Moderately Acclaimed Albums 2018 - Round 1.1

[Brad]

Welcome to the first round of Moderately Acclaimed Albums 2018... It starts right here, right now!

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 = March 27th at 10am EST.

Here's a link to the bracket for the entire tournament:
http://www.bracketmaker.com/tlist.cfm?t ... 9%20(2018)

Match-ups:
1. John Coltrane - My Favorite Things vs. Small Faces - Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake
2. Townes Van Zandt - The Late Great Townes Van Zandt vs. CHVRCHES - Every Open Eye
3. Weyes Blood - Front Row Seat to Earth vs. The Polyphonic Spree - The Beginning Stages of...
4. M. Ward - Hold Time vs. Yehuda Poliker - Efer Veavak

Join Together!

[Bang Jan]

1 | John Coltrane | My Favorite Things
3 | Small Faces | Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake

2 | Townes Van Zandt | The Late Great Townes Van Zandt
4 | CHVRCHES | Every Open Eye

7 | Weyes Blood | Front Row Seat to Earth
6 | The Polyphonic Spree | The Beginning Stages of...

8 | M. Ward | Hold Time
5 | Yehuda Poliker | Efer Veavak

Favourite song of the week: John Coltrane | My Favorite Things

[StevieFan13]

1. John Coltrane - My Favorite Things
2. CHVRCHES - Every Open Eye
3. Weyes Blood - Front Row Seat to Earth
4. Yehuda Poliker - Efer Veavak

[DaveC]

1. John Coltrane - My Favorite Things
2. Townes Van Zandt - The Late Great Townes Van Zandt
3. Weyes Blood - Front Row Seat to Earth
4. Yehuda Poliker - Efer Veavak

[Jirin]

We're starting, yay!

My Favorite Things 87 - Ogden's Nut Gone Flake 87
The Late Great Townes Van Zandt 91 - Every Open Eye 82
Front Row Seat To Earth 88 - The Beginning Stages Of... 73
Efer Veevak 78 - Hold Time 72

First matchup is extremely close, Coltrane Gets it barely.

[hectorthebat]

. John Coltrane - My Favorite Things vs. Small Faces - Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake
2. Townes Van Zandt - The Late Great Townes Van Zandt vs. CHVRCHES - Every Open Eye
3. Weyes Blood - Front Row Seat to Earth vs. The Polyphonic Spree - The Beginning Stages of...
4. M. Ward - Hold Time vs. Yehuda Poliker - Efer Veavak

[BleuPanda]

John Coltrane - My Favorite Things (8.6)
CHVRCHES - Every Open Eye (8.3)
Townes Van Zandt - The Late Great Townes Van Zandt (7.5)
Weyes Blood - Front Row Seat to Earth (7.5)
Small Faces - Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake (7.25)
M. Ward - Hold Time (7.25)
Yehuda Poliker - Efer Veavak (7.0)
The Polyphonic Spree - The Beginning Stages of... (6.25)

[jamieW]

This year, I'm putting the albums in tiers using my scale of "An all-time favorite" to "Not for me." (I always resist the urge to call something "bad." Odds are much greater that it just isn't my taste.)

Great
Yehuda Poliker - Efer Veavak (First week, first great find - thanks to the nominator of this one!)

Very Good
John Coltrane - My Favorite Things

Good
Townes Van Zandt - The Late Great Townes Van Zandt
Weyes Blood - Front Row Seat to Earth
CHVRCHES - Every Open Eye

Okay
The Polyphonic Spree - The Beginning Stages of...
Small Faces - Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake
M. Ward - Hold Time

[Brad]

My picks:
1. John Coltrane - My Favorite Things vs. Small Faces - Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake
2. Townes Van Zandt - The Late Great Townes Van Zandt vs. CHVRCHES - Every Open Eye
3. Weyes Blood - Front Row Seat to Earth vs. The Polyphonic Spree - The Beginning Stages of...
4. M. Ward - Hold Time vs. Yehuda Poliker - Efer Veavak

Thanks!

[EmilienDelRey]

John Coltrane - My Favorite Things

[Honorio]

1. John Coltrane - My Favorite Things (1961) vs. 6. Small Faces - Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake (1968)
4. Townes Van Zandt - The Late Great Townes Van Zandt (1972) vs. 5. CHVRCHES - Every Open Eye (2015)
3. Weyes Blood - Front Row Seat to Earth (2016) vs. 8. The Polyphonic Spree - The Beginning Stages of... (2002)
2. M. Ward - Hold Time (2009) vs. 7. Yehuda Poliker - Efer Veavak (1988)

Favourite song from every album:
My Favorite Things | Lazy Sunday | Pancho & Lefty | Leave a Trace | Do You Need My Love | It's the Sun | Epistemology | Chalon Layam Hatichon

Favourite song of the week: My Favorite Things


Splendid fisrt week of MAA9!! Damn, how could I forget "Do You Need My Love" for my women's song list?

