Moderately Acclaimed 3 (MA3) Round 2.4

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Brad
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Moderately Acclaimed 3 (MA3) Round 2.4

Post by Brad »

Round 2.4
Vote for your favorite album in each matchup.
Remember, anyone can vote as long as they've heard both albums!
Deadline = July 25th 10am EST

1. Wire - 154 vs. Queens of the Stone Age - Rated R
2. Dire Straits - Making Movies vs. Steely Dan - The Royal Scam
3. Allman Brothers Band - Brothers and Sisters vs. Jorge Ben - A Tábua de Esmeralda
4. Nina Simone - Jazz Played in an Exclusive Side Street Club vs. Ben Harper - Fight For Your Mind


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Stephan
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed 3 (MA3) Round 2.4

Post by Stephan »

1. Jorge Ben - A Tábua de Esmeralda
2. Nina Simone - Little Girl Blue
3. Steely Dan - The Royal Scam
4. The Allman Brothers - Brothers and Sisters
5. Dire Straits - Making Movies
6. Wire - 154
7. Ben Harper - Fight for Your Mind
8. Queens of the Stone Age - Rated R
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed 3 (MA3) Round 2.4

Post by Greg »

1. Queens of the Stone Age - Rated R
2. Steely Dan - The Royal Scam
3. Jorge Ben - A Tábua de Esmeralda
4. Nina Simone - Jazz Played in an Exclusive Side Street Club
Henry
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed 3 (MA3) Round 2.4

Post by Henry »

2. Steely Dan - The Royal Scam wins over Dire Straits - Making Movies

3. Allman Brothers Band - Brothers and Sisters wins over Jorge Ben - A Tábua de Esmeralda
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Romain
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed 3 (MA3) Round 2.4

Post by Romain »

1. Wire - 154
The two strongest albums of the week. But I prefer the Wire.
2. PAss
3. Jorge Ben - A Tábua de Esmeralda
Easy.
4. Ben Harper - Fight For Your Mind
Two good albums again. I slightly prefer Ben HArper.
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed 3 (MA3) Round 2.4

Post by Jirin »

Wire - 154 (8/10)
Queens Of The Stone Age - R (7/10)

Dire Straits - Making Movies (8/10)
Steely Dan - The Royal Scam (5/10)

Allman Brothers - Brothers and Sisters (8/10)
Jorge Ben - A Tabua De Esmeralda (8/10)

Nina Simone - Jazz Played In An Exclusive Side Street Club (8/10)
Ben Harper - Fight For Your Mind (8/10)
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Michel
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed 3 (MA3) Round 2.4

Post by Michel »

1. Wire - 154
2. Dire Straits - Making Movies
3. Jorge Ben - A Tábua de Esmeralda
4. Ben Harper - Fight For Your Mind
Brad
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed 3 (MA3) Round 2.4

Post by Brad »

My Picks:
1. Wire - 154 over Queens of the Stone Age - Rated R
2. Dire Straits - Making Movies over Steely Dan - The Royal Scam
Nothing against Steely Dan; Making Movies is a top 50 all-timer for me.
3. Allman Brothers Band - Brothers and Sisters over Jorge Ben - A Tábua de Esmeralda
This is the close one of the week. Betrayed by my classic rock roots.
4. Nina Simone - Jazz Played in an Exclusive Side Street Club over Ben Harper - Fight For Your Mind
We could be headed for a very interesting third round matchup!

Thanks!
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed 3 (MA3) Round 2.4

Post by Honorio »

1. Wire - 154 vs. Queens of the Stone Age - Rated R
Mmm, very interesting bracket. Two guitar-based bands that were at this moment of their careers expanding the sounds within its style, post-punk and stoner-rock. But with very different results, while Queens of the Stone Age met with instant acclaim (#1 of 2000 on NME) and commercial success (it was his breakthrough album although time has lowered its acclaim because their next album, "Songs for the Deaf", featured better on all-time and decade lists), Wire's third album met with almost general indifference and ultimately led to the band's first dissolution, only raising in acclaim more recently because of 2000's post-punk revival. Anyway that's not the reason of my vote, comparing the albums I simply prefer Wire's tight but spacious sound.

