Welcome to Week 5!

Please listen to the songs before making your choice, and provide comments (however brief) to form the basis of your pick.

The deadline for Week 2 is 11:59 PM, October 30th AM time.

You can read the descriptions of why these songs were nominated in the rules thread.

Match 17:

Liz Phair- "What Makes You a Slave"
Ten Years After- "I'd Love to Change the World"

Match 18:

M (Mathieu Chedid)- "Je dis aime"
UFO- "Rock Bottom"

Match 19:
Lupe Fiasco- "Hip-Hop Saved My Life"
Wendy Rene- "After Laughter"

Match 20:

Nino Rota- "The Godfather Waltz"
The Walker Brothers- "The Electrician"

Happy listening!

First of all, sorry for not participating the last two weeks in this excellent game. My home computer broke down (fortunately it’s fixed now) and the work has been exhausting lately. I realized too that the song I voted for (“Godfather’s Waltz”, now on the tournament) does not fit the spirit of the game. That song is widely known and the fact that did not receive acclaim is the limited number of lists including soundtracks available to be included in AM main list. So if I look again for my lists and remove the songs of world music, vocal jazz, classical and soundtracks (underrepresented on AM list sources), I mean if I only include pop songs in English, the Top 5 would be:
1. Ramones - The KKK Took My Baby Away
2. Psychic TV – Just Drifting (For Caresse)
3. Pale Fountains – Palm of My Hand
4. The Church – Already Yesterday
5. David Sylvian & Ryuichi Sakamoto – Forbidden Colours
All of them 80s songs!! (maybe I was more hip at that time).
I’ll choose some of them for the next game. Anyway you can vote for the Nino Rota’s tune, although I wouldn’t mind at all if it loses against the wonderful “Electrician”.

Ah!!! How do these brackets get chosen? I'm very concerned that the extremely familiar Godfather theme will trample my beloved "Electrician". Ah well...

Match 17:

Liz Phair- "What Makes You a Slave": I never really listened to Girlysound, but this is a nice piece of ol' skool lo-fi Liz. She should go back in that direction.
Ten Years After- "I'd Love to Change the World": I already knew this quite well from my classic rock days. It was never a favorite then, and while it's still good, and still as some fantastic guitar, that listen will do me for the next decade I think.

Winner: Liz Phair


Match 18:

M (Mathieu Chedid)- "Je dis aime": I liked this one a lot, sort of a French Jeff Buckley in a way.
UFO- "Rock Bottom": I was actually surprised how much I enjoyed this piece of mid-'70s AOR. Though it was a little too much in the end.

Winner: M (Mathieu Chedid)


Match 19:

Lupe Fiasco- "Hip-Hop Saved My Life": A nice track, though I still will go with "Kick Push" as his best. This might be a little TOO reverent.
Wendy Rene- "After Laughter": Great great stuff, love the weirdly minimal backing.

WINNER: Wendy Rene (in a close one)


Match 20:

Nino Rota- "The Godfather Waltz": This of course is evocative of an absolute cinematic masterpiece, so those associations of goodness are there. But part of me questions whether this is actually any better than other music of its type (which I have not heard).
The Walker Brothers- "The Electrician": On the other hand, this is an absolute supernova of a masterpiece, a song about torture (and yeah, there may be a sly double-meaning with the "jerk of the handle", but that only reinforces the sick torture connotation), it starts dark and minimal, almost modern classical meeting electronic elements, then bursts into gorgeous orchestral glory, only to return to spookidom, yet it's even scarier, with some sort of industrial scraping as it fades away. Scott Walker had been gone for a while before this got semi-buried on a bit of a mess of an album, but this is a beacon of genius amidst a great career.

WINNER: The Walker Brothers, one of the greatest songs ever.

I am also sorry for not having taken part in last week's game (and been a johnny come lately in the previous one).

I do hope I have the time to play this week, but I'm not sure (work, blog, 1969 lists, trip to Istanbul at the end of the week).

