This round of voting will run two weeks instead of one because of Christmas.

Division 1:

2 The Beatles - Help
#595, 1965, def 15 Vince Guaraldi - A Charlie Brown Christmas
vs
10 The Millennium - Begin
#1683, 1968, def 7 Jerry Lee Lewis - Live At The Star Club

Help is the only Beatles album out of three to make it to the second round, and the highest seed left in division 1. Begin is a dark horse of a style that tends to do really well in AM polls. This should be a close vote.

Division 3

1 REM - Life's Rich Pageant
#668, 1986, def 16 Bruce Springsteen - Live 1975-1985
vs
9 The Cars - Heartbeat City
#2095, 1984, def 8 The Cure - Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me

This one could be another close match. REM hasn't fared well in this contest, and The Cars have gotten a lot of love in bracketology. Life's Rich Pagent is the only REM album out of three to escape the first round.

Division 5:

4 Belle and Sebastian - The Boy With The Arab Strap
#1171, 1998, def 13 Nine Inch Nails - The Fragile
vs
5 Beastie Boys - Hello Nasty
#805, 1998, def 12 The Flaming Lips - Zareika.

Belle and Sebastian vies to be the only band to go 6-0 in the first and second rounds.

Division 7:

14 Sufjan Stevens - Seven Swans
#2571, 2004, def 3 The Postal Service - Give Up
vs
11 Sufjan Stevens - Michigan
#1713, 2003, def 6 The Strokes - Room On Fire

Sufjan Stevens pulled off a pair of upsets in the first round and now is guaranteed a spot in the third.

1 vote for Hello Nasty here !
I hope I will have time to listen to other albums I don't know, but I try to focus on the 70s poll.

2 The Beatles - Help

1 REM - Life's Rich Pageant

5 Beastie Boys - Hello Nasty

14 Sufjan Stevens - Seven Swans

10 The Millennium - Begin
1 REM - Life's Rich Pageant
4 Belle and Sebastian - The Boy With The Arab Strap
11 Sufjan Stevens - Michigan

The Beatles - Help
REM - Life's Rich Pageant
Beastie Boys - Hello Nasty
Sufjan Stevens - Michigan

Easy decisions all around, I hope Mike D, AdRock, and MCA can pull off the win against Belle and Sebastien.

Division 1:
2 The Beatles - Help

Division 3
1 REM - Life's Rich Pageant

Division 5:
4 Belle and Sebastian - The Boy With The Arab Strap

Division 7:
11 Sufjan Stevens - Michigan

My votes:

The Millenium - Begin

REM - Life's Rich Pageant

Belle and Sebastian - The Boy With The Arab Strap

Sufjan Stevens - Michigan

The last is the only vote that was hard for me today. Two of them included one album I actively dislike, and the other was one I liked against one I think is okay.

The Millennium - Begin
Getting better all the time.

REM - Life's Rich Pageant
How on earth could Heartbeat City beat Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me!? I'm still upset.

Beastie Boys - Hello Nasty
Close winner. Two great albums.

Sufjan Stevens - Michigan
Not sure if I'm happy that one Sufjan album moves on safely, or sad that one has to go.

The Millennium - Begin

REM - Life's Rich Pageant

Beastie Boys - Hello Nasty

Sufjan Stevens - Michigan


Easy picks this week, all of 'em.

Sonofsamiam, I've noticed that we've come to much closer agreement after week 1 of round 2, which feels good. Now I know I'm not completely off track.

Help!
Life's Rich Pageant
Hello Nasty
Seven Swans

Help! is top 5 of all time, and very underrated. If you are a fan of Rubber Soul, I don't understand how you couldn't consider Help! a near equal.

Division 1:
2 The Beatles - Help

Division 3
1 REM - Life's Rich Pageant

Division 5:
4 Belle and Sebastian - The Boy With The Arab Strap

Division 7:
11 Sufjan Stevens - Michigan

10 The Millennium - Begin

9 The Cars - Heartbeat City

4 Belle and Sebastian - The Boy with the Arab Strap

14 Sufjan Stevens - Seven Swans

This week for me got three quite easy picks and one extremely difficult:

THE BEATLES “Help!”
This was the difficult one, I love both albums. Moreover I’ve counted the votes so far and I realized that now I‘m breaking the tie (if there are no additional votes by mail) and this is one thing I’m not particularly proud of, even knowing that “Help!” is an excellent underrated album.

