REM song tournament: Lament Wins!

[Chris_H_2]

Chris
Pryto

are you not voting in the other two?

My analysts are still crunching the numbers.

[@SkitchP]

theprytopus

[epilogue]

Lament
DcT
phil
Pryto

[Chris_H_2]

Stip
Darth

[vedder316]

Stip
DcT
Darth Vedder
Platypus

Like I mentioned in round 1, Stip has probably five of my top 25 REM tunes. Lament has a strong team and it was a tough call.

I love DcT's team too. 5 of his first 7 picks are outstanding. I like Shiny Happy People way more than most people. This was another close call as I probably like Chris' 1-8 almost as much.

The other 2 matches werent as close for me. I will say I cant believe Platypus scored Low and Wake Up Bomb where he did. Tremendous depth picking up those 2 songs late in the game.

[Kaius]

I decided to do do all match ups song vs. song by album. It gives less weight to any blow outs, but forces consistency on winning teams.

Lament x stip - remarkably close. I favored Lament on the IRS material, and stip was better during the Green-HiFi years. Lament evened things back up with his Up-Sun selections, and stip came back with probably my favorite tracks from Accelerate and Collapse. It came down to the bonus track, and as close as these teams are, i strongly prefer WAGBTWWB over Crazy.

Lament wins.

dct x Chris H 2 - this was the toughest one to pick. I struggled with almost every choice. I ended waiving afew matches off as ties due to indecision. Going down the list this match up was back and forth the entire run. The match was tied going into the bonus track just like the other, and luckily for me it was an easier house to make. Gardening at Night beats Manhattan.

Chris wins.

I'll get to the other two a bit later.

[EJ]

Lament
Chris H2
Darth_Vedder
Platy

[Kaius]

the platypus x PryTo - both solid teams, especially on the back halves. If it wasn't for the IRS years, this would have been a lot closer, but I had theplatypus with an early 4-0 lead before finally dropping one at Document. Jorge's list surprised me a little, mostly because he seemed disinterested/bored about half way through the draft. His team is sneaky good.

theplatypus wins.

darth_vedder x philpritchard - I really wanted to keep Phil going so I could at least say I lost to the eventual champ, but I think darth has the better squad here. He took 3 out of 5 in the IRS albums, they pretty much split the middle records, but d_v ran away with it in the post-Berry years.

darth vedder wins.

[AndySlash]

looks like i missed the first part of round 1? oops.

as before, simple ratings will determine my choice

++ absolute favorites
+ songs i really like a lot
[] no overly strong feelings either way
- songs i just don't like

2. Lament vs. Stip

Spoiler: show

Lament
1. Country Feedback++
2. At My Most Beautiful
3. Electron Blue-
4. Fall on me+
5. Electrolite
6. Talk About the Passion+
7. We All Go Back to Where We Belong++
8. Time After Time++
9. Green Grow The Rushes
10. The One I Love+
11. I Don't Sleep, I Dream+
12. I'm Gonna DJ
13. Stand
14. Walk it Back
15. Beachball
16. Monty Got a Raw Deal

vs.

Stip
1. You Are the Everything
2. Uberlin
3. Losing My Religion
4. So. Central Rain+
5. What if We Give it Away?
6. Leave++
7. Try Not to Breathe+
8. Finest Worksong
9. Life and How to Live It
10. I Wanted to be Wrong
11. Houston
12. Chorus and the Ring
13. Star 69
14. Crazy
15. Parakeet
16. West of the Fields

Lament (9) b. stip (4)


3. DcT vs. Chris H2

Spoiler: show

Chris_h_2
1. E-bow the Letter+
2. Find the River+
3. Half a World Away+
4. Disturbance at the Heron House++
5. Daysleeper+
6. What's the Frequency, Kenneth
7. Feeling Gravity's Pull+
8. The Flowers of Guatemala
9. Sitting Still
10. Pop Song 89+
11. Beat a Drum+
12. Hollow Man
13. Boy in the Well
14. Gardening at Night+
15. Alligator/Aviator/Autopilot/Antimatter
16. Rockville (Don't Go Back To)+

vs.

