Moderately Acclaimed Albums 8 - Round 1.12

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Brad
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Moderately Acclaimed Albums 8 - Round 1.12

Post by Brad »

Welcome to Round 1.12 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 30th 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. The Jam - Setting Sons vs. The Knife - Shaking the Habitual
2. Angelo Badalamenti - Soundtrack from Twin Peaks vs. Comus - First Utterance
3. The Buggles - The Age of Plastic vs. Ween - God Ween Satan: The Oneness
4. Old Crow Medicine Show - Remedy vs. Finch - What It Is to Burn


Bass for your face!
Last edited by Brad on Wed May 24, 2017 11:29 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Romain
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 8 - Round 1.12

Post by Romain »

Hmmmm... it's hard but I think I will vote for The Buggles - The age of plastic :-)
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spiritualized
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 8 - Round 1.12

Post by spiritualized »

Romain wrote:Hmmmm... it's hard but I think I will vote for The Buggles - The age of plastic :-)
This election is RIGGED, I tell you !
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Bang Jan
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 8 - Round 1.12

Post by Bang Jan »



Fist Utterance (First 7 Tracks)

4 | The Jam | Setting Sons
3 | The Knife | Shaking the Habitual

5 | Angelo Badalamenti | Soundtrack from Twin Peaks
1 | Comus | First Utterance (My nomination)

6 | The Buggles | The Age of Plastic
2 | Ween | God Ween Satan: The Oneness

7 | Old Crow Medicine Show | Remedy
8 | Finch | What It Is to Burn

Favourite song of the week: Comus | The Herald
"The first word in this song is discorporate. It means to leave your body."
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Honorio
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 8 - Round 1.12

Post by Honorio »


1. The Jam - Setting Sons (1979) vs. The Kniφe - Shaking the Habitual (2013)


2. Angelo Badalamenti - Soundtrack from Twin Peaks (1990) vs. Comus - First Utterance (1971)


3. Buggles - The Age of Plastic (1980) vs. Ween - God Ween Satan: The Oneness (1990)


4. Old Crow Medicine Show - Remedy (2014) vs. Finch - What It Is to Burn (2002)

Favourite song from every album:
Smithers-Jones | Raging Lung | Twin Peaks Theme | Diana | Video Killed the Radio Star | L.M.L.Y.P. | Sweet Amarillo | Letters to You

Favourite song of the week: Twin Peaks Theme
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 8 - Round 1.12

Post by DaveC »

1. The Jam - Setting Sons vs. The Knife - Shaking the Habitual
2. Angelo Badalamenti - Soundtrack from Twin Peaks vs. Comus - First Utterance
3. The Buggles - The Age of Plastic vs. Ween - God Ween Satan: The Oneness
4. Old Crow Medicine Show - Remedy vs. Finch - What It Is to Burn
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 8 - Round 1.12

Post by Jirin »

Comus is not on Spotify so will vote for that matchup on the weekend. The other ones.

Shaking The Habitual 93 - Setting Sons 87
God Ween Satan 63 - The Age Of Plastic 40
Remedy 77 - What It Is To Burn 55
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andyd1010
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 8 - Round 1.12

Post by andyd1010 »

No surprise that my nomination is getting annihilated, but the Spotify link is missing by far the best song, the title track.

I was 10 when What It Is to Burn came out, and I can now poke holes in a lot of things I loved about it then. I get how the screams are off-putting, and how the pop-punk style can seem unsophisticated. But I still think there are a lot of great choruses on the album, and I still love the last two tracks especially. They both have great buildups to climactic endings...This seems to be a theme among songs I love by bands other people hate. The final chorus of What It Is to Burn is one of my favorite moments in music, but I guess people hear the screams and stop taking the song seriously before it gets a chance to have its full effect.
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andyd1010
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 8 - Round 1.12

Post by andyd1010 »

What It Is to Burn title track video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLbHfOhJNR4
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Rob
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 8 - Round 1.12

Post by Rob »

It's not yet time for me to vote, but I just want to say how amused I am by the match-up between Twin Peaks and First Utterance. Now Twin Peaks is of course a famous show for being freaky and weird and Angelo Badalamenti's music is an important ingredient. Having said that, it almost feels as if Comus with First Utterance have out-Lynched David Lynch himself. If you wondering what dark and strange secrets the woods around Twin Peaks hold, Comus answer in a way Lynch even doesn't seem to imagine.

