Welcome to Week 17! This week, we move into bracket L2, featuring songs that have won one match and lost another match. The losers here are unfortunately out of the tournament!

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 17 is 11:59 PM, February 19th AM time.

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

Match L2.1:

The Stones Roses - "Elephant Stone"
The Shirelles - "Baby It's You"

Match L2.2:

Deerhoof - "Milk Man"
Super Furry Animals - "Happiness Is a Worn Pun"

Match L2.3:

Tori Amos - "Flying Dutchman"
Newsboys - "Entertaining Angels"

Match L2.4:

Van Halen - "And the Cradle Will Rock"
Siouxsie and the Banshees - "Dazzle"

Match L2.1:
The Stones Roses - "Elephant Stone"
The Shirelles - "Baby It's You"

The Shirelles win. I so love this kind of 60's music. It's a really good song.
Match L2.2:

Deerhoof - "Milk Man"
Super Furry Animals - "Happiness Is a Worn Pun"
Super Furry animals win, but the two songs are not bad.

Match L2.3:
Tori Amos - "Flying Dutchman"
Newsboys - "Entertaining Angels"
Tori Amos win. I do not really like any of these songs.

Match L2.4:
Van Halen - "And the Cradle Will Rock"
Siouxsie and the Banshees - "Dazzle"[/quote]
Siouxie win easily for me here. I hope this song will continue to the next stage.

The Shirelles - "Baby It's You"
Deerhoof - "Milk Man"
Tori Amos - "Flying Dutchman"
Siouxsie and the Banshees - "Dazzle"

Sorry Moonbeam, I know you have explained the tournament before, but I never thought we would vote between songs that are definitely out of the tournament. Is it really necessary? To me, this game is superb to discover new songs and it's always fun to decide a winner of a game, but other than that the I don't feel that the competition is important.

Oh...

Match L2.1:

The Stone Roses - "Elephant Stone"
The Shirelles - "Baby It's You"

"Elephant Stone" remains unremarkable to me, while "Baby It's You" is prime girl group pop.

WINNER: The Shirelles


Match L2.2:

Deerhoof - "Milk Man"
Super Furry Animals - "Happiness Is a Worn Pun"

It's always tough for me to vote against SFA, one of my favorite bands of the last 20 years, but this isn't one of their best. Meanwhile, "Milk Man" is Deerhoof at the peak of their powers.

WINNER: Deerhoof


Match L2.3:

Tori Amos - "Flying Dutchman"
Newsboys - "Entertaining Angels"

I'm always happy to vote for Tori, especially early Tori. Newsboys continue to do nothing for me. Gimme King's X.

WINNER: Tori Amos


Match L2.4:

Van Halen - "And the Cradle Will Rock"
Siouxsie and the Banshees - "Dazzle"

Poor VH, always bumping up against great songs! "Dazzle" remains my favorite Siouxsie track, it's gawgeous.

WINNER: Sioxsie and the Banshees

Match L2.1:
The Stones Roses - "Elephant Stone"
The Shirelles - "Baby It's You"

Two great songs, but Elephant Stone is slightly greater.

Match L2.2:
Deerhoof - "Milk Man"
Super Furry Animals - "Happiness Is a Worn Pun"

Tough one, can't decide.

Match L2.3:
Tori Amos - "Flying Dutchman"
Newsboys - "Entertaining Angels"

Pulsation over adoration.

Match L2.4:
Van Halen - "And the Cradle Will Rock"
Siouxsie and the Banshees - "Dazzle"

Dazzle dazzles me more than Cradle Will Rock rocks me.

Match L2.1:

The Shirelles - "Baby It's You" wins over The Stones Roses - "Elephant Stone"
Fairly close call here. Elephant Stone is a bit low on energy for the first four minutes, but is worth additional listens.

Baby It's You includes an inspired vocal performance and tends to be somewhat uplifting - but it is a little tread worn.


Match L2.2:

Super Furry Animals - "Happiness Is a Worn Pun" wins over Deerhoof - "Milk Man"

Neither vocal performance thrills me but the music in both songs works reasonably well for me.


Match L2.3:

Newsboys - "Entertaining Angels" wins over
Tori Amos - "Flying Dutchman"
Neither of these songs won me over, but the Newsboys provided more energy and that's one of the characteristics I'm looking for tonight.


