Moderately Acclaimed Albums 8 - Round 1.10

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Brad
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Moderately Acclaimed Albums 8 - Round 1.10

Post by Brad »

Welcome to Round 1.10 of Moderately Acclaimed Albums 8!

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 = May 16th at 10am EST.

Here's a link to the bracket for the entire tournament:
http://www.bracketmaker.com/tmenu.cfm?t ... Albums%208

Match-ups:
1. Sinead O'Connor - The Lion and the Cobra vs. Joan Baez - Joan Baez
2. Scott Walker - Scott 3 vs. Billy Bragg - Life's a Riot with Spy vs. Spy (EP)
3. Ben Folds Five - Ben Folds Five vs. Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood - Nancy & Lee
4. Yuzo Koshiro - Bare Knuckle vs. Weird Al Yankovic - Dare to Be Stupid

We also have a TIE from last round:
Rodriguez - Coming from Reality vs. Georges Brassens - Chante les chansons poétiques (…et souvent gaillardes)
***TIE! 7-7 Next Vote Wins!!!***


Hey you, don't watch that
Watch this!
This is the heavy heavy monster sound
The nuttiest sound around!
Last edited by Brad on Wed May 10, 2017 2:22 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Bang Jan
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 8 - Round 1.10

Post by Bang Jan »



Bare Knuckle

3 | Sinead O'Connor | The Lion and the Cobra
5 | Joan Baez | Joan Baez

1 | Scott Walker | Scott 3
4 | Billy Bragg | Life's a Riot with Spy vs. Spy (EP)

6 | Ben Folds Five | Ben Folds Five
2 | Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood | Nancy & Lee

7 | Yuzo Koshiro | Bare Knuckle
8 | Weird Al Yankovic | Dare to Be Stupid

Favourite song of the week: Scott Walker | Big Louise
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StevieFan13
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 8 - Round 1.10

Post by StevieFan13 »

Oh, wow. All of my remaining nominations together!
I know how I'm voting:
1. Sinead O'Connor - The Lion and the Cobra
2. Billy Bragg - Life's a Riot with Spy vs. Spy (EP)
3. Ben Folds Five - Ben Folds Five
4. "Weird Al" Yankovic - Dare to Be Stupid
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 8 - Round 1.10

Post by DaveC »

1. Sinead O'Connor - The Lion and the Cobra vs. Joan Baez - Joan Baez
2. Scott Walker - Scott 3 vs. Billy Bragg - Life's a Riot with Spy vs. Spy (EP)
3. Ben Folds Five - Ben Folds Five vs. Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood - Nancy & Lee
4. Yuzo Koshiro - Bare Knuckle vs. Weird Al Yankovic - Dare to Be Stupid
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Honorio
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 8 - Round 1.10

Post by Honorio »


1. Sinéad O'Connor - The Lion and the Cobra (1987) vs. Joan Baez - Joan Baez (1960)


2. Scott Walker - Scott 3 (1969) vs. Billy Bragg - Life's a Riot with Spy vs. Spy (1983)


3. Ben Folds Five - Ben Folds Five (1995) vs. Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood - Nancy & Lee (1968)


4. Yuzo Koshiro - Bare Knuckle (1991) vs. 'Weird Al' Yankovic - Dare to Be Stupid (1985)

Favourite song from every album:
Troy | El Preso Numero Nueve | It's Raining Today | A New England | Philosophy | Some Velvet Morning | Fighting in the Street | Dare to Be Stupid

Favourite song of the week: Some Velvet Morning
(and A New England, and It's Raining Today, and El Preso Numero Nueve, and Philosophy, and Troy... damn, I love all these songs!)

P.S. Many thanks to the one who nominated Ben Folds Five, I admit I never listened to them before and I've enjoyed the album a lot.
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 8 - Round 1.10

Post by StevieFan13 »

Honorio wrote: P.S. Many thanks to the one who nominated Ben Folds Five, I admit I never listened to them before and I've enjoyed the album a lot.
C'est moi! I'm glad you like it! I don't know how it'll do against Nancy and Lee, but I'm glad somebody else likes it. My dad's college rock collection has served me well, as my assorted nominations have proven. (I was also the one who submitted Chau and Are You with Me).
Last edited by StevieFan13 on Tue May 09, 2017 9:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 8 - Round 1.10

Post by BleuPanda »

Brad wrote:Here's a link to the bracket for the entire tournament:
http://www.bracketmaker.com/tmenu.cfm?t ... Albums%208

