Alright folks. I didn't really mean to make this out to be a bigger thing than it was. I just was explaining why I didn't post reviews -- so people didn't think I was just being lazy. I figured nobody would really care that much, and for the few that did, (as I said earlier), they could just contact me privately about their own song.
But, I hadn't really considered the fact that it might be helpful for other competitors to see what I had to say about all the songs, what I liked or didn't like about them. Even though I would not recommend tailoring your entries to fit the whims of what the judges like, especially if it means compromising your own artistic integrity. But whatever, here we go.
Standard disclaimer: The following words are merely the thoughts and opinions of a single person, and as such, don't really hold much merit in regards to whether or not a particular song is GOOD -- but rather, whether or not I personally enjoyed certain elements of each song. So take all of this with a grain of salt.
Non-standard disclaimer: The following words are provided here for the potential benefit of those people who may be interested in reading one of the judges' opinions, or more specifically, why one judge happened to like or dislike each of the songs. These opinions and comments may differ significantly from your own beliefs. By continuing to read this post, you acknowledge that you have read and understand and agree to abide by the contents of this disclaimer.
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- manhattanglutton - A better Bad Religion song than most Bad Religion songs. This really treads some dangerous territory at times -- the oft-repeated "on and on and on" bit and all the parenthetical asides, and the almost-whiny vocals, any one of these parts could easily have been just THAT MUCH intensified and thereby crossed the line into super-annoying territory, thus ruining the whole song. This just happened to be a case where it all came together nicely and everything worked in your favor. It's hard to explain why that happens, so unfortunately I can't say anything that would be useful for replicating that success
- merisan - Lovely, singing is well-done, it just doesn't happen to be a style/genre that's my cup of tea. Still, I can't really find fault with anything here even if I try -- and that organ part totally bumped the scales in your direction.
- thetydondocks - Your narrators personify the idea I have in my head when I think of the word "hooligans". I really enjoy the angle you took with the title you incorporated -- and I especially liked your punchline, once I listened closely enough to catch it. Not sure why it trails off so much at the end.
- rossdurand - Sounds nice -- and I like the concept (philosophy/religion is full of questions we don't want the answer to, versus science which seeks clear answers based on observable facts -- used metaphorically alongside the idea of someone ruminating over unanswered questions from a failed relationship). The Tim Tebow line really sticks out, in a bad way, though -- I don't like it and I don't feel like it belongs anywhere in this song.
- pacodelstinko - I like pretty much everything about this song except the lyrics. They're so full of non sequitors and awkward constructions (i.e. "hit-by-a-train face"), which (on reviewing the lyric archive) comes across as trying way too hard to shoehorn as many titles as possible into the song, rather than (as the challenge directed) using one MEANINGFULLY.
- carlobrunojr - I'll tell you what -- you might not win this competition, since it's based on a few people's opinions after only having two days to listen. But in the long run, once people look back on these collections of songs in retrospect, I predict yours will be the most memorable. (I'll admit, almost every single day, I find your "Looking Glass" song stuck in my head at some point, which I couldn't really say happens with any of the other entries in this competition so far.) Each song you've done so far has really been a "grower" -- and this one is no exception. Listening again now, I probably would rate this higher than I originally did. I love the dreamy background parts, the mellow melodies, and especially the way it just sort of trails off at the end...
- chokeholdprincess - The lettered choices here probably work better as a written poem than as sung lyrics, because while listening it's kind of hard to keep track of what you're actually saying. But conceptually it's very clever, while also very sweet. Tough to pull off without sounding cheesy, but you've succeeded at that.
- tubbagutz - Nice song, and it's a point of view that's probably very relatable for a lot of people. Really the only complaint I have is that there are a lot of prosody issues.
- boffoyuxdudes - I really enjoyed the vocal melody and harmonies on the verses. I think the pacing of the chorus reminded me a bit too much of a Weird Al song (a specific one, but I can't remember what it was. Maybe "Dare to be Stupid?") which sort of took away from the rest of the song, as far as I was concerned. A fairly strong showing, otherwise.
- governingdynamics - The bassline is a little too complicated for the comparison to be totally accurate, but otherwise, a pretty good attempt at mimicking the Pixies.
