This is probably going to be a long post so I apologize in advance. But I had some time and decided I wanted to really settle in and try to compare DSH against the other albums from this current lineup.
So here's how I went about it....which I know is probably goofy but who cares lol! Anyways, I've settled into listening to DSH as an 11 track album and all I've done personally is eliminate the 2 Krauss songs and the 2 piano ballads. I just love how the album flows like this and 11 tracks is a more "normal" size album IMO. So here's how it looks:
1. Take What You Want
2. Kick
3. Fire It Up
4. SOS
5. Liquid Dust
6. U Rok Mi
7. All We Need
8. Open Your Eyes
9. Gimme A Kiss
10. Unbreakable
11. From Here to Eternity
So what I wanted to do was compare against Slang, X, Euhporia, Sparkle and the S/T to try and see how it stacks up for me personally. What I've decided to do is basically do the same thing with those albums and strike out my least favorite songs to get to 11 track albums. My rule though was only to strike songs and not rearrange the track order in order to try and keep things closer to the sequencing they've used. Hey, it's not perfect science here lol but I think it gives me a general idea how this stacks up. So following, I'll just list the albums and the 11 songs for each that I came up with and who I pick is my favorite song in each spot:
For Slang (winner after the dash):
1. Truth vs TWYW - TWYW
2. Turn To Dust vs Kick - Kick
3. Slang vs Fire It Up - Slang
4. All I Want Is Everything vs SOS Emergency - SOS
5. Work it Out vs Liquid Dust - Work It Out
6. Breathe A Sigh vs U Rok Mi - U Rok Mi
7. Deliver Me vs All We Need - Deliver me
8. Gift of Flesh vs Open your Eyes - Open your Eyes
9. Blood Runs Cold vs Gimme A Kiss - Gimme A Kiss
10. Where Does Love Go vs Unbreakable - Where Does Love Go
11. Pearl of Euphoria vs FHTE - FHTE
By my count here, DSH beats Slang 7-4.
For Euphoria:
1. Demolition Man vs TWYW - TWYW
2. Promises vs Kick - Promises
3. Back In Your Face vs Fire It Up - Fire It Up
4. Goodbye vs SOS Emergency - SOS
5. All Night vs Liquid Dust - Liquid Dust
6. Paper Sun vs U Rok Mi - Paper Sun
7. It's Only Love vs All We Need - All We Need
8. 21st Century Girl vs Open your Eyes - 21st Century Girl
9. Guilty vs Gimme A Kiss - Gimme A Kiss
10. Day After Day vs Unbreakable - Day After Day
11. Kings of Oblivion vs FHTE - FHTE
By my counts, DSH beats Euphoria 7-4.
For X:
1. Now vs TWYW - TWYW
2. Unbelievable vs Kick - Kick
3. You're So Beautiful vs Fire It Up - You're So Beautiful
4. Everyday vs SOS Emergency - SOS
5. Long Long Way To Go vs Liquid Dust - LLWTG
6. Four Letter Word vs U Rok Mi - Four Letter Word
7. Torn To Shreds vs All We Need - Torn to Shreds
8. Love Don't Lie vs Open your Eyes - Open Your Eyes
9. Gravity vs Gimme A Kiss - Gimme A Kiss
10. Let Me Be The One vs Unbreakable - Unbreakable
11. Scar vs FHTE - Scar
Here, it was a close one but I have DSH over X 6-5.
For Sparkle:
1. Go vs TWYW - TWYW
2. Nine Lives vs Kick - Kick
3. C'mon C'Mon vs Fire It Up - Fire It Up
4. Love vs SOS Emergency - SOS
5. Tomorrow vs Liquid Dust - Tomorrow
6. Cruise Control vs U Rok Mi - U Rok Mi
7. Hallucinate vs All We Need - Hallucinate
8. Only The Good Die Young vs Open your Eyes - Open Your Eyes
9. Bad Actress vs Gimme A Kiss - Gimme A Kiss
10. Come Undone vs Unbreakable - Unbreakable
11. Gotta Let It Go vs FHTE - Gotta Let It Go
Here I have DSH over Sparkle 8-3.
And for the S/T:
1. Let's Go vs TWYW - TWYW
2. Dangerous vs Kick - Dangerous
3. Man Enough vs Fire It Up - Fire It Up
4. We Belong vs SOS Emergency - SOS
5. Invincible vs Liquid Dust - Invincible
6. Sea Of Love vs U Rok Mi - U Rok Mi
7. All Time High vs All We Need - All We Need
8. Broke N Brokenhearted vs Open your Eyes - Open Your Eyes
9. Last Dance vs Gimme A Kiss - Gimme A Kiss
10. Wings of An Angel vs Unbreakable - Wings of An Angel
11. Blind Faith vs FHTE - FHTE
So here I have DSH again on top 8-3.
Overall, I think that settles it for me as DSH beats all those albums. I know this doesn't consider all the tracks on each album and also doesn't consider how much I might like specific tracks. But I think it illustrates to me that DSH at least has the most depth for me compared to these other albums.
I'm sure others would have different results but it was a fun exercise and at least convinces me that this is my favorite album since Adrenalize.
And kuds to anybody that actually bothers reading this !