Moderately Acclaimed Albums 6 - Round 1.11

[Brad]

Welcome to another installment of Moderately Acclaimed Albums!

Vote for your favorite album in each match-up.
Remember, anyone can vote as long as the voter has heard both albums!
Comments are encouraged but not absolutely necessary.
Deadline = June 1st at 10am EST.

Match-ups:
1. Radiohead - The King of Limbs vs. Pearl Jam - Vitalogy
2. The Church - Starfish vs. Elton John - Madman Across The Water
3. Charly García - Clics Modernos vs. Joe Jackson - I'm The Man
4. Jacques Higelin - Alertez les bébés vs. James Blunt - Back to Bedlam

All about that bass!

[Maschine_Man]

All on Spotify this week!

[whuntva]

Only One this week!

Pearl Jam-Vitalogy

While I deeply respect Radiohead's efforts on this one and love "Lotus Flower" and "Codex" greatly, Vitalogy was the more experimental and the overall greater effort into an album.

Let's put it this way: I didn't doubt Radiohead could make King of Limbs and make it work. Vitalogy coming from Pearl Jam was more of a (pleasant) surprise.

#296 beats #411, but both making it on my list is telling of how great a match this was.

[Jirin]

All on Spotify this week!

Do Clics Modernos and Alertez les bebes have different names on Spotify?

[DaveC]

1. Radiohead - The King of Limbs vs. Pearl Jam - Vitalogy
2. The Church - Starfish vs. Elton John - Madman Across The Water
3. Charly García - Clics Modernos vs. Joe Jackson - I'm The Man - Very close call
4. Jacques Higelin - Alertez les bébés vs. James Blunt - Back to Bedlam

[Maschine_Man]

All on Spotify this week!

Do Clics Modernos and Alertez les bebes have different names on Spotify?

Ahh, doesn't look like it, maybe they aren't available in your region? If they aren't showing up go to Settings > Display Options > Show unavailable tracks in playlists

[Henry]

1. Pearl Jam - Vitalogy is preferred over Radiohead - The King of Limbs
2. Elton John - Madman Across The Water is preferred over The Church - Starfish vs.
3. Joe Jackson - I'm The Man is preferred over Charly García - Clics Modernos

[Honorio]

1. Radiohead - The King of Limbs (2011) vs. Pearl Jam - Vitalogy (1994)
2. The Church - Starfish (1988) vs. Elton John - Madman Across the Water (1971)
3. Charly García - Clics Modernos (1983) vs. Joe Jackson - I'm the Man (1979)
4. Jacques Higelin - Alertez les bébés (1976) vs. James Blunt - Back to Bedlam (2004)

Hardest decision of the week: Yorke vs. Vedder


Experimental Rock, Grunge, Jangle Pop, Piano Rock, New Wave, New Wave, Chanson and Singer-Songwriter.

[Jirin]

Hopefully I find a way to listen to the other two because I really would like to listen to all 128 albums in the game, but so far here are the matches I can vote on:

Vitalogy 84-81
Starfish 75-74

Not a big fan of the other two I've heard so if I have a chance to hear the two I haven't I'll probably vote for them.

[PlasticRam]

1. Radiohead - The King of Limbs vs. Pearl Jam - Vitalogy
2. The Church - Starfish vs. Elton John - Madman Across The Water
3. Charly García - Clics Modernos vs. Joe Jackson - I'm The Man
4. Jacques Higelin - Alertez les bébés vs. James Blunt - Back to Bedlam

James Blunt was my nomination. I know prolly a lot of you despise him, but I liked that album in the mid-2000s obv before discovering this site, and Wikipedia had pretty good reviews listed, though that might be selection bias. At least as far as James Blunt albums go, this might be the best one. Others have Metacritics like 36/100

[Brad]

Jirin - This link gets you to a youtube version of the full Clics Modernos album:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLvzkSzRwlE

Higelin I pieced together as much as I could on youtube, but ultimately ordered a used copy for a couple bucks on amazon. Worth it!

[jamieW]

Unfortunately, this might be the first week I can't vote in every matchup, since I haven't been able to locate the Jacques Higelin album, either. It might have been an interesting match for me, too, since (like PlasticRam) I always have liked this particular James Blunt album. I will keep searching until Sunday or so, and then I'll just give up and vote in the other three...

[Brad]

My picks:
1. Radiohead - The King of Limbs vs. Pearl Jam - Vitalogy
2. The Church - Starfish vs. Elton John - Madman Across The Water
3. Charly García - Clics Modernos vs. Joe Jackson - I'm The Man
4. Jacques Higelin - Alertez les bébés vs. James Blunt - Back to Bedlam

Thanks!

[Romain]

1. Radiohead - The King of Limbs
3. Charly García - Clics Modernos
4. Jacques Higelin - Alertez les bébés Sorry for those who don't find the album, you have some songs in youtube.
This on can give you a good idear of the kind of songs :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iCcl_B ... g&index=14

[Michel]

1. Radiohead - The King of Limbs
3. Joe Jackson - I'm The Man
4. Jacques Higelin - Alertez les bébés

[jamieW]

Well, I was able to hear 7 of the 10 tracks from Jacques Higelin's album. I very much enjoyed what I heard, but I'll refrain from voting in the 4th matchup, since I didn't hear the album in its entirety. (If I were to guess, I'd say it'd probably place 5th for me out of the 8 albums). Here are my rankings of the ones I did listen to...

