SGTC: Mach II, Round 5

[murlough23]

Well, round 4 was... interesting. Excuse me while I shoot spitwads at the back of Wildcat's head from the very back of the class.

OK, time to get on with life after that devastating humiliation. This round's theme is "Chicks who rock!" They don't have to literally play rock music, but they have to be chicks, and rock in some sort of literal or figurative fasion. (For example, my pick rocks in the sense of rocking the body. You might groan, but hey, I could have chosen to review the Chicken Little soundtrack.) With that in mind, here's what we all picked to review:

bdg: Sonia V, A Thing or 2 (Clips)
bloop: Sheryl Crow, Wildflower (Clips)
Brenden: Kelly Clarkson, Breakaway (Clips)
Danny: Chasing Furies, With Abandon (Clips)
Josh: Liz Phair, Exile in Guyville (Clips)
murlough: M.I.A., Arular (Clips)
NinjaRob: The Benjamin Gate, Contact (Clips)
plvarona: Garbage, Garbage (Clips)
worldofcm: Rebecca St. James, God (Clips)

This round ends at midnight Pacific time on Wednesday, November 9.

[murlough23]

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

[Wildcatblue7]

Ouch, that last spitball hurt.  buahahaha.

Looking over these selections . . . yeah, I'll take a dive this week.  Oh well.

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

[eatahouse]

bdg: Sonia V, A Thing or 2: 4
bloop: Sheryl Crow, Wildflower: 4
Brenden: Kelly Clarkson, Breakaway: 3
Danny: Chasing Furies, With Abandon: 4
Josh: Liz Phair, Exile in Guyville: 2
murlough: M.I.A., Arular: 2
NinjaRob: The Benjamin Gate, Contact: 5
plvarona Garbage, Garbage: 4
Wildcat: Stevie Nicks, Belladonna: 3
worldofcm: Rebecca St. James, God: 4

[Danny]

 

bdg: Sonia V, A Thing or 2 3 stars
bloop: Sheryl Crow, Wildflower 3 stars
Brenden: Kelly Clarkson, Breakaway 3 stars
Josh: Liz Phair, Exile in Guyville 3 stars
murlough: M.I.A., Arular 3 stars
NinjaRob: The Benjamin Gate, Contact 4 stars
plvarona Garbage, Garbage 3 stars
Wildcat: Stevie Nicks, Belladonna 3 stars
worldofcm: Rebecca St. James, God 3 stars  

[Wildcatblue7]

Okay . . . my access to this album was abruptly cut off, so I think I'll have to sit out as a critic this round.  Hopefully that's not too much of a pain in the butt for y'all.

[Brenden]

bdg: Sonia V, A Thing or 2: 3
bloop: Sheryl Crow, Wildflower: 3
Danny: Chasing Furies, With Abandon: 4
Josh: Liz Phair, Exile in Guyville: 4
murlough: M.I.A., Arular: 4
NinjaRob: The Benjamin Gate, Contact: 4
plvarona Garbage, Garbage: 3
Wildcat: Stevie Nicks, Belladonna: 3
worldofcm: Rebecca St. James, God: 4  

[murlough23]

As requested, I'm removing Wildcat as a critic this round because she no longer has access to the album she wanted to review. Nobody has to change any ratings; I'll just ignore the votes cast for Wildcat when the round is over. Wildcat reverts to a regular player just for this round; so her score gets divided by 9 (as does eatahouse's; I think he's the only other non-critic player at this point) and everyone else's gets divided by 8.

[Josh]

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

[bdg13disciple]

bloop: Sheryl Crow, Wildflower (3)
Brenden: Kelly Clarkson, Breakaway (3)
Danny: Chasing Furies, With Abandon (4)
Josh: Liz Phair, Exile in Guyville (4)
murlough: M.I.A., Arular (4)
NinjaRob: The Benjamin Gate, Contact (4)
plvarona Garbage, Garbage (3)
worldofcm: Rebecca St. James, God (3)

RE: Theme week for round 7... i think we've settled on Christmas Music...

peace... love... bdg...  

[Brenden]

RE: Theme week for round 7... i think we've settled on Christmas Music...
 

I've got just the thing.

[Wildcatblue7]

Christmas music . . . boy, I'll have to dig something out.

[bloop]

RE: Theme week for round 7... i think we've settled on Christmas Music...

Hmm...I don't have much in the way of Christmas music, but I'll see what I can do.  Hmm, maybe the Little Drummer Boy EP by Jars, or something.

[murlough23]

Hmm...I don't have much in the way of Christmas music, but I'll see what I can do.  Hmm, maybe the Little Drummer Boy EP by Jars, or something.

There just has to be an artist you like who has done a Christmas album that you can download.

