ROUND 2 RESULTS--------------------------------------------------------------------------
king – Simple Minds1. Alive and Kicking
2. Waterfront
3. Sanctify Yourself
4. Up on the Catwalk
5. Don’t You (Forget About Me)
First impression: I can see why this is popular, but I’m not sure I find it that exciting.
Final opinion: I see what you were going for with this. I’ve had a decent number of submissions so far that are broadly in a new wave, synthpop, art pop/rock sort of genre, and some of them are doing quite well (more so this round than last round). Stylistically speaking, this is all pretty good stuff - nice sound, good vibes. I just don’t find it very interesting. The ones I’m liking most have really strong melodic hooks, and/or something fairly unique and exciting in the sound and production. This isn’t especially strong with either. It would have probably scored lower had you not included their massive hit, Don’t You (Forget About Me), which of course I was familiar with and is very catchy and enjoyable.
Score: 7.3--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Elite – Mahavishnu Orchestra1. Birds of Fire
2. Eternity's Breath, Pt. 1
3. Eternity's Breath, Pt. 2
4. One Word
First impression: The sort of thing I’d probably love live, but is still pretty good on record.
Final opinion: For my tastes, this is just a really inconsistent submission. I can be fairly picky with jazz fusion (and to some extent with jazz in general), which I guess you weren’t to know. The two Eternity’s Breath tracks are great - great playing, a really cool sound and nice use of vocals and strings to make it all sound quite grand and immersive. I also like how the tracks build and develop. Definitely looking forward to checking out the album they’re from. The other two tracks, I just can’t get into. One Word is decent, although I find it drags a little, but Birds of Fire I struggle with. I do think I’d really enjoy something like that live, but on record it just feels a bit messy to me, and there’s something about the production and guitar tone I find grating.
Score: 7.5--------------------------------------------------------------------------
lonestar – The Kinks1. Around the Dial
2. A Rock’n’Roll Fantasy
3. Better Things
4. Celluloid Heroes (Live)
5. Days
First impression: My enjoyment of each song depended on how much I liked the vocals.
Final opinion: On further listens, I’m not sure if it’s the vocals themselves, or if it’s more about the production and writing. In general I like what I’m hearing, but there’s definitely a correlation between how much I like it overall, and how much I like the vocals. Rock’n’Roll Fantasy is a really great song, well written and produced and with really warm and emotional vocals. Days is more Beatles-esque but also a lot of fun and nicely done, and the live recording of Celluloid Heroes also has some great stuff in it. It’s the other two songs that bring the score down a little here - the songs themselves don’t really interest me, and the vocals come across as thin and occasionally out of tune which definitely hurts my enjoyment of them.
Score: 7.7--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sacul – Linda Perhacs1. Chimacum Rain
2. Paper Mountain Man
3. Call of the River
4. Parallelograms
5. Hey, Who Really Cares
6. Porcelain Baked-Over Cast-Iron Wedding
First impression: Some songs were more immediate than others, but it all sounded intriguing.
Final opinion: I like this quite a bit, although not as much as I wanted to. It’s odd that although some songs were more immediate than others, it wasn’t like I ended up loving some and disliking others. Actually I think there’s a consistency of mood and quality here, despite the different styles, that works in its favour and makes it all feel quite coherent. Every song does its own thing quite well, but none quite manages to make me love it. The bluesy approach of Paper Mountain Man was the one I responded to most immediately and I like the energy, but it never quite gets going. Similarly I like the mood of Call of the River, but the sound isn’t full enough to really immerse me in that mood.
Score: 7.8--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cyril – Barry White1. I’ve Got So Much To Give
2. Never, Never Gonna Give Ya Up
First impression: I’ve not heard this artist before but this is exactly what I thought they’d sound like.
Final opinion: Before this roulette, pretty much my entire knowledge of Barry White was people doing impressions of him. So it’s been nice to finally hear what he and his music actually sounded like. And yeah, it’s exactly what I expected.
Which isn’t a bad thing, and in a way I’ve getting into it more than I might have thought, given disco and smooth soul aren’t really genres I pay much attention to. It maybe goes a bit too far in being sexy-time music, although it’s entirely possible that’s a symptom of how his music is referred to (and copied) in the years since and therefore the connotations it prompts in my brain. Either way, it’s really enjoyable but not something I can see myself wanting to listen to often!
Score: 7.8--------------------------------------------------------------------------
jingle – Peter Gabriel1. Solsbury Hill
2. In Your Eyes
3. Games Without Frontiers
4. Big Time
5. San Jacinto
First impression: Some of this felt a little tame, but I liked it when there was more energy or emotion.
