In the last thread people remarked that because the lower down you get on the list, the fewer albums most people are going to own, the vote might turn into a measure of which albums are owned by the most people instead of which albums are liked the most.

So, possible changes in the way the vote is held (Starting NEXT block) have been discussed. In this thread we'll vote on them.

A) Keep everything the same
Pros: All ten of your votes have significant aspect on the total
Cons: A lot of people might only have heard five or six albums and will just give a lot of points to the ones they happen to own

B) Switch back to the original top heavy scoring method
Pros: The winners of the poll are assured to be a few peoples' absolute favorites
Cons: Your last few votes won't have much impact on the total

C) Keep current scoring method, vote in blocks of 200 instead of 100
Pros: Game will go faster, people who don't own a lot of albums farther down on the list will still be able to fill out their list with favorites
Cons: Some people have heard so many albums it'll make it harder for them to narrow down the list to only ten.

Also, if the method is changed it will force stuff like the wild card structure to be redesigned. Whichever method wins will go into effect next block.

My personal view is, when I'm looking for album suggestions I tend to go for the albums a few people would put at #1 before the ones lots of people would put at #10.

The results might be a little late this week, due to the fact that not only am I working, I have two classes coming up on their final exams and I am moving next week.

I can't wait until summer when I'll only be working.

For the game I vote A.

1. Elton John- Honky Chateau
2. Orange Juice- You Can't Hide Your Love Forever
3. Tom Petty- Full Moon Fever
4. Metallica- And Justice For All
5. New Pornographers- Electric Version
6. Belle and Sebastian- The Life Pursuit
7. Mission of Burma- Vs.
8. GZA- Liquid Swords
9. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club- BRMC
10. Bonnie Prince Billy- The Letting Go

1. SUPER FURRY ANIMALS “Rings Around the World” (#92 in my all.time list)
2. THE ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK “West Side Story”
3. DAMIEN RICE “O”
4. TIM BUCKLEY “Goodbye and Hello”
5. JOE JACKSON “Night and Day”
6. THE SUGARCUBES “Life’s Too Good”
7. BELLE & SEBASTIAN “The Life Pursuit”
8. ORANGE JUICE “You Can’t Hide Your Love Forever”
9. ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN “Heaven Up Here”
10. ELTON JOHN “Honky Chateau”

Option A: “Keep everything the same” is fine with me.

By the way, the final results so far are quite 00s oriented, isn’t it?

01 Isaac Hayes - Shaft
02 Womack and Womack - Love Wars
03 Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy - Hypocrisy Is the Greatest Luxury
04 Red House Painters - Red House Painters
05 The Original Soundtrack - West Side Story
06 The Dream Syndicate - Medicine Show
07 Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - From Her to Eternity
08 Echo and the Bunnymen - Heaven Up Here
09 The Sugarcubes - Life's Too Good
10 The Associates - Sulk

1 - Los Lobos - Kiko
2 - Calexico - The Black Light
3 - Walker, Scott - Scott 3
4 - Red Hot Chili Peppers - Californication
5 - Super Furry Animals - Rings Around the World
6 - Queen - Sheer Heart Attack
7 - R.E.M. - Fables of Reconstruction
8 - Beck, Jeff - Blow by Blow
9 - Green Day - American Idiot
10 - Jackson, Joe - Night and Day

I vote for option C

1. Nick Cave - From Her to Eternity
2. Morrissey - Viva Hate
3. Marilyn Manson - Antichrist Superstar
4. Palace Brothers - There Is No One What Will Take Care Of You
5. Pavement - Brighten the Corners
6. Bonnie Prince Billy - The Letting Go
7. Red House Painters - Red House Painters
8. Echo and the Bunnymen - Heaven Up Here
9. Mission of Burma - Vs
10. Primal Scream - Vanishing Point

I vote A.

1. Horace Silver - Horace Silver and The Jazz Messengers
2. Gorillaz - Gorillaz
3. The New Pornographers - Electric Vision
4. Francis Sinatra and Antonio Carlos Jobim - Francis Albert Sinatra and Antonio Carlos Jobim
5. The Go-Gos - Beauty & The Beat
6. Living Color - Vivid
7. Green Day - American Idiot
8. RHCP - Californication
9. Cream - Fresh Cream
10. Belle and Sebastian - The Life Persuit

A

1. Gang Starr - Step in the Arena
2. The Band - Rock of Ages
3. Sinatra/Jobim - Francis Albert Sinatra and Antonio Carlos Jobim
4. Uncle Tupelo - Anodyne
5. GZA/Genius - Liquid Swords
6. Red House Painters - s/t
7. Tom Petty - Full Moon Fever
8. Duke Ellington - The Far East Suite
9. Journey - Escape
10. Etta James - Tell Mama

1. Living Colour: Vivid, 1988
2. Belle and Sebastian: The Life Pursuit, 2006
3. Super Furry Animals: Rings Around the World, 2001
4. Joe Cocker: With a Little Help from My Friends, 1969
5. Joe Jackson: Night and Day, 1982
6. Red House Painters: Red House Painters, 1993
7. Morrissey: Viva Hate, 1988
8. R.E.M.: Fables of Reconstruction, 1985
9. Elton John: Honky Chateau, 1972
10. R.E.M.: Up, 1998