Durdencommatlyler
1. How the West Was Won and Where it Got Us+
2. It's the End of the World as We Know It
3. Man on the Moon
4. These Days
5. Strange Currencies+
6. Get Up
7. Lotus+
8. Camera
9. She Just Wants To Be+
10. Oh My Heart
11. Accelerate+
12. Shinny Happy People
13. We Walk
14. Wanderlust-
15. First We Take Manhattan
16. Auctioneer (Another Engine)+

Chris_H_2 (11) b. durdencommatyler (5)


4. Darth_Vedder vs. PhilPritchard

Spoiler: show

Darth_Vedder
1. Drive++
2. Radio Free Europe+
3. Begin the Begin+
4. Driver 8+
5. Circus Envy
6. Little America
7. Orange Crush+
8. Binky the Doormat
9. Near Wild Heaven+
10. Oddfellows Local 151
11. Bad Day
12. Sing for the Submarine
13. Why Not Smile+
14. I'll Take the Rain+
15. High Speed Train
16. All the Best

vs.


PhilPritchard
1. The Lifting
2. Me in Honey+
3. Maps and Legends+
4. Until the Day is Done+
5. Bang and Blame+
6. Blue+
7. Letter Never Sent
8. So Fast, So Numb
9. Final Straw+
10. Exhuming McCarthy
11. 9-9
12. Hallelujah
13. You're in the Air++
14. The Wrong Child
15. Just a Touch
16. Ignoreland

Darth_Vedder (9) b. PhilPritchard (8)


5. PryTo vs. Platy

Spoiler: show

ThePlatypus
1. The Great Beyond
2. Nightswimming++
3. Perfect Circle+
4. Imitation of Life+
5. Cuyahoga+
6. King of Birds
7. Walk Unafraid++
8. Second Guessing
9. Leaving New York-
10. Man Sized Wreath
11. Every Day is Yours to Win
12. Good Advices
13. I Took Your Name
14. I Remember California+
15. Low++
16. The Wake Up Bomb

vs.

Pryto
1. It Happened Today++
2. Living Well is the Best Revenge+
3. Welcome to the Occupation
4. Swan Swan H++
5. Let Me In++
6. Turn You Inside Out+
7. Pretty Persuasion+
8. Sad Professor++
9. Wendell Gee
10. Endgame+
11. Pilgrimage+
12. All the Way to Reno-
13. Star me Kitten
14. Carnival of Sorts (Boxcars)
15. New Test Leper
16. Aftermath

PryTo (12) b. theplatypus (9)

[Lament]

I should probably cast my votes...

Me: I was gonna abstain from voting in this one, but stip voted for himself so I'm gonna vote for myself. Stip has three of my all-time favorites (Losing My Religion, So. Central Rain, and my all-time favorite Try Not to Breathe), but I much prefer my later-day picks to his.

Joey: This was probably as close to a pure toss-up as could possibly be. I was really digging on These Days yesterday, so I'm voting for Joey. I'm pretty sure had I been digging on Daysleeper yesterday instead I'd be voting for Chris right now.

Phil: Again, Phil just has a lot of songs I really, really love (The Lifting, Me in Honey, Maps & Legends, Blue, So Fast, So Numb). I think there's probably a good chance I'd even vote for him if I were facing him. DV has so many good songs (especially Drive, Begin the Begin, Driver 8, and Orange Crush), but Phil's team is just stacked.

Jorge: Jorge has three songs (The Great Beyond, Nightswimming, and Walk Unafraid) that would probably make my personal top ten. I can't vote against those. Sorry, PryTo.

[Coach]

Really, a lot of these could have gone either way. In fact, I think some of these teams are so close that we perhaps need to change the whole song tourney format...I dunno...rambling, I guess.

My picks:

Mr. Stip
Chris
Darth Vedder
Pryto

[stip]

I decided to do do all match ups song vs. song by album. It gives less weight to any blow outs, but forces consistency on winning teams.

Lament x stip - remarkably close. I favored Lament on the IRS material, and stip was better during the Green-HiFi years. Lament evened things back up with his Up-Sun selections, and stip came back with probably my favorite tracks from Accelerate and Collapse. It came down to the bonus track, and as close as these teams are, i strongly prefer WAGBTWWB over Crazy.

Lament wins.

although you made the wrong overall choice, and while I really like Crazy, We All Go Back is clearly the superior tune. That's a fantastic song.

