I really thought this Cup was going to be fun...and it is in a way...but it's also making me realize how much I love each and every one of these songs, and how painful it is to pit them against each other. I'm with everyone else on Great Spirit Way vs Last Human Gateway. I literally went back to replay them just to see what gave me the most chills. In the end, I went with Gateway by the narrowest of margins. (pun intended
)
Without Walls over It All Stops Here - easy
You Never Will over provider - easy
The Darkest Hour over Sacred Sound - much much harder. Love both of these. But The Darkest Hour may have been THE moment when I realized that I loved this band very deeply beyond just a couple of great albums.
The Wrong Side of Weird over Capricorn - pretty easy
The Outer Limits over Unsolid Ground - really difficult again. Another one where I had to go back and listen to them back to back to make sure. I almost went with Unsolid Ground because I really detest the drum sound on The Outer Limits. It almost kills it for me. But I honestly think TOL is a slightly better song, so I had to go with that.
Leap of Faith over Sold On You - Surprisingly difficult. I've mentioned in the IQ thread that I think AYSC's poppier songs are stronger than Nomzamo's, and Sold On You is a perfect example of a really great pop song from IQ that I really enjoy listening to. But come on...we're talking about Leap of Faith here. And Ever is almost a perfect album.
One Fatal Mistake over Fall and Rise - This was really hard as well. I have a friend who prefers disc 2 of RoB over disc 1, but I disagree. It's almost as strong, but not quite. But it's all beautiful. One Fatal Mistake is a gorgeous moment from Frequency, so I went that way.
Falling Apart at the Seams over Wintertell - Fairly easy. I'm really happy they included this lost gem from Lush Attic. I seem to remember either reading or hearing that Peter wrote it because they needed to fill just a couple minutes of time, and instead of this they opted for My Baby Treats Me Right... Peter was at a loss for why they went that way, and so am I. But in the end, it is just a "nice little piece" and Falling Apart at the Seams is easily one of the best songs of the PL era.
Last Human Gateway over The Great Spirit Way - SO SO DIFFICULT. This was definitely the most agonizing matchup on this list. As Resistance becomes more familiar, I may change my mind. But Gateway takes the edge.
Born Brilliant over Overture - pretty easy
The Narrow Margin over Rise - Another REALLY hard one. Rise as that excellent ebb and flow to it. And the Narrow Margin actually took me awhile to wrap my head around, but now I think it's the perfect climax to Subterrenea.
Frequency over Red Dust Shadow - fairly easy. Frequency is literally the very first IQ song I ever heard. I was blown away instantly, so it has some sentimental value.