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

Monday, March 14, 2016

Second Round: (9) NEW ORDER vs (1) NEUTRAL MILK HOTEL

New Order had no trouble dispatching Sarah McLachlan's "I Will Not Forget You" in the first round, but Neutral Milk Hotel's "Two-Headed Boy" is a much bigger test. For starters, there's no Sarah overexposure backlash to contend with. In the Aeroplane Over the Sea wasn't well-loved initially, but has become one the most universally revered (and also possibly derided, if you're not buying what Jeff Mangum's selling) albums of the indie rock era. It's a brilliant and unhinged album of total commitment to a not-particularly good idea (see our previous coverage of "Two Headed Boy." for more on this) that turns out to be, just maybe, a work of genius.

While no one would call Republic, the album on which "Regret" appeared, a work of timeless genius, the song might well qualify. Actually, no New Order album is particularly great in the committee's view. New Order was never an albums band: they're a singles band, and virtually unparalleled in that regard. Some of their best songs never even appeared on their albums.

Neutral Milk Hotel's an album band, and the album was initially panned by the mainstream music press (Rolling Stone said: "For those not completely sold on its folk charm, Aeroplane is thin-blooded, woolgathering stuff"). Allmusic.com described it more accurately as "either the work of a genius or an utter crackpot," which we think gets at the big question for you, the voters: work of genius or work of crackpot?

"Two Headed Boy" is a raw, unhinged, all-in endeavor: there's no dipping a toe into this song, addressed to a "Two headed boy / All floating in glass…I can hear as you tap on your jar." The song's entirely sung to him, the dead boy preserved in formaldehyde in the freak show jar, and gets increasingly obsessive and imaginative as it goes, arriving at the very last verse, which is where it cradles both the dead boy and also us: "Two headed boy / There's no reason to grieve / The world that you need is wrapped in gold silver sleeves / Left beneath Christmas trees in the snow / And I will take you and leave you alone / Watching spirals of white softly flow / Over your eyelids and all you did / Will wait until the point when you let go." Damn. Well, you can see: either you're in it or you're not. Either it's stupid or it's great.

"Regret" asks for less of a commitment from us: there's no crazy narrative situation to inhabit. We're insulated from the extremes of human emotion, and as such is more accessible. What we think's most interesting about it is that unlike the Big Romantic Gestures of many of the songs in the tournament, this is about regret, a less dramatic sadness. It's about beauty and polish, musicianship and production. "Raw" has never been an adjective used to describe this song. In a way it's a culminatino of training: after Ian Curtis killed himself and New Order formed from Joy Division's ashes, Bernard Sumner took over vocal duties, but wasn't particularly good early (see early single "Ceremony," in which he's doing his best Curtis impersonation, and you can track him getting technically better as they continued to create spectacular single after single). By 1993, when "Regret" was released, he'd improved a great deal as a singer. And unlike Neutral Milk Hotel, which requires a kind of mythologization of the individual genius of Mangum, New Order's never been particularly about "mythologization," "individual," or "genius." This isn't a song about the vocals or the personalities of the musicians: as noted in our previous coverage of "Regret," the band's always been self-effacing, perhaps to a fault, rarely appearing in their videos (this is an exception), and that has perhaps been largely why they've continued to put out music, sometimes great and sometimes not, to this day, where Mangum freaked out and disappeared for a decade or more.

Which story do you like better? I mean about the song. I mean about the band. I mean about the sort of sadness you're most drawn to, that you most remember.

*

(9) New Order, "Regret"



vs

(1) Neutral Milk Hotel, "Two-Headed Boy"





Note: today, some folks are reporting an error when voting in our polls below. We're working on it, but note that it IS counting your votes, even if the error shows up; the software also filters out multiple votes, so you can't accidentally vote too many times. If the form below glitches on you, click HERE to vote and HERE for results. Or do the poll on twitter, if you'd rather:





Which sadder is better? Vote by 9am 3/15

Two Headed Boy
Regret
Poll Maker

1 comment:

  1. Sigh. New Order's loss makes me sad. Which should count toward them winning.

    ReplyDelete