But, like you, I wouldn't argue too strongly in support of this order or against anyone with the opposite order (like the two posters above me), or any other order. All 3 are great and like you said, are clearly IMO their top 3.

I think my ranking them this way has a lot to do with my age. I was old enough to know of and hear of the Roots when Illadelph dropped but I didn't buy it at the time of its release, only hearing it in full after TFA dropped. In other words there's nostalgia tied to TFA and Game Theory that isn't necessarily tied to Illadelph for me, even if I still recognize it as a top-tier, excellent album. And while I love TFA, I find myself listening to Game Theory way more often since it dropped and I think they found a good balance of mature subject matter and the same playful, jam-band tracks they made their name on.

But again, that's just me. Someone could tell me they were 1a, 1b and 1c and I wouldn't argue. It's interesting that you made this post today cause I just listened to Game Theory front to back on Monday for the first time in a couple of years and was thinking how great it is and that it's clearly my personal favorite from their catalogue.

This also reminds me, I meant to make a post about this: why is Rising Down not on Spotify, does anyone know ?