No real favorites of mine this week, although Nilsson comes close to being great.
1. Harry Nilsson - Nilsson Schmilsson
2. Tori Amos - Under The Pink (favorite discovery, not quite as good as Little Earthquakes but very enjoyable nonetheless)
3. King Crimson - Red
4. The Velvet Underground - VU
5. Les Rita Mitsouko - The No Comprendo
6. The Cure - Seventeen Seconds
7. This Heat - Deceit
8. The Jesus Lizard - Goat
I like King Crimson but for some reason I can't quite explain, Red's my least favorite of the three albums I've heard.
Div 4: This Heat
My own pick and in my top 100 all time. Nothing wrong with Harry Nilsson.
I have an idea for resolving tiebreakers that nobody breaks within a week, I want to run it by you.
For any tie that lasts a week, we hold a re-vote. Only, if you vote in the tiebreaker and the side you vote for wins, you can not vote in the next tiebreaker. I think this idea is interesting because it would become a vote only between the voters who care the most about the matchup.
Van Morrison - St Dominic's Preview vs
Brygada Kryzys - Brygada Kryzys
Strangely enough, it was harder for me to track down St. Dominic's Preview, but I'm glad I did. Brygada Kryzys is the ultimate album to name-drop amid a bunch of music geeks (Polish post-punk-reggae!), but there's no reason St. Dominic's Preview shouldn't rank among Van Morrison's best stuff. It's a beautiful album.
Division 1:
WINNER King Crimson - Red vs
Tori Amos - Under The Pink
One of the few Crimson's album I like a lot.
Division 2:
WINNER The Velvet Underground - VU vs
The Jesus Lizard - Goat
Easy winner
Division 3:
The Cure - Seventeen Seconds vs
WINNER Les Rita Mitsouko - The No Comprendo
Hard division, two fabulous albums but the Rita Mitsouko have so much incredible songs (histoire d'A, Andy, c'est comme ça....what a f...trilogy).
There will not be an easier choice the rest of the tournament. Red is still a mindblowing, top 10 of all time record for me, and I hope it does very well in this bracket. I couldn't even make it through Under the Pink.
Goat over VU
Surprisingly, I had never heard VU prior to this week despite the Velvet Underground being one of my favorite artists. It was in line with what I expected it to be: not in the same league as the first three albums, but still solid with a few excellent songs. "I'm Sticking With You," however, is awful, and it's a shame that it's as popular as it is relative to the rest of their catalog. Goat, a consistently high-energy album, has been in my rotation for the last few months and deserves to win this matchup.
Deceit over Nilsson Schmilsson
Deceit has a lot of positive qualities: it is very unique, sounds unlike anything from its era, and has two incredible songs in "Paper Hats" and "S.P.Q.R." However, it's never really clicked and become a personal favorite, though it still has the potential to do so. It still wins this matchup, though, as Nilsson Schmilsson was a mild disappointment upon first listen.
I also will unfortunately have to vote for St Dominic's Preview. I heard BK and it's good, but it's not up to the level of the MP3 I heard on their website. St Dominic's Preview is easily my favorite Van Morrison not in the AM top 100. I need to investigate into Brygada Kyrzys's later output.
Vote: VU
Two good albums, but it's an easy pick.
Vote: Les Rita Mitsouko
The No Comprendo is a varied album that's also a little inconsistent. Seventeen Seconds is a good album, but it's one of my least favorite out of the Cure albums I've heard. It's probably going to go far into this thing but it's not to my taste.
Not my favorite King Crimson, but I prefer this to Tori Amos.
Division 4:
This Heat - Deceit vs Harry Nilsson - Nilsson Schmilsson
I was always stunned that Nilsson Schmilsson was not higher on the AM list; a great album highlighting Nilsson's weird humor and diversity of style, made even better because of the fact that all pieces never came together like this for any other Nilsson album. Deceit was interesting, though I can't say I particularly enjoyed it...maybe I need to give it a few more listens, but it never really pulled me in.
Brygada Kryzys - Brygada Kryzys WINNER
Division 1: King Crimson - Red WINNER
Division 2: The Velvet Underground - VU WINNER
Division 3: es Rita Mitsouko - The No Comprendo WINNER
Division 4: This Heat - Deceit WINNER
Division 1:
King Crimson - Red vs
Tori Amos - Under The Pink
Red has been a long time forum favorite so it's surprising that it's not doing better here. However, although I love some other KC albums I have never understood Red's greatness aside of Starless, while Tori Amos' second album deserves almost as much love as her debut.
Winner: Under The Pink
Division 3:
The Cure - Seventeen Seconds vs
Les Rita Mitsouko - The No Comprendo
My two big favorites from the '80s, The Cure and Depeche Mode have always had many hardcore fans, but for some reason the critics turned their backs on them during their heydays (perhaps because of the fans which weren't considered cool enough). Fortunately, the negatives seem to be dying out and both groups are climbing the top artists list with every update. On the other hand, the overall attitude to The Cure and Depeche Mode here in the forum seems to be in the middle - no haters but they never do really well in our polls. I am very disappointed that my second big favorite of this game (the first was Scott 3) now also seem to lose in the first round. Even though the number of lenghty songs are not many, I consider Seventeen Seconds as one of the 10-15 best albums of all time. The No Comprendo is good too and could have been my choice in many other match-ups.
Winner: Seventeen Seconds
Division 1: Tori Amos - Under The Pink
Division 2: The Velvet Underground - VU
Division 3: The Cure - Seventeen Seconds
Division 4: Harry Nilsson - Nilsson Schmilsson
King Crimson - Red vs Tori Amos - Under The Pink
I put Red last in the 70s poll, while you can not say it is a decade I enjoy much, so Tori Amos did not have to do much to win here.
Division 2:
The Velvet Underground - VU vs The Jesus Lizard - Goat
I'm not likely to listen to any of those albums before next round, but I found Goat slightly more enjoyable.
Division 3:
The Cure - Seventeen Seconds vs
Les Rita Mitsouko - The No Comprendo
Les Rita Mitsouko are one of the rare great French bands of the 80s so I would have liked to vote for them, but Seventeen Seconds is one of the few Cure albums great from start to finish.
Much better turnout than last week. Hopefully participation will stay at this level or better when we get to round two and people have already heard more of the albums.
Tiebreaker:
Van Morrison - St Dominic's Preview 4 def
Brygada Kryzys - Brygada Kryzys 1
Division 1:
Tori Amos - Under The Pink 7 def
King Crimson - Red 5
Division 2:
The Velvet Underground - VU 8 def
The Jesus Lizard - Goat 2
Division 3:
The Cure - Seventeen Seconds 5 TIED WITH
Les Rita Mitsouko - The No Comprendo 5
Stiff competition for one of the favorites to win the tournament. Next vote wins. If there is no tiebreaking vote cast in the next week, we will try out the tiebreaking method described earlier. That is, a re-vote, only if you vote and your side wins, you are ineligible for the next tiebreaker.
Division 4:
This Heat - Deceit 5 def
Harry Nilsson - Nilsson Schmilsson 4