Second Guess the Critic: SMACKDOWN! Round 5

[bloop]

Guesses before Friday is out. 

I guess we'll go with the Peanut Gallery idea next time, so those of you who aren't critics for this game, think of a number of albums you wouldn't mind seeing incorporated in the game and list them with your guesses.

bloop:  Snowflake Midnight, Mercury Rev
murlough:  CompassionArt
plvarona:  Viva La Vida or Death and All of His Friends, Coldplay
Josh:  The Pains of Being Pure at Heart (s/t)
Brenden:  It's Not Me, It's You, Lily Allen

[Josh]

Bloop: 4
murlough: 3
Phil: 4
Brenden: 3

[Aaron]

bloop - 4
murlough - 3
Phil - 4
Bren - 3
josh - 3

[Brenden]

bloop - 4
murlough - 3
Phil - 5
josh - 3

[NinjaRob17]

bloop: 4
murlough: 2
plvarona: 5
Josh: 3
Brenden: 4

I'll put in my picks for next week later.

[ajyouthguy]

bloop: 4
murlough: 3
plvarona: 5
Josh: 3
Brenden: 3

[murlough23]

bloop: 4
plvarona: 5
Josh: 3
Brenden: 3

[plvarona]

bloop: 4
murlough: 3
Josh: 3
Brenden: 3

[bloop]

I'm going to say 4 all, except murlough at a 3 and Phil at a 5.

[bloop]

OK, reveal.

Also, those of you in the peanut gallery, I think we're ready for your picks for what we do next.

[Josh]

Judging by everyone's guesses, I think you'll all be a bit surprised by how much I liked the Pains... record-- although to be honest, I wasn't trying to be tricky; I'm as surprised as any of you are. Noise-pop generally isn't my thing, but this is an uncommonly melodic album, with some deceptively complex craft involved, and I found myself really enjoying it. My biggest complaint is that the band doesn't establish much of an identity for themselves-- I don't really know what they're  ABOUT-- so I'll go with 4 stars overall.

[Brenden]

I'm kind of surprised by all the 3 star guesses for me. Lily Allen is exactly the kind of pop album with interesting and varied instrumentation that I would enjoy. Her vocals are charming and fun to listen to and her lyrics range from being sweet to being amusingly obnoxious. I mean, as much as, "F*** You", is an obnoxious song that most artists would make irritating, it's so bouncy and her delivery is so sarcastic that I can't help but smile. "Everyone's At It", and, "The Fear", are just great songs, the only problem is a few too many songs that don't pack much punch or make any real impact. I'd give this album a solid B, so, 4 Stars.

[ajyouthguy]

i was sick earlier in the week and kinda out of it, but i'm thinking i, as a peanut gallery member, am supposed to offer possible albums to be critiqued...at first i didn't think i was gonna have any, because what i enjoy and what many of you do don't always cross the same paths.  however, i came up with 3...they all came back in the latter half of last year, so they're not 'new,' but they're not that old either...

The Welcome Wagon--Welcome to the Welcome Wagon
The Reign of Kindo--Rhythm, Chord and Melody
The Gabe Dixon Band (s/t)

[bloop]

Snowflake Midnight is a charmer from my favorite Flaming Lips spin-off, and I was awfully close to going with 5 stars, but it's just not memorable enough for that, so you all have me pegged.  4 stars.

[plvarona]

For me, the question this week wasn't so much if I would like this album.  Everybody correctly figured I would.  Rather, the question was, how much?

Album Reviewed Coldplay - Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends

Pros: I'm a huge sucker for well-thought-out instrumentation, and this is Coldplay's best effort in that area.  It helped that Coldplay diversified their instrumentation quite a bit, whether it was including a dulcimer on "Lovers in Japan" or incorporating strings on "Viva La Vida" and "Yes", with the latter having an Eastern feel to them.  Rotating between the piano and electronic keyboards was also a nice touch.  The diversity of sounds also helped keep things interesting, as did varying tempos in a few songs, most notably "42" and "Death And All His Friends."  It's as if those songs had multiple mini-movements.  On top of all of this, the songs remain fairly catchy.  Lyrics are also an improvement from previous efforts.

Cons: There are a few awkward transitions between songs, and it is a little annoying having multiple songs crammed into the same track.  Those are relatively minor nitpicks, though.

The Bottom Line: This is Coldplay's strongest CD artistically, and it is also highly enjoyable at the same time.  Sounds like a winner to me.

Grade: A few nitpicks drop the grade slightly, but only to an "A-".  That translates to 5 stars.

[murlough23]

CompassionArt gets 5 stars for a brilliant approach to charity work... but that's for the organization.

The actual album that they created gets a C-, or 3 stars. Given the diversity of songwriting talent present, this should have sounded like more than just the middle of-the-road with the occasional "look how ethnic we can pretend to be" tangents. Toby mac and Kirk Franklin don't need to be here at all. They don't contribute to the writing and are glorified hype-men. Aside from that, it's basically what you'd expect from a collaboration between Chris Tomlin, Matt Redman, Darlene Zschech, and those types. The occasional piece shows some musical innovation, but not enough to offset the bland or embarrassingly awkward moments. Simply put, this project could have been and should have been a lot better.

I'll do The Welcome Wagon for the next round; I had been wanting to review that album anyway.

[bloop]

This Round:
10   bloop
8.75   Brendan
8   ajyouthguy
8   Ninjarob
7.5   murlough
7.5   Josh
7.5   plvarona
7   Wanderer

Total:
42.5   bloop
40.5   plvarona
40   murlough
37.4   ajyouthguy
36.75   Josh
36.75   Brendan
36   Ninjarob
24   Wanderer

I'm not clairvoyant - honest!

[murlough23]

I'm not clairvoyant - honest!

I figured I was just predictable.

[Brenden]

I'll finally get around to The Reign Of Kindo for next round.

[plvarona]

I do have a question about the next round.  What do we do about critics who currently don't have access to any of the albums proposed by the peanut gallery?  I do own The Reign of Kindo's CD, but I have already posted my score for it so obviously I can't use it.  I do not have access to the other two albums as of now, although FWIW, both do intrigue me.

ETA: Actually, it looks like the Gabe Dixon Band has most of their album streaming on their website (http://www.gabedixonband.com/).  If all else fails, I can just do that one.

[ajyouthguy]

i saw another album on CT's website this week that made me curious, so i'll add it to the mix if someone wants another idea.  don't know a lot about it and CT's review was very short, but interesting.

Sarah Brendel--Early Morning Hours

[bloop]

I think I'll give Rob and Wanderer one more day to make with the suggestions before I decide which one I'm doing.  If they don't, I think I'll probably take what murlough's taking.

[murlough23]

I do have a question about the next round.  What do we do about critics who currently don't have access to any of the albums proposed by the peanut gallery?  I do own The Reign of Kindo's CD, but I have already posted my score for it so obviously I can't use it.  I do not have access to the other two albums as of now, although FWIW, both do intrigue me.

I figured we were gonna use bloop's incarnation of the Pub for that.

[plvarona]

I'll just go ahead and officially make the Gabe Dixon Band's self-titled album my pick for the next round.