Final opinion: This is another one of those half-great, half-meh submissions. Relatively meh anyway, nothing here is bad. Let’s start with the great. Solsbury Hill has a lovely English-folk vibe and emotion to it that’s rather lovely. Big Time is just a cracking pop rock song - great sound, energy and hooks. And the second half of San Jacinto is excellent too, really grand and surprisingly emotive. Just a shame it takes a while to get there - the first half doesn’t even really build up to it, just plods along until it suddenly kicks up a gear. The others I find much weaker - In Your Eyes doesn’t really have anything for me to latch onto, and Games Without Frontiers is such a cool idea but just feels so tame in its execution.
Score: 7.9--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Stadler – The Cars1. Moving in Stereo
2. All Mixed Up
3. Let’s Go
4. It’s All I Can Do
5. Since You’re Gone
6. Drive
First impression: I rather like this - it’s upbeat but has an oddly emotional edge to it.
Final opinion: I feel like I could just copy and paste the discussion about The Cars from this thread that you initiated as my review. If anyone has dismissed them as light-weight and radio-friendly, then on the basis of these songs that seems to be both inaccurate and a meaningless reason to be dismissive. Most of the songs don’t blow me away maybe, but they’re really nice pop-rock with some strong tunes and, as I said in my first impression, an emotional edge that makes them more than just a bit of fun. This is really epitomised in Drive, which is the standout and just a really lovely song that, even though I’ve never heard it in the car, really does make me think of driving at night.
Score: 8.0--------------------------------------------------------------------------
HOF – Premiata Forneria Marconi1. Per uno amico
2. L’isola di niente
3. Grazie davvero
First impression: Intricate and kind of dramatic - will take a few listens to get my head round it, but I liked it.
Final opinion: Here we come to our first non-English submission of the roulette, and what an interesting one it is. As expected, the language didn’t present a barrier (it rarely does, unless it’s important to the enjoyment for narrative or comedic reasons). In the case of this Italian prog band, the focus is clearly on the intricate writing and skilled musicianship. It perhaps borders on the meandering in places, but not unusually so for 70s prog and not to the extent that it harms the music. There’s a ton of cool ideas in here, and while it’s not immediately accessible, I’ve found myself enjoying very much on every listen.
Score: 8.0--------------------------------------------------------------------------
TAC – Pat Benetar1. Promises in the Dark
2. In the Heat of the Night
3. My Clone Sleeps Alone
4. Don’t Let It Show
5. Hell is For Children
First impression: Some of this was great, and the vocals helped with the less strong parts.
Final opinion: As you correctly identified, the less strong parts I was referring to were from In the Heat of the Night and Don’t Let it Show. To be clear though, I didn’t dislike either song, both have grown on me since, and I think their inclusion helped make this an interesting and varied submission as they showed different sides of Benetar’s music to the rest. The other three were all high-quality, poppy hard rock, and her voice really does bring everything together. It’s very passionate in an 80s sort of way (again something I might have been less keen on a few years ago), in some places almost reminding me of a female Meat Loaf, if not quite so cheesy.
Score: 8.0--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ruba & Puppies – CandlemassRuba:1. Under the Oak
2. At the Gallows End
3. Bewitched
First impression: Sounds really good, and cool to hear how this relates to what came before it and after it.
Puppies:1. Crystal Ball
2. At the Gallows End
3. Mirror Mirror
4. Under the Oak (New Version)
First impression: Very similar to another submission, and comparable in quality.
Final opinion on both: There’s just too much similarity and direct overlap between these submissions to be able to review them separately. I didn’t even manage to score one higher than the other, both are equally great. The one identical song, At the Gallows End, is my favourite of the bunch. I have a slight preference for the later version of Under the Oak (as I prefer their second vocalist), but like Bewitched slightly more than the other two songs Puppies sent, so it all nets off. I really like the sound of these guys, and I found it really interesting to hear how their sound developed from earlier bands - the riffing of 80s thrash bands and the slow gloomy approach of early Black Sabbath (and I’m sure others) - and then contributed to developing doom metal as a genre of its own.
Score: Both 8.1--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Evermind – Jethro Tull1. Farm on the Freeway
2. She Said She Was a Dancer
3. Budapest
First impression: More interesting than most of what I’ve heard from this artist.
Final opinion: This is the second time someone has done well with Jethro Tull in my roulettes. In the last one, Stadler sent me their folkier acoustic stuff, and I liked it very much and ended up getting their acoustic compilation album. But I tried a couple more regular albums (having previously tried Aqualung) and still found them a little lacking. You’ve now given me hope that there might be a Tull album for me after all. All three songs have a richness of sound and melody that I’ve not got from them before, and which is much more up my alley. I’d especially highlight Farm on the Freeway - I really love how the fusion of traditional English folk stylings with modern (at the time) rock music creates a great parallel to the song’s theme of a farmer giving up his land for a new freeway. Although an English band using the word “freeway” is, of course, unforgivable.