Sonofsamian : yes, M sounds a bit like Jeff Buckley. I'd never thought it that way, but it's true. Now when you see M, he's not at all like BUckley was : he's much more ironic I would say. HIs music is less desperate, more humourus. just Googleimage him and you'll understand (his looks in the nineties.
Another common trait with Buckley : he's a son-of too.
His father louis is a singer and his grandmother is an author.

Match 17:
Ten Years After- "I'd Love to Change the World"
I love the mood of this song- in the acoustic guitar progression with which it begins, through the bitter & seemingly hopeless/hopeful lyrics & vocal desparation, to the dynamic electric lead that drives the second half. I'm very surprised this song is not acclaimed, since it's been a classic rock staple on the radio for decades. I mean, maybe it's not "The Macarena," but still.... I like the Liz Phair song more than I like Liz Phair- she's an acclaimed artist I just never "got". I appreciate the low-fi sound here, but Ten Years After wins it for me.

Match 18:

UFO- "Rock Bottom"
I'm gonna keep with the classic rock on this one... I'm not crazy about the song - it's too long and the lyrics don't grab me, but I love the Michael Schenker guitar sound. "Je dis aime" is a decent song, but just doesn't grab me. Admittedly, I have a soft spot for the pre-hair metal riffs of the '70's, and UFO was all about the riff.

Match 19:
Wendy Rene- "After Laughter"
I love the vocal performance, and while I can't quite pinpoint what it is, there's something in the lack of production quality in these early-'60's recordings that really grabs me. Some kind of nostalgia for a time before I existed (barely, though). Lupe? Some good rhymes, and it could be a grower, but I'm not there yet.

Match 20:

Nino Rota- "The Godfather Waltz"
I think the Walker Brothers are a taste I have yet to acquire, though I've listened to this album sporadically over the past year. I like it, but still prefer the '60's solo Scott sounds.
No doubt the association with the movie gives Nina Rota the boost, but that theme is timeless. "The Godfather" is my favorite film, so I could be biased, but Rota gets my vote.

Match 17:

Liz Phair- "What Makes You a Slave"
Ten Years After- "I'd Love to Change the World"

Girlysound is the evidence that Phair could've done another Exile in Guyville or an album as strong, she just didn't want it. For a bedroom demo is a nice mix of harmonies and guitar playing, a nice melody with a catchphrase on pair: "sometimes a dream is what makes you a slave". I really liked the melody and production of Ten Years After, but the lyrics, specially these days, are so cliche and the worst of all is that is not even their fault if suddenly 20 years later people started using phrases like that all the time on tv.

Match 18:

M (Mathieu Chedid)- "Je dis aime"
UFO- "Rock Bottom"

The vocals of the singer of the first track totally stole the show: soft, sweet and at the same time honest and clean, but the riff of Rock Bottom is unforgettable and is a beyond terrific work with the guitar, the kind of guitar solo every great hard rock song is made of.

Match 19:
Lupe Fiasco- "Hip-Hop Saved My Life"
Wendy Rene- "After Laughter"

Lupe is good and i get why many like him, i'm just not very into hip-hop as much as i am into 60s soul. This match gores to Wendy. I already knew the track, but not this version, it' the original and the best, even if not by far.

Match 20:

Nino Rota- "The Godfather Waltz"
The Walker Brothers- "The Electrician"

The Godfather Waltz is awesome, especially if you associate to the movie, it'd easily have gotten my vote in other brackets, but this time it goes to the haunting "Electrician", amazing use of horns, from the terrifying beginning to the peaceful halfway through (looks like they're dancing to the melody of the track) and the song itself is bewitching after a few listens with clever lyrics and melody. It's a masterstroke of a work. Might be my favorite new discovery of this week.

#17 The Years After --- Best matchup of the week, I want to vote for Liz but "I'd Love To Change The World" has always been such a great song...

#18 UFO --- This song rocks!!!

#19 Lupe Fiasco --- In a world of talentless $hit-hoppers, Lupe is a "Superstar"...

#20 Nino Rota --- One does not want to "Sleep with the fishes"

Match 17:
Ten Years After- "I'd Love to Change the World" wins easily over
Liz Phair- "What Makes You a Slave"
Liz's atonal vocals in tense distorted dissonance with the high-pitched rhythmic strings did not do anything for me. I could hardly bear to listen to the entire song. The Ten Years After song is fantastic and may be one of my favorite songs in the entire competition. The song totally rocks after the 2 minute mark. Should be in my top 1000 songs of all time.


