18-Hail Hail vs. In My Tree

[doone]

easy round, NEXT!

[PHATJ]

It's very close, I like HAil Hail slightly more, I think.

[darth_vedder]

goddammit RM

[evenslow]

[darth_vedder]

Jack!

[darth_vedder]

Matt!

[Birds in Hell]

[Higgs]

Shit. Having a tough time on this one.

I'm going with In My Tree but I may change...

[tragabigzanda]

I do think "Hail Hail" is lyrically better. But "In My Tree" goes to deeper places musically -- there are parts during those choruses where I feel less like I'm listening to a rock band playing and more like I'm just being pummelled by a tidal wave, not only a force of raw sound but also of take-your-breath-away emotion. Not an easy vote, but I'm saying "In My Tree."

I swear, I'm not trying to give you a hard time! But I'm curious why in this round you're more compelled by the raw emotion of IMT rather than the brilliant chord progression of Hail, Hail, while you took the opposite stance in the Go vs. Animal round.

Spoiler: show

I'm still upset you didn't vote for Animal.

[LoathedVermin72]

Hail Hail without hesitation

[digster]

In My Tree, in a close matchup. I think this tournament have helped me figure out which of those PJ songs feel somewhat unique to me in the catalog; as KD put it, with In My Tree, I forget the individual building blocks of the player's arrangements, vocals and lyrics as the song becomes something else entirely.

Hail, Hail is just a wonderful freaking song; I think it's incredibly difficult for Ed to create the vocal and lyrical mood he does here in such an uptempo song, but he does it wonderfully.

[Kevin Davis]

I do think "Hail Hail" is lyrically better. But "In My Tree" goes to deeper places musically -- there are parts during those choruses where I feel less like I'm listening to a rock band playing and more like I'm just being pummelled by a tidal wave, not only a force of raw sound but also of take-your-breath-away emotion. Not an easy vote, but I'm saying "In My Tree."

I swear, I'm not trying to give you a hard time! But I'm curious why in this round you're more compelled by the raw emotion of IMT rather than the brilliant chord progression of Hail, Hail, while you took the opposite stance in the Go vs. Animal round.

Spoiler: show

I'm still upset you didn't vote for Animal.

Well, I think "In My Tree" is fantastic musically (though the progression in "Hail Hail" is definitely great) -- the way the bassline implies the harmony during the verse melody, the "round"-style singing arrangement during the bridge section, those soaring guitar harmonies at the end, and most importantly the way they all interlock (I'm trying to refrain from saying "butt up against each other" but perhaps that's the better term). "Hail Hail" jumps around the scale more, and in less conventional ways, but I think "In My Tree" is equally rich musically, and in any case I'd be able to switch my vote to "Hail Hail" here without losing much sleep, where to me "Animal" and "Go" are a good few tiers apart. "Animal" also shows a side of the band that I just flat-out don't relate to anymore, where "In My Tree" -- while kinda touchy-feely in its way -- speaks to a more complex range of emotions that still come back into relevance every now and again.

That said, I think every song kind of plays by its own rules in regards to what jumps out to the listener and what doesn't -- where "Animal"'s lack of compelling composition in my eyes may cause me to lose interest in it, there may very well be another song that's equally simplistic and thrills me. I'm sure it's hard to believe but most of the time I listen to music pretty uncritically, letting what I like about the song rise to the surface and letting the rest fall where it may. It's primarily in these more analytical forums -- and especially when I'm engaged in an exercise where the sole purpose is to pull apart a song's strengths and weaknesses to determine which one is better -- where these kinds of particulars end up driving the conversation. And I'm sure it's not 100% consistent from song to song, because despite how many similarities we can always find between any two of 'em, every song really is different.

[BSully]

Wow...very tight. If I change my vote it will be tied!

[Jammer XCI]

Hail Hail all the way

[bodysnatcher]

In My Tree simply bc it's a Top 3 song, but it's hard bc Hail Hail is a Top 5.

[stip]

i still need to vote

[E.H. Ruddock]

stip

[doone]

Oooo stip may be the tie breaker!

[stip]

just listened to both and these are essentially tied

[stip]

I'm going to give this to In My Tree

And the round is closed