First of all, Happy Father’s Day to all of the People who are Dads! An extra special Father’s Day is in order for PCT Regular – Marc, who recently joined the Daddy Club. Congratulations!
(2) Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man -- Conway Twitty & Loretta Lynn
Today we have a duet between my Grandfather’s favorite country star, Conway Twitty and the Van Lear Rose, Loretta Lynn. “Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man” peaked at #1 on the Billboard Country Charts in 1973. Grandfather has been humming it ever since. Challenging this 2 seed, we have Tears for Fears’ first international hit: “Mad World.” Roland Orzabal has said that he wrote this song while living above a pizza joint in Bath, and that, since Bath isn’t very ‘mad,’ he should have called the song “Bourgeois World.”
Next up we have Alicia Keys’ “No One,” for which she was awarded Best Female R&B Vocal Performance and Best R&B Song at the 2008 Grammys.
(7) No One, Alicia Keys
2008 was also a big year for challengers The Heavy – Spin Magazine named them Artist of the Day on March 26. Their song, “How You Like Me Now?” has been featured in several television shows and the 2010 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show. Is The Heavy heavy enough to topple Ms. Keys?
We also have an unlikely matchup between Megadeth and the Buena Vista Social Club, who face off third.
And for dessert, we have Pearl Jam with Cake.
(11) Let Me Go, Cake
Here is the Grooveshark link. (Thanks Danno!)
Vote by commenting below. Votes are due by 8 pm EST on Tuesday, June 21.
And without further ado —
The match-ups:
(2) Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man, Conway Twitty & Loretta Lynn v. (15) Mad World, Tears for Fears
(7) No One, Alicia Keys v. (10) How You Like Me Now, The Heavy
(3) Trust, Megadeath v. (14) Dos Gardenias, Buena Vista Social Club
(6) Yellow Ledbetter, Pearl Jam v. (11) Let Me Go, Cake
Remember: Votes are due by 8 pm EST on Tuesday, June 21.
Living the Dream 
Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man, Conway Twitty & Loretta Lynn = 7.5 (Loretta is 79 and still puts on an amazing show!
v. Mad World, Tears for Fears = 6
No One, Alicia Keys = 7.5
v. How You Like Me Now, The Heavy = 6.5
Trust, Megadeath = 3
v. Dos Gardenias, Buena Vista Social Club = 8.5
Thank you to whomever nominated this song! I love BVSC and am so happy to see them in the tournament.
Yellow Ledbetter, Pearl Jam= 8
just a great song.
v. Let Me Go, Cake =7
mmmmm…Cake.
Thanks for the daddy day shout out 🙂
And now here is the obligatory “look how cute my kid is” pic
Julianna
I think my jujube is a little young to vote … however I can tel you she did NOT like Dos Gardenias when it came on … might have been gas 😀
Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man – 4.5
Mad World, Tears for Fears – 6.5
No One – 7
How You Like Me Now – 8.5
Trust – 7.5
Dos Gardenias – 3
Yellow Ledbetter – 7
Let Me Go – 6.5
She’s beautiful! Thanks for sharing her with us. We can’t wait til she starts voting! (Especially if she digs Ray LaMontagne)
must take after her old man
no way she got that cute and curious look from Marc… gotta be Liz. When she develops the deeply puzzled look, THAT’s Marc 🙂
I was talking about the gas
Doesn’t that usually mean that Marc likes it though?
touche salesman
(2) Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man, Conway Twitty & Loretta Lynn v. (15) Mad World, Tears for Fears 8.75/
I was so psyched to see a little Conway Twitty in this tournament! And I love Loretty. I saw her at Cain’s Ballroom in Tulsa a few years ago — she had a broken foot, so she was sitting in this enormous throne in the center of the stage in her ballgown and she still put on a better show than I’ve seen some people half her age put on there. Also, I have her cookbook which has a recipe for possum. Plus, this song is FUN. As for the Tears for Fears — I like the version of Mad World that is in Donnie Darko so much more than this version.