[chewm]

Stip
DcT
PhilPritchard
Platypus

[stip]

Round is closed. Good matches. Congrats to the winners


Lament 7 over stip 6 (damn it!)
Chris 8 over DcT 5
Darth Vedder 8 over Philpritchard 5
Theplatypys 7 over Pryto 6




3 of my 4 picks lost (sorry guys) although Lament has my second favorite team, I think

[stip]

7. Lament vs. Chris
8. Darth_Vedder vs. Theplatypus

Spoiler: show

Lament
1. Country Feedback
2. At My Most Beautiful
3. Electron Blue
4. Fall on me
5. Electrolite
6. Talk About the Passion
7. We All Go Back to Where We Belong
8. Time After Time
9. Green Grow The Rushes
10. The One I Love
11. I Don't Sleep, I Dream
12. I'm Gonna DJ
13. Stand
14. Walk it Back
15. Beachball
16. Monty Got a Raw Deal

vs.

Chris_h_2
1. E-bow the Letter
2. Find the River
3. Half a World Away
4. Disturbance at the Heron House
5. Daysleeper
6. What's the Frequency, Kenneth
7. Feeling Gravity's Pull
8. The Flowers of Guatemala
9. Sitting Still
10. Pop Song 89
11. Beat a Drum
12. Hollow Man
13. Boy in the Well
14. Gardening at Night
15. Alligator/Aviator/Autopilot/Antimatter
16. Rockville (Don't Go Back To)



***

Darth_Vedder
1. Drive
2. Radio Free Europe
3. Begin the Begin
4. Driver 8
5. Circus Envy
6. Little America
7. Orange Crush
8. Binky the Doormat
9. Near Wild Heaven
10. Oddfellows Local 151
11. Bad Day
12. Sing for the Submarine
13. Why Not Smile
14. I'll Take the Rain
15. High Speed Train
16. All the Best

vs.



***
ThePlatypus
1. The Great Beyond
2. Nightswimming
3. Perfect Circle
4. Imitation of Life
5. Cuyahoga
6. King of Birds
7. Walk Unafraid
8. Second Guessing
9. Leaving New York
10. Man Sized Wreath
11. Every Day is Yours to Win
12. Good Advices
13. I Took Your Name
14. I Remember California
15. Low
16. The Wake Up Bomb

[stip]

both teams are pretty close on points so I'll do my vote based on head to head

[stip]

Lament vs. Chris

Murmur: Chris
Reckoning: Lament (close)
Fables: Lament
Pageant: Lament
Document: tie (it might be lament but it would really depend on the day)
Automatic: Chris (favorite REM song)
Green: Chris (though I do like Stand)
Out of Time: Lament (not many songs will beat half a world away, but...)
Monster: Chris
Hi-Fi: Chris (not many songs will beat Electrolite, but...
Up: Chris (close)
Reveal: Lament (Beat a drum has grown on me quite a bit, but beachball is an odd favorite)
Around the Sun: Lament (close--for many years it would have been boy in the well)
Accelerate: Lament
Collapse: Chris
Misc: Lament (close)

Lament 8, Chris, 7 Tie 1

Very close, and chris dominates during my favorite stretch, but vote to Lament.

[stip]

And DV vs. Platy

Murmur: Platy
Reckoning: DV
Fables: DV
Pageant: DV
Document: Platy

(Other than murmur none of these were close. all the winning songs here are just excellent)

Green: Tie. Neither are favorites
Out of Time: Platy, but neither are favorites
Automatic: Platy, not that Drive isn't awesome but Nightswimming might be my favorite song from either team
Monster: DV, easily
Hi-Fi: DV, binky is my favorite of the live tracks

One of the weaker set of team offerings from this period. Really only 4 songs I love (nightswimmng, drive, binky, and circus envy)

Up: Platy
Reveal: Platy (easily)
Around the Sun: Platy (easily)
Accelerate: Platy (easily)
Collapse: Platy
Misc: DV


Overall I'm going to vote for platy, just because he was so dominate on the last 5 albums

[philpritchard]

If I had lost the round by one vote, I definitely would have filed an official complaint that the voting took place on a long weekend. Since I lost by three, I'll let it slide.

Lament - really, really close and it basically comes down to a coin flip. Both have a few of my favourites and a few I'm not really a big fan of.

Theplatypus - because I didn't pay enough attention, there was a time when I was voting and wasn't sure what had been picked over the last few rounds. The three songs I was thinking about were Cuyahoga, King of Birds and Walk Unafraid. I ended up having to pick songs I'm not a huge fan of from those albums. While I'm tempted to vote against him out of spite for taking all three, I guess I'll give him credit for it.

[epilogue]

Lament
Platypus