Jop Tournament Round 3.2

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Another four fites to take us down to 8 surviving tracks.


[Poll #928476]


The remaining rounds will happen next week, and then at the end of the week we launch the LEAGUE OF POP.

Comments

[awesomewells.livejournal.com]

Ooh, there are a couple of like-for-like fites here. Push It vs Groove Is In The Heart especially - one of those is going to win by a landslide I think.

Madge v Britney is the intriguing one here.

[catsgomiaow.livejournal.com]

The last 2 were too hard :(

Decisions

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Madonna vs Britney: two absolute sluggers here - liberation beats desperation maybe? (though Britney doesn't sound desperate, and Madonna locks the doors where nowhere else can see, so it's very close anyway)

Missy vs Kelly: An all-Missy final now looks unlikely but she should win here, and rightly IMO. Still haven't listened to that Yardbirds track, sorry Frank!

Soft Cell vs Neneh: Marc Almond is a corny old fuxx but this record is still gorgeous. Amazing how Neneh's stock has risen even higher since 88-89 - she feels very contemporary, which is why she's consistently winning I reckon.

Deee-Lite vs Push It: Push It is harder, more committed, sexier, better. The apparent walkover is gratifying. Maybe - just maybe - "Push It" to win the whole thing...?

Re: Decisions

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

Neneh was so rub in the 90s tho.

Re: Decisions

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Maybe that just adds to her myth! One perfect moment and then you can handily forget about her!

Re: Decisions

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

actually 'Buddy X' was OK

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

"one perfect moment"?? Sir, you are forgetting "Those Eskimo Women Speak Frankly" by Rip Rig & Panic! [/sukrat talk]

Re: Decisions

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

NO YOUSSOU N'DOUR NO CREDIBILITY

Re: Decisions

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

No she wasn't! I have Homebrew AND Man and they are BOTH GREAT.

Re: Decisions

[atommickbrane.livejournal.com]

Neneh also sounds a lot fresher because of the inevitable everywhereness of Tainted Love - any other Soft Cell song wouldn't give me a moment of hesitation to tick. I'm still going to tick Soft Cell anyway because WTF else has Neneh Cherry done apart from the obvious which I will not ven mention.

Re: Decisions

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

Love Can Build A Bridge!

Re: Decisions

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

I refer the Honourable lady to my previous answer.

Re: Decisions

[atommickbrane.livejournal.com]

Good point!! I would much rather listen to Buffalo Stance right now than Tainted Love but I have had way more moments with Soft Cell so somewhat reluctantly they get my tick. Although if someone could give me an mp3 of Buffalo Stance right now I might give in :)

He tried pretending that our dance was just a dance

[koganbot]

Seems to me "Groove" is all about desperation (well, not all, obviously, but what she's being liberated from is very present in the song). Would be the classic club track about dancing, except that Shannon's "Let The Music Play" is even better (and does the desperation/satisfaction thing just as much). Actually, Madonna has a better voice, but "Let The Music Play" has better riffs and beats and a desperate rise on "play," and some of the best words in existence: "Love sang: Let the music play, he won't get away/Just keep the groove and then he'll come back to you again (LET IT PLAY)/Let the music play, he won't get away/This groove he can't ignore, 'cause he won't leave you anymore. (NO NO NO.)" That's religious!

Re: He tried pretending that our dance was just a dance

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

I LOVE 'LET THE MUSIC PLAY' SO MUCH

Any recommendations for compilations of...all this stuff that was floating around back then Frank? I'm aware that there is a TROVE of stuff I'm unaware of, potentially to be fallen in love with. Also, compilations of 80s electro and freestyle would be much appreciated too - I'm sure these are the kind of things which float around Amazon for like £3 but I think I will love it all, I just don't know where to start.

Re: He tried pretending that our dance was just a dance

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

I'm hoping that the League Of Pop will throw some interesting stuff up (not this interesting stuff specifically, though it's possibly a fair bet)

Re: He tried pretending that our dance was just a dance

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Oh I hope so too - but I have loads of random individual tracks of this specific type already, I think it is time for me to plunge into the whole genre.

Re: He tried pretending that our dance was just a dance

[koganbot]

There's a trove of stuff that I'm unaware of too, and I can't say that I've explored the comps. There's probably a whole interplay among electro-funk and freestyle and Miami bass and '80s New York club (what's been retrospectively called "garage"), a lot of which is terra incognito for me. Can't say I know a definitive compilation. I did a list of freestyle tracks on one of these threads a couple of weeks ago. Being a little broader than that, and off the top of my head, I'd say look for a comp with one of the following and it's likely that something else on the comp will be unknown to you (and possibly me) but equally worth hearing (and then when you've spent scads on lots of comps, you can rip and burn your own definitive comp): Soul Sonic Force "Planet Rock" and "Looking for the Perfect Beat," Newcleus "Jam On It," Stacey Lattislaw "Attack of the Name Game," Debbie Deb "When I Hear Music" and "Lookout Weekend" and "There's A Party Goin' On" and "I'm Searchin',"* Exposé "Point Of No Return,"** Sequel "It's Not Too Late," Company B "Fascinated," Cover Girls "Inside Outside" and "Because of You," Sweet Sensation "Take It While It's Hot," Taana Gardner "Work Your Body" and "Heartbeat," Giggles "Hot Spot," Cynthia "Change On Me" and "Endless Nights," Shannon "Give Me Tonight" and "Let The Music Play," L'Trimm "Cars With The Boom" and their entire second album Drop Your Bottom (esp. "Drop That Bottom" and "We Got Our Own Thing")(sorry, this is the only Miami bass represented here; I barely know the genre); Strafe "Set It Off," Judy Torres "Come Into My Arms" and "No Reason To Cry," Lisette Melendez "Together Forever" and "A Day In My Life (Without You)," Noel "Silent Morning," Corina "Temptation," Pajama Party "Over and Over" and "Yo No Sé," Laissez Faire "In Paradise," Sa-Fire "Boy I've Been Told," Stacey Q "Two Of Hearts" and everything on her second album Hard Machine (especially "The Rain" and "Don't Make A Fool Of Yourself"), Will To Power "Dreamin'" and "Say It's Gonna Rain" and "Journey Home," Seduction "Seduction's Theme," Sandee "You're The One," Shana "I Want You," Tina B "I Always Wanted To Be Free," Diana Ross "Swept Away," The Flirts "Voulez Vous," Deborah Allen "Telepathy."