The Church - Starfish
James Blunt - Back to Bedlam
Radiohead - The King of Limbs
Elton John - Madman Across The Water
Joe Jackson - I'm The Man
Charly García - Clics Modernos
Pearl Jam - Vitalogy

(I think there was a question in the Family Feud game a while back about naming a good song off a bad album. While I'd by no means call "Vitalogy" a bad album, it's definitely not one of my favorites, but I absolutely love "Immortality.")

[Rob]

1. Radiohead - The King of Limbs vs. Pearl Jam - Vitalogy
There is nothing wrong with King of Limbs, but as Whuntva already said Vitalogy is more of a surprise and therefore feels more like an essential album. Besides that I also simply like it more. Not that Radiohead is phoning it in, but Pearl Jam is simply firing on all cylinders.

2. The Church - Starfish vs. Elton John - Madman Across The Water
Every few times I come across an album that simply doesn't connect in whatever way. Starfish is one of those. If it doesn't get through to the next round I'll probably forget about its existence in a week or two. Just nothing remarkable about it.
Besides I really love Elton John and Madman is one of his best albums. Especially from a vocal point its really an essential Elton, but I also love the big sweep these songs have.

3. Charly García - Clics Modernos vs. Joe Jackson - I'm The Man
Ah, Joe Jackson around the time where he sounded like Elvis Costello and sung similar lyrics... and gets away with it! It's a fun album with nice, humorous bite in the lyrics and not a dull song among them.
I like quite a few songs from Clics Modernos, but sometimes I thought cheesy eighties cliches (in a 2004 album!) in the sound dominated. Not bad exactly, but to uneven to pass.

4. Jacques Higelin - Alertez les bébés vs. James Blunt - Back to Bedlam
I definitely can appreciate the audacity of adding an album by James Blunt, who is basically considered a pariah among serious music lovers. I feared the album a bit I must admit. It contains a lot of songs that played constantly when I was doing my high school summer job. I could say it brings back fond memories, but I didn't much like that job, or James Blunt's voice. However, Back to Bedlam turned out better than I thought. It's outmatched by most albums in this game, but not an unpleasant listen and some songs are quite nice, like Wisemen (the only one I liked at the time), Tears and Rain (which sounds better now than at the time) and So Long Jimmy.
But, as I said, James Blunt has too much competition here, like Jaqcues Higelin whose mix of chanson and rock worker greatly. A very powerful voice with powerful music and enough variety to keep me listening.

[DocBrown]

1. Radiohead - The King of Limbs vs. Pearl Jam - Vitalogy
2. The Church - Starfish vs. Elton John - Madman Across The Water
3. Charly García - Clics Modernos vs. Joe Jackson - I'm The Man

[Chris K.]

1. Radiohead - The King of Limbs vs. Pearl Jam - Vitalogy
This one is rough; Radiohead is easily my favorite artist ever but Vitalogy is in my top 5 albums outside the top 500 on AM.
2. The Church - Starfish vs. Elton John - Madman Across The Water
3. Charly García - Clics Modernos vs. Joe Jackson - I'm The Man
4. Jacques Higelin - Alertez les bébés vs. James Blunt - Back to Bedlam

[Maschine_Man]

1. Radiohead - The King of Limbs
2. Elton John - Madman Across The Water

[Blanco]

1. Radiohead - The King of Limbs vs. Pearl Jam - Vitalogy
3. Charly García - Clics Modernos vs. Joe Jackson - I'm The Man

[Honorio]

I like quite a few songs from Clics Modernos, but sometimes I thought cheesy eighties cliches (in a 2004 album!) in the sound dominated.

Sorry, Rob, but the Charly García album was actually released in 1983, when those cheesy (yes, I agree) eighties sounds were no still cliches.

[Kingoftonga]

Winners in red.

1. Radiohead - The King of Limbs vs. Pearl Jam - Vitalogy
2. The Church - Starfish vs. Elton John - Madman Across The Water
3. Charly García - Clics Modernos vs. Joe Jackson - I'm The Man

[Poliuks]

3. Charly García - Clics Modernos

[Jirin]

So I managed to listen to Clics Modernos. This turned into a much closer vote than I expected, but I'll go with Clics Modernos, 69-68. Both have an okay but not too impressive sound with hooks that don't really click with me.

Back to Bedlam is one of those pop albums where the singles sound pretty decent but the rest of the album is dull filler.

[Brad]

17 voters this week!:
Blanco
Brad
Chris K.
DaveC
DocBrown
Henry
Honorio
jamieW
Jirin
Kingoftonga
Maschine_Man
Michel
PlasticRam
Poliuks
Rob
Romain
whuntva

Winners:
1. Radiohead - The King of Limbs over Pearl Jam - Vitalogy 9-7
2. The Church - Starfish over Elton John - Madman Across The Water 7-5
3. Joe Jackson - I'm The Man over Charly García - Clics Modernos 9-6
4. Jacques Higelin - Alertez les bébés over James Blunt - Back to Bedlam 7-1

Round 1.12 up soon!

[Rob]

I like quite a few songs from Clics Modernos, but sometimes I thought cheesy eighties cliches (in a 2004 album!) in the sound dominated.

Sorry, Rob, but the Charly García album was actually released in 1983, when those cheesy (yes, I agree) eighties sounds were no still cliches.

Ah, Spotify lists it as a 2004 album. It explains a lot.