NP: "In the Middle", Mat Kearney

[Josh]

There just has to be an artist you like who has done a Christmas album that you can download.

NP: "In the Middle", Mat Kearney

Yeah, I was skeptical at first, but browsed through the "Christmas albums" shelf of my library (well, I did it online, but you know what I mean) and found holiday albums by everyone from Ray Charles to Emmylou Harris. And, of course, Harry Connick...

[Brenden]

Would it be alright if I used Sufjan Stevens Christimas EP's as one cd? If not, I can get a different cd.

[murlough23]

[bdg13disciple]

[Brenden]

[worldofcm]

bdg:  Sonia V, 3 stars
bloop: Sheryl Crow, Wildflower 3 stars
Brenden: Kelly Clarkson, Breakaway 4 stars
Danny: Chasing Furies, With Abandon 4 stars
Josh: Liz Phair, Exile in Guyville 4 stars
murlough: M.I.A., Arular 4 stars
NinjaRob: The Benjamin Gate, Contact 4 stars
plvarona Garbage, Garbage 3 stars

[plvarona]

First, on the Christmas music theme, I'll admit my selection in that area is quite limited.  However, I'm pretty sure I'll be able to come up with something.  Just as long as we don't have multiple Christmas music themed rounds, I'll be fine.

Now for my guesses:

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

[bloop]

bdg: Sonia V, A Thing or 2  3 stars
murlough:  M.I.A., Arular  Hmm, I really like this one, so 3 stars.
Brenden: Kelly Clarkson, Breakaway  3 stars
Danny: Chasing Furies, With Abandon  4 stars
Josh: Liz Phair, Exile in Guyville  4 stars
NinjaRob: The Benjamin Gate, Contact  4 stars
plvarona Garbage, Garbage 4 stars
worldofcm: Rebecca St. James, God  3 stars

[murlough23]

Just a reminder to everyone, this round ends midnight Wednesday, not midnight Tuesday. Just so people don't post their results too early - this round started a day late.

NP: "Pull Up the People", M.I.A.

[NinjaRob17]

bdg: Sonia V, A Thing or 2 - 4 Stars
bloop: Sheryl Crow, Wildflower - 3 Stars
Brenden: Kelly Clarkson, Breakaway - 3 Stars
Danny: Chasing Furies, With Abandon - 5 Stars
Josh: Liz Phair, Exile in Guyville - 3 Stars
murlough: M.I.A., Arular - 4 Stars
plvarona Garbage, Garbage - 3 Stars
worldofcm: Rebecca St. James, God - 4 Stars

[plvarona]

According to my watch it is well after midnight Pacific Time on Wednesday, so I'll go ahead and chime in with my verdict now.

I will first say that I knew this was going to be an interesting round for me.  This week I decided to take another look at something I used to listen to a lot when I was a freshman in college.  We'll see how well it held up over all these years.

Album Reviewed: Garbage - Garbage

Pros: This is a musically solid album, as the blend of rock and electronic elements works very well, helping to keep my attention throughout the CD.  There are some surprisingly redeeming messages in some songs at the end of the CD, especially "My Lover's Box" and "Fix Me Now."  Even "Stupid Girl" and "Dog New Tricks" come out positive in terms of message, because those songs are clearly speaking out against bad behaviors.

Cons: Many of the songs on the first half of the CD have very negative messages, with common themes being sex, vengeance and despair.  Because of that, I couldn't enjoy those songs too much.  That's a shame too, because ironically those songs were also the most musically interesting songs on the CD.  The songs toward the end tended to get a little on the dull side musically.

Noteworthy: With the negative songs at the beginning and the positive songs at the end, could that have been done intentionally to signify a transition in character?  It's something to think about anyway.

The Verdict: This certainly was a mixed bag.  The music was mostly enjoyable throughout the album, but the extremely negative messages at the beginning of the CD really turned me off.  Even if it was intentional to put the negative messages in front, I just didn't like the way they did it.  (I think The Myriad did a much better job with the negative-to-positive transition concept on their CD.)  I'm not sure if I was just that naive in college, or if I just didn't care as much about the message back then.

Rating: All things considered and weighted appropriately, I give this a "C+", which for the purpose of this game is 3 stars.

On Deck For Next Week: Grown by Kendall Payne - specifically the re-release on BHT Records (which is the indie release with 2 songs added.)  

[Brenden]

Kelly Clarkson surprised me. I never actually heard anything by her until Breakaway came on the radio, I thought it was better than an average pop song, her vocals were good. I checked out the album, and most of the songs are better than average pop songs with decent lyrics and music and good vocals. However, there are points on the album that waver between whiny and angst-ridden. And sometimes she sounds too bland to stand out. In the middle of the cd my attention fades and never is quite gained back, making it hard to listen to the whole cd. I'll give this one a low 3 stars.

