Red Mosquito

D1 Round 3ad: Porch vs. Oceans

Sorry Oceans You deserve to advance as well.

"Oceans" is one of the better songs off Ten. "Porch" is one of the lesser songs off Ten.

I like Oceans more.

When I look at a lot of these old songs from a compositional standpoint, a lot of them amount to little more than riffs -- "Even Flow," "Once" "Animal," even "Alive" -- Stone was clearly the architect of this band's sound, and in my opinion Eddie really wasn't up to consistently writing melodies or lyrics that were up to the same standard (or perhaps it was simply difficult to do this in a manner musically cooperative with those riffs). Those songs are all capable of achieving a certain raw energy, but raw energy is fairly low on the list of things I appreciate about music -- it seems to me that even bands with little discernible ability can bang away with volume and passion and occasionally tap into a moment of righteous emotion. Which is great, and in the end it doesn't matter -- there is certainly room enough on the great spectrum of music appreciation for musicians from all different backgrounds to produce all different kinds of songs that succeed or fail according to all different sets of criteria. But when something so pressing as an internet tournament comparing the relative merits of these songs forces me to choose, it's rare that I would go for a riff-rocker over something more melodic and thoughtfully composed.

"Oceans" strikes me as one of the few songs in PJ's early catalog that makes creative use of harmony, in the sense of the vocal melody being afforded the opportunity to work in conjunction with a set of vaguely unusual chords to create an element of musical tension and resolution, and a kind of sonic color all its own. It easily gets my vote over most other songs in this round.

Oceans is beautiful. I probably would have voted Porch 20/23 though.

Porch. Easy one.

"What the fuck is klsjkl idsasaj. blah blah blah yeah yeah yeah! Leave a message! at least, coulda heard your voice one last time!"

Oceans deserves better than this.

yeah kinda surprised by this

bodysnatcher wrote:yeah kinda surprised by this

The pervasive personality of the board does suggest a fondness for the more eclectic side of the band, but I get the impression that there are a lot of doodz who partied hard to "Ten" in high school lurking on the fringes of RM that March Madness brings out of the woodwork. Oh well, whaddya gonna do?

Oceans but I like 'em both.

Porch, easy.

St Pete's '94 ftw.

Oceans, by an ocean.

Seriously. You people need to get your shit together.

B wrote:Porch. Easy one.

"What the fuck is klsjkl idsasaj. blah blah blah yeah yeah yeah! Leave a message! at least, coulda heard your voice one last time!"

what the fuck is this world coming to you could have leaved a message, coulda heard your voice a last time..

(this could be the day)

Man, maybe my two favorite Ten songs. This sucks. I guess Porch, I really like the BOB mix from the Ten redux. The drumming really pops and gives the song a more Vs like sound. Which, if any song on Ten would have been cut and put on Vs, Porch is probably the one.

Oceans is a nice song but it really doesn't ignite any sort of visceral response or reaction.
Porch is a great rocker.

I went with Oceans. But that, by no means, is a vote against Porch.

durdencommatyler wrote:I went with Oceans. But that, by no means, is a vote against Porch.

Technically it is though