The Best Coast. Finally, someone is using the Last Supper for a promo shot…
Tonight’s match-ups feature a nice blend of classic rockers and new indie artists. Listen to the songs here, and vote by commenting below before 8pm EST on Thursday. Gotta say, was not familiar with several of these guys, but loading up the playlist I’m really looking forward to this round. Happy voting!
Baby Drugs (Tristen) vs. Promised Land (Bruce Springsteen)
Curl of the Burl (Mastadon) vs. You and Me (Penny and the Quarters)
Tristen was a Grooveshark recommendation. Take that, Apple Genius!
Dreams (Passion Pit) vs. All Eyes on You (St. Lucia)
The Only Place (The Best Coast) vs. Hang Fire (Rolling Stones)
Living the Dream 
Baby Drugs (Tristen) 8
Promised Land (Bruce Springsteen) 7
Curl of the Burl (Mastodon) 8
You and Me (Penny and the Quarters) 5
Yup I’m completely biased here. I nominated Curl of the Burl. I figured this tournament needed some metal, and let me tell you this is the most accessible of Mastodon’s songs. I fully expect it to be panned to the song it’s paired against, but take a risk crank this up and make your ears bleed.
Dreams (Passion Pit) 2
All Eyes On You (St. Lucia) 5
The Only Place (The Best Coast) 6
Hang Fire (The Rolling Stones) 7
Ahhh the cocaine era Stones. Fun stuff.
Baby Drugs (Tristen) vs. Promised Land (Bruce Springsteen) 6-7.5 – Springstein had a very Dylan-esque sound here that was enjoyable
Curl of the Burl (Mastadon) vs. You and Me (Penny and the Quarters) 4-6
Dreams (Passion Pit) vs. All Eyes on You (St. Lucia) 7 – 5.5
The Only Place (The Best Coast) vs. Hang Fire (Rolling Stones) 5.5- 6.5
Baby Drugs (Tristen) 6
vs. Promised Land (Bruce Springsteen) 6
Curl of the Burl (Mastadon) 4
vs. You and Me (Penny and the Quarters) 8
Dreams (Passion Pit) 4
vs. All Eyes on You (St. Lucia) 5
The Only Place (The Best Coast) 6
vs. Hang Fire (Rolling Stones) 7 How awesome would it be if Best Coast did a cover of this song. Actually, the ideal band to handle this is the Pixies, but Best Coast would still do right by it.
Baby Drugs (Tristen) vs. Promised Land (Bruce Springsteen) – 10:8
— Fuck. I really want Baby Drugs to go all the way and I’m not a die-hard Springsteen fan, but it’s kind of undeniable how good he is. This song is also tough to give a low rank to.
Curl of the Burl (Mastadon) vs. You and Me (Penny and the Quarters) – 5:6
— Shitty vs. less Shitty. I probably wouldn’t be annoyed/distracted if this was playing at a bar so they don’t get a sub-5.
Dreams (Passion Pit) vs. All Eyes on You (St. Lucia) – 6.5:6
— re:Dreams – see the movie “The Sound of My Voice”.
The Only Place (The Best Coast) vs. Hang Fire (Rolling Stones) – 5:8
My favorite day of Round 1 so far.
Baby Drugs (Tristen) vs. Promised Land (Bruce Springsteen): 9.2 : 8.2
Two wonderful songs. A shame they met in the first round.
Curl of the Burl (Mastadon) vs. You and Me (Penny and the Quarters): 7.3 : 8.1
Joe, this song was totally accessible, was feelin’ it. The story behind Penny and the Quakers is crazy though!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penny_and_the_Quarters
This was essentially a 40-year old lost recording demo tape.
Dreams (Passion Pit) vs. All Eyes on You (St. Lucia): 7.6 : 6.9
Dreams is really fun, but not sure it’s better than the Cranberries version.
The Only Place (The Best Coast) vs. Hang Fire (Rolling Stones): 7.4 : 7.5
Two excellent surf rock songs. In case you were wondering:
“The title expression “hang fire”, (by formal definition) means to do nothing, to delay, wait, hold back, or hesitate. But in more casual, slang use, “hang fire” means to “chill, relax, kick back, take it easy, or act lazy” — as in “Hey man, let’s hang fire later tonight.”
The song was apparently a commentary on British politicians in the 1970s.
