Moderately Acclaimed Albums 4 - Round 1.6

[Brad]

Round 1.6

Vote for your favorite album in each match-up.
Remember, anyone can vote as long as he or she has heard both albums!
Comments are strongly encouraged but not absolutely necessary.
Deadline = April 15th at 10am EST

Match-ups:
1. Albert King - Born Under A Bad Sign vs. Four Tet - Rounds
2. Donovan - Sunshine Superman vs. Meat Puppets - Up On The Sun
3. Manuel Göttsching - E2-E4 vs. Swervedriver - Mezcal Head
4. Lilys - The 3 Way vs. Tarwater - Silur

RESPECT!

[Stephan]

This week features one of The Three Kings, perhaps the best (I would argue so) but certainly the most underrated one. E2-E4 is my favorite discovery of this week; Göttsching does so much with so little.

1. Albert King - Born Under A Bad Sign
2. Donovan - Sunshine Superman
3. Manuel Göttsching - E2-E4
4. Meat Puppets - Up On The Sun
5. Four Tet - Rounds
6. Lilys - The 3 Way
7. Tarwater - Silur
8. Swervedriver - Mezcal Head

[Honorio]

1. Albert King - Born Under a Bad Sign vs. Four Tet - Rounds
2. Donovan - Sunshine Superman vs. Meat Puppets - Up on the Sun
3. Manuel Göttsching - E2-E4 vs. Swervedriver - Mezcal Head
4. Lilys - The 3 Way vs. Tarwater - Silur

[Nassim]

1. Four Tet - Rounds
I'm not a big fan of those kind of brackets that seems more like a "pick your favorite style" than "pick the best album". I have a hard time figuring why Born Under a Bad Sign should be a better blues album than any other good blues album I have heard while Four Tet is probably my favorite IDM artist of this new millenium and Rounds probably is his best one (though the feeling of joy all over Everything Ecstatic has a big appeal too)

[Romain]

1. Albert King - Born Under A Bad Sign vs. Four Tet - Rounds

2. Donovan - Sunshine Superman vs. Meat Puppets - Up On The Sun

I don't know none of the four other albums.

[Jirin]

I couldn't find Mezcalhead either on Spotify or Grooveshark, anyone know where I can hear it?

[Brad]

Jirin - It should be two words: Mezcal Head, and it is on spotify US (i'd link to it but i'm too dumb to figure out how).

[nicolas]

Nassim, it's not a "pick your favorite style". I guess that blues is not a style you know very well or a genre you're used to, so all you see is a genre album because you can't tell an album from another. You wouldn't say that of a rap or electro album would you?
I didn't pick the Doc Watson album because it's a bluegrass album, but because it's one of my favorite unacclaimed albums of all times, even if I knew that many people wouldn't get past the impression that it's just another country album. Do you know what I mean?

[Nassim]

Nassim, it's not a "pick your favorite style". I guess that blues is not a style you know very well or a genre you're used to, so all you see is a genre album because you can't tell an album from another. You wouldn't say that of a rap or electro album would you?
I didn't pick the Doc Watson album because it's a bluegrass album, but because it's one of my favorite unacclaimed albums of all times, even if I knew that many people wouldn't get past the impression that it's just another country album. Do you know what I mean?

I see exactly what you mean, but I'm pretty sure most of us who tend to prefer blues over electronic music will vote for Born Under a Bad Sign and reciprocally, I'm not blaming anyone for that, it's just that they are much too different to be easily compared.

[DaveC]

1. Four Tet – Rounds
Two fine albums. Like comparing camembert with stilton or wine with whiskey. I’ll go for Le Rustique with an earthy Merlot. Do like a Long Clawson Stilton too.

2. Meat Puppets - Up On The Sun

3. Manuel Göttsching - E2-E4
I never heard of this before, and now it is locked in for a top 15 position for 1984. Thanks to the nominator.

