Dog Days Are Over: The Florence + the Machine Discography Rate (And the winner is...)
- Thread starter Fortune
- Start date
F
Former member 21294
Totally.
Over the Love is what i would come up with if somebody made me do a parody song for Florence + The Machine.
he/him
"Over the Love" has a soaring tragic melody and sounds beautifully desolate, until the bombastic choir comes at the end. It's good.
Also, "Swimming" and "Falling" are glorious. The latter almost chokes me up in a weird way.
Plus "Swimming" has the amazing "take a deep breath / SUCK THE WATER IN MY CHEST / and cross my fingers" bit and the strings remind me of Kate Bush's "Cloudbusting"
Also, "Swimming" and "Falling" are glorious. The latter almost chokes me up in a weird way.
Plus "Swimming" has the amazing "take a deep breath / SUCK THE WATER IN MY CHEST / and cross my fingers" bit and the strings remind me of Kate Bush's "Cloudbusting"
Heavy In Your Arms and the Stand By Me cover.
Why did I praise "Breath Of Life" so much? Maybe i was in the mood to be sucked into the world of shouty gothic chanting but I hardly ever listen to it because it's all a bit of racket and feels disgontied.
ohnostalgia
Staff member
She/her
Breath of Life was ... exhausting is probably the best word.
55.
I Come Apart (A$AP Rocky feat. Florence Welch) - 6.256
High: 10 x 2 – @enjoy, @A$AP Robbie
Low: 3 x 2 – @marie_05, @slaybellz
I Come Apart is a bonus track on A$AP Rocky’s major label debut album, Long.Live.A$AP, released in 2013. Florence contacted Rocky and told him she was a fan of his work. He had heard of her before that point and knew she had been critically acclaimed, but when he found out she was fascinated with his style, he started to do his own research and became a fan. Florence never met him whilst working on the track, but was able to collaborate via the wonders of modern technology. Rocky described it as being ‘a girl song’, whatever that means. It depicts a dysfunctional relationship.
Constantino tried to be tricksy and didn’t quite succeed, “When I saw this on the tracklist I really didn’t think this was going to work…and…it…DOES! Long Live A$AP’s best quality is its production, which complements Florence’s vocals wonderfully. I may have over-scored it but a few album tracks deserve to leave before this so imma inflate a biT.” Well, all the album tracks are still in, but I applaud your moxie. Even if you gave it a 10 this was always going to be 55th place so don’t sweat it.
The backing vocals were a recurring theme in your commentary, they’re really very nice, aren’t they? This was another new discovery for Runawaywithme, who really loves “the chorus and Florence’s voice, the backing vocals are really beautiful and haunting too. The middle eight by Florence gave me a few chills too, so did the outro where all those difference Florence vocals blend into one, it’s kind of what I imagine going to heaven would sound like.” Remyky22 absolutely adores this one, “her backing vocals are magical.” Whilst stanning for backing vocals, Plethorya is also revealed to be on first name terms with A$AP Rocky, “Those backing vocals add a wonderful gothic touch to Rakim’s musings.” Oleander thinks Florence’s parts were great.
AllGagaLike “first encountered this on their Songpop playlist, of all places. Quite like it too, it's basically a better Guts Over Fear.” I’ll take your word for it, an Eminem/Sia track sounds like Room 101 for me. Sprockrooster is… a bit problematic, “Quite alright as a Florence feature goes on a hiphop track. Just do not start slutdropping towards the next pimp in the business please.” I’m going to assume the best, but maybe don’t call him a pimp, precious?
Squashua believes that mixing together two great artists does not necessarily equal a great song, “A$AP is fabulous, Florence is fabulous but her input into this song just isn't enough to warrant a high score. She is not a hook-girl Mr Rocky.” Kuhleezi, who you would think stans for anything with Florence’s name on it, actually isn’t too big of a fan this time, and echoes the hook girl criticism, “Confession time: I'd never heard (of) this before this rate. Well, actually, I'd heard of a collab between the two back in 2013, made some research but couldn't find anything, and then totally forgot about it. Not that it's such a great loss. One thing that strikes me is that I DON'T LIKE HER VOICE IN THIS. Can't get over this, because I always stan for every single thing about her voice. Maybe it's because she sounds particularly bored in this? She's proved herself to be good also at rapping (#Pray4TakeCare) so it was a bit disappointing to find out she was treated as a disposable rent-a-singer. At least the ending is cute, it reminds me a bit of Which Witch.” ‘The ending is cute’, I_CANNOT_USE_REAL_WORDS_PROPERLY_ you shady ape.
