01 Stardust We Are
02 Unfold The Future
03 Paradox Hotel
04 Space Revolver
05 The Sum Of No Evil
06 Flower Power
07 Back In The World Of Adventures
08 Retropolis
09 Adam & Eve
10 The Rainmaker
11 By Royal Decree
12 Desolation Rose
13 Islands
14 Banks Of Eden
15 Waiting For Miracles
Space Revolver landed in 4th for me, which is pretty accurate before I did the rank sorter. I think it's always been a top five TFK album for me, especially among so many other lengthier albums, but this one just really hit differently after FP, with some strong concise songs and the bookending epic that is one of their best.
Paradox Hotel was an album that took me years to warm up to, but when it all finally clicked, it kept a seat in my top three, and unless their next album or two blow me away, I doubt PH will ever be unseated from the top three. The album gets stronger as it goes along, IMO, with some AMAZING songs closing out the second disc.
And then there's Stardust We Are, one of the band's first albums I ever listened to it, and it really stood the test of time with me. There are some great tracks on here, like the title tracks of course, but also a few "eh, they're not bad", but as a WHOLE, the album has stupendous flow and feel from top to bottom. It was the build-up their first two albums had to the making of this masterpiece. I think I've loved SWA so much that it has overshadowed FP for me, which is why that album was 6th in my ranking, but having the band's first five studio albums in my Top Eight means they had a STRONG start in the earliest part of the career, and a kind of magic and power that they've not really reached since (with a couple exceptions like TSONE, PH, and UTF for me). Everything else has been "okay to good" since then and that's fine too. They don't need to WOW me anymore, just make some good, relaxing and interesting TFK material.
Thanks again for running this Kev, even if it didn't pan out the way many of us wanted, I'm glad you took the time to tally the results from the few of us that submitted a list.
-Marc.