SGTC: Mach II, Round 4

[murlough23]

Well, I took a nosedive toward the back of the class last round, and Josh catapulted himself into the lead. Interesting turn of events. Anyway, here's what's on the plate for Round 4:

bdg: Thrice, Vheissu (Clips)
bloop: Depeche Mode, Playing the Angel (Clips)
Brenden: Joni Mitchell, Both Sides Now (Clips)
Danny: The Sundays, Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic (Clips)
Josh: Barenaked Ladies, Disc One: All Their Greatest Hits (Clips)
murlough: Chris Rice, Amusing (Clips)
NinjaRob: L.A. Symphony, Disappear Here (Clips)
plvarona: 4th Avenue Jones, Stereo: The Evolution of HipRockSoul (Clips)
Wildcat: The Clash, Combat Rock (Clips)
worldofcm: Various Artists, The Message: Psalms (Clips)

[Josh]

bdg: 4
bloop: 4
Brenden: 4
Danny: 4
murlough: 4
NinjaRob: 4
plvarona: 5
Wildcat: 4
worldofcm: 3

[Wildcatblue7]

Here's to predicting my score this round will be even worse than last...

bdg: 3
bloop: 3
Brenden: 3
Danny: 3
Josh: 4
murlough: 4
NinjaRob: 4
plvarona: 4
worldofcm: 2

yeah.

[murlough23]

Here's to predicting my score this round will be even worse than last...

You don't get any bonus points for that. Sorry.

bdg: 5 stars
bloop: 3 stars
Brenden: 4 stars
Danny: 3 stars
Josh: 4 stars
NinjaRob: 3 stars
plvarona: 4 stars
Wildcat: 3 stars
worldofcm: 3 stars

[Wildcatblue7]

You don't get any bonus points for that. Sorry.
 

dang it.  

   

[murlough23]

By the way, what do folks think of "Chicks Who Rock" as a theme for Round 5? It can be interpreted either literally or figuratively.

I'm thinking of having a theme round every odd-numbered round from here on out. The highest scorer in one themed round would get to suggest the next theme (subject to feasibility and everyone's approval, of course).

[Brenden]

Works for me.

[bloop]

bdg: Thrice, Vheissu 3 stars
Brenden: Joni Mitchell, Both Sides Now 4 stars
Danny: The Sundays, Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic 3 stars
Josh: Barenaked Ladies, Disc One: All Their Greatest Hits 4 stars
murlough: Chris Rice, Amusing 4 stars
NinjaRob: L.A. Symphony, Disappear Here 4 stars
plvarona: 4th Avenue Jones, Stereo: The Evolution of HipRockSoul 5 stars
Wildcat: The Clash, Combat Rock 3 stars
worldofcm: Various Artists, The Message: Psalms 3 stars

I broke my own rule this round.  Maybe I'm being nice.

[Wildcatblue7]

By the way, what do folks think of "Chicks Who Rock" as a theme for Round 5? It can be interpreted either literally or figuratively.

I'm thinking of having a theme round every odd-numbered round from here on out. The highest scorer in one themed round would get to suggest the next theme (subject to feasibility and everyone's approval, of course).

Sounds like a plan to me.  I already know what I'm doing, in that case.  haha.

[murlough23]

I broke my own rule this round.  Maybe I'm being nice.

What rule would that be?

NP: "Real Life Fairytale", Plumb

[bloop]

What rule would that be?

NP: "Real Life Fairytale", Plumb

Well, if it's at least billboard material, I can say I did not I suppose.  I just wanted to avoid indie bait in general.  I promised myself I would try to mislead simply by going to the billboard charts for guidance on my next pick.

[eatahouse]

bdg: Thrice, Vheissu (Clips) 4
bloop: Depeche Mode, Playing the Angel (Clips) 4
Brenden: Joni Mitchell, Both Sides Now (Clips) 4
Danny: The Sundays, Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic (Clips) 3
Josh: Barenaked Ladies, Disc One: All Their Greatest Hits (Clips) 3
murlough: Chris Rice, Amusing (Clips) 4
NinjaRob: L.A. Symphony, Disappear Here (Clips) 4
plvarona: 4th Avenue Jones, Stereo: The Evolution of HipRockSoul (Clips) 4
Wildcat: The Clash, Combat Rock (Clips) 4
worldofcm: Various Artists, The Message: Psalms (Clips) 2

[-danny316-]

By the way, what do folks think of "Chicks Who Rock" as a theme for Round 5? It can be interpreted either literally or figuratively.
 