I just wanted to point this out; if you don't use the HTML url feature, the message board will shorten the link. This works the first week, but if you simply copy it from the previous week, it gets an incomplete URL and no longer works.
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 8 - Round 1.10

Post by EmilienDelRey »

Scott Walker - Scott 3 vs. Billy Bragg - Life's a Riot with Spy vs. Spy (EP)
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 8 - Round 1.10

Post by BleuPanda »

Sinead O'Connor - The Lion and the Cobra (7.75/10) vs. Joan Baez - Joan Baez (7.25/10)
Scott Walker - Scott 3 (7.75/10) vs. Billy Bragg - Life's a Riot with Spy vs. Spy (EP) (7.5/10)


I hope to get to the others, especially match 4 (I love the second Streets of Rage soundtrack, and Weird Al is always fun).
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 8 - Round 1.10

Post by hectorthebat »

1. Sinead O'Connor - The Lion and the Cobra vs. Joan Baez - Joan Baez
2. Scott Walker - Scott 3 vs. Billy Bragg - Life's a Riot with Spy vs. Spy (EP)
3. Ben Folds Five - Ben Folds Five vs. Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood - Nancy & Lee
4. Yuzo Koshiro - Bare Knuckle vs. Weird Al Yankovic - Dare to Be Stupid
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 8 - Round 1.10

Post by Brad »

BleuPanda wrote:
Brad wrote:Here's a link to the bracket for the entire tournament:
http://www.bracketmaker.com/tmenu.cfm?t ... Albums%208

I just wanted to point this out; if you don't use the HTML url feature, the message board will shorten the link. This works the first week, but if you simply copy it from the previous week, it gets an incomplete URL and no longer works.
Thanks BP - I'm a mess when it comes to this link stuff... too complex for me (though I believe I fixed it now!)
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 8 - Round 1.10

Post by Jirin »

Joan Baez 69 - Lion And The Cobra 65
Life's A Riot With Spy vs Spy 84 - Scott 3 75
Ben Folds Five 71 - Nancy & Lee 50

For the fourth it's hard to vote. I love Weird Al but have no idea how to compare music trying to make me laugh by the lyrics with other sorts of music. To me it's closer to a stand-up album than other music albums.

My big 'Don't get' this week is Nancy & Lee. Feel like it tried to coast on charm and character and ends up feeling hokey.

They are chattering to each other about the song while they are singing it, and the effect to me is making it all seem campy and stupid.
Last edited by Jirin on Wed May 10, 2017 6:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 8 - Round 1.10

Post by BleuPanda »

Ben Folds Five - Ben Folds Five (7.5) vs. Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood - Nancy & Lee (8.0)
Yuzo Koshiro - Bare Knuckle (8.75) vs. Weird Al Yankovic - Dare to Be Stupid (6.5)


As I said during the video game music tournament, The Streets of Rage/Bare Knuckle soundtracks should be considered electronic classics, and only aren't due to where they come from.

This is actually some of the most nostalgic music for me; my first video game console was a Sega Genesis that came with a cartridge called the Sega 6-Pak; since I would always play it with my older sister and only a few of the games were multiplayer, Streets of Rage was the game we would play the most. Maybe this is why I have so much interest in early electronic music...

And no, this is not my nomination (in fact, this is my first time listening to the first soundtrack outside of the context of playing the game; I have listened to the second before). Thank you, whoever nominated this, for bringing all these memories rushing back. For those who like Bare Knuckle, check out the sequel album.
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 8 - Round 1.10

Post by bonnielaurel »

Joan Baez - Joan Baez
Billy Bragg - Life's a Riot with Spy vs. Spy (EP)
Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood - Nancy & Lee
Weird Al Yankovic - Dare to Be Stupid
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 8 - Round 1.10

Post by babydoll »

Jirin wrote:My big 'Don't get' this week is Nancy & Lee. Feel like it tried to coast on charm and character and ends up feeling hokey.

They are chattering to each other about the song while they are singing it, and the effect to me is making it all seem campy and stupid.
Saddened that you feel this way. Like seriously saddened.
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 8 - Round 1.10

Post by StevieFan13 »

babydoll wrote:
Jirin wrote:My big 'Don't get' this week is Nancy & Lee. Feel like it tried to coast on charm and character and ends up feeling hokey.