I loved, loved First Utterance on this first listen. The Twin Peaks soundtrack is very good too, but I hope the renewed hype around the show doesn't get in the way of Comus here.
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 8 - Round 1.12

Post by notbrianeno »

The Jam | Setting Sons vs. The Knife | Shaking the Habitual

Angelo Badalamenti | Soundtrack from Twin Peaks vs. Comus | First Utterance

The Buggles | The Age of Plastic vs. Ween | God Ween Satan: The Oneness
EmilienDelRey
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 8 - Round 1.12

Post by EmilienDelRey »

Angelo Badalamenti - Soundtrack from Twin Peaks vs. Comus - First Utterance
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 8 - Round 1.12

Post by BleuPanda »

1. The Jam - Setting Sons (8.5/10) vs. The Knife - Shaking the Habitual (9.75/10)
2. Angelo Badalamenti - Soundtrack from Twin Peaks (9.5/10) vs. Comus - First Utterance (8.75/10)
3. The Buggles - The Age of Plastic (7.75/10) vs. Ween - God Ween Satan: The Oneness (8.5/10)
4. Old Crow Medicine Show - Remedy (7.5/10) vs. Finch - What It Is to Burn (6.25/10)


One of the strongest weeks for me, and not just because it includes two of my choices. First Utterance and God Ween Satan are two of the strongest albums I've been introduced to through this.

The Ween album is what I imagine it would sound like if the kids from South Park grew up and formed a band together...
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 8 - Round 1.12

Post by Brad »

My picks:

1. The Jam - Setting Sons vs. The Knife - Shaking the Habitual
2. Angelo Badalamenti - Soundtrack from Twin Peaks vs. Comus - First Utterance
Agree with others on Comus - I need to hunt that one down!
3. The Buggles - The Age of Plastic vs. Ween - God Ween Satan: The Oneness
4. Old Crow Medicine Show - Remedy vs. Finch - What It Is to Burn

Thanks!
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PlasticRam
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 8 - Round 1.12

Post by PlasticRam »

2. Angelo Badalamenti - Soundtrack from Twin Peaks vs. Comus - First Utterance
3. The Buggles - The Age of Plastic vs. Ween - God Ween Satan: The Oneness
I feel like that
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Romain
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 8 - Round 1.12

Post by Romain »

1. The Jam - Setting Sons
2. Angelo Badalamenti - Soundtrack from Twin Peaks
3. The Buggles - The Age of Plastic
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 8 - Round 1.12

Post by jamieW »

The Jam - Setting Sons
Angelo Badalamenti - Soundtrack from Twin Peaks
The Buggles - The Age of Plastic
Old Crow Medicine Show - Remedy

Favorite album I couldn't vote for: Comus - First Utterance (easily my second favorite of the week)
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 8 - Round 1.12

Post by Jirin »

Will now vote for First Utterance, 84-80.
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 8 - Round 1.12

Post by Nassim »

The Knife - Shaking the Habitual

I loved What It Is To Burn (the song) and Worms of the Universe but never got into the rest of Finch music ! No time to listen to the album it's facing anyway.
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 8 - Round 1.12

Post by Brad »

14 hours left to vote!
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Rob
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 8 - Round 1.12

Post by Rob »

What an amazing week this is! The first three match-ups contain only terrific albums and it's hard to chose. That the last two albums can't compete is too bad, but there is much to enjoy here. Also, it feels somewhat like the left pick of each match-up (excepting the fourth one) is an outstanding genre album, while on the right we find the weird ones.

4. The Jam - Setting Sons vs. 2. The Knife - Shaking the Habitual
Setting Sons is yet another album by The Jam that feels like a collection of what could all be hit singles. It's so much fun that it is hard to vote against is, especially since it is little more consistent than Shaking the Habitual. Still, the first half of Shaking the Habitual is even better than Setting Sons and feels really unique. Near the end there are a couple of more conventional tracks, that are still quite good, but a disappointment after what came before. Still, I take every bit of unashamed genius I can get.

5. Angelo Badalamenti - Soundtrack from Twin Peaks vs. 1. Comus - First Utterance
Though I'm not the biggest Twin Peaks fan around that has nothing to do with the incredibly atmospheric soundtrack, that manages to be dreamy, slightly sinister as well as oddly comforting. It works great out of the context of the series too.
But it faces the weeks best entrant and one of the most audacious albums of this years competition. I already talked about it above, but t bears repeating what a nasty, weird and thrilling ride First Utterance is. It has its slow moments, but it's overall power is enormous. It already has a tough adversary, but I hope it gets far in this tournament.

6. The Buggles - The Age of Plastic vs. Ween - 3. God Ween Satan: The Oneness
Yes, the kids of South Park could make God Ween Satan: The Oneness, but that is not just a testament to the juvenile humor of the serieus, but also to its occasional weirdness. Although, it's not as strikingly weird as Shaking the Habitual or First Utterance, but still it caught me more off-guard. The reason is that you get used to being strange things and experimentalism up to a point, but when ever do you see such things being performed in such a pubescent matter? It's childish, close to annoying, but if you get into its mood (which happened to me), it's a blast; a childish party that still manages to entertain the grown-ups.
I like The Age of Plastic more than I thought I would. It's one of those albums that sounds of it's time and yet transcends it. Everything is just off-kilter enough to keep things interesting during it's complete length. This is more than just the album of Video Killed the Radio Star: almost every song here could have been such a hit.