2. Dire Straits - Making Movies vs. Steely Dan - The Royal Scam
If you have asked me this question in 1980 I would'nt hesitate, I would've chose Dire Straits, I liked a lot this album then. Listening to it again I still can enjoy the original vinyl first side, especially "Skateaway" but not that much the second side. Steely Dan instead is a band that I began to like much later, especially after a show I saw in Berlin some years ago (previously I only knew their first album, "Pretzel logic" and the underated "Gaucho"). Now I'm more familiar with the rest of the albums and "The Royal Scam" stands as one of their best, more perfect than perfection itself.

3. Allman Brothers Band - Brothers and Sisters vs. Jorge Ben - A Tábua de Esmeralda
The highs on "Brothers and Sisters" are really high, especially "Ramblin' Man" and "Jessica" but some other songs lower the overall quality. The Jorge Ben album is uniformly good, sounding so spontaneus and refreshing. One of the best albums coming from Brazil during the 70s (and that's saying a lot, the harvest of Brazilian masteripeces during this decade was impressive).

4. Nina Simone - Jazz Played in an Exclusive Side Street Club vs. Ben Harper - Fight For Your Mind
I never listened closely to Ben Harper before this MA3 and I liked it more than I expected, especially "Welcome to the Cruel World". But he's no competition to my ears for the gorgeous (and severely underated) first album of Nina Simone. It's impressive to know that it was a debut album, she showed absolute confidence on her singing and piano playing (she was only accompanied by drums and bass), she wasn't afraid to aboard jazz, classical, gospel or show-tunes (sometimes inside the same song) and she displayed a wide range of emotions from subtle to passionate, from mysterious to sensual. Amazing. I just wish Nina could win the MA3. I'll only just keep voting for her till the end.
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed 3 (MA3) Round 2.4

Post by antonius »

1. Queens of the Stone Age - Rated R
2. Steely Dan - The Royal Scam
3. Jorge Ben - A Tábua de Esmeralda
4. Nina Simone - Jazz Played in an Exclusive Side Street Club
Henry
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed 3 (MA3) Round 2.4

Post by Henry »

Honorio wrote:1. Steely Dan instead is a band that I began to like much later, especially after a show I saw in Berlin some years ago (previously I only knew their first album, "Pretzel logic" and the underated "Gaucho"). Now I'm more familiar with the rest of the albums and "The Royal Scam" stands as one of their best, more perfect than perfection itself.


Before Georgie appears and jumps all over you, please note that Pretzel Logic was Steely Dan's 3rd album.

The first two are definitely worth a listen: Can't Buy a Thrill, and Countdown to Ecstacy.

Interestingly enough, in my view The Royal Scam has some excellent songs (the guitar on Don't Take Me Alive and Kid Charlemagne is remarkable, and Caves of Altimira is also a very good song), but the overall quality is not as good for me as many of the other Steely Dan albums. In particular, I am not a big fan of Everything You Did.
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed 3 (MA3) Round 2.4

Post by Honorio »

Henry wrote:Before Georgie appears and jumps all over you, please note that Pretzel Logic was Steely Dan's 3rd album
Sorry for my incorrect grammar, I wanted to say that before that show I only knew three albums, the first one ("Can't Buy a Thrill", I know), the third ("Pretzel Logic") and the seventh ("Gaucho"). But I wrote it incorrectly. And I agree about the greatness of the first one ("Do It Again" or "Reelin' in the Years" are the obvious highlights but my personal favourite is"Dirty Work").
By the way, Henry, nowadays I'm listening a lot to one of your favourite artists, Todd Rundgren. Thanks to Spotify and Grooveshark his complete discography is available, so I'm listening about two albums a day from the first Nazz album while I read the comments on allmusic and Rateyourmusic. Today it's the turn of "Oops! Wrong Planet" and "Hermit of Mink Hollow"
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed 3 (MA3) Round 2.4

Post by Kingoftonga »

1. Wire - 154 vs. Queens of the Stone Age - Rated R

154 still has the advantage of being relatively new to me, while Rated R has the disadvantage of being overplayed during my college years.

