SGTC: Mach II, Round 9

[murlough23]

The theme for this round is Greatest Hits/Best-Of Albums. Deadline for guessing is midnight on Monday, December 12. Slightly shorter round because I'm starting it later in the day - if that makes things difficult for anyone, let me know.

bdg: U2, The Best of 1990-2000 (Clips)
bloop: Smashing Pumpkins, Greatest Hits (Clips)
Brenden: Delirious?, Deeper: The D:finitive Worship Experience (Clips)
Danny: Beethoven, Masters of Classical Music, Vol. 3 (Clips)
Josh: Merle Haggard, The Lonesome Fugitive: The Merle Haggard Anthology (Clips)
murlough: Matt Redman: Blessed Be Your Name: The Songs of Matt Redman, Volume 1 (Clips)
NinjaRob: Audio Adrenaline, Hit Parade (Clips)
plvarona: Caedmon's Call, Chronicles 1992-2004 (Clips)
Wildcat: Manhattan Transfer, The Anthology: Down in Birdland (Clips)
worldofcm: Selah, Greatest Hymns (Clips)

[eatahouse]

bdg: U2, The Best of 1990-2000 (Clips)       4
bloop: Smashing Pumpkins, Greatest Hits (Clips)         4
Brenden: Delirious?, Deeper: The D:finitive Worship Experience (Clips)           4
Danny: Beethoven, Masters of Classical Music, Vol. 3 (Clips)        5
Josh: Merle Haggard, The Lonesome Fugitive: The Merle Haggard Anthology (Clips)      3
murlough: Matt Redman: Blessed Be Your Name: The Songs of Matt Redman, Volume 1 (Clips)        2
NinjaRob: Steve Taylor, Now the Truth Can Be Told             4 (Album changed, but same score)
plvarona: Caedmon's Call, Chronicles 1992-2004 (Clips)           4
Wildcat: 2
worldofcm: Selah, Greatest Hymns (Clips)            4

[Wildcatblue7]

Wildcat, let me know by end of day Wednesday if you have an album in mind. (Maybe you already mentioned it and I just missed it.)

Down in Birdland: the Manhattan Transfer Anthology

[NinjaRob17]

NinjaRob, I can't find audio clips for your Steve Taylor album anywhere. Can you help me out?

The only place I found anything for the album was onfritz.com, but that only has full downloads of some of the songs on that album, and you'd have to search to see which songs are on the album and which aren't, and they don't have every song up for download (although they used to).

So, if it's going to be a problem, I'll change it.

[murlough23]

The only place I found anything for the album was onfritz.com, but that only has full downloads of some of the songs on that album, and you'd have to search to see which songs are on the album and which aren't, and they don't have every song up for download (although they used to).

So, if it's going to be a problem, I'll change it.

Yeah, we need something with clips that people can listen to. I had a rule in the first version of the game that you had to provide a link with clips every time you picked an album, but I've gotten lax about it (usually because it's pretty easy to find something at Amazon, AllMusic, or Christianbook). It's just hard to judge when we can't hear samples of something you're reviewing. Sorry about that.

NP: "All These Things that I've Done", The Killers

[NinjaRob17]

Okay, I'll do "Hit Parade" by Audio Adrenaline then.

[Wildcatblue7]

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

[murlough23]

Okay, I'll do "Hit Parade" by Audio Adrenaline then.

Thanks.

Folks who have already voted for NinjaRob, please note that his selection has changed.