(7) No One, Alicia Keys v. (10) How You Like Me Now, The Heavy 6/7
(3) Trust, Megadeath v. (14) Dos Gardenias, Buena Vista Social Club 3/9
Loving BVSC and it is such a nice change after that Megadeath song.
(6) Yellow Ledbetter, Pearl Jam v. (11) Let Me Go, Cake 9/8.75
Just the first few chords of Yellow Ledbetter make me happy. I love love this song and am so glad someone nominated it. But I also really like (listening to and eating) Cake. This was the toughest decision by far tonight!
Oh, I forgot my Tears for Fears vote. They get a 5.
Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man – 7
Mad World, Tears for Fears – 7.5
Extra point on Mad World because it makes me think of the end of Donnie Darko (though as Lindsay points out, the Gary Jules version is way better)
No One – 6.5
How You Like Me Now – 7
Wooo that’s funky!
Trust – 9.25
Dos Gardenias – 3.5
Thank god most of family roomba isn’t voting on this one! Trust is going to have a tough enough time on this one 🙂
Yellow Ledbetter – 8.5
Let Me Go – 5.5
The cake is a lie!!! (Not my favorite cake song) In case you are wondering what Eddie is saying:
(2) Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man, Conway Twitty & Loretta Lynn v. (15) Mad World, Tears for Fears: 6/1
(7) No One, Alicia Keys v. (10) How You Like Me Now, The Heavy: 5/10
How You Like Me Now is one of my favorite songs to run to or to dance with my toddler with…and I wouldn’t know it if not for that Kia commercial (I think the Sock Monkey in the commercial really helps, he’s a real bad-ass on the jetski http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFUlbSjmoUs).
(3) Trust, Megadeath v. (14) Dos Gardenias, Buena Vista Social Club: 2/3
(6) Yellow Ledbetter, Pearl Jam v. (11) Let Me Go, Cake: 6/7
Really thought Pearl Jam was going to take this, even though I like Cake, I couldn’t place the song…and then I heard the intro, and knew…this suddenly became a close one. 11 defeats 6!
And, i really thought after the first few chords of Yellow Ledbetter it really was a runaway, but then…Let Me Go made me happier.
Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man – 7 Love Loretta Lynn’s voice.
Mad World, Tears for Fears – 7 I love Donnie Darko and think the version in the movie worked, but as a song on its own, I think this is the better version.
No One – 6 The chorus is suspiciously similar to Lauren Hill’s “That Thing”
How You Like Me Now – 6 Not James Brown, but good.
Trust – 4 More constipated sounding vocals. Great.
Dos Gardenias – 6
Yellow Ledbetter – 5
Let Me Go –4
Like the constipated imagery… Dave Mustaine sings live basically without moving his mouth for much of his songs, and can occassionally be caught drooling in concert footage. Never knew how to describe it before, but that’s not bad. He still kicks ass though..or at least kicked.
(2) Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man, Conway Twitty & Loretta Lynn, 9
(15) Mad World, Tears for Fears 5.5
Lately I’ve been spending a lot of my nights sitting on the banks of a lake near my house with Helicopter, thinking about all sorts of things and listening to Loretta Lynn. So happy this is in here.
(7) No One, Alicia Keys 8.8
(10) How You Like Me Now, The Heavy 8.5
This isn’t fair for either of these songs.
(3) Trust, Megadeth 5.5
(14) Dos Gardenias, Buena Vista Social Club 8
As unlikely as it may seem, these are contemporaneous recordings- both were nominated for Grammy’s in 1998.
(6) Yellow Ledbetter, Pearl Jam 6.8
(11) Let Me Go, Cake 7
shit- i’ve been offline this weekend for the most part and am only now realizing that the person that nominated “How You Like Me Now” definitely, definitely wanted to use the version from The Letterman Show. Too late now maybe, but in the entire history of TLS Dave had never requested an encore until he requested one from The Heavy. Video below.
