Moderately Acclaimed Albums 7 - Round 1.15

[Brad]

Welcome to another round of Moderately Acclaimed Albums 7!
Only two weeks left in the first round!

Vote for your favorite album in each match-up.
Remember, anyone can vote as long as the voter has heard both albums.

Good-spirited comments are encouraged, but not absolutely necessary.
Deadline = July 5th at 10am EST.

Match-ups:
1. The Soft Machine - Third vs. Madonna - Madonna
2. Van der Graaf Generator - Pawn Hearts vs. Tame Impala - Innerspeaker
3. Sun Ra - Atlantis vs. Eric's Trip - Love Tara
4. The Toure-Raichel Collective - The Tel Aviv Session vs. Katerine - Les Mariages Chinois

Straighten Up And Fly Right!

[Bang Jan]

Les Mariages Chinois

The Soft Machine | Third
Sun Ra | Atlantis
Van der Graaf Generator | Pawn Hearts
The ToureRaichel Collective | The Tel Aviv Session
Tame Impala | Innerspeaker
Madonna | Madonna
Eric's Trip | Love, Tara
Katerine | Les Mariages Chinois

Probably my favourite Round 1 week overall quality wise, especially my top three.

[luney6]

1. Pawn Heart
2. Third
3. Atlantis
4. Love, Tara
5. Madonna
6. Innerspeaker

Pawn Hearts is the objectively probably the best album here, structure and complexity wise. Third and Atlantis I like a lot, but the premier is a little too repetitive (except for maybe Moon in June), while the latter suffers from a lot of faults free jazz normally does from. Love, Tara and Madonna are alright, while Innerspeaker just isn't.

[Honorio]

1. Soft Machine - Third (1970) vs. Madonna - Madonna (1983)


2. Van der Graaf Generator - Pawn Hearts (1971) vs. Tame Impala - Innerspeaker (2010)


3. Sun-Ra and His Astro Infinity Arkestra - Atlantis (1969) vs. Eric's Trip - Love Tara (1993)


4. The Touré-Raichel Collective - The Tel Aviv Session (2012) vs. Katerine - Les mariages chinois (1991)

Favourite song from every album:
Moon in June | Borderline | Man-Erg | Solitude Is Bliss | Atlantis | Stove | Ane Nahatka | Je m'en vais

Favourite song of the week: Borderline

[DaveC]

1. The Soft Machine - Third vs. Madonna - Madonna
2. Having trouble deciding this one, so pass
3. Sun Ra - Atlantis vs. Eric's Trip - Love, Tara
4. The Toure-Raichel Collective - The Tel Aviv Session vs. Katerine - Les Mariages Chinois

[whuntva]

Third
Innerspeaker (This was evil!)
Atlantis

[Jirin]

The Soft Machine 77-73
Tame Impala 81-79
Sun Ra 83-76

No access to Katrine.

[Bang Jan]

No access to Katrine.

Les Mariages Chinois

[jamieW]

The Soft Machine - Third
Love "Lucky Star." Love "Borderline." Love Madonna. But "Third" is one of my favorite albums of the '70s.

Van der Graaf Generator - Pawn Hearts
A decent prog album wins out over a band who (for me) has improved over time. Unfortunately, "Innerspeaker" was from a period when I wasn't that wild about them.

Sun Ra - Atlantis
For me personally, the first half of the album is some of Sun Ra's weakest work. However, the 22 minute title track is extraordinary.

The Toure-Raichel Collective - The Tel Aviv Session
It's a little late to start now, but I wish I'd taken time each week to thank the nominator of my favorite new discovery. This week it would undoubtedly be "The Toure-Raichel Collective," which is absolutely wonderful. Katerine is quite good, too. Reminded me of a combination of the Dreamies (from earlier) and Belle and Sebastian (who would come along later). One thing's for sure, the song lengths would make hard-core punk bands green with envy.

[Brad]

lol... Bang Jan I certainly appreciate your perseverance in supplying these fine links each week... super helpful!