[murlough23]

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

[danny316]

bdg: U2, The Best of 1990-2000 4 stars
bloop: Smashing Pumpkins, Greatest Hits 4 stars
Brenden: Delirious?, Deeper: The D:finitive Worship Experience 3 stars
Josh: Merle Haggard, The Lonesome Fugitive: The Merle Haggard Anthology 4 stars, but only because I know Josh doesn't take his trips on LSD ;-)
murlough: Matt Redman: Blessed Be Your Name: The Songs of Matt Redman, Volume 1 3 stars (3.5?)
NinjaRob: Audio Adrenaline, Hit Parade 4 stars
plvarona: Caedmon's Call, Chronicles 1992-2004 4 stars
Wildcat: Manhattan Transfer, The Anthology: Down in Birdland 4 stars
worldofcm: Selah, Greatest Hymns 4 stars

[bdg13disciple]

bloop: Smashing Pumpkins, Greatest Hits (4)
Brenden: Delirious?, Deeper: The D:finitive Worship Experience (4)
Danny: Beethoven, Masters of Classical Music, Vol. 3 (3)
Josh: Merle Haggard, The Lonesome Fugitive: The Merle Haggard Anthology (3)
murlough: Matt Redman: Blessed Be Your Name: The Songs of Matt Redman, Volume 1 (3)
NinjaRob: Audio Adrenaline, Hit Parade (3)
plvarona: Caedmon's Call, Chronicles 1992-2004 (3)
Wildcat: Manhattan Transfer, The Anthology: Down in Birdland (3)
worldofcm: Selah, Greatest Hymns (2)

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

[Brenden]

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

[worldofcm]

bdg: The Best of 1990-2000 4 stars
bloop: Smashing Pumpkins, Greatest Hits 4 stars
Brenden: Delirious?, Deeper: The D:finitive Worship Experience 4 stars
Danny: Beethoven, Masters of Classical Music, Vol. 3 3 stars
Josh: Merle Haggard, The Lonesome Fugitive: The Merle Haggard Anthology 3 stars
murlough: Matt Redman: Blessed Be Your Name: The Songs of Matt Redman, Volume 1 3 stars
NinjaRob: Audio Adrenaline, Hit Parade 3 stars
plvarona: Caedmon's Call, Chronicles 1992-2004 3 stars
Wildcat: Manhattan Transfer, The Anthology: Down in Birdland 3 stars
 

[murlough23]

I forgot to mention this ealier because it took me a few days to remember that the highest score in Round 8 gets to choose the Round 11 theme. That's me in this case, and I'm thinking of doing Dead or Defunct Artists. How's that sound to everyone.

[Brenden]

I forgot to mention this ealier because it took me a few days to remember that the highest score in Round 8 gets to choose the Round 11 theme. That's me in this case, and I'm thinking of doing Dead or Defunct Artists. How's that sound to everyone.

Works for me.

[worldofcm]

Sounds good to me.

[bloop]

Well, darn, I'm doing a defunct artist now.  

I'll see what I can do - it's a good theme.

[murlough23]

Well, darn, I'm doing a defunct artist now.

Supposedly. I think Corgan has toyed with the idea of bringing the Pumpkins back.

[Josh]

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

[NinjaRob17]

bdg: U2, The Best of 1990-2000 - 4 Stars
bloop: Smashing Pumpkins, Greatest Hits - 3 Stars
Brenden: Delirious?, Deeper: The D:finitive Worship Experience - 4 Stars
Danny: Beethoven, Masters of Classical Music, Vol. 3 - 5 Stars
Josh: Merle Haggard, The Lonesome Fugitive: The Merle Haggard Anthology - 4 Stars
murlough: Matt Redman: Blessed Be Your Name: The Songs of Matt Redman, Volume 1 - 3 Stars
plvarona: Caedmon's Call, Chronicles 1992-2004 - 4 Stars
Wildcat: Manhattan Transfer, The Anthology: Down in Birdland - 3 Stars
worldofcm: Selah, Greatest Hymns - 4 Stars

[plvarona]

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

ETA: The "Defunct/deceased" theme from Round 11 is fine with me.  I might keep that in mind when I'm hitting the bargain bins later this week.    

[NinjaRob17]

I give Hit Parade 4 Stars. This is because it includes many great songs of Audio A from before Lift, when they were actually good. Although, some of the songs on the album aren't deserving of the greatest hits title, and they left some good songs out. So, that's my explanation. I would explain more, but I have a Music Appreciation final to go to.

