Moderately Acclaimed Albums 14 - Round 1.8

[Honorio]

Welcome to the Round 1.8 of the 14th 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 = May 21st 20:00 GMT +1

Bracket maker link: https://www.bracketmaker.com/tmenu.cfm?tid=477179

Match-ups:
1. Buffy Sainte-Marie - It's My Way! (1964) vs. Fabrizio De André - Crêuza de mä (1984)
2. The The - Hanky Panky (1995) vs. Joe Meek and The Blue Men - I Hear a New World (1991)


These are the albums of the week:



Album: It's My Way!
Artist: Buffy Sainte-Marie
Date of release: April 1964
Country: Canada / USA
Genre: Contemporary Folk, Singer-Songwriter
Label: Vanguard
Length: 40:35, 13 tracks
Song most streamed on Spotify: Universal Soldier
Spotify link




Album: Crêuza de mä
Artist: Fabrizio De André
Date of release: March 1984
Country: Italy
Genre: Canzone d'autore, Italian Folk Music
Label: Ricordi
Length: 33:29, 7 tracks
Song most streamed on Spotify: Crêuza de mä
Spotify link (first 7 tracks)




Album: Hanky Panky
Artist: The The
Date of release: February 14, 1995
Country: UK
Genre: Alternative Rock, Alt-Country
Label: Epic
Length: 33:31, 11 tracks
Song most streamed on Spotify: I Saw the Light
Spotify link




Album: I Hear a New World: An Outer Space Music Fantasy
Artist: Joe Meek and The Blue Men
Date of release: 1991 (songs 8, 2, 3 and 9 were previously released in a EP in 1960)
Country: UK
Genre: Space Age Pop, Experimental Pop
Label: Triumph
Length: 32:54, 12 tracks
Song most streamed on Spotify: I Hear a New World
Spotify link


Mini-stats for the week:
a) Years:
- Mean 1983
- Range 1964-1995 (31 years)
- Breakdown by decades: 1960s (1), 1980s (1), 1990s (2)
b) Countries:
- Europe (3): UK (2), Italy (1)
- America (1): Canada (1)
c) Genres:
- Folk (1): Contemporary Folk (1)
- Singer-Songwriter (1): Canzone d'autore (1)
- Rock (1): Alternative Rock (1)
- Pop (1): Space Age Pop (1)

The oldest bunch of albums of the tournament, with a mean of 1983.

The spotify playlist with 43 songs and 2 hours 20 minutes of music:

[Schüttelbirne]

2 | Buffy Sainte-Marie - It's My Way! (1964) vs. 1 | Fabrizio De André - Crêuza de mä (1984)
4 | The The - Hanky Panky (1995) vs. 3 | Joe Meek and The Blue Men - I Hear a New World (1991)

For more information and context on albums by Fabrizio De André I recommend this blog: http://deandretranslated.blogspot.com/

The second group this week is so bizarre...

[Listyguy]

1. Buffy Sainte-Marie - It's My Way! (1964) vs. Fabrizio De André - Crêuza de mä (1984)
2. The The - Hanky Panky (1995) vs. Joe Meek and The Blue Men - I Hear a New World (1991)

[Lagunin]

1. Buffy Sainte-Marie - It's My Way! (1964)
2. Joe Meek and The Blue Men - I Hear a New World (1991)

[Brad]

My picks:
1. Buffy Sainte-Marie - It's My Way! (1964) vs. Fabrizio De André - Crêuza de mä (1984)
2. The The - Hanky Panky (1995) vs. Joe Meek and The Blue Men - I Hear a New World (1991)

Thanks!