They are chattering to each other about the song while they are singing it, and the effect to me is making it all seem campy and stupid.
Saddened that you feel this way. Like seriously saddened.
Honestly, I kind of feel the same way. If I'm gonna be totally honest, I only think Some Velvet Morning is kind of ok.
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 8 - Round 1.10

Post by notbrianeno »


Scott Walker | Scott 3
vs. Billy Bragg | Life's a Riot with Spy vs. Spy (EP)
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 8 - Round 1.10

Post by jamieW »

Sinead O'Connor - The Lion and the Cobra
Scott Walker - Scott 3
Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood - Nancy & Lee
Yuzo Koshiro - Bare Knuckle (Have we ever had a more unusual match than this one?)

Favorite album I couldn't vote for: Joan Baez - Joan Baez

(Two of my all-time favorite songs this week with "Some Velvet Morning" and "Troy." Also, Weird Al didn't win for me, but a tip of the cap to him for "Yoda," which I found particularly hilarious.)
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 8 - Round 1.10

Post by Jirin »

Maybe I'll give the album another chance. Just it seems to me the sort of album that coasts on character charm which to me reeks of disingenuity.
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 8 - Round 1.10

Post by Romain »

Match-ups:
1. Sinead O'Connor - The Lion and the Cobra
2. Scott Walker - Scott 3
3. Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood - Nancy & Lee
4. Yuzo Koshiro - Bare Knuckle
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 8 - Round 1.10

Post by StevieFan13 »

Can I make a last-ditch effort to convince people about Ben Folds Five? Yeah, it may lack the psychedelic trippiness of Nancy & Lee, but it's just some damn good alt-rock with really good storytelling. In particular, I'd recommend songs like Jackson Cannery, Philosophy, Julianne, and The Last Polka. Maybe it isn't as artsy, but it has some great musicianship (listen to Folds hammering away at the piano).
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 8 - Round 1.10

Post by PlasticRam »

1. Sinead O'Connor - The Lion and the Cobra vs. Joan Baez - Joan Baez
4. Yuzo Koshiro - Bare Knuckle vs. Weird Al Yankovic - Dare to Be Stupid
I feel like that
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 8 - Round 1.10

Post by Rob »

Edited, with comments.

1. Sinead O'Connor - The Lion and the Cobra vs. 5. Joan Baez - Joan Baez
Ever since January or so, Troy from The Lion and the Cobra has become a mainstay of my personal playlist and shot up high in my list of favorite songs. Somehow, I didn't get around to the album itself yet, so I was happy it jumped up here. It doesn't disappoint, with a lot of tense songs that a somewhat low-key in music, bug high in emotional singing. The only mistake is I Want Your (Hands on Me) which sounds out of place on this album and seems like an attempt to hit the charts with a more conventional song. The rest of the album is solid enough to make this forgivable.
About Joan Baez, I like her and her style. Still, I always wondered if it was laziness on part of the critics that they focused so completely on her debut album, as is they wanted to acknowledge her, but didn't want to take the time to explore her rather vast catalogue. Admittedly, I don't know much about her from an album perspective, but over the years I have heard a lot of her later songs and she quietly developed in someone with a big talent for finding unexpected emotions in other people's work (as well as writing some great songs herself). I think her skills deepened even though interest in her waned when she left the company of Bob Dylan. This is all neither here nor there for this week, though, and it should be said that Joan Baez is a very fine traditional folk album, that gains a lot through Baez' voice, even if the selection of the songs isn't all that original.

6. Scott Walker - Scott 3 vs. 8. Billy Bragg- Life's a Riot with Spy vs. Spy (EP)
Two albums I didn't like as much as I thought I would. In fact, Billy Bragg didn't grab me at all. Many of the songs felt unfinished. Maybe I'm missing something, but I felt a great disconnect between me and the music. Scott 3 grew a bit on second listen and perhaps I will fully appreciate it if I give it a few more spins. That happened to me with other Walker material before. I guess such baroque pop isn't a natural fit for me, but I can grow into it, if that makes sense.

4. Ben Folds Five - Ben Folds Five vs. 2. Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood - Nancy & Lee
Sorry, StevieFan, I might have voted for Ben Folds Five in another matchup, but not here. Ben Folds' skill with the piano and with lyrics is certainly unmistakable and I enjoy the album quite a bit.
Still, Nancy & Lee came more as a surprise to me. I had been aware of that album for some time now, but didn't think I would like it all that much. I mean, Some Velvet Morning is good, but not like the type of thing to sustain for a whole album. It turns out that was not what they went for. There is a surprising variety here, as well as a willingness to be playful. You might think it's overly precious or forced, but to me it sounds like these two people are enjoying themselves and each other's company. They even seem ready to explore different styles, which leads to the incongruous addition of Greenwich Village Folk Song Salesman, that unexpectedly works, because both artists roll with it. Also, the album contains the song Summer Wine, which is a huge plus.