[bloop]

Shoot, I forgot the deadline!  I'll just omit Ninja and you give me zero for it.

bdg: U2, The Best of 1990-2000 (Clips) 4 stars
Brenden: Delirious?, Deeper: The D:finitive Worship Experience (Clips) 4 stars
Danny: Beethoven, Masters of Classical Music, Vol. 3 (Clips) 5 stars
Josh: Merle Haggard, The Lonesome Fugitive: The Merle Haggard Anthology (Clips) 4 stars
murlough: Matt Redman: Blessed Be Your Name: The Songs of Matt Redman, Volume 1 (Clips) 3 stars
NinjaRob: omit - didn't get in time
plvarona: Caedmon's Call, Chronicles 1992-2004 (Clips) 4 stars
Wildcat: Manhattan Transfer, The Anthology: Down in Birdland (Clips) 4 stars
worldofcm: Selah, Greatest Hymns (Clips) 4 stars

[plvarona]

Here's my verdict this week:

Album Reviewed: Chronicles 1992 - 2004 - Caedmon's Call

Pros: Almost all of Caedmon's Call's big radio hits, along with quite a few fan favorites, were included.  I was especially happy to see "Table For Two" and "Bus Driver" make the cut.   I also liked how this wasn't just a rehash studio tracks from the album, and instead live versions and/or other alternate versions were included for more than half of the songs.  I realize licensing issues necessitiated this move for songs from their self-titled CD, but at least they also did this for some of the later songs.  All in all, this is a pretty decent overview of the highlights of Caedmon's Call's first five albums while also showcasing their live sound, which  was pretty good back in the day.

Cons: I wasn't overly impressed with the new songs on the album.  "All My Life" was very forgettable.  "A New Day" fared much better, but still paled in comparison to the rest of the CD.  Some of the new versions of the older songs were a bit disappointing, most notably "Faith My Eyes" (dragged considerably - doesn't do justice to Derek's solo live performances), "40 Acres" (why did they leave out the first verse?) and "Thankful" (the extended ending really did nothing for me.)  I was a bit annoyed by the lack of representation from the Long Line of Leavers CD, as only one song was included from that CD.

The Bottom Line: I think this is one of the classier greatest hits packages I've seen.  I can't really see any overly glaring omissions, and I especially liked how the CD was not just a rehash of studio cuts.  Obviously, I have my biases as to which songs I'd rather see here, but overall I don't really have any major complaints.  As a Caedmon's Call fan, I was satisfied with this collection.

Rating: "B", which is equivalent to 4 stars.

On Deck For Next Week: June's Picture Show - Ingram Hill

P.S. bloop, you're lucky I had to take a phone call in the middle of typing this up, thus enabling you to get your guess for me in on time.   =D

[murlough23]

Man, I actually forgot the deadline myself! Good thing I posted the rest of my guesses before I went to bed last night.

So, regarding Matt Redman... I really like this guy. He's written a lot of songs that are beloved by the modern church, and despite my disdain for a lot of modern worship tunes, I think it's deserved in his case. I knew and loved nearly every song on this album before sitting down and listening to the live recordings. And I've seen Redman in concert twice, and had a really positive impression of his live band and his stage persona (good musicianship, but he doesn't act like a flashy rock star or engage in other antics that distract from the worship, and he's actually insightful when he stops to talk for a while). So I really expected to love this album.

But I didn't. Despite these songs being chosen quite well for a greatest hits set, and despite my liking most of them already, the arrangements kind of seemed "plain vanilla". That doesn't matter so much when you're there in the moment, singing along and just meditating on what the words say. But as a listening experience, I didn't get much out of this set. I applaud the decision to redo the songs live instead of just putting out a collection of studio tracks... but I had a hard time getting really excited about this album. 3.5 stars, which I'll round down to 3 stars for the sake of the game.

