Moderately Acclaimed Albums 13 - Round 1.15

[Honorio]

Welcome to the Round 1.15 of the 13th edition of the Moderately Acclaimed Albums poll!

Remember:
- Vote for your favourite album in each match-up.
- Anyone can vote as long as the voter has heard both albums.
- Good-spirited comments are encouraged, but not absolutely necessary.

Deadline = July 11th 20:00 GMT +1

Bracket maker link: https://www.bracketmaker.com/tmenu.cfm?tid=475615

Match-ups:
1. Charlie Parker & Dizzy Gillespie - Bird and Diz (1952) vs. Jawbox - For Your Own Special Sweetheart (1994)
2. Anna von Hausswolff - Ceremony (2012) vs. Eric Clapton - Slowhand (1977)
3. Lamb - Fear of Fours (1999) vs. Obywatel G.C. – Tak! Tak! (1988)
4. Nino Ferrer - Métronomie (1971) vs. Betty Davis - Betty Davis (1973)


These are the albums of the week:



Album: Bird and Diz
Artist: Charlie Parker & Dizzy Gillespie
Date of release: 1952
Country: USA
Genre: Bebop, Cool Jazz
Label: Mercury
Length: 24:58, 8 tracks
Song most streamed on Spotify: Bloomdido
Spotify link 1 (tracks 1-6), Spotify link 2 (tracks 5 and 3)




Album: For Your Own Special Sweetheart
Artist: Jawbox
Date of release: February 8, 1994
Country: USA
Genre: Post-Hardcore, Alternative Rock
Label: Atlantic
Length: 41:44, 13 tracks
Song most streamed on Spotify: Savory
Spotify link




Album: Ceremony
Artist: Anna von Hausswolff
Date of release: July 18, 2012
Country: Sweden
Genre: Ambient Pop, Neoclassical Darkwave
Label: Kning
Length: 61:06, 13 tracks
Song most streamed on Spotify: Mountains Crave
Spotify link




Album: Slowhand
Artist: Eric Clapton
Date of release: November 25, 1977
Country: UK
Genre: Blues Rock, Rock
Label: RSO
Length: 39:08, 9 tracks
Song most streamed on Spotify: Cocaine
Spotify link




Album: Fear of Fours
Artist: Lamb
Date of release: May 17, 1999
Country: UK
Genre: Trip Hop, Acid Jazz
Label: Fontana
Length: 55:57, 15 tracks
Song most streamed on Spotify: B Line
Spotify link




Album: Tak! Tak!
Artist: Obywatel G.C.
Date of release: 1988
Country: Poland
Genre: New Wave, Synthpop
Label: Polskie Nagrania Muza
Length: 39:05, 8 tracks
Song most streamed on Spotify: Tak... tak... to ja
Spotify link




Album: Métronomie
Artist: Nino Ferrer
Date of release: 1971
Country: France
Genre: Progressive Rock, Progressive Pop
Label: Rìviera
Length: 32:16, 8 tracks
Song most streamed on Spotify: La maison près de la fontaine
Spotify link




Album: Betty Davis
Artist: Betty Davis
Date of release: 1973
Country: USA
Genre: Funk, Funk Rock
Label: Just Sunshine
Length: 29:33, 8 tracks
Song most streamed on Spotify: Anti Love Song
Spotify link (first 8 tracks)


Mini-stats for the week:
a) Years:
- Mean 1983
- Range 1952-2012 (60 years)
- Breakdown by decades: 1950s (1), 1970s (3), 1980s (1), 1990s (2), 2010s (1)
b) Countries:
- Europe (5): UK (2), Sweden (1), Poland (1), France (1)
- America (3): USA (3)
c) Genres:
- Rock (4): Post-Hardcore (1), Blues Rock (1), New Wave (1), Progressive Rock (1)
- Jazz (1): Bebop (1)
- Pop (1): Ambient Pop (1)
- Electronic (1): Trip Hop (1)
- R&B (1): Funk (1)

One of the shorter rounds (only Round 1 was slightly shorter) with 5 hours 25 minutes.

