Okay, folks, time for bracket no. 2 in our moderately popular feature featuring fights to the death between critically acclaimed albums. The first bracket saw Pink Floyd booted back to the dark side of the moon and Van the Man packing, so which heavyweights will fall or stand tall at the end of this bracket?
Get your votes in, folks, if possible with a little comment on what you like or don't like in these albums,or why you prefer one to the other. Tonight we have the following fights on tap:
Blue (1) - Car Wheels On A Gravel Road (Lucinda Williams) (8)
Revolver (4) - The Doors (5)
Rumours (3) - The Band (6)
Blood On The Tracks (2) – Exodus (7)
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Guess it's time to admit that, since I don't gamble and I don't follow sports, I don't understand the significance of the numbers that follow the choices, and how one ranks these things (e.g., why Blue has a 1 and Car Wheels an 8). If you feel like explaining the concept for someone who has no idea, I won't stop you.
ReplyDeleteWhat I think I DO understand is each pair of albums is one against the other (right?), so I can do that.
Car Wheels vs Blue: No competition, as I never got JM (I put her in 'the emperor wears no clothes' category, tho I believe some folks really do think she's the bee's knees), but love LW in her prime; Car Wheels and the 1988 eponymous album are as prime as an artist can achieve.
Revolver vs Doors: Two of my favorite bands and two records I love, so I can't...
Rumours vs The Band: The Band occupies a similar territory as Joni does, for me -- the fuss evades me, except for a handful of songs (Joni doesn't even get that much!). I love the original Mac and lots of the first many albums of the Californianized Mac (including Bob Welch's run), so this is an easy one.
Blood vs Exodus: Dylan's one of my favorites, and Blood is not only one of my three favorite BD albums (John Wesley Harding and, perhaps ironically, considering my Band comment above, the Basement Tapes being the other two), it's also one of my favorite albums PERIOD. I have the other Bob going back to his first Wailers (1963-64) records, so he's no slouch. But he can't best Dylan in this competition.
C in California
C, I explained it shortly in the first post, but maybe not well enough. I took a "Best Albums list" more or less at random (turns out it's the somewhat controversial revised 2023 Rolling Stone list), then assigned them seeds (those are the numbers in parentheses). Joni was in the top four albums of that list, so she gets a number one seed. Not that it matters for votes, but I somehow had to get to the matchups...
DeleteLike C in California, I don't understand seeding or brackets in sports. Unlike C, Blue is my choice in the first match. It's another of the first CD's that my wife and I bought for our first CD player. Love Lu, but I think she's made better albums than Car Wheels.
ReplyDeleteThe Beatles beat the doors off The Doors. Revolver was a childhood favorite from my parents' record collection. Loved to study the details on the LP cover. Never cared for The Doors.
I think I was in 5th grade when Rumours came out, bought it new and loved it. Didn't get into The Band until college, but "discovered" them (along with NRBQ and Little Feat) on tapes borrowed from friends. Maybe the most difficult matchup, but the Mac can't beat The Band.
Bob vs Bob is another tough one, but Blood On The Tracks is a master class in lyric writing. (As an aside, I think both Robbie Robertson and Jim Morrison leaned too heavily on obvious "moon/June" rhymes.)
Okay, here we go for round two:
ReplyDeleteNo contest, Lucinda's Car Wheels over the classic Joni's Blue. I just love a voice, male of female, that's flawed and not perfect. That's Lu to a tee!
Again, not even close, the Beatles Revolver over the Doors' album. Enjoy some Doors songs, but it's the Beatles that redefined music in the sixties and still better than most bands that have followed in the past fifty plus years!
This next face-off was a lot tougher to decide, but as much as I enjoy Rumours by the Mac, I eventfully decided on the Band's self titled lp. Both as classics, but the Band get my vote!
And lastly, again in not much of a contest, I cast my vote for Mr. Dylan's Blood on the Tracks over any Bob Marley album. See my comments above regarding a flawed voice. I didn't much care for Dylan in the sixties until the 45 of Lay Lady Lay. But sometime in the late eighties, I went back and acquired all of his original lps and discovered what I had missed previously.
- greg
Lucinda, easily.
ReplyDeleteRevolver, handily.
The Band, beautifully.
Dylan, definitely.
- Stinky
P.S. all were no contest, except for Dylan/Marley. Bob Marley could sure write a pop song.
My 10 cents contribution on this topic...
ReplyDeleteBlue - Car Wheel: Not familiar with either to say anything meaningful.
Revolver - The Doors: The Beatles easily, I got into the Doors much later afterwards.
Rumours - The Band: F Mac easily, I got into the Band much later afterwards.
Blood On The Tracks – Exodus: Rasta Rules!
In Bob Marley’s day J-Pop stood for JAMAICAN Pop! - Stinky
ReplyDeleteAnd so here's my picks.
ReplyDeleteLu over Joni, Car Wheels is a modern masterpiece. Blue is great, but not as great.
Uh, I'd say Revolver, I guess. Both have great songs, but I'm not a superfan of either.
I probably like some of the songs on Rumours better, but The Band is the better album
Blood On The Tracks is one of Bob's best, enough to beat the other Bob's best (?)
Late to the party again but here are my pics, all fairly easy for me this time around though many above voted incorrectly.
ReplyDeleteBlue: one of MrDave's Faves so although CWoaGR is great, Blue is better.
Revolver: While kind of all over the map each song is pretty classic on its own and Tomorrow Never Knows is enough to put it over the top. Also, the first Beatles album I owned so ...
Rumours: The Band just doesn't do anything for me and I never willingly choose to listen to them. I listen to Rumours frequently although with a touch of guilty pleasure.
Blood On The Tracks: no contest! I've never been able to get into gae music (not that there's anything wrong with it?)