Match 18:

M (Mathieu Chedid)- "Je dis aime" wins this bracket and is a thoroughly enjoyable song - catchy and worthy of many more listens. Tight performance with excellent vocals and enough transitions and surprises to move on well into further rounds in this competition.
UFO- "Rock Bottom"
A great rocker with fast melodic virtuosity. Probably would have won in some brackets in earlier weeks or against either song in match 19, but not this bracket; in part because the lyrics and vocals seemed a bit unremarkable.

Match 19:
Lupe Fiasco- "Hip-Hop Saved My Life" wins this bracket.
Decent song for a hip-hop song, but the genre is just never going to be one of may favorites. Nice lyrics, good interplay of rap with melodic female vocals.
Wendy Rene- "After Laughter" - Great performance but while Wendy's wide-ranging vocals are powerful and match the song lyrics beautifully, I just don't enjoy the song enough to think that I will listen to it again on a regular basis.

Match 20:

Nino Rota- "The Godfather Waltz" wins this bracket as a beautiful and timeless melody that doesn't rely on any modernity to provide its joy.

The Walker Brothers- "The Electrician"
Starts off in a slow dream like fashion, and then by the 3:40 mark or so moves into a lovely orchestral movement with some beautiful acoustic guitar. But, at least after a couple of listens, this song just does not beat the Godfather Waltz.

*Liz Phair - What Makes You a Slave: It was my pick and i love this song. i'm not a fan of "i'd love to change the world", the production and good, but the lyrics are too common like someone pointed before. glad to see that my pick song has come this far, i thought it would be overlooked since is a demo competing against a well-known 70s track, thank you for the votes. tip: youtube is terrible to listen this kind of track (demo tracks), you should try headphones to hear it better.

*UFO - Rock Bottom: I loved when the lead singer screamed "ROCK BOTTOM" and the guitarist's work is flawless and breathtaking.

*Lupe Fiasco - Hip-Hop Saved My Life: I'm a major hip-hop fan, and Lupe when he came out was one of the few new talents i dig it. The rhymes are great, so is the flow. I also liked the other track, i like hip-hop and soul, so it was a tough match.

*The Walker Brothers - The Electrician: I didn't see it coming. It's really good, it's ambitious without being all over the place. Call me crazy, but i never liked the Godfather Soundtrack, overrated and i got sick very quickly. the song is good and i can see why many likes it. if you connect to the movie, even better, but the Walker Brothers were a fresh, unexpected surprise.

Liz Phair wins a weak bracket. No one of these to is to my liking.

M. wins the second bracket. This is nice clean simple pop. The UFO song is not my music.

Lupe Fiasco was one of the few song i did not want my nominees to run against in the first round. It is good example of hip-hop at it´s best. Clean rimes, good beats, nice melody and urgent lyrics. Still i will have to go for my nomination Wendy Rene as the winner. This is my favorite song from Stax records.

This was an odd bracket. A simple classic song from a iconic movie. Against a rather unconventional song. As much as i like the movie it is still Walker Brothers that gets the win.

"He's drilling thru the SPIRITUS SANCTUS tonight thru the dark hip falls screaming Oh You Mambos kill me and kill me and kill me"

Could someone please explain what is meant by this particular section of 'The Electrician'?

Match 17:
1) Ten Years After- "I'd Love to Change the World"
2) Liz Phair- "What Makes You a Slave"
Ten years after est un gagnant facile dans cette manche, parce que il s'agit tout d'abord d'une excellente chanson, très mélodique et surtout un peu différente de tous ces rocks ampoulés et grandiloquents du début des 70's qui m'ennuient totalement. Elle est simple et belle.
De l'autre côté, je n'ai jamais compris pourquoi Liz Phair avait du succès.