[mileswide]

4. Buffy Sainte Marie - It's My Way! v. 3. Fabrizio de André - Crêuza de mä

2. The The - Hanky Panky v. 1. Joe Meek and the Blue Men - I Hear a New World: An Outer Space Music Fantasy

Standouts: Cod'ine | Sidún | I'm a Long Gone Daddy | The Bulblight

[DaveC]

1. Buffy Sainte-Marie - It's My Way! (1964) vs. Fabrizio De André - Crêuza de mä (1984)
2. The The - Hanky Panky (1995) vs. Joe Meek and The Blue Men - I Hear a New World (1991)

[Romain]

1. Fabrizio De André - Crêuza de mä (1984)
2. The The - Hanky Panky (1995)

[Madzong]

1. Fabrizio De André - Crêuza de mä (1984)
2. The The - Hanky Panky (1995)

[acroamor]

1. Fabrizio De André - Crêuza de mä
2. The The - Hanky Panky

[FrankLotion]

1. Fabrizio De André - Crêuza de mä (1984)
2. The The - Hanky Panky (1995)

[Bang Jan]

1 | Buffy Sainte-Marie | It's My Way!
3 | Fabrizio De André | Crêuza de mä

4 | The The | Hanky Panky
2 | Joe Meek and The Blue Men | I Hear a New World

Favourite song of the week: Buffy Sainte-Marie | Cod'ine

[bonnielaurel]

Buffy Sainte-Marie - It's My Way!
The The - Hanky Panky

[Jirin]

It's My Way 94 - Crueza de ma 88
Hanky Panky 79 - I Hear A New World 75

[Honorio]

Nice increase of participation! And close fights!

My votes:



2. Buffy Sainte-Marie - It's My Way! (1964) vs. 1. Fabrizio De André - Crêuza de mä (1984)
3. The The - Hanky Panky (1995) vs. 4. Joe Meek and The Blue Men - I Hear a New World (1991)

Favourite song off every album: Cod'ine / Crêuza de mä / I Saw the Light / I Hear a New World

[Rdwdbob]

1. Fabrizio De André - Crêuza de mä (1984)

[digitiser]

Buffy Sainte-Marie - It's My Way! (1964) vs. Fabrizio De André - Crêuza de mä (1984)
The The - Hanky Panky (1995) vs. Joe Meek and The Blue Men - I Hear a New World (1991)

[Kingoftonga]

Winners in red!

1. Buffy Sainte-Marie - It's My Way! (1964) vs. Fabrizio De André - Crêuza de mä (1984)
2. The The - Hanky Panky (1995) vs. Joe Meek and The Blue Men - I Hear a New World (1991)

[Rdwdbob]

2. The The - Hanky Panky (1995)

[Honorio]

24 hours left!

[phil]

Buffy Sainte-Marie | It's My Way!
Joe Meek and The Blue Men | I Hear a New World

[Rob]

Great week with very interesting picks all around!

4. The The – Hanky Panky
An awful cover, an awful title and an awful band name. How big would the chance have been that I would have tried this without a strong recommendation? Sure, I already knew the band from the strong classic Soul Mining, but this was made a long time after that, when the band had faded out of contemporary culture. Color me surprised when it turned out to be a Hank Williams cover album! A good one too! The band that brought us the soulful new wave of Soul Mining is completely unrecognizable here, but so is Hank Williams in a sense. Sure, you can still recognize Williams’ lyrics and song structures, but this is hardly a straight copy. The The rock this up, sometimes forsaking every hint of country for a strong blues rock sound, like on I Saw the Light and I’m a Long Gone Daddy. I don’t know what it says about this band that they are at their worst when they emulate Williams’ earnest country mode, like on There’s a Tear in My Beer and especially If You’ll Be a Baby to Me, which is so awful that for a minute I started to think this whole album was meant as a parody. So I’m glad that straight-up country isn’t attempted much, as it makes the overall record stronger.