R.E.M. “Lifes Rich Pageant”
The first R.E.M. I bought still holds a special place in my heart

BELLE & SEBASTIAN “The Boy with the Arab Strap”
Easy for me, although I’m aware that maybe we have too many B&S albums

SUJFAN STEVENS “Michigan”
Both are great but I will go for the major instead the minor (although “Seven Swans” has many charms). Many thanks to Henrik for letting me downloading both albums.

18 more hours to vote.

Honorio, you may be breaking a tie, but you're also creating a tie.

The other two votes aren't even close.

Haven't heard The Millennium. Chances are I would have voted for that album, but..

Second match: REM

Third: Hello Nasty

and last: Michigan

OK, these are my picks

Division 1:
2 The Beatles - Help

Division 3
1 REM - Life's Rich Pageant

Division 5:
4 Belle and Sebastian - The Boy With The Arab Strap

Division 7:
11 Sufjan Stevens - Michigan

I wonder how many people who voted for "Help!" haven't heard "Begin".

I've sort of been using the honor system, taking people's word for it that they've heard everything they're voting against. I hope people who voted for Help! at least went over to Lala to give Begin a listen.

I also vote for only one album this week. So one point to B&S.

Division 3:
1 REM - Life's Rich Pageant

Division 5:
4 Belle and Sebastian - The Boy With The Arab Strap

While I agree that Begin is under appreciated, it's not one of the greatest albums ever. It's good, and it should have been just as popular as an Association or Mamas and Papas album but to say it's better than Help! is overdoing it IMO unless you just don't like the Beatles. There is nothing on Begin that comes even close to topping 6-7 songs off Help. Help!, You've Got To Hide Your Love Away and Yesterday are Beatles classics. Name one song off Begin that can top any one of those songs. Again, Begin is a good album. It's You and The Island are great songs, but they aren't as good as half of Help's track listing.

I listened to Begin earlier this year, and it is a hell of a record i won't deny that, and according to some websites it was a pretty expensive one too. But, Help! is one of my favorite albums from the Beatles and it was the first one of them that i listened to. It's special to me, but i can't vote for it just because of that. So 2 days ago i decided to stop listening to the xx's xx (i'm addicted), so i could start listen to Begin again, and i spent the whole day listening to. Well, i like that album more now, and sure it is one of my vacation's biggest rediscoveries, but my vote was still for Help!. Sorry about that folks

HRS: So long as you've heard enough of it to be sure you like the other one better, which you clearly have, it's fine to vote.

And the results.

Division 1:

2 The Beatles - Help 7 def
10 The Millennium - Begin 5

I knew this one would be close. The Beatles knock off a dark horse and make it to the third round, to face Ennio Morricone - Once Upon A Time In The West.

Division 3:

1 REM - Life's Rich Pageant 13 def
8 The Cars - Heartbeat City 1

I thought REM would win, but I thought it'd be closer. REM's last album standing coasts into the third round to face Depeche Mode - Violator.

Division 5:

4 Belle and Sebastian 9 def
5 Beastie Boys - Hello Nasty 7

In the most voted in matchup of the elimination draw so far, Belle and Sebastian come from behind and go 6-0 into the third round where they face imminent destruction Neutral Milk Hotel - In The Aeroplane Over The Sea

Division 7:

11 Sufjan Stevens - Michigan 10 def
14 Sufjan Stevens - Seven Swans 3

Sufjan beats Sufjan, and goes on to face fellow freak-folker Joanna Newsom.

exsqueeze me../??

I agree that it's not one of the greatest albums ever, it would probably fall just outside of my top 300, I just know that "Begin" isn't very readily available (even for people who have no qualms about illegal downloading).

I do think "Begin" is miles better than "Help!" though, but I'd only give "Help!" a 7/10 at best. "Yesterday" is a great song but I don't really like any of the other songs and I even strongly dislike a few of them. Oh, and "I Just Want To Be Your Friend" and "To Claudia On Thursday" can rival even "Yesterday".