[bonnielaurel]

1. The Soft Machine - Third vs. Madonna - Madonna
2. Van der Graaf Generator - Pawn Hearts vs. Tame Impala - Innerspeaker
3. Sun Ra - Atlantis vs. Eric's Trip - Love, Tara
4. The Toure-Raichel Collective - The Tel Aviv Session vs. Katerine - Les Mariages Chinois

[DaveC]

It's a little late to start now, but I wish I'd taken time each week to thank the nominator of my favorite new discovery.

You are very welcome. I should thank the nominator of Atlantis. I have only heard two or three Sun Ra albums, but this is the first one that has made a lasting impression.

[Bang Jan]

It's a little late to start now, but I wish I'd taken time each week to thank the nominator of my favorite new discovery.

You are very welcome. I should thank the nominator of Atlantis.

You are very welcome! (I was also the nominator of Third and Pawn Hearts BTW)

[Jeff]

1. The Soft Machine - Third vs. Madonna - Madonna
2. Van der Graaf Generator - Pawn Hearts vs. Tame Impala - Innerspeaker
3. Sun Ra - Atlantis vs. Eric's Trip - Love, Tara

[Brad]

It's a little late to start now, but I wish I'd taken time each week to thank the nominator of my favorite new discovery.

You are very welcome. I should thank the nominator of Atlantis.

You are very welcome! (I was also the nominator of Third and Pawn Hearts BTW)

Big week for Bang Jan!

[acroamor]

1. The Soft Machine - Third vs. Madonna - Madonna
Madonna's simply never done it for me, particularly not in the way that Soft Machine's bizarre jazz riffing does.
2. Van der Graaf Generator - Pawn Hearts vs. Tame Impala - Innerspeaker
What a psychedelic week - although I'm noticing quite a bit of that is due to Bang Jan. I'm taken by both records, but when Tame Impala are good (read: not Currents) they're amazing.
3. Sun Ra - Atlantis vs. Eric's Trip - Love, Tara
Hardest choice of the week for sure. If all of the Eric's Trip album had been a little more acoustic, it might have triumphed, but Sun Ra won out. Maybe I'm in a psychedelic mood this week? Hmm.
4. The Toure-Raichel Collective - The Tel Aviv Session vs. Katerine - Les Mariages Chinois
Oh my god. The moment the Tel Aviv Session started I was hooked. Discovery of the week, much Amazing, not that the other album was without its charms.

[Jirin]

Thanks again Bang Jan.

I vote Toure-Rachiel Collective. Very close vote.

[DocBrown]

The Soft Machine - Third
Tame Impala - Innerspeaker
Eric's Trip - Love, Tara

[Sweepstakes Ron]

Disregard my last comment, because I actually did listen to Third. The first half was surprisingly really enjoyable, but I did not care as much for the second half. I'm voting Madonna.

[Sweepstakes Ron]

Disregard my last comment, because I actually did listen to Third. The first half was surprisingly really enjoyable, but I did not care as much for the second half. I'm voting Madonna.

[Brad]

My picks:

1. The Soft Machine - Third vs. Madonna - Madonna
2. Van der Graaf Generator - Pawn Hearts vs. Tame Impala - Innerspeaker
3. Sun Ra - Atlantis vs. Eric's Trip - Love Tara
4. The Toure-Raichel Collective - The Tel Aviv Session vs. Katerine - Les Mariages Chinois

Thanks!

ps - 11 hours left to vote!

[Kingoftonga]

1. The Soft Machine - Third vs. Madonna - Madonna
2. Van der Graaf Generator - Pawn Hearts vs. Tame Impala - Innerspeaker

[Brad]

14 voters this week (not so great);
acroamor
Bang Jan
bonnielaurel
Brad
DaveC
DocBrown
Honorio
jamieW
Jeff
Jirin
Kingoftonga
luney6
Sweepstakes Ron
whuntva

Winners:
1. The Soft Machine - Third over Madonna - Madonna 9-5
2. Tame Impala - Innerspeaker over Van der Graaf Generator - Pawn Hearts 8-4
3. Sun Ra - Atlantis over Eric's Trip - Love Tara 9-3
4. The Toure-Raichel Collective - The Tel Aviv Session over Katerine - Les Mariages Chinois 7-1

Round 1.16 up soon!