Moderately Acclaimed Albums 5 - Round 2.1

[Brad]

Finally, on to the second round of Moderately Acclaimed Albums 5!

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 encouraged but not absolutely necessary.
Deadline = July 7th at 10am EST.

Match-ups:
1. Tim Buckley - Happy Sad vs. Tom Waits - Bone Machine
2. The Temptations- Temptations Sing Smokey vs. Thelonious Monk - Monk's Music
3. Silver Jews - American Water vs. Fela Kuti – Original Sufferhead
4. Bruce Springsteen - Hammersmith Odeon, London '75 vs. Game Theory - Lolita Nation

Give It Up!

[Honorio]

Second Round? So it's time for comments now.

Unlike last edition (when three of my nominations got to the Final Four) this time my nominations had performed quite poorly. Only two of my six nominations got to Round 2 (Pogues and Bregovic). I checked out who were the most successful nominators on the Round 1 of this fifth edition and these were the results:
- 7 nominations passing to second round: nicolas.
- 6 nominations: Listyguy.
- 5 nominations: TimmyWing, Jirin and Brad.
- 4 nominations: Henrik.
- 3 nominations: DaveC, Blanco, Stephan, Antonius, Logan, PlasticRam and HRS.
- 2 nominations: Mattceinicram, Henry, Chris H, Michel, Nassim, DocBrown and me.
Given the fact that the number of nominations from every voter ranged from 6 to 8 (some albums like "Reckoning" or "F#A#∞" were nominated by two people) this is the list showcasing the percentage of nominations passing to the second round:
- 100%: nicolas (7/7) and Listyguy (6/6).
- 71%: Jirin and Brad (5/7).
- 66%: Henrik (4/6).
- 62%: TimmyWing (5/8).
- 50%: PlasticRam and HRS (3/6).
- 42%: DaveC, Blanco, Stephan, antonius and Logan (3/7).
- 33%: Henry, Chris H, Michel, DocBrown and me (2/6).
- 28%: Mattceinicram and Nassim (2/7).


So here we are...


1. Tim Buckley - Happy Sad vs. Tom Waits - Bone Machine
Let's begin with two highly idiosyncratic albums from two highly idiosyncratic artists, both nominated by Jirin. Both albums use blues as their foundation but while Buckley's has an airy quality that elevates you in the air up to three feet high (and rising) Waits' has an earthy quality that buries you six feet under the ground. Spirit and bones. Dream and nightmare. Heaven and hell. Maybe I'm going to hell, I don't know, but I chose Waits.

2. The Temptations - The Temptations Sing Smokey vs. Thelonious Monk Septet - Monk's Music
Black music at its best. 60s soul vs. 50s bop, Motown vs. Riverside, Detroit vs. New York. These two albums feature amazing interactions/collisions: the talent of Monk and the nerve of Coltrane (not forgetting Coleman Hawkins and Art Blakey, also on the septet) and the masterful song-writing of Smokey Robinson and the soulful performance of The Temptations, even better perfomers of the Robinson material than The Miracles themselves. I'll go with Motown.

3. Silver Jews - American Water vs. Fela Anikulapo Kuti & Egypt 80 - Original Sufferhead
In my opinion the least interesting match-up on a (fantastic) first week of Round 2. Never been a fan of Stephen Malkmus' disjointed singing, even if I enjoyed much more this album by Silver Jews than any album by Pavement. On the other hand, even if I slightly prefer Fela's material with Afrika 70 than with Egypt 80, any stuff from the father of the afro-beat is always refreshing and invigorating. And this is no exception.

4. Bruce Springsteen - Hammersmith Odeon, London '75 vs. Game Theory - Lolita Nation
Last week I posted the 10 longer albums on Round 1, now we have 2 of the 4 survivors facing each other, two hours by Springsteen against 75 minutes of Scott Miller. I liked a lot "Lolita Nation" (I also loved "Plants and Birds and Rocks and Things" last year) and its balance of bizarreness and catchiness, but it's facing the E-Street Band at the top of its game. I saw this concert on TV and I was surprised to notice the tears rolling down my cheeks on several occasions.

[Brad]

Marvelous recap of the first round Honorio! And excellent commentary as always (though your Malkmus comments sting! lol).

I should also point out that Henrik and I are tied for the lead in the Predict It bracket, each with 45 points after round 1. Michel is just behind with 42 pts, followed by Nassim, listyguy, and kingoftonga. Everyone is easily within reach of the lead. Unfortunately, I had picked "Ram" to go four rounds (and a couple others that were knocked out), so not sure how I'll fair in the upcoming rounds....

[Stephan]

I should have done the 'Predict It' thing, I voted for 7 of these 8 in the last round. And damn, only three albums through to the next round. I must not have nominated Cold Fact and Exuma then.

