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Unacclaimed Week 15

Welcome to Week 15! This week features 8 more songs that won their first-round matches.

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 15 is 11:59 PM, January 29th AM time.

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

Match W1.9:

Liz Phair - "What Makes You a Slave"
M (Mathieu Chedid)- "Je dis aime"

Match W1.10:

Wendy Rene - "After Laughter"
The Walker Brothers - "The Electrician"

Match W1.11:

Nina Simone - "Sinner Man"
The Bellrays - "Footprints on the Water"

Match W1.12:

Stereophonics - "Local Boy in the Photograph"
Yann Tiersen - "La valse de Monstres"

Re: Unacclaimed Week 15

Match W1.9:
Liz Phair - "What Makes You a Slave"
M (Mathieu Chedid)- "Je dis aime"

The first tough choice this week. I quite enjoy early Phair and I really have to check out those Girlysound tapes some day instead of just hearing a random song here and there, but I don't think they hold up when compared to "Exile In Guyville". Also, I really wish "I'd Love To Change The World" would've won (and it would've, if Jonah and I weren't such slowpokes). Still better than Chedid though.

Match W1.10:
Wendy Rene - "After Laughter"
The Walker Brothers - "The Electrician"

I really love "After Laughter", which makes this the second (and last) tough choice of the week, because "The Electrician" is just so incredibly powerful.

Match W1.11:
Nina Simone - "Sinner Man"
The Bellrays - "Footprints on the Water"

Not the biggest fan of overtly religious songs, but the tour-de-force that is Sinner Man makes everyone a theist—if just for a little while.

Match W1.12:
Stereophonics - "Local Boy in the Photograph"
Yann Tiersen - "La valse de Monstres"

Blowout, "La Valse de Monstres" is the second-best song on the album but even the worst song would've easily beaten Stereophonics.

Re: Unacclaimed Week 15

Stephan

Match W1.11:
Nina Simone - "Sinner Man"
The Bellrays - "Footprints on the Water"

Not the biggest fan of overtly religious songs, but the tour-de-force that is Sinner Man makes everyone a theist—if just for a little while.


Don't need to be a theist to appreciate great soul music. Just as you don't need to be a drug addict to appreciate great rock.

I'm probably going to vote for that one over my own pick. (But don't record that vote yet, I will include it when I vote for the others.)

Re: Unacclaimed Week 15

Oh, I realize that. It was just a bit of an exaggeration to make a point.

I watched A Casa by the way, but I didn't enjoy it that much. Not my kind of film I reckon.

Re: Unacclaimed Week 15

Match W1.9 Winner - Liz Phair, "What Makes You A Slave"
I like the pairing of the adult lyrics (in this case, a lonely dispairing feel) with the child's sing-song lyrics. Phair has done this to similar effect in other songs.

Match W1.10 Winner - The Walker Brothers, "The Electrician"
Tough call. The Walker Brothers' track felt a little more interesting to me.

Match 1.11 Winner - Nina Simone, "Sinner Man"
I really like that Bellrays track. Good 90's soul-pop. But it does not measure up to the power and the glory of Simone.

Match 1.12 Winner - Yann Tiersen, "La valse de Monstres"
Sereophonics singer is strong, but I really like the mutating variations on the Tiersen track.

Re: Unacclaimed Week 15

Match W1.9:

Liz Phair - "What Makes You a Slave"
M (Mathieu Chedid)- "Je dis aime"

A pretty weak match-up, though I still have some nostalgia for ol'-timey Liz.

WINNER: Liz Phair


Match W1.10:

Wendy Rene - "After Laughter"
The Walker Brothers - "The Electrician"

This one isn't close ... "The Electrician" remains one of the most amazing tracks of recent history, and it's a shame it's buried on Nite Flights and not part of a more "proper" album. It's both gorgeous and terrifying.

WINNER (easily): The Walker Brothers


Match W1.11:

Nina Simone - "Sinner Man"
The Bellrays - "Footprints on the Water"

Again, not close at all, as "Sinnerman" becomes the 2nd track in this week's group to be in my all-time Top 10 songs. Mind-blowing.

