Stereolab - Margerine Eclipse POLL

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Poll Closing Date: Monday, 6 July 2026 00:00 (in 1 week)

their most underrated album? it's never been polled!

Vonal Declosion
Need to Be
Sudden Stars
Cosmic Country Noir
La Demeure
Margerine Rock
The Man With 100 Cells
Margerine Melodie
Hillbilly Motobike
Feel and Triple
Bop Scotch
Dear Marge


ufo, Monday, 22 June 2026 02:16 (four days ago)

this could be 7 different songs

imago, Monday, 22 June 2026 05:41 (four days ago)

No weak tracks and a clutch of classics

assert (matttkkkk), Monday, 22 June 2026 11:42 (four days ago)

vonal declosion leaps out, but could be any of the first three songs.

good excuse to spin this one again

the manda-whore-ian and hoe-gu (voodoo chili), Monday, 22 June 2026 12:23 (four days ago)

there are several contenders, but Margerine Melodie was my immediate reaction

whimsical skeedaddler (Moodles), Monday, 22 June 2026 13:49 (four days ago)

my favorite opener / closer combo of all their albums, the perfect bookends hymning their buddy. "dear marge" by a hair, because of that march off second movement / coda

reggie (qualmsley), Monday, 22 June 2026 14:45 (four days ago)

It could’ve been a couple songs but I’m going with “Margerine Rock”

Clever Message Board User Name (Raymond Cummings), Tuesday, 23 June 2026 00:45 (three days ago)

Absolutely great record, like Top 3-5 Stereolab Records great

Clever Message Board User Name (Raymond Cummings), Tuesday, 23 June 2026 00:58 (three days ago)

song titling, as ever, on point

mookieproof, Tuesday, 23 June 2026 01:02 (three days ago)

I really really really want to give Hillbilly Motobike a point for being just this perfect perfect proof of concept of the genuine audio magic that dual mono can wield. Alternatively, Margerine Rock makes me cry, I cannot emphasise enough, every time. Might flip a coin

imago, Tuesday, 23 June 2026 08:51 (three days ago)

i still don't really like the dual mono thing, it's a bit exhausting to listen to on headphones, but i made my own edit of it that reduces the stereo separation just a tad and that makes it so much better on headphones

ufo, Tuesday, 23 June 2026 12:14 (three days ago)

also why are half the tracks on the expanded edition different edits? "dear marge" has its coda missing but "vonal declosion" has a whole new coda and "hillbilly motobike" is twice as long. were these versions originally on the vinyl release or something, like with sound-dust iirc?

ufo, Tuesday, 23 June 2026 12:18 (three days ago)

my first instinct is probably "vonal declosion", it's such a great opener

ufo, Tuesday, 23 June 2026 12:42 (three days ago)

I think they made changes like these on most of their re-releases. Not sure why. They are interesting to hear, but I wish there were remastered versions that matched the original releases without the edits. Feels like Special Edition Stereolab.

whimsical skeedaddler (Moodles), Tuesday, 23 June 2026 14:03 (three days ago)

am I crazy or do a lot of the lyrics also allude to the breakdown of the Sadier/Gane relationship?

The Immortal Bird of Avon (Boring, Maryland), Tuesday, 23 June 2026 15:13 (three days ago)

Vonal Declosion all the way!

This is one of my favorite albums by The Groop. Totally underrated.

I was playing it for my girlfriend this weekend via two bluetooth speakers running stereo so we could walk around the house and get a better sense of the mixes in each channel.

Blood On The Knobs, Tuesday, 23 June 2026 15:14 (three days ago)

Vonal !

Astonishing album, on some days feels like the culmination of everything they ever did.

Davey D, Tuesday, 23 June 2026 19:29 (three days ago)

For me, that is every day :)

miserable pessi reign (imago), Tuesday, 23 June 2026 19:36 (three days ago)

It’s probably a four way contest between “Vonal Declosion”, “Margerine Melodie”, “Feel and Triple” and “Dear Marge” for me, but this is basically a flawless record and I would feel sad if tunes like “The Man With 100 Cells” and “Bop Scotch” don’t get votes.

