Jop Tournament Round 1.9

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

The last 8 contenders for your polling pleasure.


[Poll #923803]


All polls still open until after the weekend, so if you've missed any you can go back and tick, (though I've not really tagged any of them, sorry!)

Comments

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Seedings: Blondie 26, Dee-Lite 10, PSB 18, and "Toxic" is #2.

Decisions:

Kate easily over one of my least-favourite big Blondie hits.

Deee-lite is another one of those wedding disco winners I'm a bit sick of.

PSB vs Utah - this was hard, but the Saints must win.

Britney is ANOTHER one of the boring floorfillers BUT it's still better than the 'rhythmies.

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

I can't choose between PSB and the Saints. My love for bosh is strong but I have heard Something Good SO many times. West End Girls is my fave PSB song by miles. I really don't know, hence my abstaining!

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

K8 easy.

Deee-Lite v Sinéad wa svery hard - I don't like the "sick of it" reasoning, I thought long and hard before deciding that I would tick Sinéad because I genuinely like it better. People since Deee-Lite have done 'Groove Is In The Heart' type songs better, but I don't think anyone's sung quite like Sinéad here.

PSB v Saints surprisingly easy - not my favourite PSB, they would go on to be much more emotionally affecting and more dancefloor fun. 'Something Good' is a pinnacle of bosh, though.

No real opinion either way on Britney v Eurythmics, am open to bribery and so on, ticked Britney cos I like her better as an artist.

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

I think the sick of it reasoning is fine, but I should have said that I'd have voted for Sinead ANYWAY.

[jauntyalan.livejournal.com]

i went with k8 - but it was FAR from easy. i went back and forth on that one a lot, and on another day i would have said "oo, blondie easy". i wavered a bit with PSBs, but not that long. the other two were a doddle

[jauntyalan.livejournal.com]

what's interesting with these matches is that they are such contrasts in mood and pace.

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Also much less hip-hop/R&B influence in this batch than most.

[jauntyalan.livejournal.com]

west end girls is a rap! ;-)

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

I need a break from the HEARTBREAK!

[awesomewells.livejournal.com]

That's what made it quite tricky for me.

I have very good memories of Call Me, more so than Running Up That Hill, so that was an easy one for me.

Nothing Compares beats Groove... easily for me. Ditto Utah Saints - West End Girls has never been one of my favourite PSB tracks.

Like Alex I have no real opinion on Britney vs Eurythmics. Ticked Eurytmics because they were already trailing badly and I want a contest.

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Toxic = my fave Britney song. By miles!

1. Toxic
2. Ahma Slaaaaaave (4 you)
3. My Prerogative (much better than B Brown's version)
4. ...Baby One More Time
5. Oops I Did It Agane

Tho 'Lucky' has gone up my rankings from awful-dreadful to awful-amazing: "Then WHY do these TEARS come at night???" so that is grabbing at the heels of Ooops.

That reminds me, DC+ canon this afternoon.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

I've done all the Britney singles in order before. 'Toxic' is nowhere near my top 5! I think they are -

1. Everytime
2. I'm A Slave 4 U
3. Anticipating
4. Overprotected
5. Born To Make You Happy
6. Boys

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

I've never quite understood why you like "Everytime" so much Lex. (I'm sure the fact that it's nobody else's favourite has nothing to do with it ;))

[braisedbywolves.livejournal.com]

It sounds like one T. Amos (as typing this I'm certain we've had this discussion before)

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

It does but that's not really why I like it - cf post below, Tori Amos also tends to be quite overblown, or at least rarely as fragile and lost as Britney is on 'Everytime'.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Because it's completely gorgeous! The textures are amazing, really subtle, and I think it's her best vocal performance ever in terms of conveying emotion - 'Born To Make You Happy' and 'Before The Goodbye' come closest I think.

Also, microhouse : house :: 'Everytime' : traditional pop powerballad - it's interesting to compare this to 'Shadow', which is the kind of ballad you'd expect from Britney, and which is really good but not as affecting as 'Everytime', which just sounds...little, and lost, and tremulous.

Also it's her response to 'Cry Me A River'!

[blue-russian.livejournal.com]

I also think there's always a pleasure to those third singles from albums (although now I can't remember, maybe this was second...) Billie Jean, Beat It, and then... etc etc etc

[dzilinebisa.livejournal.com]

Bloody hell. I think West End Girls vs Something Good is possibly the hardest fite ever. I plumped for PSB in the end though.

Totally insinctive voting

[blue-russian.livejournal.com]

"Running Up That Hill," like all of Kate's best stuff, generates real emotion pull for me. Only realized I had voted down "Call Me" when I started reading the comments.

"Groove" is pretty good, but, as Lex said, no one quite sung like Sinead did.

Still haven't listened to that Utah Saints song, despite many mentions here, so a vote without much enthusiasm for WEG. (Interesting how a weak competitor also makes for a weak vote - I would've had to think if it had been, say, "Papa Don't Preach."

Britney vs. Eurthymics. Yawn. Poll-fatigue setting in.

Re: Totally insinctive voting

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

I'm surprised Blondie is running Kate this close, I can't recall anything even coming near to touching Kate until the really really big Now guns.

Re: Totally insinctive voting

[koganbot]

I'm hoping for a "Hill" vs. "Toxic" rematch, since "Toxic" lost in the Now matchup by only one vote and the voting rolls have enlarged since then...

Re: Totally insinctive voting

[blue-russian.livejournal.com]

I can always create new LJ accounts if necessary ;)

[koganbot]

"Hill" vs. "Call Me": The battle is between k8's finishing-school vocals that you lot inexplicably don't find irritating vs. Blondie/Moroder being uncharacteristically heavy and clompy. Was thinking of abstaining in protest, but that's no fun, so "Hill" gets ticked for its tune.

"Groove" is not altogether nonoverbearing itself, but "Nothing"... I don't know... manages to combine "grating" and "wimpy," no mean feat, and I don't always use those terms as noncompliments... um, I prefer "Groove" to silence while I sometimes prefer silence to Sinead, so "Groove" tick.

"West End Girls": to complain that this isn't as cluttered and ebullient as real disco isn't to miss the point but rather to not like the point all that much, but nonetheless this is haunting and beautiful and forceful and witty (though wish it were, like, funny rather than just witty); Utah Saints "Something Good" is rousing and all that and I'd gladly have ticked it vs. k8 or "Call Me" but not vs. the Pet vets. (Btw, the New Orleans basketball team, the Jazz, moved to Utah and became the Utah Jazz, but the New Orleans football team, the Saints, didn't move to Utah or become the Utah Saints.)

"Toxic" is brilliant and hilarious and sexy, though I'm puzzled that this was Poptimists' favorite Britney in the Now poll, as Brit's done warmer stuff that's just as brilly, hilly, and sexy. "Sweet Dreams"' words are kinda full of shit in their cynicism, and I'd say I hate Annie's fake hardness except in fact her underlying heat makes the hardness really really really sexy, as if you just know that warmth is going to overflow in her if you find the right touch. And my knowing that this notorious woman also loves "Sweet Dreams" makes the tickin' easy.

[jel-bugle.livejournal.com]

Deee-Lite vs. O'Connor = the 6th level of my musical hell.

[lollers.livejournal.com]

come on kate!!