Next Week: Bart Millard - Hymned #1

[Josh]

Liz Phair's Exile in Guyville is a classic album. I can understnd why. There's a lot of eclecticism and stylistic diversity on display, yet it all holds together remarkabley well as a piece. It's an ambitious album, and a mightily impressive debut.

But I'm not sure why so many critics speak so highly of her writing. Because it isn't all that spectacular. And it's all so very empty... so much talent on display, and yet it's all in service of such dissatisfying material.

I'll give it 3 stars.

[bdg13disciple]

well... the first words uttered on this album are "I don't want to be a superstar"...
having listened through the album, it really shouldn't be a concern for Sonia V...

the instrumentation has all been done before, the vocals are nothing special, the production is not at all impressive...

given these factors... "A Thing or 2" lands a solid 2 stars...

next week: how about some jazz?  Love Press Ex-Curio, by Charlie Peacock


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

[bloop]

[worldofcm]

RSJ - pretty much the first notable, extremely successful rock chick in CCM.  God is good if you are looking at it before having heard Jagged Little Pill by Alanis.  Strong melodic hooks, vocal delivery is good.  "Me Without You" grates on my nerves, still, 9 years later.

I'm going with 3 1/2 rounded up - 4 stars.

Next round - put me down for Derek Webb's Mockingbird.

[murlough23]

Wow, nailed most of 'em so far (if not the exact ratings, I've definitely nailed the reasoning).

I really struggled to figure out how I felt about Arular. It seems M.I.A. has gotten a lot of attention for her stylistic approach, and that's justified - an interesting mix of hip-hop, island rhythms, and IDM. It's melodic and anti-melodic at the same time. Only problem with that is that the diversity starts to wear thin by album's end - the disc loses its ability to surprise. Lyrically, I have trouble getting into her stuff on a consistent basis - there's a political undercurrent there that I don't fully understand, but it's interesting (and I won't attack her for slagging President Bush on her self-titled track). What bugs me is the language (though it's not nearly as filthy as your average rap album or anything) and the sexual references. She might actually be speaking out against prostitution and hoochie behavior, but even so, there are some images I just don't need in my mind. So, the interesting music and hit-and-miss lyrics balance out to a 3.5 star rating, rounded down to 3 stars.

I still think "Amazon" is one of the most damn catchy songs I've heard in a while.

[bloop]

This round doesn't seem as embarrassing as the last, at least.  I even got one right that I was hoping I would get wrong (for the purposes of the person being, um, reasonable about the record).  

That makes me happy!

[danny316]

With Abandon would easily be a five star album if I rated percentage-wise instead of reserving the 5-star rating for absolute classics. It's a strong 4 stars to me. This is top-notch rock, with some brilliant twists and delicious sprinklings of piano. I love the somewhat atmospheric feel of a few of the songs as well. I'm generally not a fan of albums that are overwhelming vertical in nature, but the songs are well-written and well assembled enough that I don't mind - this is an amazing example of how Christians can use their God-given talent to worship God. This belongs on the list of worship albums I made a little while back, right around where I put the Joshua Tree. Murlough's right about this being an amazing album - I'm surprised it didn't catch on more, given that it's about as experimental as you can get without leaving accessible pop/rock behind.

For the sake of taking on a phellow phorumer's phavorite again, I'll pick one from bloop's top 5 - Pet Sounds by the Beach Boys.

...and yes, I'm serious. I'm as interested in hearing people's reactions to me picking that as I am interested in hearing people's guesses on my rating!

[bloop]

With Abandon would easily be a five star album if I rated percentage-wise instead of reserving the 5-star rating for absolute classics.

Just so you know, we guess based on any kind of A being 5 stars (from what you described, it seems that you would grant this album an A of some variety).  This throws a small wrench into guessing for you, but I guess I would just avoid guessing 5 for you from now on because "absolute classics" are few and far between, as they should be.

It would be a bit of a lark to label Pet Sounds as anything other than an "absolute classic", but we shall see.    

[murlough23]

(for the purposes of the person being, um, reasonable about the record)

That either refers to me or Josh, doesn't it?

[danny316]

Just so you know, we guess based on any kind of A being 5 stars (from what you described, it seems that you would grant this album an A of some variety).  This throws a small wrench into guessing for you, but I guess I would just avoid guessing 5 for you from now on because "absolute classics" are few and far between, as they should be.

Yeah, I know that, but since I've mentioned that a few times since we've started the game, I don't think it's a particularly unfair thing to do. I figured that since I've kept mentioning it, most people would know to avoid guessing 5 stars for me except in the most extraordinary cases.  

[bloop]

[murlough23]

[Josh]

Well, he got mine wrong, so I would assume he's not talking about me...

[bloop]