Balarama Music

Carbon Leaf Countdown: Overlooked Songs & Albums

Feb 14

Doug2000s carbon leaf 6 Comments

As we head into the top five of the Carbon Leaf countdown, I figured it’d be cool to look back and see what songs we overlooked and how the albums of Carbon Leaf stack up. The top five songs are pretty obvious (though the ranking might not be) so I don’t think this will spoil anything really. Still, if you don’t want to be spoiled, don’t read!

I think everyone will have their opinion on what should or shouldn’t have made the list, but looking over the list, I came up with 5 songs that I think a big, big case could have been made for them to end up anywhere in the bottom 25 and for two of them, maybe even the top 25.

“Flood”
I could be wrong, but “Flood” was their big song around the time Shadows In The Banquet Hall came out. A music video for it ending up winning Internet Underground Music Archive award too. It kind of fits in with “Come Again?” in that the music portion of it would probably have fit in with the alt-rock sound of the time. Live & Collective Soul and all that probably. But the song is unmistakably Carbon Leaf. Check out some older Carbon Leaf shows and it’s one of the most consistent songs from Shadows In The Banquet Hall to show up.

“Ordinary Eyes”
It’s a folk song with some urgency! It’s almost like the White Rabbit’s theme song with him hopping everywhere so quickly. You can see the comparisons, right? Anyway, it opens their third album up and really sets the pace, tone, and general statement well for that album. The song is just so much fun I’m surprised it didn’t squeeze in. Who among us doesn’t love the bass vs. folk breakdown in the second part of the song? Who wouldn’t?

“Lonesome Pine”
I really like that intricate guitar part with that country, John Fox Jr. twang that just makes it stand-out on Echo Echo. Maybe it’s just me, but I’m pretty surprised “Mellow Tone” beat out this for the list. Nothing wrong with “Mellow Tone,” but is it as brave as this? Give it a re-listen and maybe you’ll re-evaluate the list you sent me. No? Come on, you know it’s yes.

“Learn To Fly”
First off, Katy Perry is in the music video. Dudette, do us a favor. Publicize this. Get the word out about Carbon Leaf. Help a brother out, you know? Anyway, I’m pretty surprised this didn’t make the countdown at all as I’m sure others are. It’s a good Carbon Leaf song chockfull of all the things you love about the band. Best part has to be the lead-up into the final chorus. It’s one of those things Carbon Leaf can hit really well and this song is no exception.

“Love Loss Hope Repeat”
This and Learn To Fly are the most obvious and glaring omissions from our list. They both narrowly missed out on the top 50. So narrowly that this was 51 and Learn To Fly was 52. The title track for their 2006 album, the song has probably one of the best sing-a-long chorus in Carbon Leaf lore and manages to sneak in a sweeping guitar part that just soars over and perfectly falls after Learn To Fly on the album. Maybe Carter was the dirty bird who learned to fly? Maybe, but don’t call Carter a dirty bird in public. He probably won’t enjoy that.

Now onto the albums…

I put up a poll asking what the best Carbon Leaf album on the left side of the site as we started the countdown and got a good response. A little while afterwards though, a voter asked me if I could do a vote on the albums like we did the songs since she thought some of the albums would jump up using that system and there might be a more clear-cut winner. I sent out an e-mail to all who voted and got back little more than half with responses on the album. I included all studio albums, the two live albums, their Christmas album, and their most recent EP. I didn’t throw in the soundtrack, but so many people included Curious George in their list that I had to include it. A lot of people mentioned the Covers EP as well, but with only four songs and only covers, I figured it wouldn’t be worthwhile. Here’s what we came up with:

1. Echo Echo
2. Indian Summer
3. Nothing Rhymes With Woman
4. Christmas Child
5. Live, Acoustic, And In Cinemascope!
6. Shadows In The Banquet Hall
7. 5 Alive!
8. Love Loss Hope Repeat
9. Ether-Electrified Porch Music
10. How The West Was Vol. One
11. Curious George 2: Follow That Monkey
11. Meander

It seems like the general consensus is that the three great Carbon Leaf albums are Echo Echo, Indian Summer, & Nothing Rhymes With Woman. I think the third there will always end up the third, but I think on a different day, some Carbon Leaf fans might go for Indian Summer over Echo Echo. Here though, Echo Echo won out by a pretty decent margin. I agree with the list too: Echo Echo is truly their finest work. It’s the best album I’ve heard come out of 2001 overall for sure and really has their best collection of good & great songs out there. No filler at all.

Christmas Child shot up using this ranking system as opposed to a single vote like to the left. A lot of people love the Christmas album and what’s really not to love? Live, Acoustic, And In Cinemascope! beats out 5 Alive! which probably has to do with three more albums worth of songs being represented and the fact that it is more readily available for those newer fans. I ranked 5 Alive! higher, but that’s just a preference of mine and both are excellent.

Meander ranks the lowest as I’m sure the self-titled by Red Hot Chili Peppers and the self-titled by Queen would be ranked lowest by fans. It’s the beginning – it’s only going to get better. Love Loss Hope Repeat & Ether-Electrified Porch Music have a lower ranking which I think is probably for how scattered they are. They literally have some of the best Carbon Leaf songs and some of the most skipable ones. An album that follows a masterpiece like “The War Was In Color” with “Bright Lights” & “International Airport” kind of speaks for itself. No offense if you like those songs, but there are very few songs that Carbon Leaf has that could follow “The War Was In Color.”

In comparison, here is how many songs made it from each album:

Echo Echo – 12 of 14 (2 in the top 10 & 2 in the top 5)
Indian Summer – 11 of 11 (4 in the top 10 & 2 in the top 5)
Nothing Rhymes With Woman – 10 of 14 (2 in the top 10)
Christmas Child – 1 of 9
Live, Acoustic, And In Cinemascope! – 1 live version only song
Shadows In The Banquet Hall – 4 of 11
5 Alive! – 1 live version only song
Love Loss Hope Repeat – 4 of 11 (1 in the top 10 & 1 in the top 5)
Ether-Electrified Porch Music – 3 of 12 (1 in the top 10)
How The West Was One – 3 of 7
Curious George 2: Follow That Monkey – 1 of 7
Meander – 0 of 12

Using this logic, Indian Summer has a clear shot at being called the best Carbon Leaf album since it has a perfect score and the most in the top 10. Again, I think the list shows how scattered Love Loss Hope Repeat and Ether-Electrified Porch Music. Some really great songs and some that really seem a little out of place. Poor Meander though. Am I the only one who loves “Skeleton Man Dance?”

Time for the top 5 Carbon Leaf songs!