NP: "Endure", Plumb

[worldofcm]

Selah.  Blah.  Mediocre hymn arrangements, less than stellar tracks, adequate vocals.  Nuff said.

2 stars

Next round - The Benjamine Gate, Activate

[murlough23]

Selah. Blah. Mediocre hymn arrangements, less than stellar tracks, adequate vocals. Nuff said.

2 stars

But jeepers, Mr. Wilson! I was certain that most of those arrangements were right up your alley.

Next round - The Benjamine Gate, Activate

When did this album come out and how did I miss it?

[Brenden]

Disc 1:
Balks a bit in the beginning, I mean, a 9 minute opening track? I've never been able to listen the whole way through that song. It never really gets going until track 5 (Deeper), after that, it picks up but still has it's dull moments (Lord, You Have My Heart,  History Maker, Not Forgotten). I would give this disc 3 stars.

Disc 2:
The stronger of the two, it only falters a few times (The Happy Song, Revival Town, Jesus' Blood sounds too much like something Radiohead would do, musically). I'd give this disc 4 stars.

As a whole, it's a pretty good compilation of Delirious's songs. I give it 3.5 stars, which I'll round down to 3 stars.

Next Round: All American Rejects - Move Along

[bdg13disciple]

First, i'd like to say that i'm not one of those fanatical U2 rules and everything they put out rules simply because they are, after all, U2 type of guys like a lot of people i associate are...

Second, i'd like to mention that my criteria for a greatest hits/best of projects are slightly different in that the actual critique of the songs themselves are somewhat secondary to the selection and representation of the source material... obviously, the quality of the music plays into it, but a compilation of this nature opens up more avenues for discussion and judgement...

that said, the source material from which U2 had to pull (1990-2000) releases was a solid crop of music, showing a lot of directional change, shifting in styles, variety of sounds, etc.  and to accurately connect all the dots would be a difficult task.  Best of 1990-2000 has a pretty balanced list of tracks from each of the 4 major releases (Achtung Baby, Zooropa, Pop, and ATYCLB) as well as some nice additional material from side projects and specialty singles.  So as a compilation, it is nearly flawless in representing the time period that it claims to cover, and for that (plus the music being very solid), i grant the album a 5.  As classic as greatest hits get.

For those interested, my individual ratings on the four albums are as follows (Achtung Baby (5), Zooropa (3.5), Pop(4), and ATYCLB(4.5)).

next round, i'll tackle... The White Stripes - Get Behind Me, Satan... i don't think i've commented much on that...

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

ps. i think worldofCM means "Benjiman - Activate"...
 

[murlough23]

So as a compilation, it is nearly flawless in representing the time period that it claims to cover

Yeah, except for the fact that they remixed the life out of 4 of the tracks from that time period. I was really appalled by that.

NP: "Chronic", Sarah Jahn

[bdg13disciple]

Yeah, except for the fact that they remixed the life out of 4 of the tracks from that time period. I was really appalled by that.

NP: "Chronic", Sarah Jahn

Numb kinda bothers me, but i think the point was that they would've done them differently if they recorded them in 2002, which i somewhat respect...

EDIT: though i guess that takes it out of the time period that it represents... point taken...

i suppose my lack of ardent fanboyship helps me to overlook them modifying them...

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

[AldaForPresident]

Yeah, except for the fact that they remixed the life out of 4 of the tracks from that time period. I was really appalled by that.

I've been following SGTC, not playing, but I have to get my two cents in here - I would agree that "Staring at the Sun" and especially "Discotheque" (no swirl=criminal) got the shaft there, but "Numb" is basically the same, except Larry's vocals are more defined, which I actually like, and the annoying sound effects. But that version of "Gone" IS "Gone" for me. It's glorious and perfect and I love it.

I'll go back to lurking as far as the game goes now.