*However, Debbie was overweight and suffered from low self-esteem, and found her sudden fame difficult to cope with. She was crushed when her record company decided not to put her picture on the sleeves of her records and, in a Milli Vanilli-esque move, even hired an "impostor" to perform and pose as Debbie Deb.
--Wikipedia

I'd heard of this, and wondered (without ever finding out) if it was this imposter who was the Debbie Deb who gave the great show I saw in San Francisco in 1988 - though this Deb had a slight tummy roll, so may well have been the original; there's also some question in my mind if the original Deb or the imposter Deb is the voice on "I'm Searchin'" (definitely same voice as the performer I saw, unless she was lip synching, but she didn't seem to be); either way it's good, and if the imposter Deb gave the great show I saw, that's as good a story (and just as good artistically, of course).

**All the members of the original Exposé that recorded "Point Of No Return" quit or were fired by producer Lewis Martinée (Wikipedia says they quit), who later rerecorded the song with a new lineup; the first version hit in clubs and made the dance charts, but it was the second version that hit on top 40; the first version was the 12-inch single and was on the first pressings of the album Exposure but the second one is on the later pressings. The second is the one on the 7-inch I've got. And since I've got an early album pressing, I've got both. I prefer the second.

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Easier than yesterday's.

Cor!

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Toxic & West End Girls level pegging! (http://community.livejournal.com/poptimists/310479.html)

Re: Cor!

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

Go Britney!

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

No hesitation about any of these at all really. ‘Baby One More Time’ is a standard, if anything is in the Pop Canon as previously discussed it is this, but Britney’s got a lot better since. ‘Into The Groove’ is not only in the Pop Canon but arguably sums up everything the Pop Canon should be.

I think my ticks here – Madge, Missy, Neneh, S’n’P – are unbeatable. I can’t imagine voting against any of them (though I have an inkling I did, in the last round, because of Aaliyah). But at least three of them are going to have to be beaten…

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

I think "Push It", "Get Ur Freak On", and "Into The Groove" are my three favourites still in it. "West End Girls" a little behind if it beats "Toxic". "Work It" would have been up there too...

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

'Into The Groove' actually, oddly, the weakest of these four for me, despite it being The Truth and everything! Because it’s not actually my favourite Madonna single – very very high up the list but if pushed I’d pick ‘Vogue’ and ‘Deeper And Deeper’ (which are virtually the same song). Same for ‘West End Girls’ but more so, there are several PSB songs I’d rate higher.

Might come down to ‘Push It’ v ‘Buffalo Stance’ for me.

[koganbot]

"Groove" vs. "...Baby" - Hard one (though it took me all of two seconds to make the tick). "...Baby" 'cause it has (even more) feeling. As I hinted upthread, a prob I have w/ my fave Madonnas is that they were surrounded by other just-as-good or better club tracks, even if the others didn't storm the Top 40. Also "Groove" doesn't quite rank w/ "Everybody" and "Holiday," which were wonderfully poignant dance ditties by anonymous-who-knows-who in their day.

"Freak" vs. "SUBG" - Even harder - both tracks were #1 P&J for me - but "SUBG" got my tick over "Train Kept A-Rollin'" for having more feeling and for representing The Right Now even better; but come to think of it "Train Freak" represents a BIGGER "Right Now," even if it's from several years back, 'cause pulls in more of the experimentalism and creativity that should be here and represents the 1965 experiment and as much as the 2001. 2037? (Good thing I ticked fast or I'd be at this one all day.)

"Tainted" vs. "Buffalo" - Both are lucky to have gotten this far; fighting for the honor to be crushed by Missy, MadsBrit, or SnP. I ticked "Buffalo" for being dreamier and for its experiment.

"Push It" vs. "Groove Is In The Heart" - Groove never made it to my heart; an easy "Push It."

I predict "Billie Jean" vs. "Get Ur Freak On" in the final, with "Don't Stop Till You Get Enough" and "Push It" their two biggest challengers. Won't know how I'll tick 'til it happens.

What Frank said

[blue-russian.livejournal.com]

Both are lucky to have gotten this far - Disappointing to get this far along, see so many good things go down, and get to a fite where I want BOTH to lose.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

The thing with 'Buffalo Stance' is, how often do you get songs which are both totally dreamy and completely roughneck?

Quincy

[koganbot]

Looks like both Maxes are going under, so, with "Work It" deep-sixed yesterday, Quincy Jones* is the only producer with two tracks in the Great Eight.

(*Well, Jones-Jackson, to be accurate.)

FITEback

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

These polls looked done and dusted after lunch, but what a turnaround here - 9 out of the last 10 votes in the Soft Cell/Neneh poll have been for Tainted Love.

And the Madonna/Britney poll has got competitive again - maybe too late for Brit though.

[lollers.livejournal.com]

AHA KELLY CLARKSON IS FINALLY GONE