[PlasticRam]

1. John Coltrane - My Favorite Things vs. Small Faces - Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake
2. Townes Van Zandt - The Late Great Townes Van Zandt vs. CHVRCHES - Every Open Eye

[Rdwdbob]

1) Small Faces
2) Chvrches
3) Weyes Blood
4) M.Ward

[Sweepstakes Ron]

1. John Coltrane - My Favorite Things vs. Small Faces - Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake
2. Townes Van Zandt - The Late Great Townes Van Zandt vs. CHVRCHES - Every Open Eye
3. Weyes Blood - Front Row Seat to Earth vs. The Polyphonic Spree - The Beginning Stages of...
4. M. Ward - Hold Time vs. Yehuda Poliker - Efer Veavak

[Smithers-Jones]

Only had the chance to listen to one of the ties this week but:
1. Small Faces - Ogdens'

[Kingoftonga]

Winners in red:

1. John Coltrane - My Favorite Things vs. Small Faces - Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake
2. Townes Van Zandt - The Late Great Townes Van Zandt vs. CHVRCHES - Every Open Eye
3. Weyes Blood - Front Row Seat to Earth vs. The Polyphonic Spree - The Beginning Stages of...
4. M. Ward - Hold Time vs. Yehuda Poliker - Efer Veavak

[andyd1010]

1. John Coltrane - My Favorite Things vs. Small Faces - Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake
2. Townes Van Zandt - The Late Great Townes Van Zandt vs. CHVRCHES - Every Open Eye
3. Pass
4. M. Ward - Hold Time vs. Yehuda Poliker - Efer Veavak

[Rob]

This year, during the first round and if time allows, I hope to write a mini-review about every album. This is based on two listens (if I’m lucky), so it might be that I haven’t grasped every element of an album, so it shouldn’t be taken as more than a quick, personal reaction on what I heard.

A very good week!

8. CHVRCHES – Every Open Eye
This was always going to be an uphill battle for CHVRCHES. When The Mother We Share was released I immediately liked to sound, only to find out that it wasn’t their sound at all. That the debut album turned out to be a synth pop album was a mayor disappointment for me. Every Open Eye goes further than that and many people seem to like it more than the first, but to me it seems even less distinct. Lauren Mayberry has even lost her accent this time around. It is solid produced pop and objectively far from bad, but this just isn’t the type of music that gets to me.

7. Yehuda Poliker – Efer Veavak
Based on this album’s subject I almost feel like an asshole for ranking this so low. This tells the tale of children whose parents survived the Holocaust. Unsurprisingly, this album is a classic in Israel. Sadly, I don’t speak this language at all, so the content is lost on me. I wonder if it would have scored better with me if I did understand the stories from direct listening. What we have now is an album that sometimes reveals its emotion through its music alone, but frankly frequently doesn’t. There are a couple of strong songs here, especially the two openers. There is also some eighties production that dates it.

6. The Polyphonic Spree – The Beginning Stages of…
This one is strange indeed. The first half seems to derive straight from the sixties, as if some flower power kids got high on sunshine and gospel. It isn’t varied, but it is unique enough to not make that a problem. It is really life-affirming. But there is also a final song called A Long Day, which lasts 36 minutes and has nothing do with what came before. It is basically 36 minutes of humming noises that I basically felt had outstayed its welcome after five minutes. Since it doesn’t fit with everything that came before – not in genre, style or feel – and since the album was so uniform up until that point, I find it hard to understand what they were going for. When I played this album for the second time I simply skipped it. I wouldn’t be surprised if it cost this album some votes here, even if it’s opponent is very strong.

5. M. Ward – Hold Time
A very traditional singer-songwriter album, but done with feeling. It has a summery charm that make it holds its own. Despite its overall calm atmosphere Ward manages to make a handful of songs that sneakily creep up to you, like the terrific Stars of Leo. I don’t know Ward’s other albums, but this one is sometimes criticized as being too much like its predecessors. Time to check those out. Taken on it’s own, this is a very solid album, though.

4. Townes Van Zandt – The Late Great Townes Van Zandt
Given my love for almost all folky singer-songwriters it is a surprise to myself that this was the first time I listened to a Townes van Zandt album. I don’t think everything here works – the cover of Hank Williams’ Honky Tonkin’ in particular doesn’t seem to fit its surroundings -, but the highs here are very high indeed. No Lonesome Tune, Snow Don’t Fall, Silver Ships of Andilar and of course Poncho & Lefty are songs of high lyrical quality, beautifully performed.

3. Small Faces – Ogdens’ Nut Gone Flake
This album has bad luck with it’s towering opponent and hardly seems to gain any votes here. A shame, because this a wonderful messy rock record. I have to admit, it is very much of its time and I you have no affinity with sixties psychedelia this is perhaps the last album that will convince you. But there is joy, invention an a love for scrappy sounds here that I find infectious. The conceptual second half (the b-side on vinyl) seemed a bit much at first, but a second listen also convinced me of that.

