Moderately Acclaimed Albums 4 - Round 1.8

[Brad]

Round 1.8

Vote for your favorite album in each match-up.
Remember, anyone can vote as long as he or she has heard both albums!
Comments are strongly encouraged but not absolutely necessary.
Deadline = April 29th at 10am EST

Match-ups:
1. 2Pac - All Eyez On Me vs. Japan - Tin Drum
2. Jorge Ben - Africa Brazil vs. Wayne Shorter - Juju
3. Spank Rock - YOYOYOYOYO vs. Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Yanqui U.X.O.
4. Anais Mitchell - Hadestown vs. Cornelis Vreeswijk - Tio vackra visor och personliga Person

Shake, Rattle & Roll!

[sonofsamiam]

Wayne Shorter - Brazil

Is this the right title?

[Brad]

Whoops! My fault... corrected!

[sonofsamiam]

Japan - Tin Drum beats 2pac

Ahhhh, the next one was tough!

Jorge Ben - Africa Brazil beats Wayne Shorter - Juju

I really love Wayne Shorter, one of the great semi-underrated jazz artists. Juju is wonderful. But Jorge Ben is even better, especially the highly entertaining and accessible Africa/Brasil.

[Honorio]

1. 2Pac - All Eyez on Me vs. Japan - Tin Drum
2. Jorge Ben - África Brasil vs. Wayne Shorter - Juju
3. Spank Rock - YOYOYOYOYO vs. Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Yanqui U.X.O.
4. Anaïs Mitchell - Hadestown vs. Cornelis Vreeswijk - Tio vackra visor och Personliga Person

The album by Anaïs Mitchell was a pleasant surprise, excellent album.

[Jirin]

Jorge Ben - Africa Brazil 100
Anais Mitchell - Hadestown  98
Cornelis Vreeswijk - Tio Vackra Visor och... 78
Godspeed You Black Emperor - Yanqui U.X.O 73
2Pac - All Eyes On Me 71
Japan - Tin Drum 67
Wayne Shorter - Juju 63
Spank Rock - YOYOYOYOYO 47

This week has my #21 and #54 of all time, both my nominations.

Hadestown is one of those folk operas that's more and more rewarding as you listen to it and discover more about the story and the lyrics. There's something about the idea of a retelling of Orpheus, except about a capitalist dystopia that's effing brilliant.

Why do we build the wall, we build the wall to keep us free!

[Stephan]

I had almost nominated África Brasil myself, but instead I went with Wayne Shorter. And now they meet up. I know Wayne will stand less of a chance, but he has turned into one of my favorite jazz players over the last year. I'm sticking to my choice. The rest of my votes will follow later.

[DaveC]

1. Japan - Tin Drum

2. Wayne Shorter – Juju
A close call, but I love House Of Jade, and there are no weak tracks here.

3. Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Yanqui U.X.O.
My favourite GY!BE, I hope it goes far in this competition. However, not optimistic after () was eliminated so early.

4. Anais Mitchell – Hadestown
I never gave this a proper listen before. It is really good.

[PlasticRam]

Japan album over 2pac's. I think virtually every other song except California Love was pretty crappy, so 90s, like not timeless. I thought Japan was gonna be pretty crappy, but it was okay.

[Greg]

1. Japan - Tin Drum
2. Jorge Ben - Africa Brazil
3. Spank Rock - YOYOYOYOYO
4. Cornelis Vreeswijk - Tio vackra visor och personliga Person

[Michel]

2. Wayne Shorter - Juju
3. Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Yanqui U.X.O

[Brad]

My Picks:

1. Japan - Tin Drum over 2Pac - All Eyez On Me
I liked 2Pac more than I expected, making this pretty close, since Japan doesn't exactly blow me away.
2. Jorge Ben - Africa Brazil over Wayne Shorter - Juju
Wayne got the "short" end of the stick here (sorry)... Africa Brasil is an all-out party.
3. Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Yanqui U.X.O. over Spank Rock - YOYOYOYOYO
"Yanqui" recently took over my top album of 2002 spot (admittedly a rather weak year).
4. Anais Mitchell - Hadestown vs. Cornelis Vreeswijk - Tio vackra visor och personliga Person
Liked them both - "Hadestown" is my favorite find of the tournament thus far.

Thanks!

[Billy]

2Pac - All Eyez on Me over Japan - Tin Drum - Both albums are good. I don't know on another day it could of gone the other way. Both albums are kind of weak at points, but I have to vote for one.

Jorge Ben - Africa/Brasil over Wayne Shorter - Juju - While Wayne's effort is quite good, I like Jorge Ben in this one by a substantial margin. Very good.

Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Yanqui U.X.O. over Spank Rock - YOYOYOYOYO - Don't get me wrong. I think Spank Rock is good, but Yanqui is amazing in my book.

Pass on the fourth.

[Stephan]

Lots of very close brackets this week. I'm a little disappointed I can't vote for Cornelis Vreeswijk, one of the greatest musicians the Netherlands ever produced (even though he was never really appreciated here), but Hadestown is just too good.

1. Wayne Shorter - Juju
2. Jorge Ben - África Brazil
3. Anaïs Mitchell - Hadestown
4. Cornelis Vreeswijk - Tio Vackra Visor och personliga Person
5. Japan - Tin Drum
6. 2Pac - All Eyez On Me
7. Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Yanqui U.X.O.
8. Spank Rock - YoYoYoYoYo

[jamieW]

My winners:

2Pac—All Eyez On Me

I’m shocked to be voting for 2Pac over Japan (especially since I love both Japan albums from 1980). However, the only 2 songs I really like on “Tin Drum” are “Ghosts” and “Visions of China.” This is the second week in a row (with Aphex Twin last week) that I’m voting for a good album that could’ve been better if it wasn’t so bloated. Not that I mind long albums. Two of my favorites from last year, Wadada Leo Smith and Swans, were especially long, but both were strong from beginning to end, and didn’t sound (to me anyway) that they had “fillers” like Aphex and 2Pac.

Wayne Shorter—Juju

Very close (either would’ve easily won the first matchup).

Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Yanqui U.X.O.

The production of Spank Rock is crisp and exciting; the lyrics, not so much. With my love of dark, morose music, the always-reliable GY!BE never need lyrics.

Anais Mitchell – Hadestown

“Hadestown” is one of the many reasons I love this forum, since I likely never would’ve heard it otherwise. So much musical variety, yet it seamlessly flows from song to song. Creative storytelling at its finest; this one really struck a chord with me. Lost in all this is that Vreeswijk is my second favorite album of the week, featuring so many hauntingly beautiful songs—what an unfortunate draw!

[Brad]

about 23 hours left to vote!

[Kingoftonga]

1. 2Pac - All Eyez On Me vs. Japan - Tin Drum
2. Jorge Ben - Africa Brazil vs. Wayne Shorter - Juju

If the 2Pac album were maybe an hour shorter it might win my vote. But I don't have the patience for lengthy 90s rap albums the way I used to.

[Brad]

Results
12 total voters:
Billy
Brad
DaveC
Greg
Honorio
jamieW
Jirin
kingoftonga
Michel
PlasticRam
sonofsamiam
Stephan

Winners:
1. Japan - Tin Drum over 2Pac - All Eyez On Me 8-3
2. Jorge Ben - Africa Brazil over Wayne Shorter - Juju 7-4
3. Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Yanqui U.X.O. over Spank Rock - YOYOYOYOYO 8-1
4. Anais Mitchell - Hadestown over Cornelis Vreeswijk - Tio vackra visor och personliga Person 6-1

Round 1.9 up soon!