Score: 8.1--------------------------------------------------------------------------
wolfking – Thin Lizzy1. Thunder and Lightning
2. Cold Sweat
3. Chinatown
4. Emerald
First impression: Maybe not ariich-fodder, but this was pretty rocking and I like the guitar work.
Final opinion: I’ve always been aware that Thin Lizzy were a hard rock band, but perhaps because the songs I knew were on the poppier end (Boys Are Back in Town, Whisky in the Jar, Dancing in the Moonlight), I’d never really appreciated how much they actually rocked. These songs are all pretty great, in different ways. Thunder and Lightning is fast and energetic almost bordering on heavy metal, Cold Sweat has a great chorus, Chinatown has a cool groove to it, and Emerald has a grand feel. I guess I’ll need to give some of their albums a proper listen!
Score: 8.1--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Buddy – Frank Zappa1. Keep It Greasy (Live)
2. Cletus Awreetus-Awrightus
3. Willie The Pimp
4. Watermelon In Easter Hay
First impression: Love the variety - some of it dragged a little but other parts were deliciously quirky.
Final opinion: Alright so this is a pretty weird submission, starting with two songs under 3 minutes and then finishing with two songs over 9 minutes. But then the weirdness fits quite well with his music.
I was obviously very aware of Zappa but hadn’t ever listened to his stuff, and didn’t really know what to expect. And these four tracks are so different that I still don’t feel I know what to expect from anything else of his. They’re all great in different ways. The musically-rich quirkiness of Cletus is definitely a standout and one of my favourites of the round, but there’s great stuff in each track. The longer ones do drag a little, but they work ok for their style so it’s not really to the detriment of the overall experience.
Score: 8.2--------------------------------------------------------------------------
romdrums – Mr. Mister1. Is It Love
2. Kyrie
3. Something Real (Inside Me/Inside You)
4. The Tube
5. Control
First impression: Like most submissions so far in this genre not every track is killer, but the good ones are great.
Final opinion: I think this has grown on me since my first impression. It’s another submission that’s broadly within the new wave/pop rock sort of area, and it’s definitely one of the better ones. The first two songs, in particular, I just really love. They are insanely catchy and well-produced. The other three didn’t grab me as much at first, and for sure they’re not quite so special, but on further listens I’ve found them to also be very good. They also have a slightly different edge to the first two, still fairly poppy but leaning a bit more into AOR territory.
Score: 8.2--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Luke – Van Morrison1. Sweet Thing
2. And It Stoned Me
3. Moondance
4. Caravan
5. Into the Mystic
First impression: One track was a little bland, but the rest was really nice and that voice is just full of emotion.
Final opinion: So yeah, the first song (the only one not from Moondance) isn’t all that interesting really. It’s pleasant, definitely, but just kind of there. But the Moondance songs are just a whole different thing, from the richness of the music, the emotion and depth in his voice and the variety of instrumentation. There’s a great diversity here, it’s all bluesy but that ranges from very folksy stuff through to pretty much all-out jazz (with jazz flute!), and the use of saxophones throughout gives it such an interesting vibe as well as helping keep the songs all sounding coherent.
Score: 8.3--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kwyjibo – Ultravox1. Dancing With Tears In My Eyes
2. All Stood Still
3. Vienna
4. Hymn
First impression: One of the better submissions so far in this genre - very rich sonically and melodically.
Final opinion: Another new wave ish submission, and this is the best one so far. The tunes are incredibly catchy and memorable and in general the music is just very immersive. All Stood Still is probably the one I’m least interested in, but I’m glad you included it as it shows a different (even quirky) side that’s quite fun. The other three do have their differences of course, but they all have these big anthemic choruses that I’m guessing is a fairly common feature of their music. Either way, there’s a really great vibe created from the blending of the song-writing, the production and the vocals which are pretty serious in tone (and which work surprisingly well).
Score: 8.3--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nekov – Serú Girán1. La Grasa de las Capitales
2. Cara De Velocidad
3. Eiti-Leda
4. Seminare
First impression: Struggling to think of anything else this sounds like… unexpected and quite excellent.
Final opinion: This has just come completely out of nowhere. Never heard of them, and as you know I don’t even know any other Argentinian artists (other than Daniel Barenboim). The music is pretty proggy, and it does go all over the place in some ways, but it’s all just so wonderfully rich and dynamic. And there’s something about it, not sure if it’s just the writing or if it’s helped by the production, but like all good prog it can explore these different ideas without feeling disjointed or messy. And then on top of all that, there are a few really gorgeous moments where the vocal melodies and/or harmonies hit me in just the right place.
Score: 8.4--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Topic: ariich’s fogey roulette (v7) – FINAL RESULTS (Read 65446 times)