Louisiana: 3
Mad World: 4 (I think Gary Jules version is better)
No One: 2
How You Like Me Now: 6
Trust: 1
Dos Gardenias: 3
Yellow Ledbetter: 5
Let Me Go: 9
This tournament is very frustrating! It’s hard to see two great songs matched up this early in the competition(Yellow Ledbetter and Let Me Go), and then two songs that (I’ll be nice), I don’t care much for. The much weaker songs get to move on while great songs are left behind simply because of their pairing.
The pairing is pretty random (statistically random…for reals) and I agree it is frustrating sometimes, but that’s the nature of the tournament. A certain amount of chance is involved. If you have any suggestions on better ways to pair without manually evaluating 128 matchups — which a) no one really has time to do and b) there will always be someone who disagrees with how it’s matched — we are open to suggestions. (That sounds like I’m being sarcastic but seriously, we are looking for suggestions!)
Here I am, just hanging out on the music tournament website waiting for the next batch of songs so I can procrastinate doing my summer session finals. This whole voting system thing reminded me of an article I apparently read over 2 years ago in the WSJ, which I was lucky enough to find online… you can thank me later: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123388752673155403.html
Basically, all voting/ranking systems suck in their own ways and will produce different results because people are people and there are a million ways to manipulate any given system/ a million ways any given system could fail.
I think what could be cool for a future tournament would be a battle of the genres. Do initial groupings by genre as sub-tournaments that battle it out for a genre winner. Seeding could be determined only by the people who nominated songs within a genre using the instant run-off method (see above article). In the genre rounds, people will be forced to score songs based on the song… not by a preferred music type. Then, in the final rounds the winners of each genre duke it out to determine one song as the winner of ultimate glory.
[I over think things. Fact.]
All that said, I am really enjoying this tournament! I can’t wait for my nomination to win its first match up against Danno’s on June 29. The Darkness will prevail!
sadly you are probably right
Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man – 9
Mad World, Tears for Fears – 6
No One – 7
How You Like Me Now – 8
Trust – 7
Dos Gardenias – 5
Yellow Ledbetter – 1
Let Me Go – 6
(2) Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man (Conway Twitty & Loretta Lynn ) 3
(15) Mad World (Tears for Fears) 6
(7) No One (Alicia Keys) 7
(10) How You Like Me Now (The Heavy) 7.5 – Fun and funky… definitely grabbing this track.
(3) Trust, Megadeth 9
(14) Dos Gardenias, Buena Vista Social Club 3.5
So as full disclosure, the first time I listened to Dos Gardenias, in sequence, I was going to give it a 1, not because of what it faced, but because it came after The Heavy and Megadeth – which put me in an awesome, but fast and aggressive mood – and it was 100% not the song I wanted to follow. While I haven’t re-listened to tracks before scoring them all tournament (or last tournament), it seemed really unfair to me that BVSC got the short end of that stick. So I went back – still not my cup of tea, or what I wanted to hear, but it’s still undeniably interesting to listen to. Sadly, matchups do matter.
As for Trust, this version is re-mastered from the original album version on Cryptic Writings, and is not quite as good to my ears, so it got dinged a bit. My bad for not catching it. No big differences, just not quite perfect.
(6) Yellow Ledbetter, Pearl Jam 5.5
(11) Let Me Go, Cake 6.5
Let me go was somehow new to me, but was definitely digging it as a way to wrap up a song set that was all over the map.
(2) Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man, Conway Twitty & Loretta Lynn =8.0 how can you not like this song? It is classic country, the kind we grew up with.
(15) Mad World, Tears for Fears= 7.0, brings me to the 80’s for some reason.
(7) No One, Alicia Keys =8.0 I really like Alicia Keys, this is a good song.
(10) How You Like Me Now, The Heavy=6-0 on the fence with this one, seems like it just carries on, and on.
