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OK, here we go with the results for
BATTLE OF THE BANDS XXVI. Before I get into all of that I want to reminisce a
little bit about the past year.
Mr. McCarthy and I have been at this BOTB thing
for a full year now. Wow! I can hardly believe it. There have been times when I’ve
been a bit discouraged and even thought about quitting, but then I’ve realized
that, at least recently, BOTB is about all I post (occasionally, I sneak
something else in, but for the most part, it’s BOTB and the RESULTS posts), so
I really wouldn’t want to quit and basically give up blogging altogether.
I do want to extend a great big thank you to those of you who have been loyal followers of this little experiment. Most of your comments crack me up. I appreciate that you keep coming back even when I give you something like ‘Grupo Rush’ or this past BATTLE featuring the always interesting Patti Smith. I enjoy your honest votes and the candor of your comments, so, please keep ‘em coming.
This past BATTLE really wasn’t much of a
fight. Alvin Lee pretty much mopped the floor with Patti Smith in their
respective versions of ’Hey Joe’. As most of you probably know, just about
everybody and their dog has covered ‘Hey Joe’, so there are a lot of different
styles, voices, and genres out there. I like to give you as much diversity as
possible in my BATTLES, hence this paring. I thought by putting a female up
against a male, a hard rocker, up against the beat poet Patti likes to think of
herself as, was pretty diverse. Apparently, that kind of backfired on me here
because this was a total and complete shut-out (YES, even I am not voting for
Patti). I can see clearly that had I put Alvin against Gary Moore it might have
been more of a ‘horse race’. From my perspective they were fairly similar, so I
went for the diversity.
Ah well, ya live and learn. I’m not
really bummed about the shut-out. I did enjoy your comments about Patti. They
tended to be a bit diverse themselves, even if you all did agree – YOU didn’t
like her ‘Hey Joe’ at all. That even goes for the few of you who are normally
Patti fans.
The Final Tally (including my vote) - 13 votes for Alvin Lee
0 votes for Patti Smith
We’ll be back in August –
kicking off a new year, and there are some surprises in store. I personally,
have a theme planned for the entire month of August. Care to give a guess what
it might be? I’ll even give you a hint. It’s summed up in one word; a word that
has at times been applied to me. – Now, be nice, but leave me your guesses in
the comment box, and we’ll see you back here August 1 to start a Brand New Year
of BATTLE OF THE BANDS.
After all this talk about Gary Moore I'm gonna post one of my favorites of his here for your listening pleasure, if you have the time.
Poor Patti.
ReplyDeleteAn 80's theme?
You started this - can't quit. Just like I can't ever quit the IWSG.
And if the Battle day ever falls on the first of the month again, I'll join you guys once more.
Poor Patti; I think she kinda brought it on herself.
DeleteNope not 80's. But nice try.
Yeah, I think I'm gonna stick it out.
I bet you meant if the first on the month a Monday, cause we always post on the first of the month.
Too bad Donna didn't show. She might have saved you from a shutout.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I too always like those 'BOTB' match-ups where the two contestants are different in almost every conceivable way, like gender, genre, race, and tempo. But if I feel one of the two contestants is likely to get their clock cleaned (because their version just does not seem very good on any level) then I would opt for two versions that are more similar. "Better fairly similar than shutout" in my book.
But then again, I've always been lucky to find two versions of a song in which they are drastically different but both are good recordings.
The closest I've ever come to a shutout was with my very first 'BOTB' in which I put Bebel Gilberto against Bebel Gilberto. But I knew in advance that this one was going to be a wipe-out and I was using it solely as a "lesson" to illustrate the importance of different song "arrangements", which is something I intended to highlight throughout my 'BOTB' activity.
My Peter Green Vs. The Rockets on 'Oh Well' was also very nearly a shutout. I can't remember for sure now (after all, that was a whole year ago) but I think my own vote may have been the only thing that saved it from the dreaded shutout. And, frankly, that "Battle" STILL boggles my mind! I was even thinking about it while driving home from work this morning. I was CERTAIN that The Rockets were going to win that "Battle" because, to my ears, they were CLEARLY the better of the two. And that was my first 'BOTB' shock, which set the tone for many more very surprising voting results that followed.
Oh Well...
I look forward to seeing what your August theme will be, FAE.
~ D-FensDogg
'Loyal American Underground'
I mus be getting used to the 'shut-out' because it doesn't feel so 'dreaded' anymore. I am going to rethink my strategy in the future, although my next bout, with my intended theme, might could go the same way. We will have to wait and see. Ya just never know what the voting public will do. Ha, usually the WRONG THING.
DeleteNice song, good listening, except about halfway through when my hearing was damaged by that one looooooong note, lol.
ReplyDeleteYa know, once a heavy metal hard rocker...
DeleteWon by a landslide indeed. And yeah, once you start such a thing, hard to quit it.
ReplyDeleteYeah, regardless of my complaining, I guess I'm in it for the long haul.
DeleteLet me guess: is the theme about blondes? (Concrete Blonde? Blondie?)
ReplyDeleteHow about "divas?" (meaning the term in all the best connotations.) I'd better stop guessing now, I guess.
'Blondes', Ha, ha, ha! a good guess (look down, someone else thought the same thing), but not even close. You do know that 'dumb blonde' thing is just a phrase, right? I'm not really even blonde, actually something much more volatile.
DeleteDive? with all the best connotations, of course. Ha! wrong, but I do love the concept. I might have to think on that and use it later on.
It looks like Six and I are thinking the same way... my first about your August theme was blondes. Not sure what it would look like precisely, but it was the first thing that popped into my head.
ReplyDeleteI completely forgot to post my BOTB results when I put up my post yesterday. Like your battle, it wasn't even a close race. It is hard to know before you choose what versions will garner a more diverse vote. Some of my battles I expected a much closer race and was surprised. Other times, I expected a shut our and was surprised. I guess you just don't ever know until after the fact.
Ha! You're both wrong. Wanna try again?
DeleteI really don't try to predict the outcome, but I do like to pit very different versions against one another. I may have to reconsider that as I'm becoming 'the home o the shut-out'; an unenviable title at best.
Love the Gary Moore! Great dynamics and range, with that wonderful vibrato. But I think those expressive fingers may have suffered a tiny bit of arthritic lock there at the 2:11 mark, but it definitely managed to get my attention. :)
ReplyDeleteNo surprise about the BOTB result. I consider myself pretty open-minded musically, and like I said in the comment with my vote, I actually had a passing partiality for Patti at around age 19 - 20. But I was never anything close to what you might call a "fan". It was more a young college kid trying to show that I could be 'arty' and dabble in that punk attitude. And I was more taken with Patti than say the Sex Pistols, who I couldn't tolerate, no matter how many people tried to convince me they were cool.
But that were many, many years ago, and I rapidly matured in my tastes. I had to vote for Alvin, even though that video was a good "ten years after" his prime (see what I did there?).
By the way -- I'm taking in part in the next BOTB on Aug 1! I was inspired to put together a battle -- I'm really curious to see how the voting will go. :)
Hey Chris, glad to hear that you'll be joining the rabble on August 1. I expect some exciting things in this next year.
ReplyDeleteI guess at 19 or 20 you can be forgiven for a brief infatuation with the likes of Patti.
Glad you enjoyed the GM. See ya soon. I hope you'll be able to stay with BOTB in August and the future.
You can't quit BOTB ever! Maybe you, Stephen, and I will eventually only post BOTB posts and that's okay with me.
ReplyDeleteNeed more clues about your theme. Right now I can't even venture a guess.
Lee
Tossing It Out