Summer Madness: PA's Battle of the Albums

Just a reminder that my vote for You (v. Octopus) wasn't accepted. My vote might make all the difference.

Moogtron III wrote: micky wrote: Moogtron III wrote: Only in 5 polls of the 16 in this round of classic polls, my favorite is winning  Well, it's still early in the week, um...  and many WAY WAY too close to call.. look at that bottom of the bracket... 6 of 8 polls with margins 3 or less. even more fun... look at the bottom 4... TOTAL vote margin... 2 votes. wide frickin open... yeah...  I have 3 album in my top 20 still left... all 3 appear to be on to the 4th round baring major major movement.  My 4th favorite ... in a complete dogfight with another classic and fellow member of my top 100 list. We knew as the tournament went on.. the choices would get harder.. nice to see the polls reflect it.  Makes me think we did a damn good job selecting these things.. as much of who we included.. in who we did NOT include. Right, my faves will defend themselves with vehemence, I'm sure  Yes, it's nice to see duels where only in the last minute one can see who is the clear winner. The fun of the early stages in the polls is the amount of albums. The fun in the later stages of the polls is seeing all the photo finish duels between the best of the best.

yeah...  the tweak we did.. leaving out the populars by the big heavies is really paying off now.

Much like the battle of the bands.. the early rounds herewere great.. but due to enivitablity of the last ones standing..  it lost a bit LOT of steam.

here.. sh*t man... there are at least 12 albums there IMO. A third.. that have (had prior to 3rd round winnowing)  realistic chances to win the tournament.  A lot of quality.. and less of the fanboy idol worhips attached to some bands and albums.  We will have to suffer Hachett in lieu of Genesis.. but like any forum.. every contest needs the character that wears the black hat.  Gives you something to root against


Edited by micky - August 10 2015 at 14:59

Of my four top 10 albums still in the competition

Edited by Nogbad_The_Bad - August 10 2015 at 07:22

Moogtron III wrote: Only in 5 polls of the 16 in this round of classic polls, my favorite is winning  Well, it's still early in the week, um...

and many WAY WAY too close to call..

look at that bottom of the bracket... 6 of 8 polls with margins 3 or less.

even more fun... look at the bottom 4... TOTAL vote margin...

2 votes.

wide frickin open...

yeah...  I have 3 album in my top 20 still left... all 3 appear to be on to the 4th round baring major major movement.  My 4th favorite ... in a complete dogfight with another classic and fellow member of my top 100 list.

We knew as the tournament went on.. the choices would get harder.. nice to see the polls reflect it.  Makes me think we did a damn good job selecting these things.. as much of who we included.. in who we did NOT include.


Edited by micky - August 10 2015 at 06:34

Only in 5 polls of the 16 in this round of classic polls, my favorite is winning 

heavy action in the polls today...

shoujld be a great week and weekend as most polls average around 60 votes.. a bit more for the most popular acts.. less for the foreign ones

most polls are already in the 40 to 50 vote range and Progspin is only able to call 3 of the polls. Hachett, Oldfield, Amon Duul II,  and is almost ready to call only a 4th... Hatfield and the North.

a lot of close ones.. and a couple still too close to project this early.



Edited by micky - August 09 2015 at 18:19

micky wrote: The Rotters Club would be my darkhorse to reach the final... beating the Camel/VDGG survivor in the semi-final.. then again I could see YS having a good chance against TRC. Very different.. and fans of the more dissonant and aggressive might give the closet of edges to YS in that matchup.  Reallly  the top half is sort of wide open.. a LOT of great albums... no real shoe'ins.  Then again.. the bottom half is pretty wide open as well. The favorite is in tough fight.. likely the next best album IMO on that side of the bracket is losing.. perhaps that Hatchet album is the dark horse.  what it is doing to a superior Squire album is not only criminal.. and indictment of the forums.. but a clue, no a reminder that the power of Ivan's army of gen-bobbleheads should never be underestimated.