(3) Trust, Megadeath=8.0, good substance
(14) Dos Gardenias, Buena Vista Social Club=7.5, even with language barrier, this is a soothing sound, that is really nice.
(6) Yellow Ledbetter, Pearl Jam=9.0 the whole thing works. Nice.
(11) Let Me Go, Cake=8.0, I like the lyrics and beat, this one is fun.
Louisiana Woman-3
Mad World-5
No One-8
How You Like Me Now-5
Trust-7
Dos Gardenias-4
Yellow Ledbetter-6.5
Let Me Go-7
(2) Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man, Conway Twitty & Loretta Lynn: 3
(15) Mad World, Tears for Fears: 7
Oh dear, this isn’t going to make me popular by the looks of it but LWMM makes me cringe. Not for me. On the other hand, I think Mad World is great, especially this version (although – sorry to say – that I kind of like the Gary Jules version better as well).
(7) No One, Alicia Keys: 7
(10) How You Like Me Now, The Heavy: 6
Somehow Alicia Keys doesn’t feel right being in a tournament like this but I do kinda like it so maybe I should be less of a snob. Hell, I might even really like it. Feels weird but edge to Alicia…
(3) Trust, Megadeth: 6.5
(14) Dos Gardenias, Buena Vista Social Club: 2
I love the build on Trust. Do feel a bit silly listening to it though as I sit at my desk, early evening, in a button-down shirt. Love the riffing at 3:44…spot on. Dos Gardenias is not for me.
(6) Yellow Ledbetter, Pearl Jam: 8.5
(11) Let Me Go, Cake: 6.5
Oh, Eddie, sometimes you just hit the spot. Tonight is one of those times; could listen to it over and over right now. Haven’t listened to this Cake album in YEARS. The sun is on my face and this song works nicely with it…but PJ was just too good and Let Me Go got a little repetitive.
Hell, I nominated Alicia Keys and it feels kind of weird.
(2) Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man, Conway Twitty & Loretta Lynn – 5 –
v. (15) Mad World, Tears for Fears – 7.5 –
I prefer the Donnie Darko version…this is good but it sounds strange against what I’m expecting.
(7) No One, Alicia Keys – 8 –
v. (10) How You Like Me Now, The Heavy – 6.5 –
(3) Trust, Megadeath – 2.5 –
v. (14) Dos Gardenias, Buena Vista Social Club – 4 –
(6) Yellow Ledbetter, Pearl Jam – 6 –
v. (11) Let Me Go, Cake – 5 –
2) Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man, Conway Twitty & Loretta Lynn – 3
v. (15) Mad World, Tears for Fears – 3.5
These end up right below what I consider average. I am just not into this sort of country for starters. The Tears for Fears song I didn’t completely hate but would change the channel if it came on the radio.
(7) No One, Alicia Keys – 5.5
v. (10) How You Like Me Now, The Heavy – 7
Hmmm – I couldn’t decide on this one, until I watched the Letterman version of The Heavy song. I’m not always into this type of music, but it worked today.
(3) Trust, Megadeath – 3.5
v. (14) Dos Gardenias, Buena Vista Social Club – 6.5
I really enjoyed Dos Gardenias, it was really pretty to listen to… took me to a far away place, like a secret garden bar in a foreign country that only the locals know about.
(6) Yellow Ledbetter, Pearl Jam – 4
v. (11) Let Me Go, Cake – 5
I always want to get into Pearl Jam, and there are a few songs I do like, probably more than I realize. But when I am tired (like today – I am laying in my bed typing this, it’s quite the feat), I just can’t do it. I was so excited for Cake – thought for sure it would pep me up. But alas, a slow Cake song, what gives?….zzzzzzz
LWMM – 3.0 vs Mad World – 6.5
No One – 8.2 vs How You Like Me – 5.0
Trust – 4.0 vs Dos Gardenias – 7.0
Yellow Ledbetter – 4.0 vs Let Me Go – 6.5
Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man, Conway Twitty & Loretta Lynn 7.5
Mad World, Tears for Fears 6
I’ve heard the really slow and kinda creepy version of Mad World, but not this one. I liked it, but I like the happiness in Louisiana Woman.
