I closed the other thread prematurely because I forgot daylight savings moved my clocks an hour forward and not everyone else's, so there's still an hour to vote in that one.

Next week, the voting will still close 11 PM board time, which is apparently affected by daylight savings (Looking at the map, far more of the world practices DST than I thought). So those of you who live in Arizona, or countries that do not practice daylight savings, the deadline is an hour earlier.

Anybody can vote, but you must have heard both albums.

Divison 1:
Blur - The Great Escape vs
Ghostface Killah - Supreme Clientele

Division 2:
Stranglers - Rattus norvegicus vs
Billy Joel - The Stranger

Division 3:
The Wipers - Youth of America vs
Stephen Malkmus - Stephen Malkmus

Division 4:
Marquis de Sade - Rue de Siam vs
Dinah Washington - Dinah Jams

Something tells me this is going to be a high turnout week.

Vote: Marquis de Sade

Easily my favorite discovery of the tournament. They're like Echo & The Bunnymen, but more jazzy. Harold, I highly recommend shelling out to get this album.

I gotta listen to that Strangler's album so I can vote. I'll be back.

Division 3 Matchup Trivia- Both Malkmus and the Wipers call Portland, Oregon their home. Malkmus is a big Greg Sage/Wipers fan; in fact he covered the Wipers' "Alien Boy" on his tour for the self-titled album and a live version subsequently appeared as a B-side on the Jenny & The Ess-Dog CD-EP.

Division 2:
Stranglers - Rattus norvegicus vs
Billy Joel - The Stranger

Wish I had more time to listen to these albums.

I thoroughly enjoyed my introduction to Rattus norvegicus. The guitar work is solid and the interplay between the guitar, keyboards (synth) and vocals is especially well done. The looseness of the music is undoubtedly appealing to a lot of folks as is the layered structure of the compositions. While none of the songs was particularly impressive to me, this album deserves another listen. I have a feeling that "Down in the Sewer" could end up being my fave from the album.

But, as much as I admire and enjoy the Stranglers, it does not come close to one of the most consistently excellent albums of the 1970's. While strictly pop and not experimental in any manner, Joel's compositions are clever and excellent. His lyrics can be fun and poignant.

I especially enjoy the title track - "have you ever let your lover see the stranger in yourself." I wonder if Joel was influenced by the Heinlein novel "Stranger in Strange Land." I am always attempting to grok, how about the rest of you?

As to a weaker track on The Stranger, I would point to "Vienna" - but even this track works if only to middling effect for me. Everybody Has a Dream does not always work wonderfully for me, but sometimes it hits me very nicely.

Each of the other tracks on "The Stranger" ranks fairly high for me in terms of enjoyment, especially: Movin' Out, Just the Way You Are, Scenes From An Italian Restaurant, Only the Good Die Young, and Get it Right the First Time.

Divison 1: Ghostface Killah - Supreme Clientele

Excellent production, and RZA only produced a couple of these tracks. I'll never fully understand everything he's rapping about, due to the quantity of words and the fact that he makes up his own phrases. I think that's why it still sounds fresh to me. The Great Escape is ok, it's a little too straightforward storytelling for my taste though.

Division 2: Pass

Division 3: The Wipers - Youth of America

Youth of America is short and sweet; only 6 songs & 30 minutes long. Its a solid block of fuzz guitar heroics & teen angst. Stephen Malkmus's s/t is weird fun, but when compared to YoA it has a couple weaker songs in there.

Division 4: Dinah Washington - Dinah Jams

I don't willingly listen to jazz, but when its playing I usually enjoy it. Dinah has a great voice & I was surprised by the amount of excellent solos by her band. The Marquis de Sade album was good too, solid 80's pop/new wave. I'm surprised it hasn't gotten any acclaim outside of France. Both of these albums were first listens for me.

Rue de Siam is pretty good indeed. Certainly good enough to at least deserve a wikipedia page; even the band doesn't have one in English!

The Great Escape (DifferentOneMan has guilty pleasures, too)
Rattus Norvegicus
Youth of America
Rue de Siam

Divison 1:
Blur - The Great Escape vs
Ghostface Killah - Supreme Clientele

Division 3:
The Wipers - Youth of America vs
Stephen Malkmus - Stephen Malkmus

Every single album this week gets an 8.0 from me, so they're all very close together. I reckon it's possible that on another day Wipers would've been #1.

