For newcomers, this is the voting thread for a tournament of albums ranked lower than 500 on this site. Anybody can vote, but you have to have heard both albums. It's okay to vote in some matchups and not others.

Divison 1:

Pink Floyd - Atom Heart Mother vs
Ennio Morricone - The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Division 2:

Prince - Diamonds and Pearls vs
The Animals - The Animals

Division 3:

Michelle Shocked - Short Sharp Shocked vs
dEUS - Worst Case Scenario

Division 4:

The Rakes - Capture/Release vs
Alain Bashung - Fantasie Militaire

Joshua now has a three point lead in Predict It.

Division 4:

The Rakes - Capture/Release vs
Alain Bashung - Fantasie Militaire

"La Nuit je Mens" is easily among the greatest "chansons françaises" of the past 30 years, but I were never appealed by the rest of the album.
Capture/Release is my 2nd favorite album of the English rock revival that appeared after Franz Ferdinand selt titled album, it is full of great hooks but also some deeper songs, like the awesome Binary Love.

Divison 1:

Pink Floyd - Atom Heart Mother vs
Ennio Morricone - The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly WINS

I find film music very interesting, but I don't like listening to it divorced from its context; it sounds too meandering and directionless.

However, I feel that "meandering" and "directionless" can also describe Atom Heart Mother, which begins with a pretty great 23 minute track, but then descends into silliness. Morricone's soundtrack has a few dull spots, but I was surprised to find it as a more coherent album than Pink Floyd's...and I haven't even seen The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.

More votes coming later this week, hopefully.

Another vote for
Ennio Morricone - The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Divison 1:

Pink Floyd - Atom Heart Mother vs
Ennio Morricone - The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

I would make almost the same comment as Kingoftonga, with a little bit more enthusiasm toward Atom Heart Mother.

Divison 1:
Pink Floyd - Atom Heart Mother vs
WINNER Ennio Morricone - The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
One of the most powerful music of all time.

Division 2:
WINNER Prince - Diamonds and Pearls vs
The Animals - The Animals
An album I adore and I never understand why it is so underestimated

Division 3:
Michelle Shocked - Short Sharp Shocked vs
dEUS - Worst Case Scenario

Pass

Division 4:
The Rakes - Capture/Release vs
WINNER Alain Bashung - Fantasie Militaire
I love the Rake album but the Bashung's album is so deeply marked in my veins, I can't voted against. And "La nuit je mens" is one of the beautiful French song.

Division 1: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

I enjoyed Atom Heart Mother. But, although I think this is another case of 'Works perfectly for the movie but isn't a great standalone', its highs are unbelievably high.

Division 4: Alain Bashung

One I really liked versus one I thought was okay.

Still no votes in division 3. I'll have to listen to those soon.

1. Ennio Morricone - The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
2. Michelle Shocked - Short Sharp Shocked (Favorite discovery, really fun folk album with lyrics like "when I grow up/I wanna be an old woman", which won me over in the first 30 seconds, and it only gets better from there. Anchorage is something special, but my favorite is a cover of "The L&N Don't Stop Here Anymore". Amazing.)
3. The Animals - The Animals
4. Prince - Diamonds and Pearls (really, really close call, but The Animals is a little bit more fun)
5. dEUS - Worst Case Scenario
6. The Rakes - Capture/Release
7. Alain Bashung - Fantasie Militaire (Play Blessures would've won)
8. Pink Floyd - Atom Heart Mother

Out of curiosity, who nominated Michelle Shocked? I'd like to thank this person.

Division 3:
dEUS wins.

Divison 1:
Pink Floyd - Atom Heart Mother vs
Ennio Morricone - The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly WINNER
I enjoy Atom Heart Mother, particularly the epic opening track, but it definitely ranks in the lower tier of my favorite Floyd albums. TGTB&TU was my pick and my personal opinion is that, like most Morricone scores, it definitely stands on its own divorced from the film it supports. As Romain stated, this is some extremely powerful music.

