Round of 32: Day 2

Posted on November 8, 2011 by maureenmcollins

Is anyone else totally struggling with how early it gets dark right now? All I want to do is hang out in my apartment and make soup and bake things.  Is it too soon in the season to want to be cozy all the time?

While I ponder what seasonally appropriate coziness even means, we can listen to this set of songs for Day 2 of the Round of 32!  The Grooveshark link covers all the songs, except for Ike and Tina’s Proud Mary.  Votes are due by Thursday at 10 pm EST.  As we move further into the tournament, people seem to Continue reading →

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Round of 32: Day 1

Posted on November 7, 2011 by g-mo

Running low on battery and stealing library internet, so I will add color commentary tomorrow. Votes due by Wednesday, November 9th at 11 pm. Grooveshark link is here– best of luck to all.

Somewhere Over The Rainbow vs. Puttin’ On The Ritz’ [Update: thanks to G for the muted observation that the original version of SOTR I put up wasn’t the mash with “What A Wonderful World.” I wasn’t aware there was a version without that part until now. As they say:

Continue reading →

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Round of 32- Who’s Still Alive?

Posted on November 7, 2011 by g-mo

…these guys (remember, the full bracket can be found here):

Pretty good group, could go a lot of ways- my Final Four picks are: Dixie Chicks, Joe Cocker, Winehouse/Ronson, and The Clash. What are yours?

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Round of 64: Day 8 Results

Posted on November 7, 2011 by g-mo

A New Tourney Leader Emerges

Sorry everyone- as you know, I don’t have Internet, so sometimes my abilities to post on weekends can hinge on whether I end up at a coffee shop or not. And I didn’t yesterday. Whomp whomp. However, we have completed the Round of 64 and will be launching into the next round. Who are the last 4 songs moving forward? Let’s review.

I’ve never seen as wild of a polarizing match-up as “I Fought The Law” and “Wonderwall.” In fact, out of curiosity I went through to grab the average of the absolute value of the score differences across everyone that submitted- 3.858. You either loved or hated one of these songs. In the end The Clash leave triumphant and eliminate Ryan Adams, 147.35-116.4. Still participating- New York. Nonplussed- Chicago. Continue reading →

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Covers Tournament: Round of 64, Day 7 Results

Posted on November 5, 2011 by maureenmcollins

 

Welcome to the Wall of 10s!

Sometimes life is extra fun and fantastic, so it gets in the way of on time posting.  Some very good friends of mine got engaged last night and a group of our friends met them at their favorite bar to celebrate.  And then I ran a great race in downtown Chicago this morning – and it is a seriously beautiful day. So sorry for the delay!

Day 7 did not post any averages above a 7, and most match-ups ended fairly decisively.  We do have an addition to the Wall of 10s though, which is always exciting.  10s are such a big deal.  This round also saw 17 individual voters.

Black Magic Woman (Santana) defeated Bad Romance (Lissie), 107.3-88.2.  Lissie had some supporters, but also had some haters, so Santana’s consistently average scores pulled him ahead.

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Covers Tournament: Round of 64, Day 6 Results

Posted on November 4, 2011 by Janos Marton

A little hungover from a party at the Cuban Embassy, so this will be brief.  I’m saluting Deadheads here for boosting “Magnificent Sanctuary Band” and putting it on the Wall, with three 10s.   Unfortunately, a valiant effort in vain.

Day 6 was marked by high averages and two match-ups that were decided by the final set of voters.

#7 I Won’t Back Down (Johnny Cash) def. #58 Wake Me Up When It’s Over (Supersuckers),  158.8-129.1.   Cash has a rock solid floor, but not a very high ceiling.

#26 I Shot the Sheriff (Eric Clapton) def. #33 Magnificent Sanctuary Band, 141.2-138.6.  This one went down to the wire, with the lead changing several times.

#10 Mad World (Gary Jules) def. #55 Dancing With Myself (Nouvelle Vague), 158.2-154.3.  The frogs almost pulled off a major upset, leading Mad World until the last two votes, averaging a 7.0 in defeat.

#23 I Wanna Hold Your Hand (Al Green) def. #42 I Will Survive (Cake), 155.5-139.9.  Cake kept it close, but fizzled down the stretch.

 

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Covers Tournament: Round of 64, Day 8

Posted on November 3, 2011 by g-mo

Alright kids- we are sliding into third base here and just about 75% done with this tournament. The time is flying! Without further adieu, the last sets of match-ups for this second round of CoversFall11! Playlist here except for Norah, votes are due by Saturday at 11 pm EST. Good luck!