Match 18:
1) M (Mathieu Chedid)- "Je dis aime"
2) UFO- "Rock Bottom"
Tiens, je parlais de rock grandiloquent juste au-dessus. En voilà un bon exemple. Moi qui me suis fait des compilations par décennies, en arrivant à la fin des 70's, je ne pouvais plus écouter un seul morceau de ce type. Il y en a trop, tous pareils.
Et M....ben miam ! Pop song parfaite.

Match 19:
1) Wendy Rene- "After Laughter"
2) Lupe Fiasco- "Hip-Hop Saved My Life
D'un côté une chanson que j'adore, que j'écoute très souvent, After Laughter, qui me fait très plaisir de voir apparaître ici et que je soutiendrais probablement longtemps dans ce jeux.
Et de l'autre, du rap....exactement cette fameuse rythmique rap typique, qui fait je ne peux pas écouter toutes les chansons de ce type. Même quand elles viennent de mon artiste favori, Prince lui-même, je les fuis comme la peste. Désolé. Je suis en fait incapable de juger de la qualité de cette chanson.

Match 20:
1) Nino Rota- "The Godfather Waltz"
2) The Walker Brothers- "The Electrician"
Choix très difficile cette fois. quelle dommage que ces deux chansons se soient retrouver ensemble. Mais je ne pouvais faire autrement que de voter pour Nino Rota. Pour ce morceau de musique qui est certainement un de ceux que j'ai le plus écouté dans ma vie. Et qui me donne frissons sur frissons.
L'autre est une découverte superbe. J'ai adoré. Je ne connais pas du tout es Walker Brother et elle m'incite à me pencher un peu plus sur ceux (ce qui est le but principal de ce jeu à mon sens).

Vote: Liz Phair

I love that disonnant guitar plucking in What Makes You A Slave. What album is this from? I'm surprised the Ten Years After song isn't at least bubbling under. It was one of the first songs I learned in guitar class, and I know it was played at Woodstock. The flaky politics of the song are a little annoying but it's a good guitar song. I'm left with the overwhelming urge to tie the singer to a chair and force him to take Economics 101.

Vote: UFO

There are a lot of strong components of Je dis aime, but I think they were put together in a bit of a jarring way. Maybe with a different vocalist. At some points he reminded me of Muse's whiny creen. Rock Bottom's not a great song, but it has some killer guitar riffs.

Vote: Lupe Fiasco

In Hip Hop Saved My Life, that piano loop works really well for the song and I like the lyrics. Although I wish he varied the samples a little more instead of playing the same few-second loop for most of the song. I feel After Laughter would be a better song with Motown-quality production, but as it stands the quality of the recording harms the song. Also, it's a little too repetetive. It needs more than just the background vocals repeating themselves every ten seconds and the lead singer singing around them.

Vote: Nino Rota

I just watched the first two Godfather films as part of my 'top 100 TSPDT films in a year' project. The waltz fits the films perfectly, but out of context it doesn't stand out much. But, I didn't like The Electrician at all. I found the entire thing cheesy and annoying.

I'm not a fan of Muse, I meant that as a negative.

Match 17:
1) Ten Years After- "I'd Love to Change the World"
2) Liz Phair- "What Makes You a Slave"
Ten years after is an easy winner in this match, because it is first of all an excellent song, very melodic and above all a bit different from all the bombastic and grandiose rock song from the beginning of the 70s that completely bore me. It's simple and beautiful
On the other hand, I've never understood why Liz Phair has been such a success.

Match 18:
1) M (Mathieu Chedid)- "Je dis aime"
2) UFO- "Rock Bottom"
Hey, I talked about grandiose rock songs just above. And here is a good example. I make compilations by decades, and by the end of the seventies, I can't listen to another single song like this one. There are too many, and they all sound the same.
And M....wow! Perfect pop song.

Match 19:
1) Wendy Rene- "After Laughter"
2) Lupe Fiasco- "Hip-Hop Saved My Life
On one side is a song I adore, that I listen to very often, After Laughter, that I am very happy to see here and I would argue is probably here to stay.
On the other side, a rap song...exactly that famous typical rap rhythm that I can't listen to at all. Even when they come from my favorite artist, Prince himself, I avoid them like the plague. Sorry. I am in fact incapable of judging the quality of this song.

