Moderately Acclaimed Albums 2018 - Round 1.6

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Brad
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Moderately Acclaimed Albums 2018 - Round 1.6

Post by Brad »

Welcome to the round 1.6 of Moderately Acclaimed Albums 2018!

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 1st 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. Motorhead - Ace of Spades vs. Cyndi Lauper - She's so Unusual
2. Grant Green - Idle Moments vs. Sufjan Stevens - Michigan
3. Tom Petty - Wildflowers vs. Sonic Youth - Washing Machine
4. Santigold - Master of My Make-Believe vs. Aimee Mann - Music from the Motion Picture Magnolia


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Bang Jan
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 2018 - Round 1.6

Post by Bang Jan »



5 | Motorhead | Ace of Spades
6 | Cyndi Lauper | She's so Unusual

1 | Grant Green | Idle Moments (My nomination)
2 | Sufjan Stevens | Michigan

8 | Tom Petty | Wildflowers
4 | Sonic Youth | Washing Machine

7 | Santigold | Master of My Make-Believe
3 | Aimee Mann | Music from the Motion Picture Magnolia

Favourite song of the week (so many to choose from!): Motorhead | Ace of Spades
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 2018 - Round 1.6

Post by DaveC »

1. Cyndi Lauper - She's so Unusual
2. Sufjan Stevens - Michigan
3. Sonic Youth - Washing Machine
4. Aimee Mann - Music from the Motion Picture Magnolia
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Honorio
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 2018 - Round 1.6

Post by Honorio »



4. Motörhead - Ace of Spades (1980) vs. 5. Cyndi Lauper - She's So Unusual (1983)
3. Grant Green - Idle Moments (1965) vs. 2. Sufjan Stevens - Michigan (2003)
6. Tom Petty - Wildflowers (1994) vs. 7. Sonic Youth - Washing Machine (1995)
8. Santigold - Master of My Make-Believe (2012) vs. 1. Aimee Mann - Music from the Motion Picture Magnolia (1999)

Favourite song from every album:
Ace of Spades | Time After Time | Idle Moments | Romulus | You Don't Know How It Feels | The Diamond Sea | Disparate Youth | Save Me

Favourite song of the week: Romulus
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 2018 - Round 1.6

Post by Jirin »

She's So Unusual 84 - Ace Of Spaces 82
Idle Moments 85 - Michigan 83
Wildflowers 82 - Washing Machine 74
Master Of My Make Believe 82 - Music From The Motion Picture Magnolia 78
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 2018 - Round 1.6

Post by PlasticRam »

1. Motorhead - Ace of Spades vs. Cyndi Lauper - She's so Unusual
I feel like that
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 2018 - Round 1.6

Post by spiritualized »

3 discoveries from 8.

1. Motorhead - Ace of Spades (9/10) vs. Cyndi Lauper - She's so Unusual (7/10)
I didn't think I would like Cyndi Lauper that much. Great tunes, definitely worth revisiting
2. Grant Green - Idle Moments (6/10) vs. Sufjan Stevens - Michigan (8/10)
I think guitar jazz is probably the type that pleases my ear the most - it's entertaining, smooth and never conflictual. Can't match the beauty of Sufjan's works though.

3. Tom Petty - Wildflowers vs. Sonic Youth - Washing Machine (9/10)
A huge favorite of mine, it's going to be tough for Petty to beat a fabulous album from the Youth.

4. Santigold - Master of My Make-Believe(7/10) vs. Aimee Mann - Music from the Motion Picture Magnolia (7/10)
Could'nt decide between these two - if time allows, a relisten is needed.
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 2018 - Round 1.6

Post by Listyguy »

Motorhead - Ace of Spades vs. Cyndi Lauper - She's so Unusual
Grant Green - Idle Moments vs. Sufjan Stevens - Michigan
Tom Petty - Wildflowers vs. Sonic Youth - Washing Machine
Santigold - Master of My Make-Believe vs. Aimee Mann - Music from the Motion Picture Magnolia
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 2018 - Round 1.6

Post by hectorthebat »

1. Motorhead - Ace of Spades vs. Cyndi Lauper - She's so Unusual
2. Grant Green - Idle Moments vs. Sufjan Stevens - Michigan
3. Tom Petty - Wildflowers vs. Sonic Youth - Washing Machine
4. Santigold - Master of My Make-Believe vs. Aimee Mann - Music from the Motion Picture Magnolia
Brad
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 2018 - Round 1.6

Post by Brad »

My picks:

1. Motorhead - Ace of Spades vs. Cyndi Lauper - She's so Unusual
2. Grant Green - Idle Moments vs. Sufjan Stevens - Michigan
3. Tom Petty - Wildflowers vs. Sonic Youth - Washing Machine
4. Santigold - Master of My Make-Believe vs. Aimee Mann - Music from the Motion Picture Magnolia

