Moderately Acclaimed Albums 4 - Round 3.2

[Brad]

Round 3.2
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 = September 2nd at 10am EST

Match-ups:
1. Four Tet - Rounds vs. Bob Dylan - The Times They Are A-Changin'
2. Donovan - Sunshine Superman vs. Jorge Ben - Africa Brasil
3. Manuel Göttsching - E2-E4 vs. Yellow Magic Orchestra - Solid State Survivor
4. The Tallest Man On Earth - Shallow Grave vs. Anais Mitchell - Hadestown

Let's Go Trippin'!

[Honorio]

1. Four Tet - Rounds vs. Bob Dylan - The Times They Are A-Changin'
2. Donovan - Sunshine Superman vs. Jorge Ben - Africa Brasil
3. Manuel Göttsching - E2-E4 vs. Yellow Magic Orchestra - Solid State Survivor
4. The Tallest Man On Earth - Shallow Grave vs. Anais Mitchell - Hadestown

[Stephan]

1. The Tallest Man On Earth - Shallow Grave
2. Jorge Ben - África Brazil
3. Anaïs Mitchell - Hadestown
4. Donovan - Sunshine Superman
5. Bob Dylan - The Times They Are A-Changin'
6. Manuel Göttsching - E2-E4
7. Yellow Magic Orchestra - Solid State Survivor
8. Four Tet - Rounds

[jamieW]

Bob Dylan - The Times They Are A-Changin'
Donovan - Sunshine Superman
Yellow Magic Orchestra - Solid State Survivor
Anais Mitchell – Hadestown

As hard as it was to vote against “Rounds,” which is definitely one of my all-time favorite electronic albums, it was even harder to vote against Jorge Ben. I’ll feel really bad if he loses by one vote. (Although, looking at it that way, I was going to feel bad either way. Perhaps I should just be happy for the winner!)

[Gillingham]

1. Four Tet - Rounds vs. Bob Dylan - The Times They Are A-Changin'

It's not easy to vote against this Dylan album, but Rounds is just too good and enjoyable.

[sonofsamiam]

Jorge Ben - Africa Brasil
Manuel Göttsching - E2-E4
Yellow Magic Orchestra - Solid State Survivor
Four Tet - Rounds
Bob Dylan - The Times They Are A-Changin'
Anais Mitchell - Hadestown
The Tallest Man On Earth - Shallow Grave
Donovan - Sunshine Superman

The last 3 are all good, don't mean to seem like I'm denigrating them.

[Jirin]

Anais Mitchell - Hadestown #28 AT
Jorge Ben - Africa Brasil #43 AT
Bob Dylan - The Times They Are A Changin' 86
The Tallest Man On Earth - Shallow Grave 85
Four Tet - Rounds 83
Yellow Magic Orchestra - Solid State Survivor 78
Manuel Gottsching - E2-E4 75
Donovan - Sunshine Superman 65

[DaveC]

1. Four Tet – Rounds
2. Donovan - Sunshine Superman
3. Manuel Göttsching - E2-E4
4. Anais Mitchell - Hadestown

[Dan]

Bob Dylan - The Times They Are A-Changin'
Donovan - Sunshine Superman
Anais Mitchell - Hadestown
Jorge Ben - Africa Brasil
The Tallest Man On Earth - Shallow Grave
Four Tet - Rounds
Yellow Magic Orchestra - Solid State Survivor
Manuel Göttsching - E2-E4

[Michel]

1. Four Tet - Rounds
2. Donovan - Sunshine Superman
4. The Tallest Man On Earth - Shallow Grave

[nicolas]

2. Jorge Ben - Africa Brasil
4. The Tallest Man On Earth - Shallow Grave

[Nassim]

1. Four Tet - Rounds vs. Bob Dylan - The Times They Are A-Changin'
3. Manuel Göttsching - E2-E4 vs. Yellow Magic Orchestra - Solid State Survivor
Well, that was an unexpectedly fun ride !
4. The Tallest Man On Earth - Shallow Grave vs. Anais Mitchell - Hadestown

[Jirin]

I will be confused as heck if Donovan beats Jorge Ben here. Nicolas and I can share in our horror. Donovan strikes me as generic hippie-ness. Like something the teacher from Beavis & Butt-head would sing on a bus ride.

[Kingoftonga]

1. Four Tet - Rounds
2. Jorge Ben - Africa Brasil
3. Manuel Göttsching - E2-E4

[Dan]

I will be confused as heck if Donovan beats Jorge Ben here. Nicolas and I can share in our horror. Donovan strikes me as generic hippie-ness. Like something the teacher from Beavis & Butt-head would sing on a bus ride.

I had a similar reaction as you and Nicolas last week - Low’s win against Cesária Évora was a total head-scratcher for me. That’s probably because the Barefoot Diva is almost like a saint to me. But I can understand why people are drawn to Low’s atmospheric, hypnotic sound. I like it too. This week, though, I’m voting against one of my favourite “world” artists simply because it’s my fourth favourite Jorge Ben album against an album that beautifully captures the musical spirit of a culture at a specific time, albeit an idealized hippie culture.

It looks like I and a few others here will get off that Beavis & Butt-head bus, go sit in a field, put the Donovan record on, and bask in the sunny laziness of it all.

But it would be great to see Jorge Ben advance to the next round too.