I don’t know, I like distinctive vocalists, I don’t think there’s necessarily anything wrong with ‘just’ singing the hook (that being said she does get a bridge too), when it’s probably the most vital part of the song and holds it all together. I don’t see it as being disrespectful to her and I think she brings a lot of herself to it. The talk of ‘grace and favour’ and ‘chaos’ is all full-blown Florence Welch, just embedded in a different musical context than the one we're used to.
Next up: our first 11 leaves!
I Come Apart (A$AP Rocky feat. Florence Welch) - 6.256
High: 10 x 2 – @enjoy, @A$AP Robbie
Low: 3 x 2 – @marie_05, @slaybellz
I Come Apart is a bonus track on A$AP Rocky’s major label debut album, Long.Live.A$AP, released in 2013. Florence contacted Rocky and told him she was a fan of his work. He had heard of her before that point and knew she had been critically acclaimed, but when he found out she was fascinated with his style, he started to do his own research and became a fan. Florence never met him whilst working on the track, but was able to collaborate via the wonders of modern technology. Rocky described it as being ‘a girl song’, whatever that means. It depicts a dysfunctional relationship.
Constantino tried to be tricksy and didn’t quite succeed, “When I saw this on the tracklist I really didn’t think this was going to work…and…it…DOES! Long Live A$AP’s best quality is its production, which complements Florence’s vocals wonderfully. I may have over-scored it but a few album tracks deserve to leave before this so imma inflate a biT.” Well, all the album tracks are still in, but I applaud your moxie. Even if you gave it a 10 this was always going to be 55th place so don’t sweat it.
The backing vocals were a recurring theme in your commentary, they’re really very nice, aren’t they? This was another new discovery for Runawaywithme, who really loves “the chorus and Florence’s voice, the backing vocals are really beautiful and haunting too. The middle eight by Florence gave me a few chills too, so did the outro where all those difference Florence vocals blend into one, it’s kind of what I imagine going to heaven would sound like.” Remyky22 absolutely adores this one, “her backing vocals are magical.” Whilst stanning for backing vocals, Plethorya is also revealed to be on first name terms with A$AP Rocky, “Those backing vocals add a wonderful gothic touch to Rakim’s musings.” Oleander thinks Florence’s parts were great.
AllGagaLike “first encountered this on their Songpop playlist, of all places. Quite like it too, it's basically a better Guts Over Fear.” I’ll take your word for it, an Eminem/Sia track sounds like Room 101 for me. Sprockrooster is… a bit problematic, “Quite alright as a Florence feature goes on a hiphop track. Just do not start slutdropping towards the next pimp in the business please.” I’m going to assume the best, but maybe don’t call him a pimp, precious?
Squashua believes that mixing together two great artists does not necessarily equal a great song, “A$AP is fabulous, Florence is fabulous but her input into this song just isn't enough to warrant a high score. She is not a hook-girl Mr Rocky.” Kuhleezi, who you would think stans for anything with Florence’s name on it, actually isn’t too big of a fan this time, and echoes the hook girl criticism, “Confession time: I'd never heard (of) this before this rate. Well, actually, I'd heard of a collab between the two back in 2013, made some research but couldn't find anything, and then totally forgot about it. Not that it's such a great loss. One thing that strikes me is that I DON'T LIKE HER VOICE IN THIS. Can't get over this, because I always stan for every single thing about her voice. Maybe it's because she sounds particularly bored in this? She's proved herself to be good also at rapping (#Pray4TakeCare) so it was a bit disappointing to find out she was treated as a disposable rent-a-singer. At least the ending is cute, it reminds me a bit of Which Witch.” ‘The ending is cute’, I_CANNOT_USE_REAL_WORDS_PROPERLY_ you shady ape.
I don’t know, I like distinctive vocalists, I don’t think there’s necessarily anything wrong with ‘just’ singing the hook (that being said she does get a bridge too), when it’s probably the most vital part of the song and holds it all together. I don’t see it as being disrespectful to her and I think she brings a lot of herself to it. The talk of ‘grace and favour’ and ‘chaos’ is all full-blown Florence Welch, just embedded in a different musical context than the one we're used to.
Next up: our first 11 leaves!
I just know my 11 is the first to be chopped.
Subwaykid
Staff member
Welp.
F
Former member 21294
I Come Apart is a loss.Florence kills it.
54.
Kiss with a Fist - 6.547
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High: 11 x 1 – @A$AP Robbie, 10 x 3 - @munro, @Kuhleezi, @Runawaywithme
Low: 0 x 1 - @Jersey
Well, this is a bit of a curveball, isn’t it? Lungs is our first album to take a bullet, and our first track from an album to fall is also the first ever single released by the band. It peaked at #51 in the charts. Florence originally recorded Kiss with a Fist with her first band, Ashok, under the name Happy Slap, before recording it for a second time with the Machine. Musically, it’s completely different to everything she’s done since, a messy fast-paced punky number that ramps up to 100 pretty much immediately, but you can see the embryonic lyrical elements of relationships and chaos. It reached a highest rank of the mid-thirties, where I thought it was likely to stay, but a lot of 'meh' scores from voters and not a lot of lovers meant that it crashed down to here. I don't think anyone thought this was likely to go the distance, but I'm a bit surprised it went out this soon.
