re "superior record."
it's hard to say which one would be my favorite because all her records are 70% to me, some incredible stuff and then the rest over the fence, so gloomy I have to turn it down. Magnolia was clearly a very clean powerful story, the movie couldn't be the same without it.
At the end, I think her songs are a vehicle to deliver that sweet inflection she can do with her voice, so I am just a fan of all her albums.