Division 2:
Prince - Diamonds and Pearls vs
The Animals - The Animals WINNER
This was an interesting matchup: two very distinct takes on rhythm & blues that seem worlds apart. I suppose the determining factor for me was that I added "The Animals" to my collection and held off on D&P... for now, anyway. "The Animals" is a bit uneven- the sometimes stiff covers of R&B standards of the time come off as tired in comparison to those of some of their British contemporaries. But the highs are worth the wading.
As for "Diamonds and Pearls"- repeat listening definitely made this disc better, as the album has some truly catchy material... it's just that "catchy" doesn't always equate to "better", and while this (and Prince in general) is still growing on me, it's not quite there yet.

Division 3:
Michelle Shocked - Short Sharp Shocked vs
dEUS - Worst Case Scenario WINNER
I think "Anchorage" strikes a perfect chord, but feel there are many uneven moments on the Michelle Shocked album. I find myself picking out what I like and discarding the rest; whereas the deUS album, while not great, has a better overall feel to it. Very close.

Division 4:
The Rakes - Capture/Release WINNER
vs Alain Bashung - Fantasie Militaire
I didn't know much about either of these artists before this week, and am very impressed by both efforts (and will seek out more). The Rakes, though perhaps a little "over-thought", struck me more immediately due to my personal taste. Both excellent picks!

Thanks!

I'm back from Carnaval, ready to rate new music!

Divison 1:

Pink Floyd - Atom Heart Mother vs
Ennio Morricone - The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Out of nowhere. Really, i have to watch this movie after listening to this album. I'm a Pink Floyd dude, really enjoy from Pipes to Final Cut era, but Atom was always one of two records that i never enjoyed in the same way of smaller records like Final Cut and Meddle - let alone their classics.

I really like this Pink Floyd record. It's not a classic

Division 2:

Prince - Diamonds and Pearls vs
The Animals - The Animals

Well, i listened to the British version of the Animals's debut album before and nothing stuck back in the day. it sounded like other bands from the same era, though the material was great. Now the material has grown on me and the album is excellent, though it doesn't break a lot of new grounds. Prince on the other hand just paled in comparison to his 80s recordings. The Animals wins.

Division 3:

Michelle Shocked - Short Sharp Shocked vs
dEUS - Worst Case Scenario

Anchorage might be the tenderest song about exchanging letters with friends ever written. The play with the words Anchor and Anchorage and how the character gave away her own life to become a housewife in Alaska are nothing short of remarkable. Michelle's album is a solid folk one, one of the best i've heard from the 80s and of the anti-folk scene of New York. It's simple, i'ts not groundbreaking sonically, just an excellent collection of catchy melodies and witty honesty in her lyrics. dEUS was great, i had only listened to The Ideal Crash before. It just doesn't reach Short Sharp Shocked peaks greatness or its consistency enough to win the challenge.

Vote: Prince

The Animals album has some good singles, but it's one of those pre-Beatles albums that's really just an arbitrary collection of singles. Diamonds and Pearls is smooth and consistent, although the tracks don't have the memorability and punch that his 80's output does.

Vote: Michelle Shocked

Both albums were good but Worst Case Scenario doesn't grab me, whereas I'm a sucker for the twang.

Division 2:

Prince - Diamonds and Pearls vs
The Animals - The Animals

The Animals are very direct in what they are trying to do, and don't stray far from this style. Luckily, it's a style I tend to like. Prince is all over the place, and while I can appreciate the skill required in synthesizing all of his musical sources, it doesn't strike a chord with me the way the Animals album does.

Divison 1: Ennio Morricone - The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
Division 2: The Animals - The Animals
Division 3: Pass
Division 4: The Rakes - Capture/Release

One more hour to vote, divisions 2-4 are all separated by two votes or less. Turnout is lower than usual so far this week.

Edit: Oops, forgot it was daylight savings. So, one more hour to vote.

Ennio Morricone - The Good, The Bad and the Ugly 8 def
Pink Floyd - Atom Heart Mother 0

First shutout of the tournament.

The Animals - The Animals 5 def
Prince - Diamonds and Pearls 2

Michelle Shocked - Short Sharp Shocked 3 def
dEUS - Worst Case Scenario 2

Lowest vote turnout of the tournament.

The Rakes - Capture/Release 4 def
Alain Bashung - Fantasie Militaire 2