[DaveC]

1. Charlie Parker & Dizzy Gillespie - Bird and Diz (1952) vs. Jawbox - For Your Own Special Sweetheart (1994)
2. Anna von Hausswolff - Ceremony (2012) vs. Eric Clapton - Slowhand (1977)
3. Lamb - Fear of Fours (1999) vs. Obywatel G.C. – Tak! Tak! (1988)
4. Nino Ferrer - Métronomie (1971) vs. Betty Davis - Betty Davis (1973)

[BleuPanda]

Charlie Parker & Dizzy Gillespie - Bird and Diz (1952)
Anna von Hausswolff - Ceremony (2012)

[Listyguy]

1. Charlie Parker & Dizzy Gillespie - Bird and Diz (1952) vs. Jawbox - For Your Own Special Sweetheart (1994)
2. Anna von Hausswolff - Ceremony (2012) vs. Eric Clapton - Slowhand (1977)
3. Lamb - Fear of Fours (1999) vs. Obywatel G.C. – Tak! Tak! (1988)
4. Nino Ferrer - Métronomie (1971) vs. Betty Davis - Betty Davis (1973)

[Rdwdbob]

1. Jawbox - For Your Own Special Sweetheart (1994)
2. Eric Clapton - Slowhand (1977)
3. Obywatel G.C. – Tak! Tak! (1988)

[Rdwdbob]

4. Nino Ferrer - Metronomie (1971)

[bonnielaurel]

Charlie Parker & Dizzy Gillespie - Bird and Diz
Eric Clapton - Slowhand
Lamb - Fear of Fours
Betty Davis - Betty Davis

[Honorio]

My votes:



1. Charlie Parker & Dizzy Gillespie - Bird and Diz (1952) vs. 6. Jawbox - For Your Own Special Sweetheart (1994)
3. Anna von Hausswolff – Ceremony (2012) vs. 4. Eric Clapton - Slowhand (1977)
5. Lamb - Fear of Fours (1999) vs. 8. Obywatel G.C. – Tak! Tak! (1988)
7. Nino Ferrer - Métronomie (1971) vs. 2. Betty Davis - Betty Davis (1973)

My Top 3 songs of the week:
1. Bloomdido
2. La maison près de la fontaine
3. Cocaine

[Madzong]

Eric Clapton - Slowhand (1977)

[mileswide]

2. Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie - Bird and Diz v. 3. Jawbox - For Your Own Special Sweetheart
8. Anna von Hausswolf - Ceremony v. 7. Eric Clapton - Slowhand
4. Lamb - Fear of Fours v. 5. Obywatel G.C. - Tak! Tak!
6. Nino Ferrer - Métronomie v. 1. Betty Davis - Betty Davis

Standouts: Leap Frog | Jackpot Plus! | No Body | Lay down Sally | Fly | Piosenka Kata | Isabelle | If I'm in Luck I Might Get Picked up

[Brad]

Quick version:
Bird & diz
Anna von hausswolf
Lamb
Nino ferrer

Thanks!

[Honorio]

24 hours left!
Quite low turnout so far...

[FrankLotion]

1. Charlie Parker & Dizzy Gillespie - Bird and Diz
2. Anna von Hausswolff - Ceremony
3. Obywatel G.C. – Tak! Tak!
4. Betty Davis - Betty Davis

[Rob]

3. Charlie Parker & Dizzy Gillespie - Bird and Diz (1952) vs. 8. Jawbox - For Your Own Special Sweetheart (1994)
1. Anna von Hausswolff - Ceremony (2012) vs. 5. Eric Clapton - Slowhand (1977)
7. Lamb - Fear of Fours (1999) vs. 6. Obywatel G.C. – Tak! Tak! (1988)
4. Nino Ferrer - Métronomie (1971) vs. 2. Betty Davis - Betty Davis (1973)