I'm fine with it - but do I pick on Iona, Sam Phillips, or Chasing Furies?

Bad time to realize we don't have an :evil: smiley.  

[murlough23]

I'm fine with it - but do I pick on Iona, Sam Phillips, or Chasing Furies?

Yes.

Bad time to realize we don't have an :evil: smiley.

We really need one of those. Too bad Vlad! doesn't read these threads. I've been known to borrow them from elsewhere (another thing Google Image Search comes in handy for).

NP: "First and Last Waltz", Nickel Creek

[plvarona]

By the way, what do folks think of "Chicks Who Rock" as a theme for Round 5? It can be interpreted either literally or figuratively.

I'm fine with that.

While I'm at it:

bdg: 4 stars
bloop: 4 stars
Brenden: 3 stars
Danny: 3 stars
Josh: 3 stars
murlough: 4 stars
NinjaRob: 4 stars
Wildcat: 4 stars
worldofcm: 3 stars

[bdg13disciple]

bloop: Depeche Mode, Playing the Angel (4)
Brenden: Joni Mitchell, Both Sides Now (3)
Danny: The Sundays, Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic (3)
Josh: Barenaked Ladies, Disc One: All Their Greatest Hits (3)
murlough: Chris Rice, Amusing (4)
NinjaRob: L.A. Symphony, Disappear Here (4)
plvarona: 4th Avenue Jones, Stereo: The Evolution of HipRockSoul (4)
Wildcat: The Clash, Combat Rock (3)
worldofcm: Various Artists, The Message: Psalms (5)

chicks who rock... sure... i can rustle something up...

peace... love... bdg...

[worldofcm]

bdg: Thrice, Vheissu 3 stars
bloop: Depeche Mode, Playing the Angel 4 stars
Brenden: Joni Mitchell, Both Sides Now 3 stars
Danny: The Sundays, Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic 3 stars
Josh: Barenaked Ladies, Disc One: All Their Greatest Hits 3 stars
murlough: Chris Rice, Amusing 4 stars
NinjaRob: L.A. Symphony, Disappear Here 4 stars
plvarona: 4th Avenue Jones, Stereo: The Evolution of HipRockSoul 4 stars
Wildcat: The Clash, Combat Rock 3 stars

Chicks that rock - sure...

[Josh]

I'm okay with chicks that rock as well.

[NinjaRob17]

bdg: Thrice, Vheissu - 3 stars
bloop: Depeche Mode, Playing the Angel - 4 stars
Brenden: Joni Mitchell, Both Sides Now - 4 stars
Danny: The Sundays, Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic - 4 stars
Josh: Barenaked Ladies, Disc One: All Their Greatest Hits - 3 stars
murlough: Chris Rice, Amusing - 4 stars
plvarona: 4th Avenue Jones, Stereo: The Evolution of HipRockSoul - 4 stars
Wildcat: The Clash, Combat Rock - 3 stars
worldofcm: Various Artists, The Message: Psalms - 3 stars

Chicks That Rock is fine.

[Brenden]

bdg: 2
bloop: 4
Josh: 4
Danny: 4
murlough: 4
NinjaRob: 4
plvarona: 5
Wildcat: 3
worldofcm: 3
 

[worldofcm]

So I guess I'll be first.

I absoluetly love The Message: Psalms.  Everything about it.  Songwriting, production.  It's all just very well done, very well executed, and very well thought out.  Heck, even Building 429 turns out a memorable performance.  However, even if one doesn't buy into their performance, Over the Rhine, Venus Hum & Ginny Owens, John David Webster, and Kendall Payne all deliver enough to make up for it.

I'm settled into a nice 4 1/2 stars, but I will round up, just cause I really like the Chris Rice and Rachael Lampa songs.

My rating:  5 stars

For next round, put me down for Rebecca St. James' God, an album that I've never listened to all the way through - until now.

[murlough23]

Color me disappointed with Chris Rice's latest. I really, really loved Run the Earth, Watch the Sky, even though it apparently wasn't one of his more popular records. This one... I don't know; he's pulling a lot of the same tricks and it comes off more bland. The songs really don't come alive for me, and they get really dull and clunky by the second half. Not to mention, the first song is totally out of step with the rest of the album (even more so than the usual obligatory overproduced silly song) and did he seriously just tell the kids to joyfully do what their pops and mommas said? PUH-LEEZE. "When Did You Fall?" is an awesomely cute song, and the title track has its quiet charm, but beyond that... mediocre. 3 stars.