She wrote it when she was 17, hanging around with a lot of punk and art-college bands who wrote tough songs. She observed how love could sometimes be a destructive force and how people pushed each other to extremes due to their need to push each other’s buttons and cause drama. She cites one particularly intense couple she knew where the guy had never hit the girl, but the girl had lamped him a few times after he had irritated her sufficiently. The main thing Florence took from observing their relationship was the animal passion they had for each other. She’s had to explain this song many (many) times in interviews, and she’s said it’s never been supposed to be about one person in the pair victimising the other, but about “giving as good as you get”. The extreme imagery of the song is supposed to reflect the extreme emotion contained within.
So let’s get stuck into our commentary, shall we? Plethorya says that “this deserves high points if only for her Leona Lewis interview quote. But the song’s great too.” For those unfamiliar: during one of the many, many times she has had to clarify this song, Florence brought up the song Bleeding Love and how it’s not actually about someone bleeding, and her song is not about popping someone in the mouth, because they’re metaphors. The nuances of the English language.
So, who are our fans? Push “loves this!!” with two exclamation marks. Sprockrooster is not a punk lover, but loves it when Florence does it. This was the first Florence song 2014 heard and “it is still so much fun”. Munro wants your bad romance, “Yas Florence you better put those #RelationshipGoals into musical form.” Runawaywithme can’t help but “love this song and its problematic lyrics and very messy wild production, it reminds me of certain wild moments with my friends.” AllGagaLike says that it’s “quite an anomaly but also quite a bop.” Kuhleezi agrees that it’s out of place, observing that it’s “the kind of song that you hate at first listen but then creeps into your bones (Florence would be so proud of me right now) and you can only admit to yourself it's a gigantic guilty pleasure. To think it was their official first single! Such an eyesore in the context of their discography (no pun intended).”
Jam says that it’s “a quick bit of fun but sticks out like a sore thumb”, which just makes me think of inappropriate things. Jersey justifies the 0 with a swift “ANNOYING AS FUCK”. Ruthless.
Remyky22 says that “it's not crucial to the album or anything, but it adds a fun note and it doesn't last long enough to actually start being annoying. Although it's not an OMGAMAZING song, she pulls it off effortlessly.” Similarly, Oleander thinks that two minutes is long enough, “I'm glad this song isn't longer. It's not bad per se, but it's also nothing to write home about. I get what she was going for and there is some spunk, but this was crying out for more attitude and fire. It's is too repetitive, especially considering how short it is, but the lyrics do paint an interesting picture.” I’m not sure attitude and fire are what is missing here, so much as an artistic identity. This sounds like so many other indie landfill bands out there, and what’s cute as a one-off could never work as the foundation of a career like the one they’ve had. Thank god for what followed.
Quite a few people can recall this as one of their earliest Florence experiences, such as Squashua. “One of the first songs I heard by them however it don't think it represents their sound going forward. I like it but I doubt even Florence would put it very high on her list (plus no tens for domestic violence anthems y'all).” Meanwhile, constantino believes that “this was the second Florence song I heard, which I discovered in a late night scramble for more material on YouTube. The video is really fun, as is the imagery. I really appreciate that it was included on Lungs despite not really fitting the overall ~tone~. This appeases the indie rock stan within me.”
Pinkieshy observes that “when there were nearly no other songs from her, this was half-decent. But it’s clearly the weak link of the album, almost like a misfire in sound before she discovered her true strengths.” Similarly, Raisin Hell thinks this has suffered as time has gone on and Florence’s career has progressed, “I appreciate the humour in this track in light of how dark and heavy Florence's discography is, but it doesn't sound too good in 2016.” aaronhansome says that it’s “a bit Kate Nash, innit?” which I would deem a harsh criticism but then he gave it 7.5 so clearly he likes that sort of thing.
And what does our 11-giver have to say? I’ll leave you with A$AP Robbie.
“I remember the first time I heard this, and I just listened to it over and over. It takes a difficult subject for a pop song, and kinda nails it, for me at least. Really brilliant.”