Baby Drugs (Tristen) 8
Promised Land (Bruce Springsteen) 6
This may be the first time I have ever voted against the Bruce. Baby Drugs was just really fun.
Curl of the Burl (Mastodon) 6.5
You and Me (Penny and the Quarters) 5.5
Ha! Wow, could two songs be more different?
Dreams (Passion Pit) 2
All Eyes On You (St. Lucia) 10
All Eyes On You is my favourite song of 2011 – I loved it from the second I first heard it. At the time, a reviewer described it quite perfectly as feeling like the soundtrack to a fog-covered 80s dancefloor drama when you lay eyes on someone you’re crazy-teenage attracted to for the first time. I really loved that, this song and the album it’s from. Love Passion Pit – especially the new album – it’s really, really, really good. Not into this track at all though – I’m listening to it just wishing it was the Cranberries version instead: not a good sign.
The Only Place (The Best Coast) 6.5
Hang Fire (The Rolling Stones) 5
Baby Drugs (Tristen) vs. Promised Land (Bruce Springsteen) = 7 to 7.5
Curl of the Burl (Mastadon) vs. You and Me (Penny and the Quarters) = 5 to
Never heard this Mastadon tune before – sounds more like Queens of the Stone Age than Mastadon? Is their newer stuff?
Dreams (Passion Pit) vs. All Eyes on You (St. Lucia) = 1 to 1.5
Sorry.
The Only Place (The Best Coast) vs. Hang Fire (Rolling Stones) = 6.5 to 7
I like Best Coast. I liked the 1st album better. I went to their show a couple months back, and I was definitely the old guy there.
That was a weird and cool Rolling Stones song. Never heard it before.
oops, please give penny and the quarters a 4
Adam, Curl of the Burl is from Mastodon’s latest album The Hunter.
Baby Drugs (Tristen) vs. Promised Land (Bruce Springsteen) 6.0 vs 7.0
Curl of the Burl (Mastadon) vs. You and Me (Penny and the Quarters) 5.0 vs 6.0
Dreams (Passion Pit) vs. All Eyes on You (St. Lucia) 5.0 vs 6.0
The Only Place (The Best Coast) vs. Hang Fire (Rolling Stones) 5.0 vs 7.0
Baby Drugs (Tristen) vs. Promised Land (Bruce Springsteen) 6.0 vs 5.0 Had enough Boss in the last contest. Doesn’t improve with age.
Curl of the Burl (Mastadon) vs. You and Me (Penny and the Quarters) 4.5 vs 5.0
Dreams (Passion Pit) vs. All Eyes on You (St. Lucia) 6.0 vs 6.5 Best pairing in this group.
The Only Place (The Best Coast) vs. Hang Fire (Rolling Stones) 5.0 vs 6.0
Baby Drugs (Tristen) vs. Promised Land (Bruce Springsteen) 9/5.5
Curl of the Burl (Mastadon) vs. You and Me (Penny and the Quarters) 5.5/6
Dreams (Passion Pit) vs. All Eyes on You (St. Lucia) 9/7.75
I like this version of Dreams more than I like the original. It sounds dreamier to me. But maybe I dream in electro-pop. 🙂 I also really liked the other song, though.
The Only Place (The Best Coast) vs. Hang Fire (Rolling Stones) 6.5/7
Baby Drugs (Tristen) 6.8
Promised Land (Bruce Springsteen) 10
Let me take you back…to March 30th, 2012, the day I got eliminated coaching Bruce in the first final. This was my comment.
“Promised Land (Bruce Springsteen) Love.
Fool in the Rain (Led Zeppelin) Also love.
I coulda gone with an Atlantic City, Hungry Heart, Backstreets, Streets of Philadelphia I guess, but there was something perfect about standing on my last legs with this one. Probably see you guys soon enough as the author of the tournament posts.”
So I didn’t even nominate this for PCT, but between that coincidence and my mounting excitement over my tickets to the Boss concert Friday at Nats stadium, gotta go perfect score- too much of a coalescence to ignore.
Curl of the Burl (Mastadon) 6
You and Me (Penny and the Quarters) 7.2
Lovely little ditty. Joe, Mastadon is accessible for sure, but liked Penny.
Dreams (Passion Pit) 4
All Eyes on You (St. Lucia) 7.2
Um I never really liked the Cranberries version, so it’s like a copy of something I didn’t like. The St Lucia song breakdown is great. Yeah, this one. Also despite my disparity in scores I recognize that this is a good match.
