SCORES & UPCOMING GAMES



CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL SCORE: (2) JEFF BUCKLEY 168, (7) Tracy Chapman 159 .......... FINAL FOUR FINAL SCORES: (7) TRACY CHAPMAN 154, (1) Joy Division 90 ..... (2) JEFF BUCKLEY 137, (1) The Cure 89 .......... ELITE EIGHT FINAL SCORES: (1) JOY DIVISION 74, (14) Low 60 ..... (7) TRACY CHAPMAN 85, (1) Elliott Smith 69 ..... THE CURE 65, (2) Radiohead 58 ..... (2) JEFF BUCKLEY 74, (1) Neutral Milk Hotel 44 ..... FINAL SWEET SIXTEEN SCORES: (1) JOY DIVISION 75, (5) PJ Harvey & Nick Cave 24 ..... (14) LOW 73, (2) Concrete Blonde (64) ..... (1) ELLIOTT SMITH 78, (4) Gary Jules 44 ..... (7) TRACY CHAPMAN 74, (6) Kate Bush 53 ..... (1) NEUTRAL MILK HOTEL 54, (13) The Church 49 ..... (2) JEFF BUCKLEY 73, (3) Sinead O’Connor 35 ..... (1) THE CURE 109, (3) Tori Amos 86 ..... (2) RADIOHEAD 76, (6) This Mortal Coil 50 ..... (1) JOY DIVISION 96, (9) Mazzy Star 91 ..... (2) CONCRETE BLONDE 76, (7) Bob Mould 28 ..... (14) LOW 60, (6) Crowded House 51 ..... (5) PJ HARVEY & NICK CAVE 65, (4) Alphaville 38 ..... (1) ELLIOTT SMITH 113, (8) Replacements 88 ..... (6) KATE BUSH 87, (3) Nirvana 64 ..... (7) TRACY CHAPMAN 99, (2) The Eels 62 ..... (3) GARY JULES 103, (12) Morrissey 63 ..... (6) Kate Bush 72, (3) Nirvana 53 ..... (3) SINEAD O'CONNOR 66, (11) Ride 27 ..... (13) THE CHURCH 106, (5) James 44 ..... (2) JEFF BUCKLEY 95, (10) Smashing Pumpkins 40 ..... (1) NEUTRAL MILK HOTEL 80, (9) New Order 56 ..... (2) RADIOHEAD 102, (7) Nine Inch Nails 99 ..... (6) THIS MORTAL COIL 61, (3) Indigo Girls 60 ..... (4) TORI AMOS 89, (5) Swans 40 ..... (1) CURE 82, (8) Tom Waits 68 ............... FINAL 1ST ROUND SCORES: (5) PJ HARVEY & NICK CAVE 93, (12) Midnight Oil 38 ..... (7) BOB MOULD 63, (10) Peter Murphy 47 ..... (1) JOY DIVISION 117, (16) Erasure 19 ..... (6) CROWDED HOUSE 98, (11) Leonard Cohen 54 ..... (7) TRACY CHAPMAN 199, (10) The Smiths 162 ..... (5) MORRISSEY 115, (12) Morphine 83 ..... (3) NIRVANA 137, (14) Slowdive 102 ..... (8) THE REPLACEMENTS 128, (9) Dream Academy 82 ..... (13) THE CHURCH 262, (4) Magnetic Fields 193 ..... (10) SMASHING PUMPKINS 165, (7) Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds 155 ..... (9) NEW ORDER 160, (8) Sarah McLachlan 78 ..... (1) JEFF BUCKLEY 204, (16) Bjork 92 ..... (4) TORI AMOS 78, (13) Echo & the Bunnymen 22 ..... (8) TOM WAITS 72, (9) The Pretenders 22 ..... (6) THIS MORTAL COIL 51, (11) Yaz 31 ..... (3) INDIGO GIRLS 71, (14) Pavement 26 ..... (9) MAZZY STAR 132, (8) REM 46 ..... (2) CONCRETE BLONDE 88, (15) Psychedelic Furs 34 ..... (4) ALPHAVILLE 71, (13) Dead Can Dance 36 ..... (14) LOW 120, (3) U2 65 ..... (1) ELLIOTT SMITH 63, (16) 10,000 Maniacs 24 ..... (2) EELS 50, (15) Counting Crows 46 ..... (4) GARY JULES 62, (13) Depeche Mode 19 ..... (6) KATE BUSH 59, (11) Sisters of Mercy 20 ..... (1) NEUTRAL MILK HOTEL 42, (16) Violent Femmes 12 ..... (11) RIDE 25 (6) Peter Gabriel 24 ..... (3) SINEAD O'CONNOR 37, (14) Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark 17, ..... (5) JAMES 24, (12) Red House Painters 23 ..... (7) NINE INCH NAILS 46, (10) Wilco 31, (5) SWANS 31, (12) Pet Shop Boys 18 ..... (1) THE CURE 50, (16) Gear Daddies 10 ..... (2) RADIOHEAD 40, (15) Liz Phair 35