3. Yuzo Koshiro - Bare Knuckle vs. 7. Weird Al Yankovic - Dare to Be Stupid
Yes, this is a weird match-up, especially because these are two albums that your not going to find on any album list soon. How many times do 8-bit game soundtracks and parody music show up there? Bare Knuckle actually works for me as a great album. Ever since the game music poll on this site two years ago I noticed how great and inventive 8-bit music can be and Bare Knuckle is a good example of this. I haven't played the game, but the music gets me pumped. I was also surprised of the variety in sound there.
Dare to Be Stupid is less surprising, but it succeeds in what it does very well. It's funny and that's all it needs or wants to be. It just looks rather small in achievement compared to most albums here.
Last edited by Rob on Tue May 16, 2017 8:05 am, edited 1 time in total.
Brad
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 8 - Round 1.10

Post by Brad »

My picks:
1. Sinead O'Connor - The Lion and the Cobra vs. Joan Baez - Joan Baez
2. Scott Walker - Scott 3 vs. Billy Bragg - Life's a Riot with Spy vs. Spy (EP)
3. Ben Folds Five - Ben Folds Five vs. Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood - Nancy & Lee
4. Yuzo Koshiro - Bare Knuckle vs. Weird Al Yankovic - Dare to Be Stupid

Thanks!

PS - Just over 16 hours left to vote!
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 8 - Round 1.10

Post by Kingoftonga »

Winners in red:

1. Sinead O'Connor - The Lion and the Cobra vs. Joan Baez - Joan Baez
2. Scott Walker - Scott 3 vs. Billy Bragg - Life's a Riot with Spy vs. Spy (EP)
3. Ben Folds Five - Ben Folds Five vs. Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood - Nancy & Lee
4. Yuzo Koshiro - Bare Knuckle vs. Weird Al Yankovic - Dare to Be Stupid
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 8 - Round 1.10

Post by spiritualized »

1. Sinead O'Connor - The Lion and the Cobra (3.5) vs. Joan Baez - Joan Baez (2.0)
Really having a hard time with Joan Baez. Too much tremolo in that voice (the word goat springs to mind, but that's really mean). Classic songs (starts really well with Silver Dagger, but House of the Rising Sun doesn't touch the Animals' version) indeed. Sinead's debut is very good, one of the highlights of the late 80s.

2. Scott Walker - Scott 3 (2.0)vs. Billy Bragg - Life's a Riot with Spy vs. Spy (EP) (3.0)
The worst of Walker's albums after Bish Bosch. I have a great difficulty connecting with "art pop" and it feels Walker was one of the first artists to dabble with the genre. Thanks for nothing, Scott.
Billy Bragg's debut, short and to the point, efficiently delivers its mix of punk and folk. Easy win.

3. Ben Folds Five - Ben Folds Five (3.0) vs. Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood - Nancy & Lee (4.0)
Nancy & Lee's album is a pure gem of baroque pop, infused with country. The voices complement each other perfectly. Ben Folds Five is quite good...However, I can't shake the feeling that this album could be the soundtrack of an American TV comedy series or sitcom.

4. Yuzo Koshiro - Bare Knuckle (3.0) vs. Weird Al Yankovic - Dare to Be Stupid (1.5)
Bare Knuckle is surprisingly good for a game soundtrack. I join BP in his statement about an electronic classic. It is cheesy by moments, but the whole experience is a far better one than my previous listens to other soundtracks.
Weird Al is novelty but the tacky kind. I can't help but think that he is a very talented comedian who tags onto a pre-written music soundtrack. The talent is not musical IMO.
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 8 - Round 1.10

Post by Brad »

17 voters this week... thanks for coming back, folks!:
Bang Jan
BleuPanda
bonnielaurel
Brad
DaveC
EmilienDelRey
hectorthebat
Honorio
jamieW
Jirin
Kingoftonga
notbrianeno
PlasticRam
Rob
Romain
spiritualized
StevieFan13

Winners:
1. Sinead O'Connor - The Lion and the Cobra over Joan Baez - Joan Baez 9-6
2. Scott Walker - Scott 3 over Billy Bragg - Life's a Riot with Spy vs. Spy (EP) 9-7
3. Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood - Nancy & Lee over Ben Folds Five - Ben Folds Five 11-3
4. Yuzo Koshiro - Bare Knuckle over Weird Al Yankovic - Dare to Be Stupid 10-4

Round 1.11 up soon!
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 8 - Round 1.10

Post by StevieFan13 »

Well...one of my nominations made it...
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