7. Old Crow Medicine Show - Remedy vs. 8. Finch - What It Is to Burn
I like Americana like Remedy, but in a week like this one such faithfulness to genre can seem a little dull. I might have taken more a liking to it if I didn't experience these days as a weird trip. Still, it's well-performed music and I do appreciate it.
What It Is to Burn has nothing that makes it stand out for me. Certainly not in this line-up, but really not in any week. It's not that I disliked it, it's just that it sounds like a lot of hard rock of its time, without carving a niche of its own.
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 8 - Round 1.12

Post by spiritualized »

1. The Jam - Setting Sons (4.5) vs. The Knife - Shaking the Habitual (3.5)
A classic of mod vs a band whose back catalog I never fully adhered to. Shaking the Habitual is a bit of an exception though, on par with Silent Shout.

2. Angelo Badalamenti - Soundtrack from Twin Peaks (4.5) vs. Comus - First Utterance (3.0)
Oh boy, what memories did Twin Peaks bring back....I avidly watched TP in the 90s and for the life of me, never bothered to listen to the soundtrack until now... Fabulous atmosphere created by Badalamenti. I listened to First Utterance 10 years ago, but didn't really get all the praise for this album.

3. The Buggles - The Age of Plastic (3.5) vs. Ween - God Ween Satan: The Oneness (3.0)
Pleasant surprise with Buggles. Not a huge fan of 80s synth pop music, but I enjoyed Video like any decent human being would. The album is not as cheesy as I expected, so good marks for the effort. I am however disappointed by Ween's record. It is far from the brilliance of Chocolate & Cheese which stands as their masterpiece. Too uncontrollably juvenile, too much shouting when they learned to master this on later albums, whilst remaining completely wacky. Less diverse than their future records as well.

4. Old Crow Medicine Show - Remedy (2.5) vs. Finch - What It Is to Burn (3.0)
Going against the grain on this one. Remedy starts very well with two excellent songs until it peters out into an average run of the mill americana-folk record. Finch is also fairly generic, but it appeals to my rock inner core. No awful solos and vocal harmonies either :)
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 8 - Round 1.12

Post by Brad »

13 total voters this week (weak):
Bang Jan
BleuPanda
Brad
DaveC
Honorio
jamieW
Jirin
Nassim
notbrianeno
PlasticRam
Rob
Romain
spiritualized

Winners:
1. The Jam - Setting Sons vs. The Knife - Shaking the Habitual ***TIE! 6-6 Next vote from someone who has not already voted in this match-up WINS!***
2. Angelo Badalamenti - Soundtrack from Twin Peaks over Comus - First Utterance 7-6
3. The Buggles - The Age of Plastic vs. Ween - God Ween Satan: The Oneness ***TIE! 6-6 Next vote from someone who has not already voted in this match-up WINS!***
4. Old Crow Medicine Show - Remedy over Finch - What It Is to Burn 8-1

So, two ties this week. Next vote from someone who has not already voted in the match-up WINS!:
The Jam - Setting Sons vs. The Knife - Shaking the Habitual
The Buggles - The Age of Plastic vs. Ween - God Ween Satan: The Oneness


Round 1.13 up next!
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 8 - Round 1.12

Post by Kingoftonga »

Winner in red:

The Jam - Setting Sons vs. The Knife - Shaking the Habitual

Yes, that 20 minute track almost grinds the album to a halt, but there's so much other good stuff to dig into!
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 8 - Round 1.12

Post by Brad »

Thanks KoT! Wrong choice, but thanks! (j/k [kinda])

The Knife puts The Jam on toast, 7-6!

Still another tie... who wants it?
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 8 - Round 1.12

Post by BleuPanda »

Yay, all 3 of my nominations so far have squeezed by!
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 8 - Round 1.12

Post by acroamor »

The Buggles - The Age of Plastic vs. Ween - God Ween Satan: The Oneness
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 8 - Round 1.12

Post by Brad »

Thank you acroamor!

Ween over Buggles 7-6
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 8 - Round 1.12

Post by Honorio »

Brad wrote:The Knife puts The Jam on toast, 7-6!
Hey, Brad, good pun.
And I agree with the "wrong choice" comment too...
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 8 - Round 1.12

Post by Brad »

Glad someone noticed that Honorio!

As for Setting Sons - that was my nomination. I was mildly surprised at the "upset" but I've learned to contain my disappointment here. Feeling certain that your album is the greater of any particular match-up can be a very humbling experience in this game!
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