CURRENT GAMES BELOW — PAST GAMES ARCHIVED AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE

Sunday, March 6, 2016

First Round Matchup: PETER GABRIEL at RIDE

(6) Peter Gabriel, "Don't Give Up"

It's hard not to fascinate on the videos, since they're embedded here below, but we'd suggest that you pay attention to the song, not the screen. We know that's hard. For instance we couldn't get the idea out of our head, watching this, how weird it must have been to film this, just one long embrace, maybe you do a couple takes of it, and how long is it comfortable to embrace someone, especially someone who's not (presently) a lover, on camera no less, and apparently rotating, with the green screen in the background? It's not exactly sad, this consideration of staging and discomfort, and anyhow, who wouldn't want to embrace both Peter and Kate, maybe sneaking in there to join the snuggle? It's true that this is essentially a song of consolation or support, and maybe that makes it less sad, but the committee admires the way it turns away from the major chords at the end, and how pitiful it seems when it's just Peter's verses. We doubt Peter Gabriel is going to be a serious threat going deep into the tournament, but you never know. Odds are even whether he gets by Ride here to play the winner of Sinead O'Connor & Orchestral Manouevres in the Dark.



vs

(11) Ride, "Vapour Trail"

Not much video here to distract you, as is the case for a lot of the shoegazey bands. This one falls under the melancholic beauty fork of the sadness bracket, and is beautifully washed-out. Robert Burton, in The Anatomy of Melancholy, writes: "How doth the fire rage, that merciless element, consuming in an instant whole cities? What town of any antiquity or note hath not been once, again and again, by the fury of this merciless element, defaced, ruinated, and left desolate?" What can last against everything's tendency toward disorder and erasure?







Which song's sadder? Vote by 3/7 at 9am

Vapour Trail
Don't Give Up
make quizzes

7 comments:

  1. Peter Gabriel's "Mercy Street" is a stronger sad. Maybe in next year's tournament...

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  2. "Don't Give Up" gets significant help from Kate Bush, I say. And it's been so long since I've heard this song all the way through that I thought Elton John was coming in at around 3:20.

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  3. Gabriel's a tough call. Thought about "Biko," "Mercy Street," and several others. The committee chose this because it's a weirder song; the outro bolsters it in this committee member's view. Though I'm leaning toward Ride, I'm finding it hard to advocate forcefully for the shoegazey bands. Having more interesting lyrics helps. And the shoegazey videos usually don't.

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  4. Is it wrong that quoting The Anatomy of Melancholy swayed my vote? It did.

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  5. There's something charming in the way that every shoegazing video looks like someone's senior project from the West Woolverton Arts College.

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  6. Entirely. Some of these songs that don't have official videos have the amateur video posts embedded, and I'm getting real fond of this mini-genre: they're often on par with or better than the shoegaze videos, I find

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  7. Trespassers William helped illuminate the value proposition of “Vapor Trail”: https://youtu.be/j-lvVBoFUP8
    Great for graveyard bicycling.

    I wish music videos weren't part of this competition. They detract/distract from the pure audio. Slowdive's “Alison” is another example of a shoegaze video that doesn't hold much water, aside from the sheer joy of catching glimpses of the young Rachael Goswell. I should add that if “Alison” doesn't advance past Nirvana, I will figure out how to DDoS this entire blogging platform. Is that a risk worth taking?

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