I agree this feels like a culmination record in the arc of their career.

It’s a strength of last year’s album that it calls back to this one so much, but it also means that it cannot quite be the grand summation of Stereolab that it wants to be (except perhaps in the explicit foregrounding of politics) because Margerine Eclipse got there first

Tim F, Wednesday, 24 June 2026 01:04 (two days ago)

Nice to see this album getting reappraised. I really enjoyed the Stereolab poll on here ten years ago, but I do remember being disappointed that no songs from it made the list. Looking back the album didn't break the top ten in that poll either.

Had to go with Vonal Declosion which is up there with my very favourite songs they've done. The whole album is just about perfect though and one of the best sounding albums I know.

kitchen person, Wednesday, 24 June 2026 02:30 (two days ago)

Absolutely shocked that a lot of the fluff from Cobra and Phases made the list but this great album was snubbed entirely. I was wondering how I voted then realised I didn’t - there was a lot going on in my life at the time.

assert (matttkkkk), Wednesday, 24 June 2026 12:47 (two days ago)

this has been one of my favorite albums ever for awhile (top 3 stereolab for sure). the little 'resurgence' in chatter over the last 3-4 years has been fun, here and elsewhere. i also admit i was surprised they played vonal declosion in 2019! (my favorite from this, unstoppable way to start your 'dual mono' album). wonder if the groop were making a case for the record too.

i think lots of folk had 'lab fatigue at the time of release- i can definitely understand folks checking out, probably well before this one. i woulda been out at dots and loops, personally. but i think that's for another thread

global tetrahedron, Wednesday, 24 June 2026 16:47 (two days ago)

This was actually the first record of theirs that I heard, and loved. Then I heard Emperor Tomato Ketchup and was unimpressed. I've still yet to listen any further, but this album is a fully satisfying statement. Each song is a bold individual picture derived from what could otherwise come across as a limited palette.
Still deciding on a best song.

Halfway there but for you, Wednesday, 24 June 2026 19:30 (two days ago)

I have this on vinyl, which actually makes it kind of difficult to tell which track is which, since a few of them are a couple of tunes stitched together into one track, something they do fairly often I think

I voted Vonal Declosion as well, can't really beat that "oh my god this has got to be their best track" feeling I got within 30 seconds of hearing it for the first time, now that I've heard this a bunch more times I might actually like "Need to Be" more

imo what sets this apart from the other Stereolabs I've heard is there's just so much more going on. lots of cool skittering drum fills and switch-ups, none of those long droney bits that can overstay their welcome, it's got more music on it than most 'Lab albums but comes in at a shorter length, I dig that aspect of it a lot

frogbs, Wednesday, 24 June 2026 19:46 (two days ago)

"Mass Riff" and "Good Is Me" are really hitting today. If you don't know them, checkout the expanded edition of ME
.

Blood On The Knobs, Wednesday, 24 June 2026 19:52 (two days ago)

Might as well post my review here too - adding to frogbs' point about what a miraculous effort of creation this is

miserable pessi reign (imago), Wednesday, 24 June 2026 19:54 (two days ago)

I'll vote for "Need To Be" for repurposing the guitar break from "Run to You" by Bryan Adams.

Halfway there but for you, Wednesday, 24 June 2026 20:11 (two days ago)

What I don’t understand is why the reissue version of Vonal Declosion kills its shimmering momentum with a tacked-on coda for a full minute.

assert (matttkkkk), Wednesday, 24 June 2026 22:47 (two days ago)

Yes, this is was a poor decision in an otherwise stellar reissue campaign.

Davey D, Wednesday, 24 June 2026 22:58 (two days ago)

genuinely didn’t know about the difference between the original album and the reissue! Discogs and Wikipedia have let me down

The Immortal Bird of Avon (Boring, Maryland), Wednesday, 24 June 2026 23:01 (two days ago)

I think this is true of all or most of the Elektra reissues.

whimsical skeedaddler (Moodles), Wednesday, 24 June 2026 23:39 (two days ago)


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