Band Face Off - Round 20

[trackaghost]

He is the lizard king and he can do anything! Even beat Jefferson Airplane it seems, as The Doors win Round 19 by just one vote.

Round 20 is up - vote now, etc, etc...

The results so far...
Round 1: Petty defeats Springsteen - 36 to 19
Round 2: Led Zeppelin defeat The Who - 22 to 19
Round 3: Madonna defeats Sheryl Crow/Kate Bush - 24 to 13/10
Round 4: The Beatles defeat Rolling Stones/U2 - 23 to 16/14
Round 5: Guns N Roses defeat Bon Jovi/Metallica - 17 to 13/12
Round 6: Heart defeat Blondie/The Pretenders - 23 to 16/6
Round 7: The Beach Boys defeat The Kinks/The Byrds - 24 to 10/10
Round 8: Johnny Cash defeats Elvis Presley/Roy Orbison - 20 to 19/7
Round 9: Abba defeats The Carpenters - 25 to 15
Round 10: Prince defeats Jimi Hendrix/Lenny Kravitz - 24 to 15/3
Round 11: No Doubt defeat Garbage/Hole - 27 to 11/9
Round 12: Bob Dylan defeats Neil Young - 26 to 25
Round 13: Dolly Parton defeats Emmylou Harris/Linda Ronstadt - 20 to 17/9
Round 14: Marvin Gaye defeats Aretha Franklin/Stevie Wonder/Diana Ross - 14 to 11/10/2
Round 15: David Bowie defeats Lou Reed/Iggy Pop - 35 to 5/2
Round 16: Talking Heads TIE WITH The Clash - 18/18
Round 17: Billie Holiday defeats Ella Fitzgerald - 22 to 7
Round 18: The Eagles defeat Lynyrd Skynyrd - 26 to 16
Round 19: The Doors defeat Jefferson Airplane - 13 to 12

**Break the tie between Talking Heads and The Clash, vote now!!**

http://ledge.fleetwoodmac.net/showthread.php?t=23020

[Jyqm]

Well, I don't know quite what the logic is behind this one (bold pseudonyms?), but Christ, if this isn't a blow-out... subjective taste, schmubjective taste, if you vote for Sting you're just wrong...

Then again, I've never really understood even the adoration of The Police. To me, they always just seemed a bit too prissy for what they were trying to do. And I'd probably vote for just about anybody who was up against Sting, actually.

EC, however. The man has proved over and over again that he can do just about everything, from country to classical, and I think even the Bacharach album has some pretty great stuff on it. There are more brilliant songs on his first three albums than most people ever record in their lifetimes (Sting included). And there's simply no getting around the fact that even today the man has very few peers who can write as well and as intelligently as he does, and almost no one who can write anything quite as wonderfully acerbic as he can. The bulk of the man's lyrics have just been consistently superb for nearly three decades.

I'll submit one of my favorite verses to the jury, with the note that he wrote this one a decade and a half ago, the first time the US was in Iraq:

They're hunting us down here with Liberty's light
A handshaking double talking procession of the mighty
Pursued by a T.V. crew and coming after them
A limousine of singing stars and their brotherhood anthem
The former dictator was impeccably behaved
They're mopping up all the stubborn ones who just refuse to be saved

Damn you, prescience...

I think what most impresses me about Mr. MacManus, though, is his consistency. Though he has certainly released a handful of weaker records, the overall quality of his songwriting and his music has just been incredibly high throughout his entire career. And that's 21 albums in a span of 28 years. Even his worst records have at least a couple of true gems on them.

All right, that's enough gushing from me. Vote away, people. Just know that if Sting comes even close to winning, I'll cry. And I don't even think they've got an appropriate emoticon for that here...

[Jyqm]

Originally Posted by trackaghost

There isn't too much logic behind it other than the fact they sort of emerged on the scene around the same time (Sting with The Police of course). They're very different, so I thought this might be interesting like The Clash/Talking Heads Face Off. I personally can't stand Sting, but he does have a lot of fans out there.

I'll still pretend it's the bold pseudonym connection... I mean, one partly named himself after one of the first and greatest rock and roll singers in history, and the other took a VERB! A verb! As a name! (George Carlin actually has a really great bit on how Mr. Sumner dared to choose such an audacious name for himself and then made such wussy music with it.)

[Miss Vicky]

I'm not voting for Elvis Costello so much as I'm voting against Sting.

The very mention of his name makes me physically ill.

[face of glass]

I do like The Police and Sting's first solo album, after that there's only isolated songs that I enjoy, amidst seas of blandness.

I've heard about six EC albums and obviously need to get more but The Police never made anything as biting as This Year's Model. And I don't even need to mention his lyrics.