[nicolas]

I've got nothing against hippies and hippieness in particular
(I love the Woodstock movie) but I remember the Donovan album as a rather uneven record while Jorge Ben's effort is more consistant

[Brad]

My picks:
1. Four Tet - Rounds vs. Bob Dylan - The Times They Are A-Changin'
2. Donovan - Sunshine Superman vs. Jorge Ben - Africa Brasil
3. Manuel Göttsching - E2-E4 vs. Yellow Magic Orchestra - Solid State Survivor
4. The Tallest Man On Earth - Shallow Grave vs. Anais Mitchell - Hadestown

Thanks!

[Brad]

I think we all have our WTF? moments in these tournaments (mine came last round when R.E.M.'s New Adventures knocked out Fire Of Love. WTF?). I can't really get caught up in how everyone votes, what genres are favored, or why others don't hear what I hear in great albums - I just vote for the album I like better, and hope others do the same.

In my mind, the end result gives nowhere near the amount of satisfaction that the thrill of discovery brings along the way. Clichéd but true.

[DaveC]

I think we all have our WTF? moments in these tournaments (mine came last round when R.E.M.'s New Adventures knocked out Fire Of Love. WTF?). I can't really get caught up in how everyone votes, what genres are favored, or why others don't hear what I hear in great albums - I just vote for the album I like better, and hope others do the same.

In my mind, the end result gives nowhere near the amount of satisfaction that the thrill of discovery brings along the way. Clichéd but true.

Totally agree. Some of my favourites are already gone, but I have much enjoyed becoming familiar with albums that I didn't find time for before (including as it happens Sunshine Superman). I was surprised when New Adventures took out Hard Land, Hard Rain and even more so when Fire of Love was eliminated. I can however console myself that Things We Lost In The Fire is getting so much support - it is my favourite album left in the contest. Of course some people don't like it, but then I don't like some albums that others love - that's the way it goes.

[Honorio]

Hey, I'm glad that one of my nominations raised some controversy. Three comments:
1. I understand that the flower-power-tinged lyrics and gentle hippie attitude of Donovan, as seen with the cynical eyes of today, looks naïve and easy to mock. But why is not seen almost as laughable some male bravado-fuelled hip-hop lyrics or some simplistic nihilist punk or metal lyrics? Probably because a hippie won't punch us in the nose and the others surely will. As Nick Lowe said, what's so funny about peace, love and understanding?
2. Timing is important. "Sunshine Superman" is more a proto-hippy album than a product of the hippie trend of the late 60s, it was recorded in late 1965-early 1966 and it was released in July of 1966, a long year before the Summer of Love. Donovan knew how to crystallize the diverse sounds that were floating in the air (folk, chamber pop, Indian ragas, jazz-blues, medieval music, psychedelia) into a new sound that perfectly portrayed those (naïve but) fascinating times. Obviously he was neither the first nor the only one, but in my opinion Donovan should be considered an innovator while he's usually undeservedly labelled as a band-wagon jumper.
3. And finally, and the risk of sounding ridiculous (moreover when I never been a hippie, not even close), I still can see in the hippy revolution of the late 60s many positive aspects. At least it was a youth movement with global aspirations, I mean it was not only a music and cultural movement but it also implicated changes in politics, religion, sex and social structure. Now it's obvious that many of these aspects haven't aged well, especially the social ones (the communal structure inspired in anarchism could not survive in the complex economic structure of the world of today) or the religious (but at least it gave exposure to Indian and Native-American culture). And the dark side of the psychedelic drugs was clearly underestimated at the time. Apart of the influence of the hippie music itself (musically speaking it took experimentalism and creativity to the front and from the organizational point of view they popularized the music festivals) the huge impact of hippy culture took many currents of thoughts that before the hippies were part of the counterculture (racial integration, pacifist anti-war movement, environmentalism, gender equality or anti-establishmentarianism) to the media's attention and to the majority's awareness, now having integrated many of these points of view into the mainstream mentality. The most important hippie legacy for me is, no doubt, the sexual liberation. Things so usual today (and inalienable for many of us) like the normalization of premarital sex or relationships outside the marriage ultimately came from that "free love" supported by the hippies.

Having said that (damn, I talked too much again) I'm the first surprised of Donovan getting so far (I know it's quite polarizing and I expected to be out on the first round) and I won't mind at all if Jorge ben wins the bracket, "Africa Brasil" is a great album.

[Brad]

Honorio - you could never talk to much... good stuff (and great points re: hippie-dom).

About 17 hours left to vote!

[Honorio]

Thanks, Brad!

[Brad]

Results (quick US-Holiday version):

Winners:
1. Four Tet - Rounds vs. Bob Dylan - The Times They Are A-Changin' ***TIE! 6-6 Next Vote Wins!***
2. Donovan - Sunshine Superman over Jorge Ben - Africa Brasil 6-5
3. Manuel Göttsching - E2-E4 vs. Yellow Magic Orchestra - Solid State Survivor ***TIE! 5-5 Next Vote Wins!***
4. Anais Mitchell - Hadestown over The Tallest Man On Earth - Shallow Grave 8-3

Two outstanding ties:
Four Tet - Rounds vs. Bob Dylan - The Times They Are A-Changin'
Manuel Göttsching - E2-E4 vs. Yellow Magic Orchestra - Solid State Survivor

Next vote for either wins the match!