Ranking and rating the post Rabin era albums

[soundchaser09]

I know it isn't an original thread but why not? Well over a month since Mirror to the Sky's release, how do we rate these later albums now?

Personally:

1. Mirror to the Sky- 9/10
2. Fly From Here- 9/10
3. Magnification- 9/10
4. The Ladder- 8/10
5. The Quest- 8/10
6. From a Page- 7/10
7. Keys to Ascension 2-7/10
8. Open Your Eyes- 6/10
9. Heaven and Earth- 5/10
10. Keys to Ascension 1- 5/10

[Frumious B]

Magnification
The Ladder
Keystudio
Fly From Here
Mirror To The Sky
From A Page
The Quest
Open Your Eyes
Heaven And Earth

[Roundabob]

Magnification
Mirror to the Sky
Keys to Ascension2
Fly from Here
The Quest
From a Page
The Ladder
Keys to Ascension 1
Heaven and Earth
Open Your Eyes

[Mr. Holland]

Magnification
The Ladder
Fly From Here
Keystudio
Mirror to the Sky
From a Page
The Quest
Heaven & Earth
Open Your Eyes

[Homemade Parachute]

Ask me again tomorrow, and it might be different, but today:

The Ladder
Magnification - two late period A-games, firing on all cylinders, loaded with highlights.

K2A 1 - yes yes, I'm the only one who likes BT1 and TTI, but so it goes. I like them a lot.

Open Your Eyes - underrated collection of not bad songs, played with a certain verge. One or two missteps, maybe, but otherwise like Union - enjoyable, once you get past the baggage.

Mirror to the Sky - the title track is very, very good, and but so the rest of the album struggles to match it, so it seems lopsided to me. Still, have I mentioned the title track? It's quite good!

Fly From Here - three really good songs and some good playing on some ok songs. I thought it better than it had any right to be at the time.

The Quest - uneven, but hints at the band's potential, marred by some dodgy lyrics and some plodding pacing. Still, "A Living Island" redeems a lot of it.

K2A 2 - overrated.

From a Page - "To the Moment" is very good, better than quite a bit of FFH, but the rest of it seems less resolved.

Heaven & Earth - uh, well… Perhaps hasn't yet fully revealed itself to me, after almost a decade.

[Enlighten]

Keys
Open Your Eyes
Magnification
The Ladder
FFHRT

It goes off a cliff after that, don’t look at the wreckage, it’s really ugly.

[jagp20]

For me:
1. Keys to Ascension 2 - 10/10
3. Keys to Ascension 1 - 9/10
4. Magnification - 8/10
5. The Ladder - 8/10
6. Mirror to the Sky - 8/10
7. Fly From Here - 7/10
2. From a Page - 7/10
8. The Quest - 6/10
9. Heaven and Earth - 5/10
10. Open Your Eyes - 4/10

[rePete]

The Ladder
Magnification
Keys
Fly from Here
From a Page
Fly from HereRT
Open Your Eyes
Mirror to the Sky
The Quest
Heaven and Earth

[JMKUSA]

I’m going to offer up a preliminary ranking of these because I’m going backwards in time and re-listening to the whole discography. I’ve been listening to MTTS (sometimes just select tracks) quite a lot recently. I’m going to give The Quest all the way back to KTA a listen over the next few days.

1. The Ladder
2. Mirror to the Sky
3. Fly From Here (2011)
4. Magnification
5. Fly From Here RT
6. The Quest
7. Keys 2
8. From a Page
9. Keys 1
10. Open Your Eyes
11. Heaven & Earth

[Davy]

Fly From Here
The Quest
Mirror to the Sky
Magnification
Keys I
Heaven & Earth
From A Page
Open Your Eyes
The Ladder
Keys 2

[JMKUSA]

I’m going to offer up a preliminary ranking of these because I’m going backwards in time and re-listening to the whole discography. I’ve been listening to MTTS (sometimes just select tracks) quite a lot recently. I’m going to give The Quest all the way back to KTA a listen over the next few days.

1. The Ladder
2. Mirror to the Sky
3. Fly From Here (2011)
4. Magnification
5. Fly From Here RT
6. The Quest
7. Keys 2
8. From a Page
9. Keys 1
10. Open Your Eyes
11. Heaven & Earth

Ok, I have a change to my ranking. After going backwards chronologically, I found myself liking Open Your Eyes way more than I remember. And then Keys 2 seemed sort of boring and uninspired with the exception of Mind Drive, which I still love (although it feels like they could have ended it a couple minutes earlier than they did). So I would now move OYE up right below The Quest, but keep everything else the same.

And although I’m not moving Keys 1 up, I think Be The One is my favorite song from the two Keys albums.

[Oldie on the Goldie]

Keys
Ladder
Mag
FFH

then a big gap with H&E at the bottom.

[pjt]

The Ladder
FFH-RT
MttS

Keystudio
Mag
OYE

From a Page
The Quest
H&E

[madbear]

Mirror to the Sky 8/10
The Ladder 7/10
Open Your Eyes 7/10
Fly From Here 6/10
From a Page 6/10
Keystudio 6/10
Magnification 4/10
The Quest 4/10
Heaven and Earth 4/10
Keys to Ascension 1 4/10
Keys to Ascension 2 4/10

[Ceasar’s Palace]

The Ladder
Magnification
Fly From Here
Keys To Ascension
Open Your Eyes
The Quest
Mirror To The Sky
Heaven and Earth

I never listen to From A Page.