1. Ghostface Killah - Supreme Clientele (Didn't expect to like this so much, the first half is really amazing. Another rap album that with some editing could have been great)
2. Marquis de Sade - Rue de Siam
3. Billy Joel - The Stranger
4. Stranglers - Rattus norvegicus
5. The Wipers - Youth of America
6. Dinah Washington - Dinah Jams
7. Stephen Malkmus - Stephen Malkmus
8. Blur - The Great Escape (Blur to me are the modern Beatles, much more so than Oasis. Maybe that's why I don't appreciate them that much and can only stand them for a short time. 57 minutes then, although there are some great songs in there, is simply too long)

My vote: Billy Joel
Probably in my top 10 albums, it's just great across the board. Songs like "Movin Out" "The Stranger" and "Only the Good Die Young" help to make the alubm. And "Scenes From an Italian Resturaunt" is soooo true it's funny. I think yoiu have to be a New Yorker to truly apprecite Billy Joel.

Division 2:
Stranglers win.

Divison 1:
Blur - The Great Escape

Division 2:
Stranglers - Rattus norvegicus

Division 3:
Stephen Malkmus - Stephen Malkmus

Division 4:
Dinah Washington - Dinah Jams

Thanks!

Vote: Ghostface Killah

Like his rapping, hate his lyrics. Blur is decent. Stephan called them the modern Beatles, I'd liken them more to the Kinks, only without the humor to pull it off. Whenever I put on an album of theirs I enjoy it at first then just kind of get tired of it.

Vote: Stranglers

This is a vote for the Stranglers, not against Billy Joel. Though Billy Joel is a bit too spit-shined for my taste.

Blur - The Great Escape
Billy Joel - The Stranger
The Wipers - Youth Of America
Marquis de Sade - Rue de Siam

nj, if you disagree with my statement that Blur are more comparable to The Kinks than The Beatles, maybe you should say why instead of just posting a one word wise-guy dismissal.

Vote: Stephen Malkmus

I'm not a huge fan of his solo stuff but I couldn't connect with Youth Of America at all.

I guess Blur's sense of humor shows off more in Parklife, where they are definitely Kink-ish while caving a niche of their own. It is my favorite britpop band and second favorite british band after Radiohead to emerge during the 90s.

Divison 1:
Blur - The Great Escape vs
Ghostface Killah - Supreme Clientele

I don't like hip-hop that much, and Clientele failed to hook me. Also, The Great Escape was my nomination and the reason why i did it was because the album is such an overlooked effort by everyone! The most underrated Blur album is Modern Life Is Rubbish - 13 at a close second, but Great Escape is the one that suffers a backlash the most. Q Magazine made an article regretting giving it 5 stars back in 95, Pitchfork ranked among the greatest of the 90s in 1999 and everytime something about Blur comes out they criticize this record for something and until What's the Story Morning Glory came out: NME, the british press and public saw it as a masterwork and a defining moment in brit-pop that suddenly - in less than ten months - became the low point of Blur. "How they weren't the biggest band in Britain" and "how they pale in comparison to Oasis". Then it was the album in the middle of a feud between the two bands with Blur winning the Battle of Brit Pop and loosing the war to that band - then the latter started to make fun of every Blur member in the press. Whose fault was it? The Great Escape. Suddenly Blur started to be seen as a failure in every sense of the word - even if the record went 3x Platinum and the critics liked it. Those guys would later reinvent themselves and been seen as the ultimate brit band after Radiohead to emerge in the 90s, but The Great Escape years were and are still seen as tumultuous ones and the album still suffers. The members despise the record in many ways, but it was mostly because of what it succeed after the release of it. The album doesn't add much to the table in terms of experimentation, but it is a hell of a pop record. Solid, cohesive, it refines the sound of Parklife - even if it doesn't define a genre and an era like it. It's not a photocopy of that album like many love to claim - Parklife was fun, youthful, even directly personal at times, a terrific landscape of british music and way of life; Escape was cynical to the bone, telling stories like a distant observer, but it still charm us, since most of the tracks are indirectly about Albarn himself. The singles are tremendously well constructed, the album tracks never comes close of filler. 56 minutes os highlights ("The Universal" especially) and pop bliss. It was the best pop album Blur could've build in the space of a year, in the space of time when they took Britain by storm. This is not a movement defining record like Parklife, it didn't kick off anything like Modern Life and it isn't experimental as latter material, but it is a solid effort and an amazing pop record in its own right that doesn't sound as dated as some wish it did. Not asking for top 500 status - not even close of album of the decade material - only the acceptance that this was a superb album back in 95 and still is.There's nothing to take it back, it is simply brilliant pop music.

Division 3:
The Wipers - Youth of America vs
Stephen Malkmus - Stephen Malkmus

I love Pavement, Stephen's solo album is one of my favorite 2001 records, but Youth took me by surprise. Complex and likable.

Blur - The Great Escape 5 def
Ghostface Killah - Supreme Clientele 4

Stranglers - Rattus norvegicus 5 def
Billy Joel - The Stranger 4

The Wipers - Youth Of America 6 def
Stephen Malkmus - Stephen Malkmus 3

Marquis de Sade - Rue de Siam 5 def
Dinah Washington - Dinah Jams 2