untouchable Ace (8.6): Someone's been listening to Mistaken Identity.

@OspreyQueen (9): I can’t help but love this one, saccharine as it is. It’s smooth as butter, and even the saxophone sounds lovely.

@berserkboi (9.4): Classy!

 

31. Spotlights
high scores: 10 (@Sprockrooster @OspreyQueen)
low scores: 5 (@Reboot @VivaForever)​

Spotlights shouldn’t work nearly as well as it does. I’m a sucker for funky synths and bombastic choruses, and this Jamiroquai-sounding bop has no shortage of either. Much like a lot of our recent eliminations, it doesn’t really sound like a Hurts song, which is probably why we’re losing it just shy of the top 30.

@Reboot (5): Meh.

@berserkboi (6.6): A bit nothing, but done well I guess…

@Untouchable Ace (7.8): Why have they started recording slightly annoying melodies this era?

@abael (8): Great, punchy track but could have been much more.

@OspreyQueen (10): A.K.A. “Why the Desire Era Wasn’t a Total Waste of Time”. The production is cool and crisp like a glass of expensive rosé, the melodies are constantly twisting and going places you don’t expect, and fuck, that “spotlights hit the band and they’re making you feel like Superman” hook is maddeningly catchy. This is the standout track on Desire by lightyears.

 

Top 30 Recap​

HAPPINESS
Silver Lining
Wonderful Life
Blood, Tears & Gold
Sunday
Stay
Illuminated
Evelyn
Better Than Love
Devotion (feat. Kylie Minogue)
Unspoken
The Water
Happiness
All I Want For Christmas Is New Year’s Day​

EXILE
Exile
Miracle
Sandman
Blind
Only You
Cupid
Somebody To Die For
Heaven

SURRENDER
Some Kind Of Heaven
Why
Nothing Will Be Bigger Than Us
Rolling Stone
Lights
Kaleidoscope

DESIRE
Beautiful Ones
Ready To Go

OTHER STUFF
Under Control (feat. Calvin Harris and Alesso)​

 

This Desire cull is disgusting

 

Damn, I knew Desire was disliked, but I didn't know it was THAT disliked..

I'm guessing "Ready to Go" can go much deeper at least.

 

Considering I cannot even think of a low point in HAPPINESS (the album) - this seems correct?

 

Exile deserves what has happened to Desire, the taste factor is starting to sour round here.

 

Exile having the second most tracks remaining is... undeserved.

 

(Bane voice) speak of the devil, and he shall appear...

30. Sandman (7.238)
high scores: 10 (@berserkboi)
low scores: 5 (@abael @VivaForever)​

Though Sandman wasn't a single, Exile's Wikipedia page dedicates a whole paragraph to it for some reason.

"Sandman" has an R&B feel to it; according to Hutchcraft, the duo aimed to "make a song that sounded like Hudson Mohawke, but as a pop song."[10] The song was described as "a mechanical krautrocky dirge with a pop heart",[12] while its child choir was branded "creepy" and "cloying" by critics.[12][13]​

I can hear it, I think? Either way, this is a fun change of pace. It doesn't have as much replayability or emotional depth as their other songs, but it's well-produced and catchy. A low-7 average seems about right.

@VivaForever (5): Stop putting children in songs 2k19. Children are meant to be neither seen nor heard.

@abael (5): Interesting production distracts from silly lyrics.

@saviodxl (6.9): I like Depeche Mode too!

@Untouchable Ace (8.9): The song a pop loving killer would murder to.

@Reboot (9): A really good song when it’s performed live. I wasn’t that keen on it when I first heard it, but it’s undeniably catchy in that brooding Hurts way.)

@OspreyQueen (9): This is gonna be a controversial one, it’s a pretty damn weird song. I’m totally on its side though, I love a bit of horrorpop and this one is absolutely spellbinding, especially the children’s choir singing the middle 8.

@berserkboi (10): What a gorgeous clash of fabulousness!

 

29. Cupid (7.25)
high scores: 10 (@Reboot)
low scores: 4 (@londonrain)​

Exile is 2 for 2 today, with the loss of the Depeche Mode-inspired rocker Cupid. The production is the highlight of this song - major props to Jonas Quant, who produced many of the best songs on their first two albums!

@abael (6): Good production tries its best, but overdone lyrics and underdone composition can only go so far.

@OspreyQueen (7): It’s a nice little burst of pure rock, though its placement on the album between two moodier songs is awkward.

@saviodxl (7.7): That hard rock guitar wasn't something I was expecting here, but somehow it works

@berserkboi (8.7): Nice!

@Untouchable Ace (9.1): Western?

@Reboot (10): This should a] have been a single; and b] received the video Blind got.

(headphone warning, this video starts off LOUD)​

 

Tomorrow we lose two songs that are both from the same album. Will Exile's exile continue? Is Happiness finally gonna lose a couple songs? Time will tell!

Also I did all three of these updates from my phone so if I messed up any of your commentary or the formatting looks weird, let me know and I'll fix it tonight!

 

I see @VivaForever is a classic Arrested Development fan - I'll forgive the low score for Sandman then...