All I can say is that The Ideal Condition is one of the best albums I have heard in years.
The structures to the tracks are unbelievably lush, the progression of the tracks are fantastic and the depth too; particularly the classical based ones, are awe inspiring.
Madness and me is indeed a fantastic album; the production is incredible and there are many subtle melodic progressions, but there are too few chord changes and the structures of the tunes are pretty linear (am I making any sense!?!).
Most of Pauls vocal collaborations have a popular song making structure to it; i.e. a verse, bridge, chorus etc that changes key. I really like that in electronic music as it is fairly rare.
They are two completely different albums, its hard to compare 2 different styles of work. Pauls output is more to my taste as I am a real sucker for melody and imo you cant beat a well placed chord progression and there are plenty of them in The Ideal Condition.
It takes a good few listens to figure out where some of the tracks are going. Not only that but he messes around with the timing of the tracks, bringing in some new melodic progression that at first seems completely off the rhythm but it some how moulds into the rest of track. I'd say thats rather clever.
But I feel really guilty comparing them as I have so much respect for both of them!! I am just very happy that both of them have released 2 completely different sounding albums that I really like.
If I had to chose one though, there would be no hesitation in choosing Pauls album. As I mentioned before, it is one of the best albums I have heard in a very long time. Truely wonderful.
I don't know you people...why are you here? MEMS MUZAK
oh, do you know something i don't about a large windfall coming my way soon? otherwise i'm going to have the always-fun decision of whether to pay for food or rent