2. John Coltrane – My Favorite Things
One day I might fully understand jazz and this gave me the feeling I was on the right way. It is the first John Coltrane album I listened to in full (I knew individual tracks though) and boy was it a great listen. The title track is the only good thing that ever came from The Sound of Music if you ask me (and only the Coltrane version, not the musical original!) and it’s the one everyone praises. Yet my personal favorite track here is Summertime. Somewhere just before the seventh minute an interplay between bass and drums start that builds and builds and slowly starts to get the piano involved too. This goes on for minutes, while the tension increases. And then Coltrane finally breaks through this with his soprano saxophone and the sun seems to shine. Bliss!

1. Weyes Blood – Front Row Seat to Earth
John Coltrane was hard to beat, but Weyes Blood did it for me. A surprise, because last year Moderately Acclaimed had her The Outside Room competing and I couldn’t get into that album at all. It’s not always wise for artists to tame their weirdness, but I have to admit that worked for me here. Front Row Seat to Earth is a more traditional singer-songwriter album. We had a lot of great ones by women in the last few years. This one belongs to the top and given my love for this style and genre it will probably end up as part of my personal favorites. Her voice is beautiful and still unique. Most songs moved me deeply, with Used to Be and Do You Need My Love being particular masterpieces.

To be clear, my votes in a simple way:
1. John Coltrane - My Favorite Things vs. Small Faces - Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake
2. Townes Van Zandt - The Late Great Townes Van Zandt vs. CHVRCHES - Every Open Eye
3. Weyes Blood - Front Row Seat to Earth vs. The Polyphonic Spree - The Beginning Stages of...
4. M. Ward - Hold Time vs. Yehuda Poliker - Efer Veavak

[Brad]

About 16 hours left to vote!

[spiritualized]

It's MAA time again !

However....not too excited by this first week, contrary to Honorio's opinion...some classics, but no real gem which made me listen closely and go "wow". Next week maybe !

John Coltrane - My Favorite Things (7/10)
Small Faces - Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake (6/10)

Classic free jazz vs rather average psychedelic 60s rock. Apart from "Lazy Sunday", the Faces don't do much for me - I can't understand its acclaim. The second half of the album is complete bonkers. It pales compared to the other "druggie/psychedelic" album of its time, Sgt Pepper Let's go for the classic jazz album.

Townes Van Zandt - The Late Great Townes Van Zandt (5/10)
CHVRCHES - Every Open Eye (5/10)

Townes doesn't click for me. Never been a big fan of country, but this seems a bit too moody. I have yet to find a TVZ album I can enjoy. Faced with bland synth pop, the kind one hears everywhere nowadays. But it edges TVZ simply because it's happier and I feel like that.

Weyes Blood - Front Row Seat to Earth (7/10)
The Polyphonic Spree - The Beginning Stages Of...(8/10)

This I like. Weyes Blood delivers edgy folk with a lovely (lovely) voice. She convinced me with Front Row Seat to Earth. BUT she faced my album of the week with the Polyphonic Spree's grandeur. I mean, what or who can beat a band (cult ?) that dresses in robes and sings hippie ballads ? Soldier Girl is fantastic. Really uplifting. I am in this kind of mood !

M. Ward - Hold Time (5/10)
Yehuda Poliker - Efer Veavak (6/10)

Yawn. M. Ward is rather average in his output. The songs aren't bad, but they are nothing special. He would release a better album with the following "A Wasteland Companion". Yehuda Poliker's album is quite strange. Too 80s sounding at times. There is however an underlying "world music" theme on some songs which I quite enjoy, particularly with an instrument which I cannot name but recognise from Dead Can Dance early tracks. This made the balance tip towards Yehuda Poliker.

[Brad]

Wow - very impressed with the turnout this week. I confess I was a little concerned that the thrill of MA was dying off amidst the massive wave of polls/games/tournaments cropping up on the boards here over the past year or so. But you have not failed me!

18 participants this week:
andy1010
Bang Jan
BleuPanda
Brad
DaveC
EmilienDelRey
hectorthebat
Honorio
jamieW
Jirin
Kingoftonga
PlasticRam
Rdwdbob
Rob
Smithers-Jones
spiritualized
StevieFan13
Sweepstakes Ron

Also, I really appreciate the expanded comments from some of you. I rarely have time to do it myself (okay, almost never), but always enjoy reading the thoughts of others (I'm so bad at putting my thoughts about art into words!). So nice job - particularly to Rob and spiritualized this week!

Winners:
1. John Coltrane - My Favorite Things vs. Small Faces - Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake 14-4
2. Townes Van Zandt - The Late Great Townes Van Zandt vs. CHVRCHES - Every Open Eye 9-7
3. Weyes Blood - Front Row Seat to Earth vs. The Polyphonic Spree - The Beginning Stages of... 11-3
4. M. Ward - Hold Time vs. Yehuda Poliker - Efer Veavak 8-7

Round 1.2 up soon!