Option A

I feel only good enough in ranking 8 this time:

1. Damien Rice – O
2. Red House Painters – Red House Painters
3. The New Pornographers – Electric Version
4. Belle and Sebastian – The Life Pursuit
5. Super Furry Animals – Rings Around the World
6. Pavement – Brighten the Corners
7. The Dream Syndicate – Medicine Show
8. Mogwai – Young Team

1. Echo and the Bunnymen - Heaven Up Here
2. The Auteurs - New Wave
3. R.E.M. - Fables of Reconstruction
4. The Sugarcubes - Life's Too Good
5. The Clash - Combat Rock
6. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - B.R.M.C.
7. Death in Vegas - The Contino Sessions
8. Grinderman - Grinderman
9. Gorillaz - Gorillaz
10. Les Rita Mitsouko - The No Comprendo

I can think of two possible reasons for this.

1. The older an album is, the more likely it is to be accurately rated by critics. The 00s have both more overrated and more underrated albums, and the ones that are winning are the underrated ones.

2. People own more albums per year in the 00s than earlier decades.

It looks like, despite all the discussion in the previous thread, most people want to just keep everything simple and go the way we're going. That's ok with me.

My ballot:

Belle and Sebastian - The Life Pursuit
Mission Of Burma - Vs
Clash - Combat Rock
New Pornographers - Electric Version
Metallica - And Justice For All
Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?
Grinderman - Grinderman
Pavement - Brighten The Corners
Scott Walker - The Drift
Super Furry Animals - Rings Around The World

No votes for Scott 3 yet??????????????

Option B

...And points to Scott 3

1. Mogwai - Young Team
2. Metallica - …And Justice for All
3. Scott Walker - The Drift
4. R.E.M. - Up
5. Belle and Sebastian - The Life Pursuit
6. Super Furry Animals - Rings Around the World
7. Junior Boys - So This Is Goodbye
8. Scott Walker - Scott 3
9. Queen - Sheer Heart Attack
10. Primal Scream - Vanishing Point

patience, Henrik

01. Scott 3. Scott Walker
02. Up In Flames. Manitoba
03. Rings Around The World. SFA
04. On The Corner. Miles Davis
05. The Far East Suite. Duke Ellington
06. Transient Random-Noise Bursts With Announcements. Stereolab
07. Shiny Beast. Captain Beefheart
08. Step In The Arena. Gang Starr
09. Sulk. The Associates
10. Tell Mama. Etta James

...oh, and comin' for data: A

1. Miles Davis - Live-Evil
2. Manitoba - Up In Flames
3. Junior Boys - So This Is Goodbye
4. R.E.M. - Fables of the Reconstruction
5. Belle and Sebastian - The Life Pursuit
6. Captain Beefheart - Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller)
7. Uncle Tupelo - Anodyne
8. Miles Davis - On The Corner
9. My Morning Jacket - It Still Moves
10. Gorillaz - Gorillaz

Lower quality but higher quantity compared to last week.

1) Tom Petty - Full Moon Fever
2) R.E.M. - Fables Of The Reconstruction
3) Queen - Sheer Heart Attack
4) Belle and Sebastian - The Life Pursuit
5) Depeche Mode - Black Celebration
6) Gorillaz - Gorillaz
7) AC/DC - If You Want Blood, You've Got it
8) Orange Juice - You Can't Hide Your Love Forever

Edit: Choice B.
9) Elton John - Honkey Chateau
10) Red Hot Chili Peppers - Californication

Option B.

1. Scott Walker - Scott 3
2. Metallica - ...And Justice for All
3. Gorillaz - Gorillaz
4. Queensryche - Operation: Mindcrime
5. Junior Boys - So This Is Goodbye
6. Los Lobos - Kiko
7. Depeche Mode - Black Celebration
8. Tim Buckley - Goodbye and Hello
9. Damien Rice - O
10. Calexico - The Black Light

For some reason my edit ended up in the middle of my original post. Not sure if that was my fault, let's just assume it was. Sorry!

1. Pavement - Brighten the Corners
2. Mission of Burma - Vs.
3. Built to Spill - There is nothing Wrong With Love
4. GZA - Liquid Swords
5. REM - Fables of the Reconstruction
6. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
7. Killing Joke
8. The Clash - Combat Rock
9. The Gun Club - Miami
10. Echo & the Bunnymen - Heaven up Here

I say B, but I do like C too

I ran into quite a few "never heard it" albums in this section so my vote goes to option C.