Two of my nominations in one week again! Though this time not against each other. They are so different that mileswide actually ranks one of them best of the week and the other last. I'm talking about:

Anna von Hausswolff - Ceremony
I frankly only just heard this before the nomination time ended and was so impressed I immediately listed it. Frankly, I didn't hear it a second time until this week. My first impression was right though, as this is some epic darkwave/ art pop, that really highlights von Hausswolff's powerful wailing. Later she would become a bit more famous with her more metal-like album Dead Magic. That one is great, but this one feels even more emotional and unique.

Betty Davis - Betty Davis
I hadn't actually listened to any Betty Davis albums or songs before February this year, when she died. She had stopped recording a long time ago and her three albums are all mostly known as overlooked gems. She is due for rediscovery as her frankness in sexual pleasure is really timely. The real Betty Davis was apparently very shy when she wasn't performing, unleashing all her life energy through song. I could have chosen any of the albums, but I thought the self-titled one was only a little better. If you like this, check out the other two albums too!

Some other thoughts:
- Eric Clapton can sometimes bore me, but Slowhand is mostly fine. He seems oddly more genuine when he makes a relaxed album with little meaning. At the same time, I still prefer him as a band member where he isn't the clear lead artist.
- I won't call Tak! Tak! a masterpiece or anything, but I'd have guessed that Obywatel's new wave style would find more of an audience here. It's a very AM album, albeit sung in Polish.
- I was surprised Métronomie was an actual prog album. I only know Nino Ferrer superficially, through writing about his song Le sud for my 10,000 Songs project a few years ago, but that was more in a familiar French pop mode. I prefer this.

[Safetycat]

6. Charlie Parker & Dizzy Gillespie - Bird and Diz (1952) < 5. Jawbox - For Your Own Special Sweetheart (1994)
1. Anna von Hausswolff - Ceremony (2012) > 4. Eric Clapton - Slowhand (1977)
8. Lamb - Fear of Fours (1999) < 3. Obywatel G.C. – Tak! Tak! (1988)
7. Nino Ferrer - Métronomie (1971) < 2. Betty Davis - Betty Davis (1973)

[rumpdoll]

1. Charlie Parker & Dizzy Gillespie - Bird and Diz (1952) vs. Jawbox - For Your Own Special Sweetheart (1994)
2. Anna von Hausswolff - Ceremony (2012) vs. Eric Clapton - Slowhand (1977)
3. Lamb - Fear of Fours (1999) vs. Obywatel G.C. – Tak! Tak! (1988)
4. Nino Ferrer - Métronomie (1971) vs. Betty Davis - Betty Davis (1973)

[Nassim]

1. Jawbox - For Your Own Special Sweetheart (1994)
2. Anna von Hausswolff - Ceremony (2012)

[Honorio]

One hour left!

[Honorio]

The participation in this last part of the Round 1 is continuously decreasing (maybe because of summer holidays). The week we had a total of 14 voters, 2 less than the previous week and 4 less than last year:
BleuPanda
bonnielaurel
Brad
DaveC
FrankLotion
Honorio
Listyguy
Madzong
Mileswide
Nassim
Rdwdbob
Rob
rumpdoll
Safetycat


And these are the winners of Round 1.15:
1. Charlie Parker & Dizzy Gillespie - Bird and Diz over Jawbox - For Your Own Special Sweetheart 9-4
2. Anna von Hausswolff - Ceremony over Eric Clapton - Slowhand 10-4
3. Lamb - Fear of Fours over Obywatel G.C. – Tak! Tak! 6-5
4. Betty Davis - Betty Davis over Nino Ferrer - Métronomie 8-3

Round 1.16 up next!

[Jirin]

I would have voted but thought I had one more day. Anyway my vote would not have changed the result.