3. Buffy Sainte-Marie – It’s My Way!
An album I remember from a previous edition. I think it even won a couple of rounds back then. This record came out rather quickly after Bob Dylan’s breakthrough. Whether Sainte-Marie was influenced by him I can’t say, but this is an album in the same mold as The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan: an acoustic folk record that mixes mostly original material with a small handful of traditionals, with lyrics that alternate between the personal and the political. Like Dylan, Sainte-Marie is a very forceful, frequently angry singer; a big contrast to the sweet voices of Joan Baez or Odetta that were the standard for female folk singers of the day. Sainte-Marie is also an indigenous American and this informs what are perhaps her strongest songs, like Now That the Buffalo’s Gone and Cod’ine. Overall it a very gripping record, not in the least because the singer herself is such a gripping presence. However, the few religious songs – all covers or adaptations – never quite land well in between the lived-in harshness of it all. I also have problems with perhaps the most famous song, Universal Soldier, which blames all war on soldiers instead of politicians and the like, which just doesn’t sit well with me. The way she psychoanalyses soldiers is also horribly naïve. Despite this, most of the songs here are very good.

2. Joe Meek and The Blue Men - I Hear a New World: An Outer Space Fantasy
The heck is this…?
…
This is certainly a surprise. It is a very futuristic sounding attempt at music for a new space age, recorded in 1959, but with the exception of four songs, not released until 1991. I’m willing to pay good money to travel back to 1959, convince Meek to release all of this immediately and check out the reactions during the launch party.
It is easy to call this album ahead of its time and in some ways it is, but that doesn’t completely capture the feel of this, as in some ways it is also very, very dated. To me it sounds like a late-50’s/ early 60’s attempt to desperately break free of the constraints of it’s era in trying to make the music of the 2050’s. There is a naivete to the whole thing that I think is very much of its time, but also very endearing. Certainly, the helium-sounding alien backing vocals haven’t aged well, reminding me more of Alvin and the Chipmunks than creatures from a planet far, far away. This is certainly not a perfect album, let alone a masterpiece, but I can’t help finding its very existence inspiring and Meek’s optimistic vision of space travel is endearing. I kind of love it despite its flaws. It should be said though that Meek is at his best when he isn’t trying to make music for 100 years from now, but when he is looking five years ahead, with songs like Orbit Around the Moon, which envision his success with songs he’d go on to produce, like The Ventures’ Telstar.

1. Fabrizio De André - Crêuza de mä
In a great week there still manages to be a clear winner for me. Sure, the albums have some big flaws as mentioned, but they are all great in their own right. Crêuza de mä tops everything with much ease, though. The first time I listened to it without any further knowledge and already was captivated by the beautiful and smooth Mediterranean sounds, with mysterious regional instruments I couldn’t name for the life of me. Then there was De André’s warm and appealing voice, singing in Genovese dialect (not that I knew what the dialect was at the time), as exotic and appealing as the instruments. I didn’t understand a word of it, nor had any idea of its intentions, but I found it moving and truly transporting.
The second time I listened to it with the link provided by Schüttelbirne, giving me more ideas of the intentions behind the album, as well of the specific cultural background that De André build upon. It only deepened my appreciation of this masterwork. This record also fits with my believe that any art becomes deeper and more universal by being specific, in this case through its regional and historic context (it’s basically all about the live of seafaring men in Genova of old), instead of any attempt to capture life in general attempts. A beautiful album.


1. Buffy Sainte-Marie - It's My Way! (1964) vs. Fabrizio De André - Crêuza de mä (1984)
2. The The - Hanky Panky (1995) vs. Joe Meek and The Blue Men - I Hear a New World (1991)

[Honorio]

Great! This week we have the recovery I was hoping for last week, with a total of 19 voters, 4 more than last week and 1 more than last year. The voters were:
acroamor
Bang Jan
bonnielaurel
Brad
DaveC
digitiser
FrankLotion
Honorio
Jirin
Kingoftonga
Lagunin
Listyguy
Madzong
mileswide
Phil
Rdwdbob
Rob
Romain
Schüttelbirne


And these are the winners of Round 1.8:
1. Fabrizio De André - Crêuza de mä over Buffy Sainte-Marie - It's My Way! 11-8
2. The The - Hanky Panky over Joe Meek and The Blue Men - I Hear a New World 11-8

Round 1.9 up next!