I Fought The Law (The Clash): Paging Astrid
vs.
Wonderwall (Ryan Adams): The original Wonderwall was dominating the airwaves at just about the same time I started Continue reading →

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Covers Tournament: Round of 64, Day 7

Posted on November 2, 2011 by maureenmcollins

Alrighty this is going to have to be short and sweet.  I am just back from a week in DC, learning about cool public health things at a conference and having ridiculous amounts of fun.  But now I am super sleepy!    But we did get a decent response from our nominators for songs this round, which is great.  Happy voting!

Votes are due Friday, Nov. 4 by 10pm EST. Please see the Grooveshark link for our match-ups, except for Hugo, which is available on YouTube.

Bad Romance (Lissie) vs. Black Magic Woman (Santana)

Clearly this is an awesome album cover.

Bad Romance was nominated by James. UPDATE: Here’s the blurb – A cover can be considered interesting when it takes a different tone, cadence, or genre and reinterprets the original, hell, it can even be considered great. The reason I nominated Lissie’s cover of “Bad Romance” is that I flat out believe it more. It’s not all that different from the original but  a folk/alt/country gal belting out her undying desire for a bad lovin’ man resonates. It’s a stripped down cover and her voice breaks and strains in a way that the hyper-produced original never approaches. Add that to a very simple video and a more lively breakdown and the gaga jumble speak even sounds like it was meant to be more bluegrass than dance trash. Dear Lissie, I would like some of your bad romance as well. Call me. Also, check out this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWe07krS8_E&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Here is the story for Black Magic Woman, from AdamS: ” Fleetwood Mac, and Peter Green specifically, wrote a song called “The Green Manalishi” which, quite honestly is terrible. However Judas Priest picked it up, added some crunchy guitars and all of a sudden it become a little fiendish and a lotta cool.  However you all would have hated it.  So I was flipping through some old Fleetwood Mac stuff where Peter Green was the writer, and I remembered that they wrote Black Magic Woman.  The original is unbelievably inferior, though still pretty cool.  On top of that, it made the first ever mix CD i made in high school at the dawn of Napster (or well, shortly after the dawn, as I was behind the learning curve).  In fact, it was track 1 (I still have the CD).  One of the best guitar driven songs I can think of, lots of instrumental, and yet I’ve never felt like the vocals aren’t a key to the song.  All in all a tough package to accomplish.”

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Covers Tournament Round of 64 Day 5: Results

Posted on November 2, 2011 by aiko

Jose Gonzalez reflects on his win

November is kicking my ass and it’s only the second.  Literally the only reason I’m up past 8pm tonight is because I had to get this post up.  So this will be brief.  I hope I read the spreadsheet right.

Janos says it’s going all the way and with a few last-minute votes, “Valerie” by Amy Winehouse and Mark Ronson averages a 7.5 and defeats ”Love Me” by Department of Eagles, 97.6 to 74.5.

With a respectable 6.8 average, ”Heartbeats” by Jose Gonzalez defeats “Hard To Handle” by the Black Crowes, 88.6 to 77.5.

In the closest match of the night, “Sea Of Love” by Cat Power squeaks by “Stairway To Heaven” by Rodrigo y Gabriela, 83 to 82.3.

It seemed likely that one of these ladies would win two victories, but tonight it’s Cham Marshall going home with the 2-0 record, with ”I Found A Reason” by Cat Power defeating “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow” by Amy Winehouse 93.8 to 76.6.

Time for a cat power nap. Good night.

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Covers Tournament: Round of 64, Day 4 Results

Posted on November 1, 2011 by jacobpress

Good readers, in case there was any lingering doubt, tonight provides ample proof that every vote counts. Two contests came down to the final submission and one margin of victory was particularly close. At the end of the day though, two favorites moved on and two fell, Mark O saw two of his nominations survive and move on, the Beatles went three-for-three.

Who has funny red noses and had a monster round? These guys.

The high score of the evening goes to Joe Cocker’s Help From My Friends, which averaged 7.2 and made easy work of Erasure’s Take a Chance On Me, 101.35-78.2.

Our second match-up was close until Adrock gave a definitive edge to Aerosmith, whose cover of Come Together edged out Harvey Danger’s Save It for Later 85.7-79.6.

Aimee Mann and Michael Penn’s The Two of Us continued its strong showing, averaging a healthy 7.1 in its 100.2-85 victory over the Gourds’ Gin and Juice.

The last match-up of the night came down to mere tenths of a point, as Marc Cohen’s New Speedway Boogie barely survives its round of 64 showdown with Jenny Lewis’s Handle With Care. The final score: 87.75-87.35.  Sorry Jenny Lewis fans. This was as close as they come.

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