Reviews from a Judge!
Overall comments: This challenge was my idea, but boy did I regret it. It took me several listens to each song before I could stop compulsively counting along with them! It felt like my own mild compulsion was interfering with my ability to enjoy these five otherwise terrific songs! (Frank certainly didn't help things by shouting out semirandom numbers in the middle of Erik's song…)
Anyway, I think all five competitors know that it's a huge accomplishment to have made it this far and there's no shame at all in being eliminated this late. I may sound highly nitpicky here, but the fact of the matter is that I'm digging deep into these songs and trying to figure out what makes them tick, because you all know you have the fundamentals down pat. In Round Zero we had some competitors with out-of-tune harmonies. In Round One we had people whose lyrics didn't scan with their melodies and some who just didn't get the rudiments of mixing. Now it's Round Six and we're way past all that. So just realize that when I go on a tangent in these reviews about something that isn't working for me, it's because your song is SO GOOD that we didn't need to talk about all that basic stuff. Excellent work all around!
À Tous Les Monsieurs
I think the conclusion here is obvious: you shouldn't have dropped the gimmick of putting your name in the lyrics.
Given your jazz bona fides and the fact that your song's lyrics deal directly with math and large numbers, I was mildly disappointed when I realized that this doesn't have any time signature changes. I'm with Frank in that I suspect there's a significance to the numbers and the placement of some of the vocals is intentional and has some kind of mathematical meaning, but it eludes me on these first ten-or-so listens. This is really strong work, and you didn't seem to have any trouble composing in 7/4, which makes sense. I also didn't mind your French this time around (plus: bonus Latin!). "
Le monde has been spun" was a particularly good line.
Fun fact: I sometimes have trouble counting in 7/4, probably because "seven" has two syllables, and when the two-syllable number gets the final beat in a measure it kind of throws me off for some reason. So when I hear a song in 7/4, I always resort to counting it out in French, because the first seven numbers (actually the first thirteen) are monosyllabic. So while you're counting out semirandom numbers in English, I'm whispering "Un deux trois quatre cinq six sept, un deux trois…" That's not really germane to the song, but I figured you'd find it amusing.
There were some things about this song I did not care for. The phrase "ten hundred" grates on me. I felt like the lyrics in general didn't make progress throughout the song. These are minor gripes, and it feels frustrating that these minor things were enough to get you eliminated, but that's kind of how Round Six works. In an earlier round (probably
any earlier round) this would have been a solid survivor.
Balance Lost
In this round, everyone except for Cavedwellers had at least one judge rank them #1. I was the one whose list had you at the top this week. I admit that it was very very close, and that I had Glen and Lee in first place on my first listen, but yours improved with repetition. It took me a while to successfully count out your meter (and, yes, it was difficult for me to enjoy the song until I did). And after I'd cracked it, I ruminated for a bit about whether 12/8 (or 6/4, depending on how you count) was "odd" enough… but there's something about that rhythm, it just sweeps you along. I let the organ and guitar just kind of carry me off. Initially I thought that you had featured multiple time sig changes in the song, but closer listening revealed that you're staying steady and I just had trouble counting to twelve. Your vocals compliment the mood nicely, seeming kind of bittersweet and pensive. The "Good reasons outnumbered by the bad" line works very well as a short hook. Your percussion seems to improve with every song, and the handclaps in this one were a particularly nice touch. I thought this was a clear first-or-second-place song, and I was surprised to see you eliminated. (It would have been interesting to have two WSA members face off in the final, wouldn't it have?) Bravo, Pedro.
Cavedwellers
This was a very close second in my rankings, so I was relieved to see it not only survive, but actually win the round! 9/8 is kind of the oddest time sig there is, right? Three, thrice. You mentioned stressing some other beats to keep the pattern, but my ear keeps hearing "ONE two three TWO two three THREE two three." Not that it matters; it was a good take on the challenge, and you guys carried it well. The switch to 7/8 was welcome - and it's impressive in its own right that you can make 7/8 sound like the "normal" part of the song! It tricked me at first because I thought you had transitioned to a standard 8/8, but near the end of the first chorus I realized that
both time signatures were "odd." Props for the catchiest chorus in the whole round, and the spot harmonies were nice there too. Hey, was that the first appearance of the e-bow this whole year? I like the solo, and I feel like the overall pacing is pretty much right. This is probably the tenderest song I've ever heard to include the phrase "Idiots are everywhere." I know the curse of caring too much about people who are not worthy of that much emotional investment. Excellent work, and good luck in the final round!
Frankie Big Face
Let's get the good stuff on the table first. The power-pop vibe of this song is perfect, and it's catchy throughout. The riff, the verse and chorus melodies both, and the overall mood are great. You sound like a band, like a really tight four-piece, and all four musicians are in the pocket and working. You happen to have written, some twelve years ago, one of my all-time favorite time signature changes, in your "Scared to Death," and the switch from 7/4 to 4/4 here is on
that level, it's that good. Your lyrics also have some clever rhymes!
However…
It's really difficult for me to get on board for a song about the Duggars. If this song had been written three or four weeks ago and been otherwise exactly the same, I would have been rolling my eyes and trying to get over it, but with the recent news about them, this feels opportunistic but also strangely toothless. I read your description above in which you said you wanted to try satire through sincerity, but I think that you wound up bypassing satire altogether. The lyrics do have a clear story and it progresses/escalates nicely, but I never really sense much conflict here, other than some of the subtle word choices like "fully encumbered," which vaguely hints at the idea that the "happily" part just might be forced and insincere on the narrators' part. I'm not even sure that was your intent with those word choices, but it's the most charitable reading I can suggest. In general, I just don't get the sense that there's a satirical target, or a point being made at all.
You've been on fire lately, so it was with a heavy heart that I ranked you as low as I did. In any other round, you might have gotten away with it. But when the competition is this strong (and when we have to eliminate over half of them), the song about reality TV is pretty much never going to top the heap with this judge.
Nick M. Soma
I've listened to this a dozen time by now, and I still don't really have much to say. I'm sorry about that. I feel like I've been rambling to the point of near-incoherence on all the other songs, but for some reason this one leaves me scratching my head and going "Yup, pretty good song, man." I had you smack dab in the middle this week. I liked it. I thought the time signature added a layer of musical (theory) complexity you don't normally exhibit, and switching to 15/4 was interesting because it gives the listener a false sense of security: three measures of 4/4, then WHOA, what just happened? (Also, this was by far the hardest song to count along with this week.) The counting may have interfered with my ability to listen to the lyrics, because I honestly can't remember anything about them, even though I've listened to the song about a dozen times. Sorry I'm not as cogent as usual for this review. Yup. Pretty good song, man. Bring your A-Game next round.
NUR EIN!!!!!!!