4. Lilys - The 3 Way

[Greg]

1. Albert King - Born Under A Bad Sign
2. Meat Puppets - Up On The Sun
3. Swervedriver - Mezcal Head
4. Tarwater - Silur

[Jirin]

Four Tet - Rounds 83
Manuel Gottsching - E2-E4 75
Albert King - Born Under A Bad Sign 71
Meat Puppets - Up On The Sun 70
Lilys - The 3 Way 67
Donovan - Sunshine Superman 65
Screwdriver - Mezcal Head 65
Tarwater - Silur 59

With Up In The Sun, I love the fast-picking style of the Meat Puppets, although the songwriting is a little dull.
Sunshine Superman has the most hippie lyrics of all time. Sounds like something that came from
the school counselor at Beavis & Butthead's high school.

La Solitude and Dead Man's Bones also don't seem to be on either Spotify or Grooveshark.

[DaveC]

Jirin - I found Dead Man's Bones on Spotify

On Grooveshark, search for Léo Ferré (including the accents) to get a list of albums - La Solitude is there.

[Michel]

1. Four Tet - Rounds
4. Tarwater - Silur

[sonofsamiam]

Four Tet - Rounds
Meat Puppets - Up On The Sun
Manuel Göttsching - E2-E4

[Brad]

My picks:

1. Albert King - Born Under A Bad Sign vs. Four Tet - Rounds
2. Donovan - Sunshine Superman vs. Meat Puppets - Up On The Sun
3. Manuel Göttsching - E2-E4 vs. Swervedriver - Mezcal Head
4. Lilys - The 3 Way vs. Tarwater - Silur

Thanks!

[Kingoftonga]

1. Albert King - Born Under A Bad Sign vs. Four Tet - Rounds

Nassim brought up an interesting point; it's difficult to vote on a competition between two vastly different styles trying to accomplish two very different things. It's true that I like electronic music more than blues, which probably influences my vote, but I found Rounds to also be a better album - a more cohesive statement, if that makes any sense.

2. Donovan - Sunshine Superman vs. Meat Puppets - Up On The Sun

Donovan's flower-child lyrics are laughable, but "Season of the Witch" is a stone-cold classic, and even "Guinevere" affected me more than I had anticipated.

3. Manuel Göttsching - E2-E4 vs. Swervedriver - Mezcal Head

Not even close. Göttsching strikes me as a "missing link" in the history of electronic music, both summarizing the Kraftwerk-type advances of the late 70s and looking ahead to the techno revolution. Mezcal Head strikes me as just another alt-rock album.

[PlasticRam]

Donovan - Sunshine Superman vs. Meat Puppets - Up On The Sun

I liked Donovan better.

[Kingoftonga]

4. Lilys - The 3 Way vs. Tarwater - Silur

[Brad]

25 hours left to vote!

[jamieW]

My winners:

Four Tet—Rounds
I love Albert King; but “Rounds” is one of my all-time favorite electronic albums.

Donovan—Sunshine Superman
Channeling my inner flower-child (and still very close).

Manuel Göttsching - E2-E4
I’d never heard this one before, and its jazzy-electronic sound seemed way ahead of its time. Conversely, Swervedriver was also good (particularly “Duress”), but it definitely seemed of its time.

Tarwater—Silur
Regarding Lilys, my sources tell me 1999; my ears tell me 1969 (which isn’t a bad thing). The crackling, spoken-word gloom of Tarwater just appeals more to my personal taste.

[Brad]

Results
13 Total Voters:
Brad
DaveC
Greg
Honorio
jamieW
Jirin
kingoftonga
Michel
Nassim
PlasticRam
Romain
sonofsamiam
Stephan

Winners:
1. Four Tet - Rounds over Albert King - Born Under A Bad Sign 9-3
2. Donovan - Sunshine Superman over Meat Puppets - Up On The Sun 7-4
3. Manuel Göttsching - E2-E4 over Swervedriver - Mezcal Head 7-2
4. Lilys - The 3 Way over Tarwater - Silur 6-3

Round 1.7 up soon!