Match 20:
1) Nino Rota- "The Godfather Waltz"
2) The Walker Brothers- "The Electrician"
Very dificult choice this time. It's too bad that these two songs are together. But I can't do anything besides vote for Nino Rota. For this little bit of music is one of the bits I've heard the most throughout my life, and which gives me chills upon chills.
The other is a superb discovery. I loved it. I don't know the Walker Brothers at all and thi song has got me looking into them a bit more (which I feel is the main point of this game).

Match 17 - Winner Liz Phair, "What Makes You A Slave"

Not a huge fan of Girly Sound, particularly in light of my adoration for Exile in Guyville. But this song builds up to something rather nice, with those bubblegum lyrics a prime example of her ability to transform a sing-songy, double dutch-esque lyric into something haunting and somehow emotionally guarded and naked at the same time. Ten Years After's number is solid, but I'm not as big a fan of it. Lee's vocals are too affectless until he jumps the octave, and then it's lacking a bit of soul. I don't know why I thought of this, but something about the structure of "I'd Love to Change the World" reminds me of Cole Porter's list songs... except minus most of the wit. (Yeah, I see the humor in the lyrics, but there wasn't much staying power for me on that front.)

Match 18 Winner - UFO, "Rock Bottom"

I feel bad not knowing any French during this game. There have been a lot of French entries where I feel like I'm only getting a portion of the song by not understanding the lyrics. The M song did sound a lot like the songs populating the Modern Rock charts in the late 90's, a period that I really enjoyed. But it did not really stand out for me. I find that my enjoyment of cock rock like this UFO track is hit or miss, without my really knowing why I enjoy a track or not. I did like this one, though. I wanted to get drunk and rowdy just listening to it. I enjoyed when the drums and bass would cut out every once in a while. The solo in the middle was a bit boring, though.

Match 19 Winner - Wendy Rene, "After Laughter"

Tough call here. "After Laughter" took a bit to grow on me. It seemed by the numbers at first. But by the end, when Rene is wailing, I had to give her props. Lupe Fiasco's track had a nice, unfrantic vibe... no need to be flashy. But the story told is a little unexceptional, and musically the background track was a bit boring (particularly when compared to his superior track "Kick, Push").

Match 20 Winner - Walker Brothers, "The Electrician"

The Godfather Waltz loses much of its power for me outside the context of the movie. I really enjoyed discovering "The Electrician." That was some contrast between the horror movie open and close and gorgeous string section middle.

Match 17
The Liz Phair song doesn't do much for me, and I'm already a huge fan of "I'd Love to Change the World"
Winner: Ten Years After, "I'd Love to Change the World"

Match 18
Wolverine meets Flock of Seagulls. I enjoy the M song, even if je ne comprends pas the lyrics.
UFO reminds me of "show-off rock" groups like Van Halen. Unnecessary drum and guitar solos, played at an accelerating rate for no purpose other than to prove to the recording industry that you have talent. Whoopee.
Winner: M (Mathieu Chedid), "Je dis aime"

Match 19
The link for the Lupe Fiasco song did not work, but I did a search for the song, and here goes. I am familiar with a few of Lupe's other songs, and although I enjoy "Daydreamin'" more, I quite enjoyed "Hip Hop Saved My Life." I am not familiar with Wendy Rene, nor this "After Laughter" song. I also quite enjoy this. The shriek at the end almost killed it for me, but I won't let that ruin an otherwise great song.
WInner: Wendy Rene, "After Laughter"

Match 20
Hmm...not exactly the type of song I would have expected to hear in this lineup, and it's hard not to judge the Godfather suite on its own merit as a song without automatically connecting it to what is considered by many to be one of the greatest films ever made. What's interesting is that although it is perhaps most associated with The Godfather (1972), the score actually first appeared in the film Fortunella [1958], and was re-used not only for The Godfather soundtrack, but also Fellini's La Dolce Vita (1960). Despite all of the awards and nominations this score has gotten, which would make me feel as though it doesn't really count as "un-acclaimed," I really couldn't stand "The Electrician." Sounded like a requiem for a vampire.
Winner: Nino Rota, "The Godfather Waltz"

