Doing a bit of math for the five of us who have put up our rankings of Neal's 8 solo prog albums, here's how they average, out of a total 40 points:
Sola Scriptura = 34 (5, 8, 8, 5, 8)
? = 34 (6, 7, 7, 8, 6)
Testimony 2 = 28 (7, 6, 5, 3, 7)
One = 26 (8, 3, 6, 7, 2)
Testimony = 22 (4, 4, 4, 6, 4)
Momentum = 14 (3, 5, 1, 2, 3)
Lifeline = 12 (2, 2, 3, 4, 1)
Sola Gratia = 10 (1, 1, 2, 1, 5)
I gave 8th place albums 1 point, 7th place 2, etc. etc.
Of the five of us, four placed Testimony at 5th place (the most common ranking for a single album). Three of us put Sola Gratia last, as well as Sola Scriptura first (which takes the top spot over ? despite having the same number of points, since it was placed first in more lists).
Seems like the consensus agrees that Lifeline, Momentum, and Sola Gratia are bottom-half albums, with only two rankings putting any of them above 5th place. Likewise, there is a consensus that ? and Sola Scriptura are top-half albums, with everyone placing them at least 4th or higher.
1. ?
2. One
3. Testimony
4. Sola Scriptura
5. Lifeline
6. Testimony 2 (I prefer the bonus disc to the actual album)
7. Momentum
8. Sola Gratia
I haven't listened to Jesus Christ the Exorcist. Not really any interest in that.
So it looks like after Sola Scriptura, Neal's solo albums just got worse and worse for you (and that he peaked in 2005 with ?). Now I wonder how you would rank the NMB albums in with these eight, just to see where they would fit.
-Marc.