As you may know, there are a select number of heavy hitting bands who have opted out of Spotify. To include their songs in the tournament requires some technological flexibility on our part- with that in mind, this next set will be courtesy of YouTube! Votes due by Friday, September 27th at 5 PM EST- vote with your heartiest of hearts. Two of these match-ups have songs by the same band (aka my “two birds one stone for songs not on Spotify” strategy,) so consider them independent of each other as always.
Syd Barrett, looking completely sane as always.
The next group is pretty British heavy, going from early 60s hits to late 60s London psychedelia onto experimental rock in the mid 70s. Just to keep it weird, we’ll end with an electrorock set from the turn of the century.
- Early British Rock Across The Atlantic 1962 (Group 3)
- London Psychedelia 1967 (Group 7)
- Experimental Rock Styles 1974-1975 (Group 9)
- Electrorock 2000 (Group 16)
Listen here if the embedded playlist doesn’t work.
Day 6 Results: New frontrunner. Get excited.
All day.
Leiber & Stoller Definitive Hits
“Hound Dog” by Elvis Presley- 79
“There Goes My Baby” by The Drifters- 75
“Charlie Brown” by The Coasters- 64
“Smokey Joe’s Cafe” by The Robins- 58
Late 60’s U.S. Folk/Country Rock
“California Dreamin'” by The Mamas and The Papas- 86
“Happy Together” by The Turtles- 80
“Different Drum” by The Stone Poneys- 63
“Eight Miles High” by The Byrds- 54
New Rock Traditionalists
“Hungry Heart” by Bruce Springsteen- 67
“Late In The Evening” by Paul Simon- 65
“The Waiting” by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers- 62
“Private Eyes” by Hall and Oates- 56
The College Radio Station, 1988
“Stand” by R.E.M.- 63
“Where Is My Mind” by Pixies- 59
“Freak Scene” by Dinosaur Jr.- 53
“Teen Age Riot” by Sonic Youth- 51
Living the Dream 
This started out as one of the best groups so far, really tight competition. I had real trouble separating and grading songs, but I managed it in the end.
In Group 1, Tornado got an 8 – really one of my favorite instrumentals ever; She Loves You followed it with a 7, Please Please me with a 6 (really a nuance). Acker Bilk ended up with a 5, in this group just couldn’t go any higher.
Group 2, the toughest one probably. I was tempted to just give them all an 8, but in the end decided that I love Paper Sun and My White Bicycle better, while Pink Floyd has more heavy-hitters to come from their progressive era. So, 2 eights, 2 sevens there.
Third group has only one favorite for me – Kashmir got an Epic 9, without thinking. ELO and Genesis shared a 7 (yes, they are two categories behind Zep in my opinion), while Rush got a 6 – again, it’s in this group, somewhere else it could’ve gone much higher.
Last group wasn’t exactly my cup of tea. Simply put, I didn’t like it at all. I gave Radiohead a 5 (mainly because it’s Radiohead) and others a 4 – nothing for me here, sorry.
I’ll keep it brief.
The 1962 grouping was by far the best of the bunch for my taste. Hard choices but Telstar has to take this one. In it’s day – original/unique. It served to transition music to the new technology that was pervading society. The Beatles are…………..the Beatles. By the way, if any of you are listening out there and like the Beatles – try the newly released “Let It Be – Naked.” Sir Paul, I believe, took some old tapes without a lot of the background crappola and made a new disc.
London Psychedelia – not a big fan of this. No real winner here for me but gave the nod to Traffic. Psych for me was listening to Jefferson Airplane, Surrealistic Pillow and studying for finals in my freshman year. Wasn’t my choice of music but it did keep me awake.
The Experimental stuff wasn’t much better until you get to Kashmir. Do like this one. Thank you, Adam.
Electronic generally means don’t listen; skip this block, for me. But I did listen. Nothing horrendous but nothing to write home about either. All pretty blah!!!!
General comments:
Group 1- The early Beatles doesn’t really distinguish itself for me- I slightly prefer “Please Please Me” to “She Loves You,” which is just played out. Dunno what it was, but really liked that clarinet in “Stranger On The Shore.” Good campfire music. That got my high score.
Group 2- Not psyched about any of these- gave a tie to “See Emily Play” and “My White Bicycle.”
Group 3- Kashmir is not gonna have a problem with this, but I did like the Rush and ELO selections.
Group 4- South Side came out of left field on my votes- great little song, lyrics and all, reminds me of being a senior in high school and driving up GW parkway from Gravelly Point next to Reagan National, cold air blasting that song and skirting my way back to Maryland around D.C. Such Great Heights a classic as well. Idioteque and Do You Realize, could take or leave.