There are two tied matches from last week. Due to the low turnout in general last week, those matches will remain open the whole week rather than being sudden death.

Tied matches:
Janet Jackson - Rythym Nation 1814 vs
Kylie Minogue - Fever

Jimi Hendrix - Cry Of Love vs
The Go Betweens - 16 Lovers Lane

New matches:

Division 1:
Creedence Clearwater Revival - Bayou Country vs
Sleater-Kinney - The Woods

Division 2:
Miossec - Boire vs
Flaming Lips - Clouds Taste Metallic

Division 3:
The Dodos - Visiter vs
Lynyrd Skynyrd - Street Survivors

Division 4:
The Mekons - Mekons Rock And Roll vs
Max Tundra - Mastered By The Guy At The Exchange

This is the last week of round one. Hopefully we'll get more consistent participation in round two when people will have already done much of the listening.

1. The Flaming Lips - Clouds Taste Metallic (Not sure why Soft Bulletin is regarded so much higher, this sounds very much like it and is almost as good.)
2. Creedence Clearwater Revival - Bayou Country
3. Miossec - Boire (As BillAdama mentioned somewhere it probably suffers from being French, because this album is pretty awesome. Steep competition though.)
4. Max Tundra - Mastered By Guy At The Exchange (Really tough to choose between these two, they're both very entertaining in their own way..)
5. The Mekons - Mekons Rock and Roll (..but Tundra's overkill of sound somehow manages to work and that puts it over the top.)
6. Lynyrd Skynyrd - Street Survivors
7. Sleater-Kinney - The Woods
8. The Dodos - Visiter

Division 1
CCR
The Woods is good, but there isn't a "Proud Mary" or a "Born on the Bayou" on it.

Division 3
Lynyrd Skynyrd
This one wasn't really close.

Tied matches:

Jimi Hendrix - Cry Of Love vs
The Go Betweens - 16 Lovers Lane

Some songs on Cry of Love are terrible, but other are really great, while 16 Lovers Lane does not have any real peak (nor real letdown, but I'll vote for the album with the standouts)

New matches:

Division 1:
Creedence Clearwater Revival - Bayou Country vs
Sleater-Kinney - The Woods
Sure, Bayou Country has 2 very good songs, but what else does it have ? Mediocre song and a completely missed cover ! On the other hand, the Woods is great from start to finish and show a band at its best.

Division 3:
The Dodos - Visiter vs
Lynyrd Skynyrd - Street Survivors

Not close at all indeed, Lynyrd Skynyrd's first 2 albums have some great moments but would have largely lost here anyway, so Street Survivors is no competition against a personal favorite with gems like The Season, Fools or Ashley. The percussions are stunning and give great counterparts to the beautiful melodies and harmonies... A pretty unique album.

Vote: Miossec

I like Clouds Taste Metallic, though I find it a little overly cute. And I nominated Miossec. I love the emotional feel of the album, though I can't understand the lyrics.

Division 3:

Lynyrd Skynyrd - Street Survivors

wins handily over The Dodos - Visiter

Street Survivors benefits greatly from the contributions of immensely talented guitarist Steve Gaines who unfortunately was only with the band for this album. The songs on this album include the fantastic: That Smell, I Never Dreamed, What's Your Name, I Know a Little, One More Time and You Got That Right. Ain't No Good Life is better than any song I listened to on the Visiter album included the three that were so highly recommended (Fools, Season and Ashley). There is barely a cogent melody in any of the songs as far as I can tell. The percussion is somewhat interesting, but does not make up for the blandness and lack of melodic fortitude in my estimation. That said, I do prefer Ashley to either Fools or Season and expect to give it another listen.

I will admit that Honky Tonk Night Time Man is not particularly compelling, but this competition was one of the easier for me to judge.

Vote: The Woods

I liked Bayou Country more than I've liked other CCR I've heard. I think I'm turning more on to roots rock lately. But, The Woods is in my top 100 AT and is responsible for one of my best concert experiences of all time.

Vote: Visiter

Visiter is a pretty good album, but I'm just not a Skynyrd fan.

Too bad about the low turnout, I had a lot of fun with this game last time. I'm going to start voting on matchups where I've heard both, but unfortunately I'm not able to take the time to listen to new stuff right now. Barely enough time to listen to new releases!

Janet Jackson - Rythym Nation 1814

Pass

Creedence Clearwater Revival - Bayou Country (I didn't like the direction SK took with The Woods. I love a lot of Sleater Kinney, One Beat is one of my favorites of all time.)

Pass

Pass

Pass

Hi, John.

it's the match ups that killed it for me... f.i. Boire vs Clouds Taste Metallic... greatest opp for product.placing an overlooked frogtastic ever vs my third bestest Flips album... while challenging those dozens of meh.oids like Mind Games vs the Traveling Wilburys...

oh, and plus, i'm still on whine mode, because Stephan didn't like the Brygada Kryzys one...

Yeah, I think for the most part people (including myself) aren't willing to give that stuff a shot right now. That's why I'm going to pass unless I'm voting for an album that is one of my favorites and then I'll give the other album a fair shot. But, yeah, for you these games have to be a little frustrating.

You know the matchups were random, right? There's no conspiracy to put albums you specifically like against each other.

But, sure, proceed to continue retaining reduced oxygen in the interior of your capillaried gas-state-molecule balloons by clamping the labelli of your vocal orifice.

Hi Chris,

and yes

that would actually cheer me up. a lot. nothing buttsucks more than randomness

What up yall. My cpu was acting ghetto so I haven't been able to get on for a while, but I'm back.

Division 1: Sleater-Kinney - The Woods

CCR one is good (3rd fav ccr record of 69), but The Woods is a top 10 album ever for me. I don't get sick of it. Brownstein's solo in What's Mine Is Yours is fantastico.