2. Dire Straits - Making Movies vs. Steely Dan - The Royal Scam

I'm beginning to think that this might secretly be the best Dire Straits album. It's more varied than their self-titled, but not as slick as Brothers in Arms, and even throws in a dash of the lengthy ambition we get in Love Over Gold

3. Allman Brothers Band - Brothers and Sisters vs. Jorge Ben - A Tábua de Esmeralda

"Jessica" and "Ramblin' Man" do not alone make a good album.
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed 3 (MA3) Round 2.4

Post by Brad »

under 24 hours left!
Henry
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed 3 (MA3) Round 2.4

Post by Henry »

Honorio wrote:
Henry wrote:Before Georgie appears and jumps all over you, please note that Pretzel Logic was Steely Dan's 3rd album
Sorry for my incorrect grammar, I wanted to say that before that show I only knew three albums, the first one ("Can't Buy a Thrill", I know), the third ("Pretzel Logic") and the seventh ("Gaucho"). But I wrote it incorrectly. And I agree about the greatness of the first one ("Do It Again" or "Reelin' in the Years" are the obvious highlights but my personal favourite is"Dirty Work").
By the way, Henry, nowadays I'm listening a lot to one of your favourite artists, Todd Rundgren. Thanks to Spotify and Grooveshark his complete discography is available, so I'm listening about two albums a day from the first Nazz album while I read the comments on allmusic and Rateyourmusic. Today it's the turn of "Oops! Wrong Planet" and "Hermit of Mink Hollow"
The Hermit of Mink Hollow was a high point in my view. Oops! Wrong Planet has the somewhat syrupy but wonderful "Love Is the Answer." If you haven't listened to them yet, I highly recommend the Paul Weller efforts as part of The Style Council. Thanks for being patient with my fastidiousness regarding Steely Dan. I know that when Georgie kept correcting me a few months ago, I wasn't always thrilled to see what she had to say (even if she was correct).
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed 3 (MA3) Round 2.4

Post by Henrik »

Wire
Steely Dan
Jorge Ben
Nina Simone
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed 3 (MA3) Round 2.4

Post by Honorio »

Henry wrote:The Hermit of Mink Hollow was a high point in my view. Oops! Wrong Planet has the somewhat syrupy but wonderful "Love Is the Answer." If you haven't listened to them yet, I highly recommend the Paul Weller efforts as part of The Style Council.
Yes, Henry, I enjoyed a lot "Hermit", it was his breaking-up album and a return to the shorter albums (34' instead the more than 60' of the prog-rock albums) and the more pop-oriented songs of "Ballad" or "S/A". Anyway I must say that I enjoyed quite a lot the prog phase of Rundgren (well, except B-side of "Initiation" maybe).
About Style Council you nailed it, it's one of my favourite bands. Sometimes labelled as inconsistent because of the different styles. But it's something I like, I prefer variety. Just like "Something/Anything"... Henry maybe you could like a thread I wrote 5 years ago about Style Council and other bands on the sophisti-pop style on the Old Forum. You could even have enjoyed a Chapter 2 about Soft-Rock that I never finished (I wrote the intro that you can read at the end).
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed 3 (MA3) Round 2.4

Post by Brad »

Results
11 Total Voters:
antonius
Brad
Greg
Henrik
Henry
Honorio
Jirin
KingofTonga
Michel
Romain
Stephan

Winners:
1. Wire - 154 over Queens of the Stone Age - Rated R 8-2
2. Steely Dan - The Royal Scam over Dire Straits - Making Movies 6-4
3. Jorge Ben - A Tábua de Esmeralda over Allman Brothers Band - Brothers and Sisters 9-2
4. Nina Simone - Jazz Played in an Exclusive Side Street Club over Ben Harper - Fight For Your Mind 7-2

Round 2.5 up soon!
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