1. Thelonious Monk - Monk's Music
2. Bruce Springsteen - Hammersmith Odeon, London '75
3. Tom Waits - Bone Machine
4. Fela Kuti – Original Sufferhead
5. Tim Buckley - Happy Sad
6. Silver Jews - American Water
7. The Temptations - Temptations Sing Smokey
8. Game Theory - Lolita Nation

[PlasticRam]

1. Tim Buckley - Happy Sad vs. Tom Waits - Bone Machine
2. The Temptations- Temptations Sing Smokey vs. Thelonious Monk - Monk's Music
3. Silver Jews - American Water vs. Fela Kuti – Original Sufferhead
4. Bruce Springsteen - Hammersmith Odeon, London '75 vs. Game Theory - Lolita Nation

Not my favorite week. Many of the albums did not get my vote on the first round. I like Bone Machine and it's my fav from this week, even though I didn't vote for that either.

[jamieW]

Tom Waits - Bone Machine
Thelonious Monk - Monk's Music
Fela Kuti – Original Sufferhead
Bruce Springsteen - Hammersmith Odeon, London '75

Favorite album I didn't vote for: Silver Jews - American Water
Favorite track off any album: Thelonious Monk - Epistrophy

[DocBrown]

1. Tom Waits - Bone Machine
2. Thelonius Monk - Monk's Music
3. Silver Jews - American Water
4. Bruce Springsteen - Hammersmith Odeon, London '75

[Jirin]

Tim Buckley - Happy Sad (#40 all time)
Tom Waits - Bone Machine (#55 all time)
Fela Kuti - Original Sufferhead 91
Temptations - Temptations Sing Smokey 84
Silver Jews - American Water 83
(Bruce Springsteen - Hammersmith Odeon, London '75 82)
Thelonius Monk - Monk's Music 76

Great week, it makes me sad that two albums so high on my list so close to each other get matched up.

Lolita Nation is the only album from the list I was unable to hear in the first round, what's that link again?

[Henry]

1. Tim Buckley - Happy Sad is preferred over Tom Waits - Bone Machine

[Brad]

My picks:
1. Tim Buckley - Happy Sad vs. Tom Waits - Bone Machine. very close for me - this was a gut reaction choice after one final listen.
2. The Temptations- Temptations Sing Smokey vs. Thelonious Monk - Monk's Music
3. Silver Jews - American Water vs. Fela Kuti – Original Sufferhead. soi disantra
4. Bruce Springsteen - Hammersmith Odeon, London '75 vs. Game Theory - Lolita Nation. If I could choose when to see Springsteen, this would definitely have been the tour. I agree it's a pretty great show (with & without the visuals), although I confess some of the songs are dragged out too long for me, or suffer from interpretations that misfire (notably "For You"). For all it's greatness, though, this match-up isn't really close for me.

Thanks!

[Listyguy]

Haha how did all of my nominations make it through?
Jirin: http://www.loudfamily.com/flashplayer.html

Here's my first two votes, I will try to listen to the two albums I haven't heard so I can complete my vote.
1. Tim Buckley - Happy Sad vs. Tom Waits - Bone Machine
Tom Waits is an incredible musician. "Who Are You This Time" is one of his career highlights.
4. Bruce Springsteen - Hammersmith Odeon, London '75 vs. Game Theory - Lolita Nation
I didn't expect this album to advance past the first round, so I can't complain when it inevitably gets blown out by the Boss.

[DaveC]

1. Tim Buckley - Happy Sad
This is the Tim Buckley I like to hear, while Bone Machine is good in parts it doesn't engage the same way.

2. The Temptations- Temptations Sing Smokey

3. Silver Jews - American Water

4. Game Theory - Lolita Nation
Grows with each listen. Game Theory have the virtue of having their own vision and thus not sounding like anyone else.

[antonius]

1. Tom Waits - Bone Machine
2. Thelonious Monk - Monk's Music
4. Bruce Springsteen - Hammersmith Odeon, London '75

[Listyguy]

2. The Temptations- Temptations Sing Smokey vs. Thelonious Monk - Monk's Music
I'm going to refrain from voting in this one because I don't want to cause a tie. However, I'll cast the tiebreaking vote if they end up tying anyway.
3. Silver Jews - American Water vs. Fela Kuti – Original Sufferhead
The Silver Jews are a harder version of Wilco. That's never a bad thing.

[Brad]

about 22 hours left to vote!

[Kingoftonga]

1. Tom Waits - Bone Machine
2. Thelonious Monk - Monk's Music
3. Fela Kuti – Original Sufferhead
4. Bruce Springsteen - Hammersmith Odeon, London '75

[Henrik]

1. Tim Buckley - Happy Sad

[Brad]

Results:
1. Tom Waits - Bone Machine over Tim Buckley - Happy Sad 9-4
2. Thelonious Monk - Monk's Music over The Temptations- Temptations Sing Smokey 6-4
3. Fela Kuti – Original Sufferhead over Silver Jews - American Water 6-4
4. Bruce Springsteen - Hammersmith Odeon, London '75 over Game Theory - Lolita Nation 7-3

Round 2.2 up soon!