- cavedwellers - Another big, full arrangement -- but this time I feel like it might be working against you. While everything sounds great individually, at times, there's just a bit too many things happening at the same time. I do enjoy the singing here, but I cringe each time you say "switcheroo"; the word just sounds so awkward and unnatural. Especially considering how many times you said it.
- skypup - Brilliant idea, but poor execution. The various character voices don't really work that well in this context; I don't understand why the doctor has the same voice as the evil warlock from last round. I really like the direction you took with this title, although I feel that it took so long to get through the set-up, by the time you finally got to the payoff, it didn't really have the desired effect.
- balancelost - The sung parts with multiple voices (particularly at the beginning) don't always feel like they're quite in tune with each other. The talky parts sound much better than the singy parts. Also, each time that little stuttery thing happens in the drum part (1:02, 1:44, 2:09, 2:26) it really interrupts the flow of the song, perhaps more than you intended. Overall, not a bad song, if not exceptionally memorable.
- frankiebigface - If this was a singing competition, I have no doubt you'd win pretty much every single round. But first and foremost it's a competition about songwriting, and as I mentioned last time, most of the time you really nail it in that category as well! Unfortunately, here's another case where I feel like the writing part really fell short. I recognize the names of some of the My Little Ponies because my sister used to play with them (and watch the cartoons) when we were little. I appreciate the inherent silliness of this, and the irony in singing about something so frivolous in a semi-serious-sounding way. But the whole song feels like the victim of being hurriedly thrown together: I don't know if you ran out of lyrics or just got lazy near the end, but I hated the way you repeated "You can't save a pony.." about nine hundred times. The musical arrangement also features some choices that I might have preferred that you had done differently: the guitar part sounds fine but a bit too simple and repetitive to support the whole song without a bit of ornamentation; it seems you recognized this and added the synth line that introduces the song (and returns later) as well as the echoey tinkly-bell part, and both of these suit the song just fine -- however, my ears strongly object to the sound of the instrument that enters at 1:16 (sounds like a cross between a synth-saxophone, a synth-tuba, and a synth-fart)
- inflatablevegetables - Wagering that we're all not completely sick of songs in waltz-time, quite a bold move! The "for me it's work, for you it's TV" line is pretty poignant -- very simple, but it says so much. The biggest drawback to this song is the overdriven guitar part (the one that flops its way into the mix around 0:37 and poops all over the majority of the song from there on) -- to me it sounds so soulless and emasculated, it just kind of makes me sad.
- danihouse - I don't know what all that swirly junk in the background is, but it makes this song really difficult to listen to. Which is a shame, because otherwise I suspect I would really like it.
- ken - In retrospect, perhaps this song wasn't as bad as its ranking would suggest -- I do like the guitar bit that was borrowed from "Where is My Mind?" -- although the song for the most part is a bit plodding and fairly static; it doesn't sound bad, but nothing about it especially sticks out, which can sometimes be just as bad as being bad, I guess?
- djrangerden - I enjoy this more once more elements start to get introduced, after the first minute or so. Up until that point, it's a bit too plain with the stark, clean vocals out front and the solitary piano way in the background. Honestly, the song would have seemed complete if it had ended at 2:40, after the first "would you come hold me?" -- but considering the fact that the title immediately follows that, and pretty much the whole point of the song is established after that point, maybe the introductory part was longer than it should have been?
- joneric - I'm willing to forgive you for the robotic clicky noise that's supposed to represent a hi-hat here, but when the vocals start out as whiny as this ("baa-ake a caa-ake"), I'm sorry but it really does not bode well for the rest of the song. That linguistic device where you switch words from one phrase to the other (I know there has to be a word for that, but after exhaustive research into various types of figures of speech, I have come up empty) is clever at first -- "howling at the sun / bathing in the moon" but when you continue using it, it gets old rather quickly. The repeated "I don't want an answer" and especially "I don't want an a-" were basically the nails in the coffin for this one.
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- wreckdom - I can't say why, but I was kind of bothered by most of the "response" vocal lines starting with "He" while a few of them started by repeating the name "Bear" or "Robot" or whatever. Funny, cute. Kind of a throwaway track, but you didn't have to do one at all, so whatever. In any case, the line "can't fuck with us" really makes the whole song.
