Moderately Acclaimed Albums 7 - Semi-Finals!

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Brad
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Moderately Acclaimed Albums 7 - Semi-Finals!

Post by Brad »

Welcome to the Semi-final round of Moderately Acclaimed Albums 7... vote for the albums you want to reach the Finals!

Vote for your favorite album in each match-up.
Remember, anyone can vote as long as the voter has heard both albums.

Good-spirited comments are encouraged, but not absolutely necessary.
Deadline = November 1st at 10am EST.

Here's a link to the bracket for the entire tournament:
http://www.bracketmaker.com/tmenu.cfm?tid=462048

Match-ups:
1. King Crimson - Red vs. The Pentangle - Basket of Light
2. Tears For Fears - The Hurting vs. Duke Ellington & His Orchestra - Masterpieces by Ellington


We mean it man!
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Bang Jan
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 7 - Semi-Finals!

Post by Bang Jan »



Red (First 5 tracks)

King Crimson | Red
Duke Ellington & His Orchestra | Masterpieces by Ellington

The Pentangle | Basket of Light
Tears for Fears | The Hurting
"The first word in this song is discorporate. It means to leave your body."
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whuntva
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 7 - Semi-Finals!

Post by whuntva »

Pentangle and Ellington
" Ah, yes! Our meager restitution"
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 7 - Semi-Finals!

Post by luney6 »

King Crimson
"God grant me the serenity to accept things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference."
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 7 - Semi-Finals!

Post by Brad »

My picks:
1. King Crimson - Red vs. The Pentangle - Basket of Light
2. Tears For Fears - The Hurting vs. Duke Ellington & His Orchestra - Masterpieces by Ellington

Thanks!
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Romain
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 7 - Semi-Finals!

Post by Romain »

1. King Crimson - Red
2. Duke Ellington & His Orchestra - Masterpieces by Ellington
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 7 - Semi-Finals!

Post by Jirin »

Pentangle and Duke Ellington.
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 7 - Semi-Finals!

Post by PlasticRam »

1. King Crimson - Red vs. The Pentangle - Basket of Light
2. Tears For Fears - The Hurting vs. Duke Ellington & His Orchestra - Masterpieces by Ellington
I feel like that
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 7 - Semi-Finals!

Post by spiritualized »

Pentangle and ellington
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 7 - Semi-Finals!

Post by bonnielaurel »

The Pentangle
Sir Duke
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 7 - Semi-Finals!

Post by DaveC »

1. King Crimson - Red vs. The Pentangle - Basket of Light
2. Tears For Fears - The Hurting vs. Duke Ellington & His Orchestra - Masterpieces by Ellington
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 7 - Semi-Finals!

Post by notbrianeno »

1. King Crimson | Red vs. The Pentangle | Basket of Light
2. Tears For Fears | The Hurting vs. Duke Ellington & His Orchestra | Masterpieces by Ellington
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 7 - Semi-Finals!

Post by sonofsamiam »

King Crimson
Duke Ellington
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 7 - Semi-Finals!

Post by jamieW »

King Crimson - Red
Tears For Fears - The Hurting

Really surprised "Program Music 1" lost last week...
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 7 - Semi-Finals!

Post by BleuPanda »

King Crimson - Red
Tears For Fears - The Hurting


Really wish I listened to The Hurting sooner. I like it, but not as much as Program Music I.
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 7 - Semi-Finals!

Post by Brad »

jamieW wrote:Really surprised "Program Music 1" lost last week...
It happened in the last half hour of voting... I had already listed Program Music 1 as the winner in the draft, then two late votes over-turned the result!
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Listyguy
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 7 - Semi-Finals!

Post by Listyguy »

King Crimson
Tears For Fears
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 7 - Semi-Finals!

Post by Brad »

Hey!

Just over 10 hours left to vote!
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 7 - Semi-Finals!

Post by Honorio »

Sorry Brad, I'm writing too long reviews and I'm afraid of missing the deadline. So I'm going to post my votes now and I'll post the comments later, even with the results posted. My votes go to King Crimson and Duke Ellington.
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 7 - Semi-Finals!

Post by Kingoftonga »

Winners in red.

1. King Crimson - Red vs. The Pentangle - Basket of Light
2. Tears For Fears - The Hurting vs. Duke Ellington & His Orchestra - Masterpieces by Ellington
Brad
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 7 - Semi-Finals!

