Now isnt that a hard question for all tool albums, its pretty hard for em to pick a favorite song on this album, it kinda depends on my mood, right now its flood, sometimes its undertow, and maybe even 4 degrees, i thinkl rightnow it's have to be flood.
Intolerance, Prison Sex, or Swamp Song. It's really hard to say, though. Sometimes even Disgustipated.
__________________ short wave dictator launches the blitzkrieg upon your frontal lobe the unexpected siege of the fortress thought impenetrable "world peace" just a few elusive frequencies away for there is no enslavement more absolute than unconscious enslavement.
__________________ You never meant a word. Not a fucking word of it. I am so sick of goodbyes. So sick of committing suicide. I am so sick of the in between, now and then. So sick of swinging the hammer. So sick of my suicide, of burying every hero that I had.
i'm going to agree with everyone and say "4 degrees." i love the lyrics and i love the sound of the song. it's one of those songs lost somewhere at the back of the album, stuck behind the singles and the more accesible songs that one doesn't really discover until delving into the albums. it helped me rediscover this album after just listening to aenima and lateralus for a while.
this songs seems to me to be almost out of place on undertow, though.
it has a different lyrical and musical feel to it. it seems less angry.
I'm with Meuterei on that Flood thing. I think that Tool's skills at writing flawless melodies and such hadn't developed fully yet. The build up is incredible though. Personally, I don't see why no-one's mentioned Bottom yet... Rollins' speech is probably the meanest thing I've ever heard and the supporting music makes me sweat it's so good. Can you imagine how the Fab 4 must have felt when they all hit that slow groove at once??
see the thing i like about undertow is that literally every song off of it is a classic. this is a cd that you can put in a listen to it all the way through. there are so few bands out there nowadays that are truly album bands and this is a big part of why i love tool. every song is a classic in its own right.
__________________ apathetic existence - www.apatheticexistence.com
this is personally my favorite Tool album ever. i went out and bought the cd right after the first time i saw the sober video. my favorite songs are undertow, flood, bottom, and intolerance.
i disagree very much, but respectfully. crawl away is an incredible song and belongs right where it is. it ties into a major them on undertow. you see it in intolerance, prison sex, bottom, crawl away, undertow and flood. being stuck in some sort of a situation in which you feel you have no control and cant seem to get out of. crawl away falls right into place perfectly. also, some people feel that its just a song about anger and that hes just screaming but, if you listen to it more carefully, there are some incredibly emotional points in that song. my favorite of which being the line "say you won't go."
you can check out my interpretation of all these songs at my website: apathetic existence (www.apatheticexistence.com)
__________________ apathetic existence - www.apatheticexistence.com
with me it all depends on mood, but when push comes to shove ill have to go with flood. the opening is just so powerful and the rest of the song has so much energy... YAAAH!
I think Flood and 4 degrees take the cake as being the best songs off Undertow. Funnily enough they were the only 2 songs off Undertow that they played earlier this year at the Sydney show i attended. How lucky am I? Heh....
Lets see.. I really have a lot of trouble placing Tool songs when it comes to how much I like them, as I have not yet seen one song by Tool that I don't like.... but.. I think I'm just going to list the songs in order of liking them... 1 is my fave, 10 is least fave, but keep in mind that I love them all.
10) Crawl Away - Probably the fact that the song doesn't even start for 20 seconds... Gets me too impatient, I guess... very Opiate-ish as well (Not that thats a bad thing, though).
9) Bottom - Great song, but it shouldn't be as long as it is... it seems at one point in the song that it will never end, and the end of it isn't very dramatic either.
8) Sober - Incredible song, but over played and over-rated.
7) Prison Sex - See Sober.
6) Intolerance - A great opener for the CD, really sets the mood.. but not quite creative enough to be one of my big time favorites.
5) Disgustipated - So amazingly catchy and creepy that I like it! =)
4) Undertow - VERY dark, and powerful... I love the vocals in this song... The lyrics, his voice.. wow.
3)Flood - Oh my goodness... I LOVE the instrumental at the beginning. The first time I heard it, I thought that Satan was coming up from the ground... I swear.. it sounds SO demonic its not even funny. GREAT song.