[Jyqm]

Originally Posted by face of glass

I do like The Police and Sting's first solo album, after that there's only isolated songs that I enjoy, amidst seas of blandness.

I've heard about six EC albums and obviously need to get more but The Police never made anything as biting as This Year's Model. And I don't even need to mention his lyrics.

Which six have you heard, Gaius? I've got almost all of them, so if you want any recommendations, or if there's a certain sound of his you enjoy more than another...

[face of glass]

Ah, this one went down a bit too quickly.

Originally Posted by Jyqm

Which six have you heard, Gaius? I've got almost all of them, so if you want any recommendations, or if there's a certain sound of his you enjoy more than another...

I have heard Elvis's first three albums, and also Trust, Imperial Bedroom and King Of America. The first three are really the most impressive to me, especially This Year's Model with its great band sound, it's incredibly tight and the songs are all great as well. Also, you gotta love a man who cleverly quotes "Dancing Queen" and makes it sound like it's not a rip-off.

I still have to give King Of America more proper listens though. I have no idea as of where to go next, although I have read some suggestions like "if you like This Year's Model, you'll like Blood And Chocolate too". I do love some isolated Elvis songs, such as "I Want You" or "God Give Me Strength". I guess Painted From Memory would be a good buy, given that I love Bacharach?

[Mari]

I've 6 too, but a couple different ones
Anyway, try Brutal Youth. It's my favorite.

[Mari]

By the way, Sharon? Could you, would you pleeeease do the New Order, Depeche Mode, The Cure, The Smiths, Eurythmics.. (eh.. I forgot which ones really) Face Off tomorrow night?
Because, uhm, we*'ve got a whole campaign planned And tomorrow would come in handy.
thank you

*that's that Finnish New Order fan/snob and me, of course

[Serrart]

Elvis Costello, Veronica is one of my all time favourite songs, and I love how he reinterprets classics.

Romy

[estranged4life]

went with Elvis...Cant stand Mr.Pompous ass!

[Jyqm]

Originally Posted by face of glass

Ah, this one went down a bit too quickly.

I have heard Elvis's first three albums, and also Trust, Imperial Bedroom and King Of America. The first three are really the most impressive to me, especially This Year's Model with its great band sound, it's incredibly tight and the songs are all great as well. Also, you gotta love a man who cleverly quotes "Dancing Queen" and makes it sound like it's not a rip-off.

I still have to give King Of America more proper listens though. I have no idea as of where to go next, although I have read some suggestions like "if you like This Year's Model, you'll like Blood And Chocolate too". I do love some isolated Elvis songs, such as "I Want You" or "God Give Me Strength". I guess Painted From Memory would be a good buy, given that I love Bacharach?

Blood And Chocolate is really great, though I don't know that it sounds especially like This Year's Model. I think that comparison tends to get made because at the time it was his first really good album with the Attractions in a couple of years (and his first after King Of America, which only has the Attractions on one song). But it is a great album, and does feature "I Want You."

And yes, if you love Bacharach, I think you'll really love Painted From Memory, the two of them combining their different songwriting talents led to some really great pieces of work. Plus, EC really worked on getting his voice in good shape for the crooning.

Mari's suggestion of Brutal Youth is a good one, too. Kind of the 90s equivalent of the 70s Attractions sound. And I'll also suggest Get Happy!!, which is Elvis' fourth record. It's very tight, very energetic, and very much inspired by the 60s Stax sound - 20 songs, most of them hovering around 2-2.5 minutes, with some really whirlwind lyrics in a spitfire delivery. Great great stuff.

[Jyqm]

Originally Posted by estranged4life

went with Elvis...Cant stand Mr.Pompous ass!

So wait, why'd you vote for Elvis?

(I can make the same joke twice in two weeks, who says I can't?)

[Jyqm]

Originally Posted by Serrart

Elvis Costello, Veronica is one of my all time favourite songs, and I love how he reinterprets classics.

Romy

Which classics do you mean, Romy?

[shackin'up]

Originally Posted by Jyqm

if you vote for Sting you're just wrong...

Then again, I've never really understood even the adoration of The Police.

Now this quote only is a reason to vote for Sting. I don't know what age you have but I was 15 when the Police's first album came out and they put the rocking world upside down with pointy punkrocky eclectic songs that stuck in your head AND were played and composed by VERY talented musicians who pared a very high technical play-and compositionlevel with raw power. That was not so much around back then. When the Police stopped, The bee should have stopped too. everything he did after that seems very emotionless to me.
Still he gets my vote. Because Costello is an even bigger dildo.

PS- maybe you did not get the Police during the early 80's because you were appealed to something like Starship back then. That would make sense. See? What's "wrong"?