Post by Brad »

17 voters this time around:
Bang Jan
BleuPanda
bonnielaurel
Brad
DaveC
Honorio
jamieW
Jirin
Kingoftonga
listyguy
luney6
notbrianeno
PlasticRam
Romain
sonofsamiam
spiritualized
whuntva

Here are the results!:
1. King Crimson - Red over The Pentangle - Basket of Light 10-7
2. Duke Ellington & His Orchestra - Masterpieces by Ellington over Tears For Fears - The Hurting 9-7

King vs. Duke in the Finals... coming real soon!
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 7 - Semi-Finals!

Post by Honorio »

I told after the first round that I preferred the albums nominated on previous editions than the ones on the 7th edition. Well, that's true, but this is not the case with this year's semi-finals. I love the four albums remaining (these were the four albums I voted for in quarter finals). Two of them are long-time favourites (since I was a teen) and the other two are quite recent favourites (I've even discovered the Pentagle album thanks to this game). On the first pair I'm going to chose the old favourite but in the second one I'll chose the "new." I'll try to explain my choices but I'm afraid that, even if I'm still beginning, I know that I'm going to write way too much.


1. King Crimson - Red (1974) vs. The Pentangle - Basket of Light (1969)

Like I told on 4th round, "Pentangle had been the discovery of the game to me, they had been under my radar despite loving Fairport Convention and Incredible String Band." There's so much to love on this excellent album. First the musicianship: the Jazz foundation of the rhythm section (with the superb playing on the double bass of Danny Thompson and the no less great percussion work of Terry Cox, also doing a fantastic job on glockenspiel) and the Folk foundation of the guitar players (both Bert Jansch and John Renbourn were masters of the fingerpicking style but they introduced other styles like Blues-style string bending or Psychedelic Eastern-influenced scales and harmonies, not using electric guitars on the whole album but adding different colours with the sitar played by Renbourn and the banjo played by Jansch). The vocals are outstanding too, with the contrasting timbres of the crystalline sweet voice of Jacqui McShee (part of the trinity of goddesses of the British Folk-Rock with Sandy Denny and Linda Thompson of Fairport Covention) and the lusty baritone tone of Bert Jansch and John Renbourn, creating together wonderful vocal harmonies with a distinct medieval flavour (surely Fleet Foxes have listened to "Lyke-Wake Dirge" more than once). And secondly, the selection of tracks, mixing original tunes (on the Folk tradition but including some psychedelic touches, like the odd time signatures on "Light Flight" or the progressive sounds of "Train Song") with covers (ranging from medieval-sounding tunes like "The Cuckoo" or traditional ballads like "House Carpenter" —played here with an unusual combination of banjo and sitar— to Pop tunes like "Sally Go Round the Roses," a brilliant Jazz-Folk reworking of a Girl Group tune). Masterful. Consider me a fan from now on.

Anyway it can't compete with my teenage memories. When I was 13 or 14-years old I had three friends and each one of them had a favourite band: José's favourite band was Yes, Santi's was Genesis and José F.'s was Led Zeppelin. I needed to find my own favourite band and one day in 1979 I entered a record store, I asked the shop assistant to play "In the Wake of Poseidon" by King Crimson and I began to listen to it with the headphones. The album opens with a brief song, "Peace - A Beginning," that builds from silence and sound like a distant chant. Then suddenly begins "Pictures of a City" like a buffalo stampede. At this very moment I jumped in fright, situation that prompted a condescendent smile of the shop assistant. After recovering of the shock I get caught on what sounded to me as a mix of Free-Jazz and Hard-Rock. I learned later that this song was merely an attempt of Robert Fripp to replicate the sound of "21st Century Schizoid Man" from the previous album but for me at this moment it was a brand new sound, something I never listened before. Damn, even the last seconds were pure noise! I bought the album and during the following months the complete discography of King Crimson in cheap second-handed vinyls (I've never been able to listen to the quieter songs like "Trio" on "Starless and Bible Black" because of the scratches on the used vinyl). King Crimson was the first band I really liked and, even if currently they are not on my Top 10 (even if they're still at #15), they ignited on me a fondness/obsession with music that it seems it will last till the day I die.
But let's go with "Red." It was not my favourite album of them then but slowly but surely it creeped its way to the top position (second to me it's their debut). It was an album recorded during the band disintegration and probably designed as a farewell. For the ones not familiar with the Crimsonography the first 7 albums of the band can be divided in two periods, the first four albums with ever-changing line-ups and a sound more based in Prog-Rock and Jazz-Rock and a second period more Avantgarde and Hard Rock (even these influences were also present on the first period) and a more stable line-up. This second period rendered a brilliant trilogy (well, maybe dark could be a more suitable word than brilliant) but the stability on the line-up ended being an illusion. After the excellent "Larks' Tongues in Aspic" the eccentric percussionist Jamie Muir retired and became a Buddhist monk and violinist David Cross also left after the 1974 tour because he felt that his "acoustic violin was increasingly being drowned out by the rhythm section." Both left the band disturbed and exhausted as if the Crimson experience was too intense. So there remained only a trio to record the last album, Robert Fripp (guitar and keyboards), John Wetton (bass and vocals) and Bill Bruford (drums and percussion). The sense of farewell album was increased by the collaboration of former members from the previous band incarnations like Ian McDonald (alto sax), Mel Collins (tenor sax) or Mark Charig (cornet).