2)Swamp Song - This one was the first song that caught my attention on Undertow. Very good use of irregular time signatures and dynamics. Another really awesome song. Always puts me in a good mood.
1) 4° - WHOA. Everything about this song is incredible.. The guitar solo... The use of the Harmonic Minor scale... the time changes... The very Oriental and Eastern sounding guitar and rhythm... everything about this song is unbelievable. Its awesome how Tool can just... rivet you in six minutes.. and every time I listen to this song, I am more and more amazed.
Okay I've said enough. =P Oh,one more thing... this is my 4th favorite Tool cd.
Being a musician, my tastes change once I learn to play new stuff. This question is no different, I used to love Intolerance, and Flood, cause I (we) played those two songs all the time. I recently learned Undertow, and now it is my favorite off of the album, there's so many guitar lines, and they're all cool, especially the palm muted heavy run at the end of the first loop, and at the end of the song.
I agree with Tywi in sayin that Bottom does fucking rock ass. I dont' know if it's my favorite, but I can't really choose a favorite. I like the ending of undertow a lot, maybe that's my favorite song. i also like 4 degrees, but probably not as good as undertow. that song is awesome
__________________ Over thinking, over analyzing separates the body from the mind.
Withering my intuition, missing opportunities and I must
Feed my will to feel my moment drawing way outside the lines.
I have never been able to decide between Bottom, Swamp Song, and Intolerance. Don't get me wrong, the whole album is amazing, but those just tend to stick out for me.
Although it is very hard to choose a favourite off Undertow, I'm going to go with Crawl Away, it's a great track with some brilliant guitar work...Well, in my opinion anyway.
__________________ Infront of me is the past, looking over my shoulder I see the future.
In an ideal world, you wouldn't be reading this, you would be dead.
I think Undertow and then Flood. Although Im very attached personally/lyrically to Bottom.
Undertow is amazing. Its one of the few songs that I dont think I could ever get tired of. You know that weird swoony feeling that you get from listening to music sometimes? Its like the Ultimate in music appreciation. Im going to say right now and it will probably soon become very clear that I dont "know much" about music, in terms of theory, performance, etc. But I do have a very passionate if ignorant appreciation of it and Undertow illustrates it very well -- I cant listen to this song and sit still for any of it. Particularly the "half as high as heaven" and "weak and numb and insignificant" parts. So beautiful you could almost cry.
Flood is almost orgasmic in its buildup.
Bottom I have a strong feeling for :
"Hatred, weakness, and guilt keep me alive"
This is quite literally true for me. These are my reasons (along with one more) that i dont kill myself. So I love Bottom as well.
I just got undertow a couple of days ago, so my opinion is just forming. But so far...
Intolerance- this is seriously an awesome song. Maynard is so powerfully hypnotic in this song, and there are some really creepy/cool guitar sounds.
Sober- So what if its played a lot? I don't see myself getting tired of it... I've heard it on the radio for as long as i can remember and i still think that part where Maynard says "Trust me..." and then that guitar squeal comes in is breathetaking.
Swamp Song- I don't know, when I first heard it, I wasn't all that impressed, but then the next morning when I woke up, I kept hearing Maynard singing "I hope it sucks you down" (reminds me of Ticks and Leaches, actually) in my head. Now everytime I listen to it I am amazed at the whole tone everything in the song.
Disgustipated- So unforgettable, it reminds me of Nine Inch Nails.
What is the big deal with Prison Sex? For me, its the least memorable song on the cd *ducks*.
Not hearing much Prison Sex. I agree it's overplayed but listening to Maynard belt out "I have found some kind of temporary sanity in this . . . SHIT BLOOD AND CUM ON MY HANDS".. all I can say is this is one of my favorite lines from tool.
__________________ I firmly believe that any man's finest hour, his greatest fulfillment of all he holds dear, is the moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle - victorious.
-Vince Lombardi
songs 4-7. possibly the best 1234 punch of all the albums. if i had to pick one its gotta be crawl away. I would do just about anything to see it live.