Match 17:
Hmm, Difficult decision.
Liz Phair's Exile In Guysville didn't impress me that much, and since that album is widely considered her finest moment I never bothered spitting deeper into her output. Maybe I should have because What Makes You A Slave is very good.
I'd Love To Change The World on the other hand is a favorite Classic Rock, uhm, classic. Ten Years After's best song culled from their A Space In Time album, where the band expressed a bleak vision on the state of this world at a period when the 60s dream was slowly waning. So, one has to look at the lyrics in that context. TYA gets my vote, but What Makes You A Slave would've won any other match of this week.
Ten Years After wins.

Match 18:
Je Dis Aime? The charming French does it for me here. Oh yeah, the wah-wah guitars are pretty cool as well. Rock Bottom is a solid rocker but doesn't manage to beat Mathieu Chedid. Now, if only UFO's Doctor, Doctor was nominated instead... (On a 70s Rock kick lately, Jackson?).
Mathieu Chedid wins.

Match 19:
Hip Hop Saved My Life starts out very well, until that female sung refrain comes in which spoils everything for me. A few other posters recommended Kick Push, another Lupe Fiasco track. THAT is a good one. But Hip Hop Saved My Life is nominated, so my prefence goes to Wendy Rene's After Laughter. A cute but also somewhat simplistic early 60s song. More Teen than Soul, actually.
Wendy Rene wins.

Match 20:
Nino Rota's score of the Godfather is a classic of course, but the competition is fierce.
Oldies aficionados who were only familiar with the smooth orchestrated 60s hits by the Walker Brothers must've listened in total bewilderment to The Electrician. It's kind of a precursor to what ultimately resulted in Scott's nightmarish Tilt (1995). Those whose interest got tickled by The Electrician need proceeding to Tilt, not an album that's easy to digest, but in the end may turn out to be a rewarding listening experience.
Walker Brothers win.

Match 17:

Liz Phair- "What Makes You a Slave": Exile in Guyville was one of the few alternative albums from the 90s that I liked at the time and still like today. I also liked Whip-Smart, but somehow I never considered Liz to be a real favorite. This song is just great, though, and her voice is downright beautiful when she really lets fly! She's so forthright and honest without being schlocky, and that takes skill. Great nomination!

Ten Years After- "I'd Love to Change the World": The acoustic riff is pretty good, and the heavier guitar parts are quite nice, but the politics are awkward enough to be a bit of a distraction. Nice song, but it doesn't have enough here for me.

Match 18:

M (Mathieu Chedid)- "Je dis aime": I can see how this could annoy me, but something about it just grips me, and I can't quite explain it. The guy strikes me as a bit of a kook, and I like my fair share of kooks, so that may be it.

UFO- "Rock Bottom": As with "I'd Love to Save the World", this seems to be a 70s classic rock staple. I tend not to like classic rock much, but this is better than most.

Match 19:

Lupe Fiasco- "Hip-Hop Saved My Life": It barely loses in a battle of songs representing genres that I tend to underrate in spite of loving quite a lot of similar music. I appreciate the passion of the sentiment behind this song, and I recognize that Lupe Fiasco is several cuts above most hip hop these days. It may grow on me, but it didn't have the instant appeal of Wendy Rene.

Wendy Rene- "After Laughter": I also tend to underrate 60s soul, in spite of how much I love funk and 80s soul. That said, the weird organ hooked me immediately here!

Match 20:

Nino Rota- "The Godfather Waltz": I'm probably one of a limited number of people who has not only not seen The Godfather, but none of the other movies that feature this song, so I'm hearing it for the first time. It does seem to be a rather enchanting, cinematic waltz, but it's up against a real mindwarp.

The Walker Brothers- "The Electrician": Holy wow! This is what I'm talking about! Crazy eeriness frames a really lush and beautiful middle section in a sprawling, bizarre piece. It's right up my alley, and I'm going to check out some more of their material with a quickness.

Match 17
Ten Years After - I'd Love To Change the World : I have a few friends fans of TYA, I'm not, but I still really like that one

Match 18
Ufo - Rock Bottom : I have TONS of friends fans of M, I'm not, even though Je Dis Aime is one of his good singles, before he became really annoying. But that UFO song is damn good !