No One, Alicia Keys 6
How You Like Me Now, The Heavy 8
Trust, Megadeath 6
Dos Gardenias, Buena Vista Social Club 4.5
Yellow Ledbetter, Pearl Jam 5
Let Me Go, Cake 7
LWMM – 3.0 vs Mad World – 6.5
No One – 8.2 vs How You Like Me – 5.0
Trust – 4.0 vs Dos Gardenias – 7.0
Yellow Ledbetter – 4.0 vs Let Me Go – 6.5
This is Eileen’s vote. Not The Progenitor’s.
Twitty Lynn – 3.5 vs Mad World – 6.0 – Too much twang even for me. Tears for Fears has done better but this one is enough to take the prize in this round.
No One – 7.5 vs How You Like Me Now – 5.0 – Alicia Keys has a nice voice. Just a good track all around. How You Like Me – not too much.
Trust – 5.0 vs Dos Gardenias – 7.0 – BVSC takes the nod on this one. Pleasing to the ear and pleasing for the soul. Didn’t hurt that it brought memories of sandy beaches and Caribbean waters.
Yellow Ledbetter – 4.5 vs Let me Go – 6.5 – Ledbetter scored down because, although I liked the melody line I couldn’t understand the lyrics at all; probably just as well. Let me Go was cute but not much more, but I will always take Cake over Jam.
This is the real Progenitor entry.
Seriously, just once, are you two going to vote for a song I nominate? The Roomba family votes together, and we collide like smashing atoms? (bad pun, sorry)
Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man – This song is corny and musically uninteresting but it makes me happy. 6/10
Mad World – I am not a huge fan of the New Wave sound but I can’t deny that this is a well written song. I prefer the Gary Jules cover. 7/10
No One – Very repetitive song with cliched melody and chord progression, but Alicia does a great job singing it. 5/10
How You Like Me Now? – This is the first time that I’ve heard The Heavy, and I like it. A lot. 7/10
Trust – One of Megadeth’s best songs; everything about this song is awesome. Well, except for the lyrics, but this is metal; who cares about lyrics? 9/10
Dos Gardenias – Cool. 7/10
Yellow Ledbetter – Love this song. The melody is great; excellent use of dynamics, and Mike McCready channels Hendrix. 9/10
Let Me Go – 5/10
Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man, Conway Twitty & Loretta Lynn 5 [toe-tapper]
Mad World, Tears for Fears 7.8 [the cover gets more play, but the synth work on this is pretty fantastic]
No One, Alicia Keys 6
How You Like Me Now, The Heavy 6.5
Trust, Megadeath 5.5 [I could not pin down a score for this song- it was at times an 8 and other’s a 2, so… 5.5 works]
Dos Gardenias, Buena Vista Social Club 4
Yellow Ledbetter, Pearl Jam 7 [What part of ALL the marbles in my mouth do you not understand?]
Let Me Go, Cake 7
(2) Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man, Conway Twitty & Loretta Lynn – 4.5
v. (15) Mad World, Tears for Fears – 8
I wanted to like Louisiana Woman a lot more than I did. I don’t know much Loretta Lynn, but I want to, because I love lady country singers like her and when I saw Gillian Welch last time she told a phenomenal story about Loretta Lynn, the content of which I can’t remember. Mad World is a smart, sad song with the added perk of 80s synths. Mm. 80s music.