WINNER (easily): Nina Simone


Match W1.12:

Stereophonics - "Local Boy in the Photograph"
Yann Tiersen - "La valse de Monstres"

I'm not a huge fan of what Yann Tiersen does, but it certainly trounces the pedestrian Stereophonics.

WINNER: Yann Tiersen

Re: Unacclaimed Week 15

Almost missed this one.

Liz Phair is great. Though I hold no bias against songs in a foreign language, this one is simply not as good. "What Makes you a Slave" wins.

Walker Bros. song is my pick of the week. It has everything the other song lacks, and gives me goosebumps every time.

Nina Simone Wins. This is an overpowering, great, soul-feeding song. It just loses to Walker Bros. as my pick of the week because it gets a bit tedious after seven minutes. Just a bit, though.

Stereophonics just wrote a better song here. Yann is great, but I got to give it to a nostalgic favorite again.

Oh, and Moonbeam, not to be a bother, but I haven't seen the results of the last few polls. Is there going to be results soon?

Re: Unacclaimed Week 15

Match W1.9:
Liz Phair - "What Makes You a Slave" WINNER
M (Mathieu Chedid)- "Je dis aime"
I don't particularly care for either song, but Liz Phair's moody J&MC rip is more to my taste.

Match W1.10:
Wendy Rene - "After Laughter" WINNER
The Walker Brothers - "The Electrician"
"The Electrician is getting better with each listen, but I can't help but to fall for Wendy Rene's haunting recording.

Match W1.11:
Nina Simone - "Sinner Man" WINNER
The Bellrays - "Footprints on the Water"
Not really close; Nina's performance is epic.

Match W1.12:
Stereophonics - "Local Boy in the Photograph"
Yann Tiersen - "La valse de Monstres" WINNER
Love the Tiersen melody here; need to find more! Stereophonics don't strike the same kind of chord.

Thanks!

Re: Unacclaimed Week 15

Liz Phair - "What Makes You a Slave
M (Mathieu Chedid)- "Je dis aime"
M of course, because it's one of my songs, and furthermore, I never understand the success of Liz Phair.

Match W1.10:
Wendy Rene - "After Laughter"
The Walker Brothers - "The Electrician"
Very hard choice here. Twho songs I have discovered through this game and both excellent. I give my points to Wendy René because it's a period I like so much.

Match W1.11:
Nina Simone - "Sinner Man"
The Bellrays - "Footprints on the Water"
I love the two songs but the Nina Simone's one is fabulous (not in the AM top 3000, it's crazy).

Match W1.12:
Stereophonics - "Local Boy in the Photograph"
Yann Tiersen - "La valse de Monstres"
Easy here, I don't like the first and love a lot the second.

Re: Unacclaimed Week 15

Stephan
Oh, I realize that. It was just a bit of an exaggeration to make a point.

I watched A Casa by the way, but I didn't enjoy it that much. Not my kind of film I reckon.


I'm just glad I got someone to watch it.

It's more of a visual, representational film than the plot-driven ones that critics pay attention to. Not for everyone. More for Tarr/Tarkovsky fanatics.

Re: Unacclaimed Week 15

It's interesting, Stalker is one of my all-time favorites and is pretty solidly within my top 100 of all time, but Andrei Rublev didn't draw me in at all and I am kind of ambivalent about The Mirror (I have to rewatch that one though). Satantango didn't bore me, but it wasn't exactly my favorite film ever either.

I'm not sure how to explain this, since I do obviously see the similarities between these films (including A Casa).

Re: Unacclaimed Week 15

Match W1.9:

Liz Phair - "What Makes You a Slave"
M (Mathieu Chedid)- "Je dis aime"

I am a major Liz Phair fan and there's a potential masterpiece inside Girly Sound, and i'm not including Exile in Guyville. M was pleasant, but didn't grow on me since last time around.

Match W1.10:

Wendy Rene - "After Laughter"
The Walker Brothers - "The Electrician"

I won't forget The Electrician. Never. It is still as strong or more than last time around, it was one of my favorites back then, remains now.