Here's my preliminary 10...I may replace with an update closer to the end date:

1)Tom Petty FULL MOON FEVER
2)Blood, Sweat, and Tears CHILD IS FATHER TO THE MAN
3)Journey ESCAPE
4)Elton John HONKY CHATEAU
5)Red Hot Chili Peppers CALIFORNICATION
6)The Clash COMBAT ROCK
7)Los Lobos KIKO
8)Green Day AMERICAN IDIOT
9)Frank Sinatra A SWINGIN’ AFFAIR
10)Metallica AND JUSTICE FOR ALL

Now this group has some great entries. My second favorite album from my second favorite artist of all time gets edged out by my favorite album from one of the most underrated band of all time. And somehow they beat the product of three geniuses who came together to create the single greatest achievement in musical theater history. And somehow those three albums beat the greatest document of the live power of the greatest soul singer not named James Brown.

And despite how top heavy my list is, I'm sticking with keeping everything the same for voting purposes. I still come down to if ten percent of the albums are vote-worthy, then they all deserve a bump.

1. Rings Around the World - Super Furry Animals (Possibly the strongest close (final four songs) to any album ever.)
2. Brighten The Corners - Pavement (Their underrated gem. Tuneful as hell.)
3. West Side Story - Original Soundtrack (Bernstein + Robbins + Sondheim should have been a recipe for disaster. But fortunately Sondheim was just starting out and so he kept the focus on Bernstein's beautiful tritones ("Somewhere" and "Maria") and danceable changing meters ("America"), while Robbins kept his tyranicism to rehearsals.)
4. Monterey International Pop Festival - Otis Redding and Jimi Hendrix
5. There's Nothing Wrong With Love - Built to Spill (We still haven't gotten to my favorite album of theirs.)
6. Full Moon Fever - Tom Petty (A hit machine at his hittiest.)
7. Vivid - Living Colour (My roommate in college played this a ton. I have some fond memories of it.)
8. Child Is Father to the Man (One of my father's absolute favorites, it has stayed with me like mother's cooking.)
9. Transient Random-Noise Bursts with Announcements - Stereolab (Not near the heights of their albums to be released later in the decade.)
10. C'Est Chic - Chic (Definitely a singles band, but boy did this have two monster singles.)

Option A.

1. Nick Lowe, JESUS OF COOL/PURE POP FOR NOW PEOPLE
2. Pavement, BRIGHTEN THE CORNERS
3. Los Lobos, KIKO
4. Of Montreal, HISSING FAUNA, ARE YOU THE DESTROYER?
5. GRINDERMAN
6. Tom Petty, FULL MOON FEVER
7. R.E.M., FABLES OF THE RECONSTRUCTION
8. The New Pornographers, ELECTRIC VERSION
9. The Heartbreakers, L.A.M.F.
10. Belle and Sebastian, THE LIFE PURSUIT

Only 20 votes so far. Less than usual. Maybe this is the point it gets harder for people to find stuff they've heard.

Right now, far more than previous blocks, there are five with a significant lead on all the rest. The top scores are:

116
108
84
83
82
-
64
63
62

I won't say what the top five are, just that I'm starting to think just perhaps, Belle & Sebastian might be a little bit popular on this board.

1. Genius/GZA - Liquid Swords
2. Lee Perry - Super Ape
3. Miles Davis - On the Corner
4. Scott Walker - Scott 3
5. Duke Ellington - The Far East Suite
6. Stereolab - Transient Random-Noise Bursts with Announcements
7. Super Furry Animals - Rings Around the World
8. Aretha Franklin - Spirit in the Dark
9. Spacemen 3 - Playing with Fire
10. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - From Her to Eternity
11. The Associates - Sulk
12. Miles Davis - Live Evil
13. The Sugarcubes - Life's Too Good
14. Scott Walker - The Drift
15. Sonny Rollins - The Bridge
16. Frank Sinatra and Antonio Carlos Jobim - Francis Albert Sinatra and Antonio Carlos Jobim
17. John Coltrane - John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman

Looks like keeping everything the same wins out.

Lower turnout this round, 21 votes to the usual 26-28. I don't know if this is because less people have listened to albums lower on the charts or because interest in the game is waning. This is why I wanted the wild card top ten to be based on point total, because I figured that would favor the early on ones.

By the way, those who voted for Os Mutantes last round? Great recommendation! If I heard it a week earlier it would have qualified.

Without further ado...

1) Super Furry Animals - Rings Around The World (117/9/2)
2) Belle and Sebastian - The Life Pursuit (116/10/1)
3) Tom Petty - Full Moon Fever (84/6/2)
4) Pavement - Brighten The Corners (83/6/1)
5) REM - Fables of Reconstruction (82/7/0)

Runners up:
Scott Walker - Scott 3 (76/5/2)
Metallica - And Justice For All (64/5/0)
New Pornographers - Electric Version (62/5/0)
Red House Painters - Red House Painters (59/5/0)
Gorillaz - Gorillaz (55/5/0)

No change in the wildcard leaders.

Belle and Sebastian is now on a three block top five streak. There seem to be a few bands in this game that always win: Belle & Sebastian, REM, The Beatles. Spoon and Elliot Smith also have multiple qualifies.

A little statistical breakdown: 14 of the 35 qualified albums so far are 00s, 9 are 90s. It's clear a lot of recent bands haven't gotten their full critical due yet.