[Guest]

I've been scuttling between A- and B+ for the new Depeche Mode album.  The best songs are simply wonderful in that they use what we've always associated with Depeche Mode - that dark, brooding nature - and turned it inside out just a bit while maintaining their overall outlook - "John the Revelator" is an immediate highlight.

The problem, at least for me, is that their music is difficult to listen to in one sitting.  I often found myself needing to divide the album in two so I didn't tune it out after about 6 songs.  Also, it doesn't seem to me like an album that would go toe to toe with Violator (that album has at least 3 established classic songs).

I'm still pondering what I want to do with it as I'm typing here, but I'm tending more toward A- than the B-range, looking over what else in my music journal and comparing.  It would be an 8-8.5 on my usual scale, but for this game's purposes, 5 stars.

[bloop]

^that was me, but I'm sure you all figured that out.

I'll go with Sheryl Crow's Wildflower for this next round.  I bought the album for my wife, but she won't mind if I hijack it for the week.

Yeesh.  Judging by the scores so far, I'm getting killed in this round.

[Wildcatblue7]

Here's one more to damage your score, bloop.

I am so glad I've never mentioned just how much I hate The Clash.  Seriously, I can't articulate just how much these guys suck.  I had severe problems trying to listen to Combat Rock all the way through; the only two songs not deserving of the skip button are "Rock the Casvah" (which sounds like something a flaming gay British guy might listen to--but it's semi-entertaining) and "Should I Stay or Should I Go?"  And even then, those songs get extraordinarily irritating if I hear them more than once.  That's right, this gets 1 star.

For the chicks that rock round . . . I think I'll do Bella Donna by Stevie Nicks.

[Brenden]

Wow, bad round for me.

Joni Mitchell does have some better albums, I'm sure. But Both Sides Now is just BORING! It suffers from too many slow songs, which all kind of sound the same, no memorable melody except from Comes Love, A Case Of You, and the title track. I keep thinking this would be a much better album if it was more stripped down. But, the lrics are pretty good, and it does make a cohesive concept album, so I'll be generous and go with 3 stars.

Next round I'm gonna do Kelly Clarkson - Breakaway.

[plvarona]

For the most part, I'm also getting killed this round.

Now for my verdict.  Those of you who know me know that I'm really not that much of a rap/hip-hop fan.  So we'll see how that affected my rating (if at all.)

Album Reviewed: Stereo: The Evolution of HipRockSoul - 4th Avenue Jones

Pros: The combination of rock and hip-hop makes this album stand out a bit more from others in the genre.  The album also has its fair share of catchy songs, most notably "Fabulous Dramatics", "Take Me Away" (even if it is a bit repetitive lyrically) and "Sorry."  I like how the raps are used to complement the singing on most songs, and I think Teena Jones' vocals are used just enough to help texture the music better.

Cons: For the most part, the lyrics are mediocre.  "Caesar" especially gets demerits for intentionally mispronouncing a word.  (That's one sure way to annoy me.)  Repetetitive lyrics also mar a few songs.  There are also a few songs that don't do anything for me.  (e.g. "Caesar", "It's Over Now", "Overloaded", "Monumental Continental.")  I didn't see any point to the spoken words through the stereo at the end of every song.

The Bottom Line: I'll admit if I were more of a hip-hop fan I might appreciate this album more.  Still, while I do think this is a flawed album, there are still enough highlights for me to say that for the most part, I enjoy this album.

Rating: I'm still trying to decide between a "B" or "B-", but either way that means 4 stars.

ETA: Next week I'm doing Garbage's self-titled album (with Shirley Manson being the chick that rocks.)

[NinjaRob17]

It may be just me, but whenever I listen to an L.A. Symphony album, all the songs seem to run together about three songs into the album. When I listen to a song individually, though, I think to myself, "Hey, this song's cool. Why didn't I notice it before?" Most of the songs are catchy and have a great beat that can stand up to any mainstream rap song (though, considering the state of most mainstream rap, that isn't saying much). However, this album tends to run together, as the songs are around the same length (they hover between the 3 and 4 minute mark), thus creating disinterest quite early for me while listening.

The songs by themselves score 5 stars, but the album as a whole scores 3 stars. So, the overall score is 4 Stars.

I'll do The Benjamin Gate's "Contact" for the next round.

[bdg13disciple]

so, i picked Thrice because i had heard a bit of buzz about them recently and, while i know they aren't really a new band, i hadn't paid any attention to them before...

anyway, listening to Vheissu is pretty interesting in that the music has some richness to it that makes it somewhat more textured than a lot of others out there, but the vocals and the lyrics just don't do much for me... and after a few listens it ended up that the music was still fairly impressive but overall the album was just there...

so, i'm going with a 3 stars because really it was just alright for me...