Match W1.11:

Nina Simone - "Sinner Man"
The Bellrays - "Footprints on the Water"

Nina's vocals totally gave the song a special touch. Her delivery is almost flawless. "Footprints" was nice for the first time, i didn't vote the round it was in.

Match W1.12:

Stereophonics - "Local Boy in the Photograph"
Yann Tiersen - "La valse de Monstres"

Yann's track is gorgeus and i never liked Stereophonics. This track didn't change my mind unfortunately.

Edit: Thanks Stephan! I corrected! Oh my, i'm gettin' old

Re: Unacclaimed Week 15

I think you bolded the wrong title in the last match there HRS.

Re: Unacclaimed Week 15

Match W1.9:
M (Mathieu Chedid)- "Je dis aime" wins over
Liz Phair - "What Makes You a Slave"
Not a big fan of either song. The Liz Phair tune is a bit annoying to my ear. Could be that I am just not accustomed to her vocals yet. The M song is clean and fun, but I can't say that there's anything special about it.


Match W1.10:

The Walker Brothers - "The Electrician" wins over
Wendy Rene - "After Laughter"

While the lights were not so low for me, the first two minutes were metered so slowly that I became a bit impatient, but the song picks up after that. I enjoyed the clean orchestrated sound later in the song. After Laughter was heartfelt enough but it didn't seem special to me and the over-saturation in the recording was annoying.


Match W1.11:

Nina Simone - "Sinner Man" Wins over
The Bellrays - "Footprints on the Water"
I think that we should create definitions for misspelled words such as "lenght." Nina's island vocals are very effective in Sinner Man. Not sure how strongly I will support this song in future rounds, but this week is was one of the stronger competitors. The Bellrays would have won against either song in match W1.9 or W1.10.

Match W1.12:

Yann Tiersen - "La valse de Monstres" wins over
Stereophonics - "Local Boy in the Photograph"

The French use of the accordion works especially well in Tiersen's song. The Stereophonics tune is pretty good - interesting story and nice interplay between the drums and guitar - but musically it doesn't do anything that hadn't been done thousands of times before.

Re: Unacclaimed Week 15

Match W1.9:

Liz Phair - "What Makes You a Slave": This song makes me miss the old Liz so much. Even in this rough demo form, her songwriting prowess shines through, and I just adore her voice.
M (Mathieu Chedid)- "Je dis aime": I also like this a fair bit for its quirks, but I just like the Liz track a bit more.

Match W1.10:

Wendy Rene - "After Laughter": This song strikes me as merely pleasant. It's certainly not something I would turn off, but not a song I'd really seek out, either.
The Walker Brothers - "The Electrician": I purchased this song after the first round, and I just adore it. The dramatic buildup, the beautiful midsection and the return to the stark eeriness are just fantastic!

Match W1.11:

Nina Simone - "Sinner Man": I couldn't find this song on Itunes, but I certainly looked for it. I've tracked a Nina Simone compilation that has this, though, and I'm going to pick it up today! Superbly performed and incredibly powerful, this may be the favorite to win the game.
The Bellrays - "Footprints on the Water": This is another track I'm sad to not vote for here, but it's just not in Nina's stratosphere.

Match W1.12:

Stereophonics - "Local Boy in the Photograph": I begrudgingly voted for this in Round 1, but this time, it faces a song that isn't my least favorite of the entire game.
Yann Tiersen - "La valse de Monstres": This is a fun little waltz, and I'm happy to give it my vote!

Re: Unacclaimed Week 15

Voting for this week is now over!

Re: Unacclaimed Week 15

Here are your results for Week 15!

Match W1.9:

Liz Phair - "What Makes You a Slave": 7
M (Mathieu Chedid) - "Je dis aime": 2

Match W1.10:

Wendy Rene - "After Laughter": 2
The Walker Brothers - "The Electrician": 7

Match W1.11:

Nina Simone - "Sinner Man": 9
The Bellrays - "Footprints on the Water": 0

Match W1.12:

Stereophonics - "Local Boy in the Photograph": 1
Yann Tiersen - "La valse de Monstres": 8

Full brackets will be posted once Week 16 is finished.