[murlough23]

Numb kinda bothers me, but i think the point was that they would've done them differently if they recorded them in 2002, which i somewhat respect...

EDIT: though i guess that takes it out of the time period that it represents... point taken...

EXACTLY. That, and the new tracks are from 2002, and there's no getting around that. I love "Electrical Storm" - one of my favorite U2 songs. But it shouldn't be on there when songs like "The Fly", "Please", and "Lemon" are not. "Elevation" and "Walk On" are baffling omissions, but I'll excuse that in a few years if they show up on The Best of 2000-2010.

I generally don't think GH albums are the proper time or place for redoing old songs. The songs should be presented in the format that made them popular. Alternate versions are fine as bonuses, but not in place of the originals, and certainly not taking up space that could have been occupied by other deserving songs. Those remixes should have been on the bonus disc.

NP: "Remembering You", Steven Curtis Chapman

[Josh]

Merle gets 5 stars from me. It's about as complete and comprehensive as you could want in an overview of one of country's all-time greats.

For the next round, put me down for Lucinda Williams-- Live at the Fillmore.

[bloop]

Well, only about a third of the tracks on the Pumpkins Greatest Hits album were actually big hits, so perhaps it should have just been called "The Smashing Pumpkins:  The Singles", but what singles they were!  As it is, "Rotten Apples" is anything but.  Part of me wishes they had gone for something different than just a simple chonological ordered tracklist, and I really wish "Mayonnaise" made the cut, I have a hard time justifying going less than an A- on this collection.  The chronological presentation, in the end, works by using a certain b-side on the Pisces album and a film soundtrack song as transitional tracks between their albums.  Also, it's my only copy of "Drown", which is worth plenty by itself.  5 stars.

Next round:  Wilco's Kicking Television, which is also a live album.

[worldofcm]

Selah. Blah. Mediocre hymn arrangements, less than stellar tracks, adequate vocals. Nuff said.

2 stars

But jeepers, Mr. Wilson! I was certain that most of those arrangements were right up your alley.


When did this album come out and how did I miss it?

Wow.  Selah right up my alley?  Since when?

My bad on Benjamin Gate - I meant Contact.

[danny316]

I played everyone well on this round.

As legend has it, CDs were designed to be 74 minutes long so that there'd be space to record Beethoven's entire ninth symphony on one disc. Clearly the people who put this disc hadn't heard that, since the Ninth is competely skipped - sure, the whole thing wouldn't fit, but the part commonly known as "Ode to Joy" from that one is a must! Other classics are represented by terrible dull performances that sound like beginners trying to practice a piece without any passion for it (Fur Elise, Moonlight Sonata). The two songs that suffer from that problem also aren't properly mixed to work with the rest of the disc - they're nearly inaudible next to some of the full orchestra numbers. I have the feeling that the morons who put this disc together didn't even know how to normalize the recordings. The Fifth is also split into two tracks - which isn't that bad, I mean, you do have to rearrange symphonies to make them fit on this sort of thing anyway. It would have been nice if the two selections were near each other, or even made to work together.

CDs like this aren't made for fans of classical music, so it's excusable that it's not wall-to-wall great performances. However, since this disc excludes such essentials as "Ode to Joy" entirely and features such terrible mixing errors, it's not even acceptable for someone who's a very casual fan who just wants Beethoven's classics on CD.

This pitiful selection gets only 1 star. I'm rounding down here from 1.5, partially for shock value, and partially because they lose points for trying to make the poor guy roll over in his grave.  

[NinjaRob17]

Oh yeah, forgot to add, put me down for "SheandI" by Furthermore.

[danny316]

I forgot my next round pick as well. Have I ever done REM's "Out of Time"? If I haven't done that one yet, put me down for it.

[worldofcm]

I want to save the Benjamin Gate album for round 11 - so put me down for The Rocket Summer's Hello, Good Friend instead.

Sorry for the confusion.

http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&s...10:5n841v75zzba