Best Decade Tournament - 70s: Delima Wins!

[William Bloke]

I'm really glad Jimmy B made the cut. I had one of his tunes under strong consideration as well.

Stip...

[dsb1218]

James Brown - Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine

[bada]

Well no one else took this and it's kind of a mandatory pick so I'm gonna have to step up.



Lynyrd Skynyrd - Free Bird

[PryTo]

I’m going out like I did in the sixties tournament, with the king. People tend to shit on Elvis’ work in the seventies and make jokes about peanut butter-banana sandwiches, pills, and white jumpsuits, but real fans know that this is when he became a truly great singer and produced some of his best material. After his divorce, his singing (and song selections) took on a profound sense of pain and loss. His early/energetic work in the fifties is held up as the gold standard (and it IS great), but he didn’t live and inhabit those songs like he did in his later years. Sure, there’s some dreck in every period of his work, but there are some real gems, too.

This is one of my favorite musical performances of all time, from September 1974. His divorce is finalized and hurting about it. (His wife left him for another man.) This is a guy who was born in a dirt shack and became the most famous singer of all time. The fortune and fame didn't bring him any happiness or peace. He’s playing (yet another) show in Vegas, where he had recently attempted to put together a compelling, artistic, and contemporary set list only to be spurned by fans who just wanted to hear him sing fucking “Hound Dog” for the jillionth time. So he does it, but he throws in a couple of songs that are just for him, including this yet-to-be-released tune about missing the woman who left you.

His ex-wife, Priscilla, is in the audience and he sings it directly to her. You can hear him say “Listen ‘Cilla” at the :43 mark. All of this history, all of this pain, all of this turmoil is in his voice, found in this single stunning performance.



Elvis Presley - It's Midnight

[stip]

Well no one else took this and it's kind of a mandatory pick so I'm gonna have to step up.



Lynyrd Skynyrd - Free Bird

it was always on my list

[William Bloke]

This is a fucking awesome page. Top marks peoples.

[stip]

I’m going out like I did in the sixties tournament, with the king. People tend to shit on Elvis’ work in the seventies and make jokes about peanut butter-banana sandwiches, pills, and white jumpsuits, but real fans know that this is when he became a truly great singer and produced some of his best material. After his divorce, his singing (and song selections) took on a profound sense of pain and loss. His early/energetic work in the fifties is held up as the gold standard (and it IS great), but he didn’t live and inhabit those songs like he did in his later years. Sure, there’s some dreck in every period of his work, but there are some real gems, too.

This is one of my favorite musical performances of all time, from September 1974. His divorce is finalized and hurting about it. (His wife left him for another man.) This is a guy who was born in a dirt shack and became the most famous singer of all time. The fortune and fame didn't bring him any happiness or peace. He’s playing (yet another) show in Vegas, where he had recently attempted to put together a compelling, artistic, and contemporary set list only to be spurned by fans who just wanted to hear him sing fucking “Hound Dog” for the jillionth time. So he does it, but he throws in a couple of songs that are just for him, including this yet-to-be-released tune about missing the woman who left you.

His ex-wife, Priscilla, is in the audience and he sings it directly to her. You can hear him say “Listen ‘Cilla” at the :43 mark. All of this history, all of this pain, all of this turmoil is in his voice, found in this single stunning performance.



Elvis Presley - It's Midnight

I'm not an elvis fan, but that's a nice performance and that post makes me want to be a fan.

[PryTo]

Few musical journeys have more to offer. Elvis' estate has done an abysmal job of managing the legacy of one of our greatest musical treasures. They are largely to blame. As an artist, Elvis was as good as they get, but you have to dig beyond the surface, the big hits, the corny merch, the tours of Graceland, and all that crap.

The best starting place is this book, one of the greatest biographies I've ever read. It really just cover the early years, but as a piece of music writing it's peerless. It really gives context to all that followed. The sequel, which goes from 1958 to his death in 1977 is not nearly as good, but still worth reading.

http://www.amazon.com/Last-Train-Memphi ... 0316332259

And if anyone is interested in a playlist/mixtape of the real, good Elvis (which would largely eschew the big hits), I'm your man.

[dsb1218]

That's a great read.

[DeLima]

Few musical journeys have more to offer. Elvis' estate has done an abysmal job of managing the legacy of one of our greatest musical treasures. They are largely to blame. As an artist, Elvis was as good as they get, but you have to dig beyond the surface, the big hits, the corny merch, the tours of Graceland, and all that crap.

The best starting place is this book, one of the greatest biographies I've ever read. It really just cover the early years, but as a piece of music writing it's peerless. It really gives context to all that followed. The sequel, which goes from 1958 to his death in 1977 is not nearly as good, but still worth reading.

http://www.amazon.com/Last-Train-Memphi ... 0316332259

And if anyone is interested in a playlist/mixtape of the real, good Elvis (which would largely eschew the big hits), I'm your man.

I would love a playlist like this.

[Kaius]

Seconded.

[William Bloke]

Yep, I'd def. give that a spin.

[i got bugs]

Me 2

[epilogue]

[epilogue]

Also, I think Stip's last pick is kinda brilliant. Gutsy. Original. Unexpected. Iconic. I'm not sure there's another poster in this tournament would could have pulled it off.

Way to take a chance, Stip. And it is a pretty fantastic piece of music.

[William Bloke]

Also, I think Stip's last pick is kinda brilliant. Gutsy. Original. Unexpected. Iconic. I'm not sure there's another poster in this tournament would could have pulled it off.

Way to take a chance, Stip. And it is a pretty fantastic piece of music.

Yeah, I have zero right to speak. I honestly nearly picked Kermit the Frog doing The Rainbow Connection at #9, and I'd stand 100% behind that as a pick. CW McCall's Convoy was right there for me too.

[dsb1218]

Someone get Lament to make a pick so we can start voting.

[numbers]

Lol at the idea that anyone will vote.

[ABNorman]

I'm not voting because it's far too much effort to search for all the tracks I don't recognise on YouTube.

[bada]

That's why I picked songs everyone's heard so many times they want to jump off a cliff when they hear them now.