But the sound was new, louder and dirtier than ever, bordering on Heavy Metal (the name of the album alluded —see image from the back-cover— to the maximum volume). The album opens with the title theme, a roaring instrumental track in trio format (only adding a cello part on the middle eight) combining menacing harmonies and unusual time signatures. That song had such influence on me that you can hear clear traces of it (plagiarism some might say) in the guitar arrangement I did for "Soldado de caballería," a Ska-Punk song of my band in 1983. A new proof of the new sound of KC was the second song, "Fallen Angel." Every Crimson album featured a ballad and this song begins like that, with a sweet melody sung by John Wetton accompanied by the only acoustic guitar part you can listen on the album, a mellotron and an oboe played by Robin Miller (another former collaborator on the "Island" album). But then an overdrive-filled arpeggio on the electric guitar puts the needle dial on red again, with the cornet of Mark Charig putting the ice on the cake. "One More Red Nightmare" includes lyrics by John Wetton, awesome percussion work by Bruford and an abrupt ending (maybe inspired by Beatles' "I Want You (She's so Heavy)"). The following track is a live improvisation from the American summer tour with David Cross still in the line-up (the title "Providence" came from the place where it was recorded, the Palace Theatre on Providence, Rhode Island). The violin of Cross is the highlight here and so is the Free Improvisation and Atonalism influences, present throughout the whole career of King Crimson.
And then… "Starless." My favourite Crimson track and the perfect epitaph to the band (and even to the whole Prog-Rock style). The first part was written by John Wetton to be the title track of the previous album ("Starless and Bible Black") but Fripp and Bruford didn't like the lyrics and remained unrecorded. It was however played live during the 1974 tour, adding a final instrumental part (you can listen to the original version here). It was revived with new lyrics by Richard Palmer-James and featured a first part (with reminiscences of the Crimson first album) with a beautiful guitar part (based on the melody originally played on violin by David Cross) and an alto sax part played by Ian McDonald. Then it switched to an instrumental part "based on a bass riff in 13/4 contributed by Bruford" according to Wikipedia with a fantastic guitar solo by Robert Fripp (this solo, with Fripp playing only a single note at a time on two strings and slowly ascending the music scale semitone by semitone has also inspired my own solo on the live covers of Talking Head's "Psycho Killer" I play with my current band). A final part with a superb Free-Jazz sax solo by Mel Collins and frantic drumming in 13/8 by Bill Bruford end with a climax with the whole band reprising the melody of the guitar on the intro at full gear. Gorgeous.