Division 2: Flaming Lips - Clouds Taste Metallic

My favs are Psychiatric Explorations & Lightning Strikes the Postman, that other album suffers from being too French.

Division 3: Lynyrd Skynyrd - Street Survivors

Division 4: The Mekons - Mekons Rock And Roll vs

Division 1: Sleater-Kinney - The Woods
Division 2: Flaming Lips - Clouds Taste Metallic (though much closer than I expected - good call on the Miossec album, BillAdama... been enjoying it quite a bit).
Division 3: The Dodos - Visiter
Division 4: The Mekons - Mekons Rock And Roll

As a side note, I have been enjoying this exercise quite a bit. I have been able to track down and listen to every album in the first round, and despite a couple truly awful listening sessions, have made a large number of tremendous new discoveries. I hope plans for future MAAs are not abandoned, and am confident that subsequent rounds will garner more interest... keep the faith!

Thanks!

You're welcome. I tend to quite enjoy your picks, but this was just one of my least favorite albums of the whole tournament. I am inclined to agree about the matchups though, although quite likely about different ones; Blue Hats vs. Gainsbourg was a bitch for example. But hey, that's just part of the game and I don't think there's a much better option than randomness.

Vote: Max Tundra

This is a close one. I think I'm voting Max Tundra because I was more in the mood for weirdness when I listened to them.

The alternative to randomness would be some kind of seeding, in which case all the nj picks would have ended up against the heavy favorites.

You've already heard all the albums though, right? I disagree with a lot of the poll results here too, it doesn't make me stop playing.

hey, no big deal, you've recommended Tallest Man On Earth, so i quess we're even... (...no, seriously, i have to install more of those stupid winky thingy-cons, i'm heavily concerned about the flexibility of BillAdama's blood vessels)

Ouch.

Out of curiosity though, how would you rate his albums?

I've had more great discoveries from nj's nomination's than from anyone else's. That's why it's such a shame to lose your opinion in the results.

Hi Stephan,

the lowest number out of 5 stars ever possible: 3.

the kind of "ok, it's nice. yeah, you know, just.. nice... what else do you have?" stuff, which isn't THAT Sucker Punch For Elephants (yeeeeaaaaahhh, a 2011 reference without a Rebecca Black or Titties & Carrot Cake in it!), but prior to your excessive enthusiasm toward this album (and we're still talking Shallow Graves) i expected a tad bit more out of it..

sooo, on second thought... given that you'd rate that polish motherfucker of a hellbound frisbee three quarters out of a half star, i reckon you still can afford another failure on my account...

and if so, please don't let it be another 3-stars-half-arse... recsters still do nourish on controversy

And that's very flattering, Chris. But what about your recent vow to turn a bit more easy-assed on AMF? Now THAT would make me really proud!

Ugh, I wish I had more time, but it's the end of the semester and things are busy. Still, I'll try to listen to what I can!


Division 1:
Creedence Clearwater Revival - Bayou Country vs
Sleater-Kinney - The Woods

CCR is so overplayed that sometimes I forget how enjoyable they are to listen to. Sleater-Kinney is talented, but their louder sound is not really my thing.

Depends, can I get a matching vow to ease up on the inscrutably condescending dismissals of all that is not weird?

I suppose I should try to post more about the things I like and less about the things I dislike, but I wish people were more willing to debate stuff, and to explore the unknown in general.

I will start voting more in the next round. Right now, almost all of my new listening is devoted to albums for the 2000s poll, as I'm exploring those years in more depth than I have with any era. Plus, I've heard at least one album from almost every Round 2 matchup, so I won't have to do as much new listening.

I do find it strange that forum regulars who have definitely heard most or all of these albums, such as sonofsamiam or Mindrocker, aren't voting in this poll.

Bayou Country
Street Survivors

Division 1: Creedence Clearwater Revival - Bayou Country
Division 2: Flaming Lips - Clouds Taste Metallic
Division 3: Lynyrd Skynyrd - Street Survivors
Division 4: The Mekons - Mekons Rock And Roll

damn... i forgot about how hard it actually is to abolish mutual dickweedbleeds...

fine...

So, results.

Janet Jackson and Jimi Hendrix advance on one further vote each.

Creedence Clearwater Revival - Bayou Country 6 def
Sleater-Kinney - The Woods 4

Flaming Lips - Clouds Taste Metallic 4 def
Miossec - Boire 1

Lynyrd Skynyrd - Street Survivors 6 def
The Dodos - Visiter 3

The Mekons - Mekons Rock and Roll 3 def
Max Tundra - Mastered By The Guy At The Exchange 2

Here's the Predict It leaderboard after the first round:

Joshua: 46
Midaso: 42
Jackson: 41
BillAdama: 40
Brad: 39
Henrik: 38
Nassim: 38
Henry: 38
Stephan: 38
Raul: 34

And, here's everybody's nomination records through the first round:

HRS 6-1
Jonathon 5-1
Bradley E Green 5-2
Moonbeam 5-3
Midaso 5-3
BillAdama 4-2
Schwah 4-4
Beefsupreme 4-4
Mindrocker 4-4
Greg 3-2
Nassim 3-3
Jackson 3-3
Romain 3-3
Henrik 3-4
KingofTonga 3-4
nj 3-5
Listyguy 2-3
Henry 2-4
Stephan 2-4
Daniel 1-7

Hi Jackson,
Can't speak for Sonofsam, but I am certainly not familiar with all the albums in this game. Which means that also I have to spend a certain amount of listening if I want to participate in MAA. Right now I'm focusing more on the the '00s year polls, so yes, this one is suffering a bit. But who knows, if time permits it, I'll be more active in other threads as well.