Moderately Acclaimed Albums 4 - Round 2.1

[Brad]

Round 2.1
First week of the second round

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 encouraged but not absolutely necessary.
Deadline = July 1st at 10am EST

Match-ups:
1. The Cure - The Head On The Door vs. Manu Chao - Clandestino
2. Low - Things We Lost In The Fire vs. The Psychedelic Furs - Talk Talk Talk
3. Smog - Knock Knock vs. The Sound - Jeopardy
4. Ondatropica - Ondatropica vs. Dan Deacon - Spiderman Of The Rings

Get Free!

[Stephan]

Painful matchup in bracket 3; two of my favorite discoveries of this tournament.

1. The Sound - Jeopardy
2. Smog - Knock Knock
3. Low - Things We Lost In The Fire
4. The Cure - The Head On The Door
5. Manu Chao - Clandestino
6. Ondatrópica - Ondatrópica
7. The Psychedelic Furs - Talk Talk Talk
8. Dan Deacon - Spiderman Of The Ring

[Nassim]

Looks like I was much more devoted during the first brackets than the last ones, I already have listened to all of those !
I don't really care for either on bracket 1 except for some nice singles, so I'll pass.

2. Low - Things We Lost In The Fire
3. Smog - Knock Knock
4.Dan Deacon - Spiderman Of The Rings

[jimmyj]

The Cure - The Head On The Door vs. Manu Chao - Clandestino

[Honorio]

So we are already on the Second Round? That means it's time for comments…

First of all I'm quite happy with the good results of the albums I nominated. Only Aztec Camera and Chet Baker from my 10 nominations were voted out on the First Round. Even "Sunshine Superman" passed to the next round quite easily (something I wasn't expecting). Many thanks to all the people that voted for these albums (probably not knowing who nominated them), let's see how things go for my nominations on Second Round.

By the way, I would like to encourage the participation on this excellent game (that it's sadly decreasing on recent weeks). A lot of excellent albums here waiting to be discovered for the ones that did not participate on First Round, and for the ones that already listened to these albums it's time to come back, please.


I know, I know, Round 2.1:

1. The Cure - The Head on the Door vs. Manu Chao - Clandestino
Well, talking about albums nominated by me, here it is the first one. I'm not sure why "The Head on the Door" is my favourite Cure album. It's not for personal reasons (in this case this gold award would belong to "Faith," an album I discovered when I was a teen and left on me an indelible mark), it's not for defining a sound (in this case I would have chosen the goth-defining "Pornography") and for sure it's not for critical acclaim (in this case "Disintegration" would have been the correct choice). But I can think of two reasons. First "The Head on the Door" contains more pop songs than the other albums by a band that, being more renowned for making darker styles, they were (are) very good at making pop music, but always with a twisted and eccentric edge. And secondly I always liked (my all-time list is filled with this kind of albums) the diverse, the adventurous, the eclectic albums like this one. But I also love "Clandestino," I wrote some lines on its defence when it got some bashing on First Round but my vote goes to The Cure anyway.

2. Low - Things We Lost in the Fire vs. The Psychedelic Furs - Talk Talk Talk
Not the albums that defined the sound of slowcore and post-punk (these albums could be these bands' first albums, "I Could Live in Hope" and "Psychedelic Furs") but anyway two fantastic albums. My vote goes to "Things We Lost in the Fire" for being their first album of maturity of Low (broadening their palette of sounds) while the equivalent for Psychedelic Furs would have been 1984's "Mirror Moves," a not too acclaimed album but my favourite from them.

3. Smog - Knock Knock vs. The Sound - Jeopardy
Again I vote against the 80s post-punk act (even if it's a style I enjoy quite a lot) and vote for the sadcore act (even if it's a style I usually don't enjoy too much). But I think that Bill Callahan was at that point of his career expanding his lo-fi sound and (almost) reaching the level of some great sad singers-songwriters (Cohen-Drake-Van Zandt) with songs like "I Could Drive Forever."

4. Ondatrópica - Ondatrópica vs. Dan Deacon - Spiderman of the Rings
On the first week of this game I told about how refreshing was listening to "Ondatrópica" after so many gloomy albums (that week was particularly dark) but this time it faces another refreshing album. But with a different concept of fun, Deacon's quirky album mainly appeals to the mind while Ondatrópica's party album mainly appeals to the body. Body for me, please.

[jimmyj]

Low - Things We Lost In The Fire vs. The Psychedelic Furs - Talk Talk Talk

[Jirin]

Psychadelic Furs - Talk Talk Talk 95
The Sound - Jeopardy 89
Ondatropica - Ondatropica 86
Smog - Talk Talk 81
Low - Things We Lost In The Fire 69
The Cure - Head On The Door 67
Dan Deacon - Spiderman Of The Rings 62
Manu Chau - Clandestino 15

[DaveC]

Here we are in the second round and every one of these 8 albums deserves some votes. Mine go to:-

1. Manu Chao - Clandestino
Je t’aime plus Le Roi de Bongo.

2. Low - Things We Lost In The Fire
These are both top 500 for me, but I would go so far as to say that I adore this album. I would be delighted if it won this competition.

3. The Sound - Jeopardy
OK, Knock Knock is growing on me. However, Jeopardy is another personal favourite.

4. Dan Deacon - Spiderman Of The Rings
Very close for me. Spiderman Of The Rings is one of my finds of the competition so I’m giving it the tie-breaker.

[nicolas]

1. The Cure - The Head On The Door vs. Manu Chao - Clandestino

4. Ondatropica - Ondatropica vs. Dan Deacon - Spiderman Of The Rings

I like all of those albums, btw

[Brad]

My picks:
1. The Cure - The Head On The Door vs. Manu Chao - Clandestino
2. Low - Things We Lost In The Fire vs. The Psychedelic Furs - Talk Talk Talk
3. Smog - Knock Knock vs. The Sound - Jeopardy
4. Ondatropica - Ondatropica vs. Dan Deacon - Spiderman Of The Rings

Thanks!

[Kingoftonga]

1. The Cure - The Head On The Door
2. The Psychedelic Furs - Talk Talk Talk

[Brad]

23 hours left to vote!

[jamieW]

Hey, I already know all of these! (Good thing, too, since my time is going to be pretty limited over the next few weeks.)

The Cure - The Head On The Door
The Psychedelic Furs - Talk Talk Talk
The Sound – Jeopardy
Ondatropica – Ondatropica

The first two matchups were pretty close for me; the second two were easy choices.

[Michel]

2. The Psychedelic Furs - Talk Talk Talk

[Brad]

Results
Total # of Voters = 11:
Brad
DaveC
Honorio
jamieW
jimmyj
Jirin
kingoftonga
Michel
Nassim
nicolas
Stephan

1. The Cure - The Head On The Door over Manu Chao - Clandestino 7-2
2. Low - Things We Lost In The Fire over The Psychedelic Furs - Talk Talk Talk 6-4
3. The Sound - Jeopardy over Smog - Knock Knock 5-2
4. Ondatropica - Ondatropica over Dan Deacon - Spiderman Of The Rings 5-3

Round 2.2 up real soon!