Thanks!
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 2018 - Round 1.6

Post by jamieW »

Great:
Grant Green - Idle Moments

Very good:
Cyndi Lauper - She's so Unusual

Good:
Sufjan Stevens - Michigan
Motorhead - Ace of Spades
Aimee Mann - Music from the Motion Picture Magnolia
Sonic Youth - Washing Machine

Okay:
Tom Petty - Wildflowers

Not for me:
Santigold - Master of My Make-Believe (With the notable exception of "Disparate Youth" - great song.)
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 2018 - Round 1.6

Post by Rdwdbob »

1) CyndiLauper
2) Sufjan Stevens
3) Tom Petty
4) Aimee Mann
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Rob
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 2018 - Round 1.6

Post by Rob »

This week I could have gone either way in all matchups besides the last. My final choices were based on hardly anything.

8. Santigold – Master of My Make-Believe
Last year we also saw a Santigold album appear in this game, her debut. That was my nomination and it really is a huge personal favourite. So why then does Master of My Make-Believe rank at the bottom of this list? The fact is that I don’t think Santigold ever lived up to her first album, of which I love every song. Master of My Make-Believe is still better than her third, 99¢, but really a let-down to me. The interesting and wacky melodies are still there and they are actually good, but the spirit seems lacking. It’s as if the album is on breaks, as if this time around Santigold doesn’t there to go all-out. Where her debut sounded so spirited and seemed to be performed with the greatest of ease, this feels oddly strained. I feel there is a better album in here than comes out. Now only opening track GO! really gets me.

7. Motörhead – Ace of Spades
It may quite fit modern gender discussion, but I think everyone knows that Motörhead was a band particularly catered to masculinity. This doesn’t mean women can’t enjoy it of course, but it is clear they are not the target audience. No other band, not even in the already male-centric world of metal, quite feels like a tribute to a certain world of manhood like Motörhead. That is for better and worse. I think a little Motörhead goes a long way, but at the same there is something to these guys. They go for broke and are always hellbent on entertainment. They also have the voice of Lemmy, whose smoke and booze voice is only matched by Tom Waits. Yet whereas Waits sounds like someone who has seen the limits of debauchery, Lemmy sounds like a guy for who the pleasure of drinks and cigarettes are possibly endless. We have to kind of accept that some of these songs sound a little too alike (I’m convinced that The Hammer is simply Ace of Spades with different lyrics).
[Note: Ace of Spades originally beat out She’s So Unusual for me based on the song Please Don’t Touch, which adds a touching note on the album you least expect it. This collaboration with Girlschool turned out to not be part of the original album so I decided not to count it, putting Ace of Spades below She’s So Unusual by a hair.]

6. Cyndi Lauper – She’s So Unusual
An 80’s pop album that still sounds fresh and somewhat idiosyncratic despite the fact that the 80’s pop sound was done to death in both it’s own decade in the 2010’s. Good job! This is a good album that I like quite a bit, without ever falling in love with anything on it, except Time After Time, a beautiful ballad that, although certainly not misplaced, doesn’t have the same quirky character as the rest here. Girls Just Wanna Have Fun can’t be denied either, although that isn’t what would keep me coming back.

5. Tom Petty – Wildflower
As a lover of Americana I always expect to love Tom Petty, but I rarely do. This album didn’t contain anything I heard before though, so perhaps this was time for redemption. Not really, although it is easy to hear how this by critics largely overlooked, late album is actually a favourite by Petty fans. Like most Petty it is easy-going, but here he hits a certain sweet spot of relaxedness. Behind the calm voice and melodies there are some quietly affecting lyrics. I wasn’t sold on first listen, but this is a good case of where another go reveals some nice layers. Not a masterpiece, but perhaps it’s greatness is in that it desperately doesn’t try to be one.

4. Sonic Youth – Washing Machine
These games sometimes confront me with the fact that there are big acclaimed acts I have never heard a complete album of. Last week Captain Beefheart and this week Sonic Youth. Even to my own surprise, as I have listened to quite a few songs by them and really like their style. So Washing Machine is the first Sonic Youth album I listened to and it won’t be the last. It’s not quite consistent over it’s rather long running time, but there is enough strong material to make up for it. The guitars are of course the highlight, but I also want to pay tribute to the song Little Trouble Girl, which for some reason pays tribute to the Shangri-La’s Give Him a Great Big Kiss and is a rather weird song on here, but damn do I love it.

3. Sufjan Stevens – Michigan
This guy again. I think Michigan is a better album than Seven Swans. More varied and more surprising. The formula for the more famous Illinois is already here and actually the execution is hardly lesser. It just lacks something that could be made as instantly iconic as Chicago or something as otherworldly thrilling as John Wayne Gacy Jr. That is hardly a criticism, as this is full of touching songs, beautiful melodies and of course the angelic voice of Mr. Stevens himself. It could easily win most match-ups, but this round it already faces a special opponent.