(7) No One, Alicia Keys – 8.5
v. (10) How You Like Me Now, The Heavy – 7
Okay, I nominated “No One,” which honestly kind of surprised me. I mean… it’s not necessarily one of my favorite songs ever, but I always get into it. I partly nominated it because I had no idea what the listening public for this tournament would look like, and I wanted to submit a broad field. But also I nominated it because it’s great to bump really loud in summer and cruise around, so if you are not listening to it under those circumstances, you probably should. I also think it has a fantastic ending/fade out, which so many songs blow. I like the competition, too, though; if this song doesn’t move on it will not break my heart.
(3) Trust, Megadeath – 5
v. (14) Dos Gardenias, Buena Vista Social Club – 3
Man I love metal drumming. But again with the vocals. You are spending your energy on something that will be terrible no matter what, so just shut up and PLAY.
(6) Yellow Ledbetter, Pearl Jam – 6
v. (11) Let Me Go, Cake – 7.5
My roommate came in midway through Ledbetter, and alternately compared Eddie Vedder’s voice to:
-A Blender
-A Blender through a take out order window
-A mouth full of marbles
-My cat
-My cat through a take out order window.
She also does impressions. Anyway, Cake was, like, the only band from Sacramento that I knew of in my teenage years so I will always and forever have a soft sport for them, even though they got the hell out of Sac about quickly as I did as soon as I was of age.
louisiana woman, mississippi man – 6
mad world – 9 (this was my nomination. i have no personal attachment to it, just thought it’d be a fun one to throw in the mix. apparently many don’t agree. i mean, if you’re expecting gary jules, of course this won’t be what you were looking for, but this version is more fun, and gary jules would have nothing without it…)
no one – 2.5
how you like me now – 9
trust – 4
dos gardenias – 4.5
yellow ledbetter – 9
let me go – 8
Brutal match-ups….
Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man, Conway Twitty & Loretta Lynn: 6.5
Mad World, Tears for Fears: 6
No One, Alicia Keys: 6
How You Like Me Now, The Heavy: 6.5
Trust, Megadeath: 2
Dos Gardenias, Buena Vista Social Club: 10
Yellow Ledbetter, Pearl Jam: 7.5
Let Me Go, Cake: 8
Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man, Conway Twitty & Loretta Lynn – 9
Mad World, Tears for Fears – 5
Loretta Lynn is amazing. I dig the twang of this song and the way she sounds with Conway Twitty.
No One, Alicia Keys – 7
How You Like Me Now, The Heavy – 7
Both songs are solidly good…and almost always enjoyable to listen to. How can I pick?!
Trust, Megadeath – 5
Dos Gardenias, Buena Vista Social Club – 8
Liked Megadeath more than I expected. Someone commented in an earlier round that they liked metal better with no vocals, and I am totally in the same boat. Less ‘singing’ makes it more palatable for me. BVSC makes me want to take shots of tequila and slow dance on a patio.
Yellow Ledbetter, Pearl Jam – 7.5
Let Me Go, Cake – 6.5
Ah, the gravely voice of Eddie Vedder. Not as smooth as some other gravely male singers, but great nonetheless.
Great round of songs!
Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man, Conway Twitty & Loretta Lynn: 5.1
Mad World, Tears for Fears: 3.2
No One, Alicia Keys: 6.9
How You Like Me Now, The Heavy: 6.4
Trust, Megadeath: 1.2
Dos Gardenias, Buena Vista Social Club: 8.4
Yellow Ledbetter, Pearl Jam: 9.99
Let Me Go, Cake: 7.2
Good stuff…
Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man, Conway Twitty & Loretta Lynn: 8
Mad World, Tears for Fears: 5
No One, Alicia Keys: 7.5
How You Like Me Now, The Heavy: 8
Trust, Megadeath: 1
Dos Gardenias, Buena Vista Social Club: 5
Yellow Ledbetter, Pearl Jam: 2
Let Me Go, Cake: 5
(2) Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man, Conway Twitty & Loretta Lynn [5.5]
(15) Mad World, Tears for Fears [7]
(7) No One, Alicia Keys [8]
(10) How You Like Me Now, The Heavy [4]
(3) Trust, Megadeath [2]
(14) Dos Gardenias, Buena Vista Social Club [5]
(6) Yellow Ledbetter, Pearl Jam [7.5]
(11) Let Me Go, Cake [7]
Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man, Conway Twitty & Loretta Lynn: 7
Mad World, Tears for Fears: 6.5
No One, Alicia Keys: 6.5
How You Like Me Now, The Heavy: 6
Trust, Megadeath: 4
Dos Gardenias, Buena Vista Social Club: 4.5
Yellow Ledbetter, Pearl Jam: 8.5
Let Me Go, Cake: 8.5
Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man, Conway Twitty & Loretta Lynn: 8
Mad World, Tears for Fears: 6.2
Duets are underappreciated.