The Only Place (The Best Coast) 7.5
Hang Fire (Rolling Stones) 7
Baby Drugs (Tristen) – 8.5
this was fantastic. and i’ve been on the search for more female vocalists i like…
Promised Land (Bruce Springsteen) – 6
it’s a good thing i can’t get into bruce, because otherwise this would likely be a tough matchup
Curl of the Burl (Mastadon) – 3
i tried to like it, but found it boring
You and Me (Penny and the Quarters) – 4
penny & the quarters is a great band name
Dreams (Passion Pit) – 6
i think i would be excited to see this live. they do a good job with this song, but it’s got more of a novelty factor going for it rather than being a song i’d enjoy listening to for its own sake.
All Eyes on You (St. Lucia) – 8
liked this.
The Only Place (The Best Coast) – 7
the cheesy lyrics might annoy me more on another day. fun song.
Hang Fire (Rolling Stones) – 8
solid day. don’t think i’d ever heard any of these songs before!
Baby Drugs (Tristen) 6.5
Promised Land (Bruce Springsteen) 8
Curl of the Burl (Mastodon) 6
You and Me (Penny and the Quarters) 6.25
Dreams (Passion Pit) 8
All Eyes On You (St. Lucia) 8.25
The Only Place (The Best Coast) 6.75
Hang Fire (The Rolling Stones) 7
Baby Drugs (Tristen) 9.2
Promised Land (Bruce Springsteen) 9
Curl of the Burl (Mastadon) 7.8
You and Me (Penny and the Quarters) 8.9
Dreams (Passion Pit) 7
All Eyes on You (St. Lucia) 7.9
The Only Place (The Best Coast) 8
Hang Fire (Rolling Stones) 8.5
Baby Drugs (Tristen) vs. Promised Land (Bruce Springsteen) – 7.5 / 7.25
Curl of the Burl (Mastadon) vs. You and Me (Penny and the Quarters) – 3 / 6.25
Dreams (Passion Pit) vs. All Eyes on You (St. Lucia) – 6.5 / 6.75
The Only Place (The Best Coast) vs. Hang Fire (Rolling Stones) – 7 / 8
Baby Drugs (Tristen) 8
Promised Land (Bruce Springsteen) 6.5
Charming, to the first. Seeing the Boss in a week. Need to avoid playing him out over that time.
Curl of the Burl (Mastodon) 4
You and Me (Penny and the Quarters) 5.5
Wanted to like Penny and the Quarters more, but
Dreams (Passion Pit) 6
All Eyes On You (St. Lucia) 7
The Only Place (The Best Coast) 6
Hang Fire (The Rolling Stones) 6.5
Baby Drugs (Tristen) 6
Promised Land (Bruce Springsteen) 8
Curl of the Burl (Mastodon) 4.5
You and Me (Penny and the Quarters) 6
Dreams (Passion Pit) 5
All Eyes On You (St. Lucia) 5
The Only Place (The Best Coast) 6
Hang Fire (The Rolling Stones) 6.5
Baby Drugs (Tristen) 5.3
Promised Land (Bruce Springsteen) 5.5
Promise in both, but execution/repetition/godforsaken harmonica failed both artists here.
Curl of the Burl (Mastadon) 9
You and Me (Penny and the Quarters) 5
Whoever put in Curl of the Burl, I owe you and bow to you – I lacked the guts. Even if I will tend to play tracks off of Blood Mountain ahead of The Hunter (Crystal Skull, Colony of Birchmen and Siberian Divide my favorites), this is terrific. Really enjoying where their sound has gone, and super-curious for the next album (soon i hope). Probably overscored to pure quality, i was so happy to hear this track, it just put me on another level.
Dreams (Passion Pit) 5
All Eyes on You (St. Lucia) 6.5
All Eyes on You was interesting – definitely checking them out.
The Only Place (The Best Coast) 6.3
Hang Fire (Rolling Stones) 7
Never heard Hang Fire before – interestingly punky. Just a little bit better than Best Coast – really strong round, have to say.
Adrock that was yours truly. I knew better than to put Capillarian Crest as a choice on this tourney. I think only you and I would have finished the song. I agree completely with you, these guys keep pushing musical boundaries, and keep me on my toes.