2. Grant Green – Idle Moments
I’m glad some people keep nominating jazz albums in this game. They rarely get far, but they remind to listen to a genre I sometimes simply overlook. So after the great Favourite Things in the opening week I’m now introduced to the equally great Idle Moments. That title track is something else: a song of great beauty that crushes everything else this week. The other songs are great too, but Idle Moments is not the kind of thing that lets itself easily be matched. Another thing, this is a great relaxing album. It really calms my mood. No idle moments here, but earned rest. That this isn’t the best album of the week is odd and perhaps indicates that one of my own nominations is competing.

1. Aimee Mann – Music from the Motion Picture Magnolia
The Moderately Acclaimed Albums of 2017 game at the beginning of the year brought me back to Aimee Mann, an artist I was really committed to ten years ago, but hadn’t really listened to in years. Back in college this one of my go-to albums. I never considered it for this game before, because it seemed an odd fit, as half these songs originate from somewhere else. It isn’t even a full Aimee Mann album! When I found out that Rate Your Music doesn’t count it as a compilation but as an album proper I decided to follow it. Later I thought the Bachelor No. 2 might have been the better choice. It’s as good as this one (it shares a couple of songs too) and might make more sense as an album to most people.
But no, the soundtrack to Magnolia is what I fell in love with. There are several reasons for this. A lot of movies select songs that fit the mood of the film and do so greatly (Paul Thomas Anderson proved this with his previous film, Boogie Nights), but only few have a whole slew of songs written for it (not counting musicals, where songs play another role). Magnolia is a special case however, as Paul Thomas Anderson was inspired to make the film after hearing an early version of the song Deathly. Specifically, the opening line struck him: “Now that I met you/ Would you object to/ Never seeing each other again”. These lines actually became part of the dialogue and the character who says them, Claudia played by Melora Walters, is supposedly loosely based on Mann.
From there that whole, big, 3 hour movies with multiple stories derived. It is a top 10 film for me. And when I listen to the album I feel like living the whole movie in under an hour, with all these characters captured in the person of Aimee Mann. The Supertramp songs are a nice bonus, as they suggest the open feeling of the film has (as does the Gabrielle song, although I only found out this week it was supposed to be on the album; the CD I have been listening to all these years doesn’t contain it). Aimee Mann at her best has a way of capturing sad wisdoms in a way that is strikingly simple and has a certain everyday quality to it that is hard to replicate. The light touch of her voice and the slight-jazzy take of the melodies keep things from getting depressing. Instead, it becomes wistful and to me this is one of the great albums of sad longing for love or companionship, just like the movie it accompanies. It fits the film as well as the best scores by Ennio Morricone, John Williams or Bernard Herrmann, but is more unusual.

A simple overview of my votes:

1. Motörhead - Ace of Spades vs. Cyndi Lauper - She's so Unusual
2. Grant Green - Idle Moments vs. Sufjan Stevens - Michigan
3. Tom Petty - Wildflowers vs. Sonic Youth - Washing Machine
4. Santigold - Master of My Make-Believe vs. Aimee Mann - Music from the Motion Picture Magnolia
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 2018 - Round 1.6

Post by Sweepstakes Ron »

1. Motorhead - Ace of Spades vs. Cyndi Lauper - She's so Unusual
2. Grant Green - Idle Moments vs. Sufjan Stevens - Michigan
3. Tom Petty - Wildflowers vs. Sonic Youth - Washing Machine
4. Santigold - Master of My Make-Believe vs. Aimee Mann - Music from the Motion Picture Magnolia
Splish splash, I was raking in the cash
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 2018 - Round 1.6

Post by Brad »

1-1/2 hours left to vote!
Kingoftonga
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 2018 - Round 1.6

Post by Kingoftonga »

Winners in red:

1. Motorhead - Ace of Spades vs. Cyndi Lauper - She's so Unusual
2. Grant Green - Idle Moments vs. Sufjan Stevens - Michigan
3. Tom Petty - Wildflowers vs. Sonic Youth - Washing Machine
4. Santigold - Master of My Make-Believe vs. Aimee Mann - Music from the Motion Picture Magnolia
Brad
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 2018 - Round 1.6

Post by Brad »

14 total voters this week:
Bang Jan
Brad
DaveC
hectorthebat
Honorio
jamieW
Jirin
Kingoftonga
Listyguy
PlasticRam
Rdwdbob
Rob
spiritualized
Sweepstakes Ron

Winners:
1. Cyndi Lauper - She's so Unusual over Motorhead - Ace of Spades 10-4
2. Sufjan Stevens - Michigan over Grant Green - Idle Moments 8-5
3. Sonic Youth - Washing Machine over Tom Petty - Wildflowers 7-5
4. Aimee Mann - Music from the Motion Picture Magnolia over Santigold - Master of My Make-Believe 9-3

Round 1.7 up soon!
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