I honestly think Hackett has benefited so much from the fact that he's just kept making decent interesting music forever. He's a better guitarist than he's ever been and his tastes and ideas have been expanding constantly up until his most recent album, which isn't something you can say for any of the other classic prog musicians. Also a *beautiful* classical guitarist and great arranger.

micky wrote: well it seems... a full day in.. only two of the 16 are runaways...  Oldfield and the Hatchet album.  Just following results as I do.. it seems there are two main surges.. of course the first day surge.. where generally half the votes will come in. Then by the first of the week the 2nd bulk set has tended to come in.. from people that actually have lives and weren't hanging around the forum today haha. Generally by Monday you know the ones that are over.. and the ones that will go to the last votes. I'm not really a fan of that VDGG album.. both Raff and I adore other albums from them.. however.. if they don't lose to Camel I think they go all the way to the final...  I had picked Octopus to face them but they appear to be setting up to being in a dogfight with Gong... and think they could have a real fight with the PFM album if they both make the Quarterfinals but PFM has a hard road getting past the Moodies then likely the Supertramp album. Really there are only two albums I'd vote for over in any in the field. YS actually has a decent chance to make the semi-finals.. I do think it matches up well against either Zappa or PG in the 4th round as well as against any of the 4 possible opponents it might face in the QF's. It is one of the few RPI albums that has a fame that transcends it being an 'Italian album' due to its sheer ferocity, uniqueness, and its pretty much generally considered status as one of the (if not THE) greatest prog (rock) keyboard album ever made. Palepoli?  Don't like its chances as much..  granted I didn't think Mirage would beat Pawn Hearts but definitely wouldn't have thought Palepoli would. Perhaps it would have even less chance against Mirage.. while Camel is a far inferior group to VDGG.. Mirage doesn't have the warts or turn-offs Pawn Hearts does.  Either way... it would be a fun matchup just to rally the anti-Camel forces and pull a Wild Bunch finale out of that matchp and go down with the guns a blazin'.

Of my three favourites - I think Palepoli is going to get eaten alive by the Camel, or edged out by VDGG (I think the people who don't like odd albums could just not vote there, which'd make it closer). Rock Bottom is likely to lose to Voyage of the Acolyte if it makes it through (Voyage isn't even a great Hackett album imho; a lot of his recent stuff is leagues ahead of it in playing and composition). If The Rotters Club gets past Rush I think it could go very far indeed.

well it seems... a full day in.. only two of the 16 are runaways...  Oldfield and the Hatchet album.  Just following results as I do.. it seems there are two main surges.. of course the first day surge.. where generally half the votes will come in. Then by the first of the week the 2nd bulk set has tended to come in.. from people that actually have lives and weren't hanging around the forum today haha. Generally by Monday you know the ones that are over.. and the ones that will go to the last votes.

I'm not really a fan of that VDGG album.. both Raff and I adore other albums from them.. however.. if they don't lose to Camel I think they go all the way to the final...  I had picked Octopus to face them but they appear to be setting up to being in a dogfight with Gong... and think they could have a real fight with the PFM album if they both make the Quarterfinals but PFM has a hard road getting past the Moodies then likely the Supertramp album.

Really there are only two albums I'd vote for over in any in the field.

YS actually has a decent chance to make the semi-finals.. I do think it matches up well against either Zappa or PG in the 4th round as well as against any of the 4 possible opponents it might face in the QF's. It is one of the few RPI albums that has a fame that transcends it being an 'Italian album' due to its sheer ferocity, uniqueness, and its pretty much generally considered status as one of the (if not THE) greatest prog (rock) keyboard album ever made.

Palepoli?  Don't like its chances as much..  granted I didn't think Mirage would beat Pawn Hearts but definitely wouldn't have thought Palepoli would. Perhaps it would have even less chance against Mirage.. while Camel is a far inferior group to VDGG.. Mirage doesn't have the warts or turn-offs Pawn Hearts does.  Either way... it would be a fun matchup just to rally the anti-Camel forces and pull a Wild Bunch finale out of that matchp and go down with the guns a blazin'.

through my experiences Rob.. I think the results in some will look very different in a day or two. Many albums have surged forward or kept pace only to fall Way off the pace. There is a large silent majorty which votes later.  I still think VDGG will pull away.. less than a third of the votes I've noted.. actually are registered via comment. There is a large pool of voters out there yet to vote.  I still think VDGG wins it and pull away. Same with PG3.. believe that album has a large number of faceless voters still in its corner.

will be interesting to see what results look like ..say Monday morning..