The Song Fight Bulletin Board

I didn't want a funny choice. I just don't consider someone who drank and gambled themselves into oblivion the best choice of "tragedy". I think there are more tragic actors and actresses you could've chosen.

So this popped up on USA today.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/tax ... titialskip

OK - so before I listen to Round 1, I better pass some judgement on Round 0.

If I was a judge - this is how I would rank them:

1. Ken - Great, breezy pop song. Cool strings on the chorus. Like the vocal delivery a lot. Everything here is just right. Well done.
2. ADD - Awsome! Just weeks before I move to New Zealand - and Split Enz enter Nur Ein!! Coming straight outta Te Awamutu via Boulder, Colorado. This very good. (BTW: Are Split Enz well known in the States - or am I just raving to nobody again?)
3. Starfinger - Love it. Great vocal bits. Great melody
4. King Arthur - Great lyrics, great performance. I really like this one
5. BLT - Great work. Worth the price of admission for the James Dean/Steve McQueen line alone - that is champagne hookwriting.
6. Lord of Oats - Love the synth. This is very catchy. Vocals a bit dodgy, but I like this
7. Adam Adamant - I really like this. Maybe a little sloppy, but your delivery is really good. The chorus is very cool - as is the "Ive got a feeling" breakdown. Good work
8. JBB - Smutty, immature lyrics hidden under the guise of harmless electro pop. It works for me!
9. Woody Durand - Liked the delivery, though the subject matter didn't interest me at all. Song saved for me by the bridge with the very nice poke at military spending. Good work.
10. Sausage Boy - Great bass. This is pretty cool
11. Hoblit - Pleasing 90s-ish pop. Nice work.
12. Cock - Pleasing 80s-ish pop. Nice work.
13. Bryan Kandel - I love a song about a horse. The lyrics are very good - but I don't think the mood of the music suits. I think by definition - any song about a racehorse should crack along at a reasonable sort of tempo, like Makybe Diva under the whip down the back straight in the 2007 Melbourne Cup.
14. G'n'R - Effective, if not slightly generic pop song. I think I may have liked it more if the bloke shut-up and Rachel sang the whole thing as a Bangles-style girly-pop thing.
15. Reist - Good catchy song. Need more grunt in the vocal performance
16. WSA - Not bad, but not reaching expectations. Can do better.
17. Frankie Big Face - Ahhh, it's 1983 again, and I'm at a school dance watching girls who won't talk to me dance in leg-warmers to Phil Collins. The song isn't bad - but the bass drum is making it unlistenable. I don't know if it your mix or my car's speakers - but I'm getting dangerous doof levels and my car is shaking.
18. Jim Tyrrell - Good for what it is, but not my thing
19. Paco del Stinko - Great lyrics. Song not all it could be though
20. 15-16 Puzzle - some genuinley great lyrics here - but as a song, not really doing much for me
21. Octothorpe - Doing nothing for me
22. MCEricB - I like that you are adding more melody - but these are far from your best lyrics.
23. Embers of Autumn - Sadly, this 'kicks' with the power of an arthritic 94-year-old in bedroom slippers.
24. Mark - Pretty dumb

Caravan Ray wrote:BTW: Are Split Enz well known in the States

I'd say pretty much "no" to that. I think their only song that cracked the charts here and got radio play was "I Got You". Maybe "I See Red" too. I dug 'em way more than their later Crowded House or the Finn bros' solo work, myself. Especially the side 2 double songs on (all of? I think so) their albums that blended together hypnotically and such. Uhh, drinking mimosas with my wife right now, no examples can I pull up from my addled brain.

Really wish I could've seen them live, in all their day-glo blacklit face painting insanity. Fan boy, me, yeah.

True Colours was a brilliant album. Split Enz was pretty popular in Canada in the early 80s. Wasn't a huge fan of Time and Tide though.

Crowded House played two shows in Toronto this past week. I didn't go, but my friend caught Neil Finn's guitar pick. She sleeps with it under her pillow now.

"Six Months in a Leaky Boat" made me buy a Split Enz album in college, although I never really went much further into that branch of the Finn ouvre.

I am a big Crowded House and Neil Finn fan, and the first Finn Brothers album would probably make my top twenty of ALL TIME.

jb wrote: the first Finn Brothers album would probably make my top twenty of ALL TIME.

Agreed. I think the "Finn" album was better than anything either Split Enz or Crowded House ever did. I don't think that album ever got the recognition it really deserved.

Caravan Ray wrote: 5. BLT - Great work. Worth the price of admission for the James Dean/Steve McQueen line alone - that is champagne hookwriting.

SEE! Thank you. I can now die in peace.