Match 19 :
Wendy Rene - After Laughter
Good song, even though I'm go for Wu-Tang Tearz over it any day

Match 20 :
The Walker Brothers - The Electrician
The Godfather Waltz does not work much out of its movie, while The Electrician is very intriguing and seducing.

Match 17:
Liz Phair - "What Makes You a Slave"

Liz Phair bears a striking resemblance to Meg Ryan. There, I had to say it. This song had some good parts, and some not so good parts...I like the vocals, and she's a good artist generally speaking. I liked "Why Can't I", but I haven't heard a lot of her other songs. "I'd Love to Change the World" just failed to make an impression.

Match 18:
M - "Je dis aime"

This was a weak matchup to me. "Rock Bottom" reminded me too much of Spinal Tap, but this one doesn't go to 11. :) Chedid wins, but not an enthusiastic vote. Perhaps this one will grow on me a little, though.

Match 19:
Wendy Rene - "After Laughter"

I was very impressed by this hidden gem...I'm not a huge fan of 60's girl groups, but there are a handful of songs where the elements really come together, and this is one of them. Beautiful vocals, and interesting instrumentation...a bit different than the bubble gum the era is known for. My favorite for this week. Lupe Fiasco definitely has flow, and this song kind of reminded me of mid-80s hip hop musically. It was ok.

Match 20:
The Walker Brothers - "The Electrician"

Not necessarily my type of music, but "The Electrician" is delightfully weird. The Godfather Waltz is pleasant, but seems out of place in this competition.

Match 17:
Ten Years After- "I'd Love to Change the World"

The Liz Phair song didn't do much for me,I love 'I'd Love To Change The World',I'm sure I'd heard it before.

Match 18:
UFO- "Rock Bottom"

Not usually my thing,but I much prefer the UFO track -the guitar work is killer. Je dis aime did not stand out to me,it's very hard for any song to when I can't understand the lyrics...

Match 19:
Lupe Fiasco- "Hip-Hop Saved My Life"

Decent rap track - good melody,great lyrics. The Wendy Rene track is OK,a little simple and repetitive though...

Match 20:
The Walker Brothers- "The Electrician"

Having not seen the Godfather for many years(when I was too young to appreciate it),the Godfather Waltz doesn't do too much for me. The Electrician is a tour de force,and wins easily.

As with last week, we have a tie! That means that the next vote will be the last one counted, even though the deadline has passed (well, it will in 2 minutes).

Liz Phair- "What Makes You a Slave"
Ten Years After- "I'd Love to Change the World"

Lo-fi vs. classic rock, eh? For me this is a very difficult matchup. None of the songs really hit me but I prefer Liz's expression.


M (Mathieu Chedid)- "Je dis aime"
UFO- "Rock Bottom"

French pop vs classic rock, eh? Another difficult matchup for me. On a somewhat higher level. But M wins it. It sounds like a big French hit which can be appreciated by me as well due to its strong melody. Something tells me I don't want to hear it too many times though.


Lupe Fiasco- "Hip-Hop Saved My Life"
Wendy Rene- "After Laughter"

After Laughter is the first song in this game (I think) that has appeared in one of my top 20 songs by year. I'm not the biggest fan of 36 Chambers, but the Wu-Tang definitely had good taste in their samples. Lupe was not bad either.


Nino Rota- "The Godfather Waltz"
The Walker Brothers- "The Electrician"

There are too few film scores among AM's top 3000 songs. And The Godfather Waltz is one that deserves to be included. So as much as I like Scott Walker, the competition is too hard here.

I didn't realize that the time had passed midnight when I posted...

Voting has closed.

Ah, fuck, I thought I still had tomorrow. I should pay more attention. I really have to sleep now.. can I still post mine tomorrow morning?

Ah well, you snooze you lose. Nonetheless...

Match 17:

Ten Years After- "I'd Love to Change the World"

I know to someone a grainy bootleg of Liz Phair is bliss but it wasn't a great song... and I have listened to Exile in Guyville so I kinda know what to compare it to.