For next week, I'm going with an indie "Chick who rocks"...
Sonia Vannest (or Sonia V for the album) - A Thing or 2...
there are 4 songs on her MySpace and real media clips on her site...

peace... love... bdg...

[Dan]

The Sundays are actually decent low-key chick rock. This is a tough album for me to review, because that band I'm always talking about actually ripped off this album quite a bit. Ultimately though - Fatherless-era Sixpence doesn't hold a candle to this, with a few exceptions for certain songs. The Sundays is (are?) more of a fleshed-out band, and their vocalist is much better than Leigh ever was. The only issue is that the album's a bit same-y - the delivery is great and the band has real chops, but the songs don't stand out much. I'm going to settle on 3 stars for this one. I'd like to hear what some less-biased people here think of this album though.

I was thinking of picking on Lauryn Hill this time, but I decided to go with some rock music instead. I'll take on With Abandon by Chasing Furies.  

[murlough23]

OK, now we just need Josh's rating.

[bloop]

Here's one more to damage your score, bloop.

I am so glad I've never mentioned just how much I hate The Clash.  Seriously, I can't articulate just how much these guys suck.  I had severe problems trying to listen to Combat Rock all the way through; the only two songs not deserving of the skip button are "Rock the Casvah" (which sounds like something a flaming gay British guy might listen to--but it's semi-entertaining) and "Should I Stay or Should I Go?"  And even then, those songs get extraordinarily irritating if I hear them more than once.  That's right, this gets 1 star.

For the chicks that rock round . . . I think I'll do Bella Donna by Stevie Nicks.

London Calling is much better, but I think you're wrong about The Clash as a band, and it's a little predictable to choose the radio singles as the only highlights, but I digress.  At least you hurt a lot more than just me.  I'm just banking on everyone else getting screwed, too.   =D

But, I'll admit, I should have been wiser - to know that the punk label alone might drive you away.

[Wildcatblue7]

London Calling is much better, but I think you're wrong about The Clash as a band, and it's a little predictable to choose the radio singles as the only highlights, but I digress.  At least you hurt a lot more than just me.  I'm just banking on everyone else getting screwed, too.   =D

But, I'll admit, I should have been wiser - to know that the punk label alone might drive you away.

Yeah, I know.  But the other songs were just that bad.  haha.  I mean, that guy's voice . . . definitely deserves a "WTF, mate?"

FWIW, I've heard London Calling and thought it sucked majorly as well.  The punk label alone wouldn't get me, but a crappy band will.

Would everybody kill me if I intentionally picked this album because my score was getting slaughtered and I knew most people would guess wrong and consquently have a bad round?    

[Josh]

Man, lots of surprises this round!

I'm giving Barenaked Ladies 3 stars out of 5. As far as greatest hits packages go, this one is one of the nicest that I've seen. And I realy enjoy some of the wit in their songwriting. But the music just doesn't stand out top me at all. It's fairly pedestrian pop/rock fare, with little to nothing in the way of stylistic variety. Pleasant, but ultimately memorable for the songwriting alone.

For the next round I'm gonna do Liz Phair's Exile in Guyville.

[bloop]

[murlough23]

I'm giving Barenaked Ladies 3 stars out of 5. As far as greatest hits packages go, this one is one of the nicest that I've seen. And I realy enjoy some of the wit in their songwriting. But the music just doesn't stand out top me at all. It's fairly pedestrian pop/rock fare, with little to nothing in the way of stylistic variety. Pleasant, but ultimately memorable for the songwriting alone.

Ha! I nailed it. (Edit: No, I didn't. I guessed 4 stars. DOH.)

Though I think there's a lot more musical variety than you're giving them credit for. Yes, some of their stuff is radio-ready pop/rock fare, but I don't think it's typical in that sense - they're a lot stronger melodically and a lot more interesting structurally. And a lot of their old songs have a more acoustic feel, upright bass and all. I can see confusing a song or two with one another (and maybe there's just too much stuff there for a newcomer), but there's no way I'd ever mix up "One Week" with "Lovers in a Dangerous Time" or "Call and Answer".

Anyway, glad you at least recognized the songwriting as accomplished. A lot of people just hear the jokes, puns, and cultural references and assume it's all immature novelty.

[murlough23]

Round 5 has begun.

NP: "Away from Me", Evanescence