Mad World really grew on me as it kept playing.
No One, Alicia Keys: 3.8
How You Like Me Now, The Heavy: 6.7
For all you NYers, the Heavy is playing this Saturday at the Prospect Park bandshell. $3 suggested donation and the venue is one of my favorites in the city. The Heavy had a really good energy, particularly on the Letterman Show.
No matter how much everyone else likes Alicia, she just doesn’t do it for me. She has a nice voice but I would actively avoid listening to this song again.
Trust, Megadeath: 3.5
Dos Gardenias, Buena Vista Social Club: 5.5
My officemate is trying to get me to go see the Megadeath/Metalicca/Anthrax/Slayer show this Fall. They were way less heavy than I expected and this song makes them seem just like a hair band. I liked the intro and a lot of the guitar licks, but this has not got me excited to pay $200 to see “the Big Four” at Yankee Stadium this Fall.
Oh my, what a contrast to Megadeath. Really highlights one of the difficulties of this tournament to put these two songs back to back. In what other situation, would BVSC follow Megadeath? I gave BVSC a second listen, just to try to get in the mood, but it’s a bit too hard to give it a fair shake.
Yellow Ledbetter, Pearl Jam: 5.5
Let Me Go, Cake: 7
Pearl Jam is coasting on my nostaliga.
Ever since I saw John McCrea play his vibraslap (I had to google both the lead singer and that funny instrument he plays), I was a big fan of Cake. However, I lost a bit of interest in the middle of this song and it cost them some points.
If you want to donate your ticket to the Big Four, I’m all in. I figured Slayer would be craziness in this tournament… and I was right.
Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man, Conway Twitty & Loretta Lynn: 8.2
Mad World, Tears for Fears: 7.7
No One, Alicia Keys: 6.5
How You Like Me Now, The Heavy: 7.9
Trust, Megadeath: 5.4
Dos Gardenias, Buena Vista Social Club: 6
This isn’t one of my top 3 Buena Vista songs- appreciate the nomination though. And Megadeath got about two points more than I expected going into it.
Yellow Ledbetter, Pearl Jam: 8
Let Me Go, Cake: 7.5
Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man, Conway Twitty & Loretta Lynn: 5
Mad World, Tears for Fears: 7.75
No One, Alicia Keys: 5…I can appreciate that she’s a masterful musician, but I’m just not the hugest fan of the music itself.
How You Like Me Now, The Heavy: 4. I do love me some good funk, but I couldn’t manage to sink my teeth into this song despite having heard it countless times.
Trust, Megadeath: 8.5. Love – LOVE – this song, and always have.
Dos Gardenias, Buena Vista Social Club: 5. Nothing can equal Chan Chan for me from this BVSC record, unfortch.
Yellow Ledbetter, Pearl Jam : 8.75
Let Me Go, Cake: 9.5
Asking me to choose between two of my all-time favorite bands is like asking me to kill one of my (hypothetical) children. I guess I’ll give the edge to Cake because I was in the mood for something a little more up-tempo.
LA woman, MS man 10
Mad World 6
No One 6
How You Like Me Now 8
Trust 4
Dos Gardenias 5
Yellow Ledbetter 6
Let Me Go 6.5