Ten Years After seems like that ubiquitous song that has too many classic songs in a similar style that just sound a little bit better... hence their success on acclaimed song lists and this one gets cut. Time for its due.


Match 18:

UFO- "Rock Bottom"

Really tough since that French song sounded interesting. But a tight progressive metal song that's new to me and doesn't drag expands my appreciate for that genre beyond my familiarity with Machine Ahead and similar records... so it wins by a tiny bit.

Match 19:

Wendy Rene- "After Laughter"

Ah... a song sampled by Wu-Tang (or was that from another version?). Not the most memorable song from that era, but compared to Lupe Fiasco's so-so song, it wins.

Match 20:

The Walker Brothers- "The Electrician"

I like the Godfather but the theme music doesn't stand alone, IMO, as a song that can be compared to musical invention. Walker Brothers by a bunch.

Here are your results!

Match 17:

Liz Phair - "What Makes You a Slave": 9
Ten Years After - "I'd Love to Change the World": 8

This went back and forth all week, with neither song having more than a 2-point lead at any point. It ended regulation time with a tie, but the tiebreaker won it for Liz Phair.

Match 18:

M (Mathieu Chedid) - "Je dis aime": 9
UFO - "Rock Bottom": 8

Another super-close matchup that was neck and neck all week, this likewise ended in a tie, but the tiebreaker gave "Je dis aime" a narrow win.

Match 19:

Lupe Fiasco - "Hip-Hop Saved My Life": 5
Wendy Rene - "After Laughter": 12

This one stayed close to start, and once was locked at a 3-3 tie, but Wendy Rene ran away with 9 of the final 11 votes to win it.

Match 20:

Nino Rota - "The Godfather Waltz": 7
The Walker Brothers - "The Electrician": 10

In yet another close match, the tally was tied at 6 apiece until The Walker Brothers claimed 4 of the last 5 votes to eke out a win.

Close matches this week!

The winners advance to the Winners Bracket 1 (W1), while the losers can take heart in the fact that they are not out of the game yet, and move to Losers Bracket 1 (L1).

Up-to-date brackets are available here.

A very surprising results week for me.

I can't believe Ten Years After didn't win! Before the whole game started, I predicted "I'd Love to Change the World" would win the whole competition!

I figured this would beat Liz Phair's song in landslide.

Also surprised to see how not just one, but two of the matchups this week were decided by a single vote!

This game just got quite interesting/unpredictable!


Just out of curiosity, were all of the votes that were submitted counted? If not, whose ballots were excluded from the tally?

Yeah I thought Ten Years After and The Walker Brothers would both hammer their opposition,and last week Old And Wise losing was a huge surprise...

I can't believe my pick won it. I'm very happy but we all know that the important thing is to be introduced to new songs, not win. I' actually more thankful for the comments that the pick received and to know the others liked it than win. I was the tie breaker in week 4 so i kinda know how this week's is feeling like.

I didn't have time to vote this week, but I totally would have gone for "Rock Bottom" and "I'd Love to Change the World," both of which are in my top 200.

Are the songs out of the competition once they lost a single matchup, or do they have to lose more than once?

I'm just really happy so many people discovered "The Electrician".

Please note, as Mindrocker alluded, that loving this song will not necessarily mean you like the more famous, '60s-era Walker Brothers. There is much more similarity to solo Scott Walker.

Moonbeam, since you seemed especially enthused, may I suggest the following tracks:

The Seventh Seal (from Scott 4, where Walker finally went left-field wholesale, and yes, the song alludes directly to the movie)

The Old Man's Back Again (Dedicated to the Neo-Stalinist Regime) (another great one from Scott 4, with fantastic bass)

Sleepwalkers Woman (Scott in the '80s, not sonically dissimilar to "The Electrician")

Farmer In The City (Spooky '90s Scott, if anyone thought the other stuff sounded vampiric, well here you go)

Big Louise (great weepy track from the wonderful Scott 3)

The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore (my favorite of the British Invasion-era Walker Brothers, very weepy, very Wall of Sound, and a big hit in the UK)