2. Tears for Fears - The Hurting (1983) vs. Duke Ellington and His Orchestra - Masterpieces by Ellington (1951)

After an intense Crimson exposure during 1979 three albums changed my life in 1980-1981, "London Calling" by The Clash, "Remain in Light" by Talking Heads and "Faith" by The Cure (the latter nominated by me for this MA7 but —unfairly in my opinion— eliminated on first round). I decided not to listen music from the past and focus on the music that was happening right then. I formed a Funk-Punk band with some friends and we enjoyed a brief moment of glory (we gained a moderately local success) during the summer of 1983, the happiest summer of my life. All the albums that made the soundtrack of my life then still have for me the glow of a hazy halo of dummy happiness. "High Land, Hard Rain," "War," "Japanese Whispers," "Soul Mining," "Porcupine," "Let's Dance," "Power, Corruption and Lies," "Script of the Bridge," "Introducing the Style Council" and, of course, Tears for Fears' "The Hurting." My brother and me bought the album and listened to it religiously, getting trapped by both the ear-candy melodies and the Synth-Pop arrangements. Two years later Tears for Fears became very big with "Songs from the Big Chair" in the wake of the success of the single "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" but my brother and me kept saying to each and every one of our friends: "No, no. no, the good one is the first album!"
Quoting GrandmasterBennyBen, a RYM user, "neuroses and depression have rarely been this catchy." He used it to describe "Mad World" but it could serve as a good definition of "The Hurting" too, the uncomfortable and emotional lyrics about child abuse are wrapped in brilliant melodies and glossy synths. The most acclaimed songs are the four singles but I also love some albums tracks, especially "Watch Me Bleed" (a guitar-based track) but also "Memories Fade" or "The Prisoner." Love also the singles: "Suffer the Children" with the child vocals, "Mad World" with the rhythm box pattern behind the beat or "Change" with the programmed vibes. But let me add a special mention for "Pale Shelter," my favourite track, especially for the use of the acoustic guitar on a Synth Pop context, a trick used brilliantly years later by Everything But the Girl.

It's obvious that I like "The Hurting" but I'm going to vote for "Masterpieces by Ellington." I discovered the album in late 2009 when I was beginning to host the 1950s Poll on this Forum. I wanted to begin on January 2nd including on my first post my own albums and songs list for 1950-1952. Looking for inspiration I went to Rateyourmusic to find that the album was considered the best of 1951. I loved the album at first sight and it ended at #1 on this 50-52 period and it's still on my Top 10 of the 1950s (just look at my recent list on the 1900-1959 thread). Please forgive me for quoting myself but these were my comments there: "Technology influences art. Every technological advance changes the way of creating music and, as the mic allowed the singers to whisper directly into you ear, the long play albums allowed musicians to express themselves out of the jail of the 3 minutes single. And Duke Ellington sounded in his second album (46 minutes, 4 songs) like a just released prisoner running free."
That what I like so much of this album, the way Duke Ellington is allowed to strength his muscles and develop his fantastic arrangements out of the time restrictions of the 78 single format. In fact he sized the opportunity to recreate some classics of his repertoire, 3 of the 4 tracks are versions of songs originally written and recorded in 1930 ("Moon Indigo"), 1933 ("Sophisticated Lady") and 1934 ("Solitude"). Comparing the original version of "Moon Indigo" from 1930 (a masterpiece in itself with technical innovations like using the clarinet in its lower register and the trombone in the higher, something unheard at the time) with this "extended" version two decades later gives an indication of the achievements of this particular album. The 15 minutes "Mood Indigo" is indeed a masterpiece. The beginning is similar to the original version (with the inversion of pictches between clarinet and trombone) but with a more languorous pace. But this time there is room for different improvisations, beginning with Jimmy Hamilton on fierce clarinet at 1:02, followed by Johnny Hodges on swooning alto sax at 2:46. Then at 4:28 a very innovative part, "something out of Ravel, the woodwinds fluttering slow triplets against the melody from muted brass" in Fred Kaplan words for Slate. Duke Ellington himself has his own solo at 5:21, followed by Johnny Hodges on sax again. Finally (7:09 into the song) the vocals get in, sung with extremely good taste by Yvonne Lanauze. And then the highlight for me, at 9:49 a surprising muted trombone solo by Tyree Glenn (I wish I would have listened to this solo before writing something on nicolas blog about my favourite trombone moments). At 11:40 another innovative variation with "a carrousel rhythm in waltz time with off-centered harmony, that foreshadows Sondheim by a quarter-century" (Fred Kaplan again). A dialogue between Duke Ellington and Johnny Hodges closes the masterful track.
Anyway, my favourite song here is "The Tattooed Bride," the only new song and the only up-tempo number bringing back the sound of the golden age of Big Bands in all its glory. I'm going to end this (too long, I know) review quoting again Fred Kaplan: "It starts with dark dissonance, segues into a sprightly upbeat torrent, crashes into low rumbling, then rises back up to Swing Era dance music with an Afro-modern beat (…). Several bars into this, he shifts into romantic balladry, laced with dark accents on piano. Horns blare in the back; woodwinds blow counter-melodies, like a rondo with shifting centers. The piece closes out with a reprise of pure swing, reminiscent of his 1940s band, punctuated by clamorous spurts—a melding of old and new, familiarity with strangeness, not unlike the song's title." By the way, I was the first one who uploaded the song on Youtube, now with 18.416 visualizations.
Sorry Brad for being so late with my comments. I just kept writing and writing…
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