Match L2.4:

Van Halen - "And the Cradle Will Rock" wins over
Siouxsie and the Banshees - "Dazzle"

While the Van Halen song seems a bit formulaic, it still manages to eke out a win over the rather low-key Dazzle.

"Elephant Stone" wins. I just couldn't bring myself to like the Shirelles song enough.

I didn't like the Deerhoof singer, so SFA wins here.

A tough one. Tori Amos just wins because this song sounds better and I've loved it longer.

"Dazzle" wins for that sweeping orchestral number. I want this song played when I walk in a room. Well, the intro anyway.

Match L2.1:
The Stones Roses - "Elephant Stone" WINNER
The Shirelles - "Baby It's You"
Love the Shirelles song and feel like "Elephant Stone" may have slipped in through a loophole, but ultimately I like ES better (so there!).

Match L2.2:
Deerhoof - "Milk Man"
Super Furry Animals - "Happiness Is a Worn Pun" WINNER
Tough one...SFA by a muzzle.

Match L2.3
Tori Amos - "Flying Dutchman" WINNER
Newsboys - "Entertaining Angels"
Good Amos tune against Newsboys, which isn't my thing at all.

Match L2.4:
Van Halen - "And the Cradle Will Rock" WINNER
Siouxsie and the Banshees - "Dazzle"
Guilty pleasure? Nah, I never feel guilty about pleasure... this is one VH tune that rocks (with all due respect to Siouxsie).

Thanks!

The Stones Roses - "Elephant Stone" - Is awesome, whereas "Baby It's You" is merely pleasant.

Tori Amos - "Flying Dutchman" - I could see myself growing to like this whereas the singing on the Newsboys track is just grating to me.

Siouxsie and the Banshees - "Dazzle" - I liked it better the first time I heard it, but it still beats an average VH song.

Match L2.1:

The Stones Roses - "Elephant Stone": It's not the best Stone Roses song, but it's close!
The Shirelles - "Baby It's You": I should like this more than I do. It's memorable and well-performed, but it just doesn't add up to much that I like.

Match L2.2:

Deerhoof - "Milk Man": I've grown to like this more and more as the tournament has gone on.
Super Furry Animals - "Happiness Is a Worn Pun": I've grown to like this less and less as the tournament has gone on. It's not bad, but it isn't a favorite.

Match L2.3:

Tori Amos - "Flying Dutchman": Tori's chops are something I've always respected, if not loved. This is one of her best songs, though, without question.
Newsboys - "Entertaining Angels": I still can't get past that "EYEngels" pronunciation. It's pretty hooky, though.

Match L2.4:

Van Halen - "And the Cradle Will Rock": Of course I'll vote for my own pick, but I have no qualms voting against this. It's not horrible, but I just don't like Van Halen much, which is surprising given how much 80s rock I like!
Siouxsie and the Banshees - "Dazzle": Swoooooon!

My picks this week:

"Baby It's You" - Much prefer this girl group style to the Sotne Roses.

"Happiness is a Worn Pun" - Go SFA! Like "milk Man," but not nearly as good.

"Flying Dutchman" - Not a big Amos fan, but this song has grown on me.

"Dazzle" - Still have love for DLR, but "Dazzle" is more moving than "Cradle" is rockin'.

Once again, we have a tie! The next vote will determine the victors.

Stone Roses: The drums alone take it beyond the simple, somewhat unremarkable Shirelles song.
Super Furry Animals: The more I listen to SFA, the more I like them. This isn't one of my favorites, but it certainly shows off their stylistic versatility.
Pass: I don't care for either of these.
Siouxsie and the Banshees: The cinematic sound of the intro is just great. "And the Cradle Will Rock" isn't on par with VH's best.

Your winners for Week 17:

The Stones Roses - "Elephant Stone": 6
The Shirelles - "Baby It's You": 5

Deerhoof - "Milk Man": 3
Super Furry Animals - "Happiness Is a Worn Pun": 6

Tori Amos - "Flying Dutchman": 9
Newsboys - "Entertaining Angels": 1

Van Halen - "And the Cradle Will Rock": 2
Siouxsie and the Banshees - "Dazzle": 9