Kiss with a Fist - 6.547
High: 11 x 1 – @A$AP Robbie, 10 x 3 - @munro, @Kuhleezi, @Runawaywithme
Low: 0 x 1 - @Jersey
Well, this is a bit of a curveball, isn’t it? Lungs is our first album to take a bullet, and our first track from an album to fall is also the first ever single released by the band. It peaked at #51 in the charts. Florence originally recorded Kiss with a Fist with her first band, Ashok, under the name Happy Slap, before recording it for a second time with the Machine. Musically, it’s completely different to everything she’s done since, a messy fast-paced punky number that ramps up to 100 pretty much immediately, but you can see the embryonic lyrical elements of relationships and chaos. It reached a highest rank of the mid-thirties, where I thought it was likely to stay, but a lot of 'meh' scores from voters and not a lot of lovers meant that it crashed down to here. I don't think anyone thought this was likely to go the distance, but I'm a bit surprised it went out this soon.
She wrote it when she was 17, hanging around with a lot of punk and art-college bands who wrote tough songs. She observed how love could sometimes be a destructive force and how people pushed each other to extremes due to their need to push each other’s buttons and cause drama. She cites one particularly intense couple she knew where the guy had never hit the girl, but the girl had lamped him a few times after he had irritated her sufficiently. The main thing Florence took from observing their relationship was the animal passion they had for each other. She’s had to explain this song many (many) times in interviews, and she’s said it’s never been supposed to be about one person in the pair victimising the other, but about “giving as good as you get”. The extreme imagery of the song is supposed to reflect the extreme emotion contained within.
So let’s get stuck into our commentary, shall we? Plethorya says that “this deserves high points if only for her Leona Lewis interview quote. But the song’s great too.” For those unfamiliar: during one of the many, many times she has had to clarify this song, Florence brought up the song Bleeding Love and how it’s not actually about someone bleeding, and her song is not about popping someone in the mouth, because they’re metaphors. The nuances of the English language.
So, who are our fans? Push “loves this!!” with two exclamation marks. Sprockrooster is not a punk lover, but loves it when Florence does it. This was the first Florence song 2014 heard and “it is still so much fun”. Munro wants your bad romance, “Yas Florence you better put those #RelationshipGoals into musical form.” Runawaywithme can’t help but “love this song and its problematic lyrics and very messy wild production, it reminds me of certain wild moments with my friends.” AllGagaLike says that it’s “quite an anomaly but also quite a bop.” Kuhleezi agrees that it’s out of place, observing that it’s “the kind of song that you hate at first listen but then creeps into your bones (Florence would be so proud of me right now) and you can only admit to yourself it's a gigantic guilty pleasure. To think it was their official first single! Such an eyesore in the context of their discography (no pun intended).”
Jam says that it’s “a quick bit of fun but sticks out like a sore thumb”, which just makes me think of inappropriate things. Jersey justifies the 0 with a swift “ANNOYING AS FUCK”. Ruthless.
Remyky22 says that “it's not crucial to the album or anything, but it adds a fun note and it doesn't last long enough to actually start being annoying. Although it's not an OMGAMAZING song, she pulls it off effortlessly.” Similarly, Oleander thinks that two minutes is long enough, “I'm glad this song isn't longer. It's not bad per se, but it's also nothing to write home about. I get what she was going for and there is some spunk, but this was crying out for more attitude and fire. It's is too repetitive, especially considering how short it is, but the lyrics do paint an interesting picture.” I’m not sure attitude and fire are what is missing here, so much as an artistic identity. This sounds like so many other indie landfill bands out there, and what’s cute as a one-off could never work as the foundation of a career like the one they’ve had. Thank god for what followed.
Quite a few people can recall this as one of their earliest Florence experiences, such as Squashua. “One of the first songs I heard by them however it don't think it represents their sound going forward. I like it but I doubt even Florence would put it very high on her list (plus no tens for domestic violence anthems y'all).” Meanwhile, constantino believes that “this was the second Florence song I heard, which I discovered in a late night scramble for more material on YouTube. The video is really fun, as is the imagery. I really appreciate that it was included on Lungs despite not really fitting the overall ~tone~. This appeases the indie rock stan within me.”
Pinkieshy observes that “when there were nearly no other songs from her, this was half-decent. But it’s clearly the weak link of the album, almost like a misfire in sound before she discovered her true strengths.” Similarly, Raisin Hell thinks this has suffered as time has gone on and Florence’s career has progressed, “I appreciate the humour in this track in light of how dark and heavy Florence's discography is, but it doesn't sound too good in 2016.” aaronhansome says that it’s “a bit Kate Nash, innit?” which I would deem a harsh criticism but then he gave it 7.5 so clearly he likes that sort of thing.
And what does our 11-giver have to say? I’ll leave you with A$AP Robbie.
“I remember the first time I heard this, and I just listened to it over and over. It takes a difficult subject for a pop song, and kinda nails it, for me at least. Really brilliant.”
F
Former member 21294
Best plot twist ever since sixth sense.
D
Deleted member 11565
Yeah, the right choice for the first "proper" Florence track to go. After Heavy In Your Arms that is.