Friday13th: Friday's Prog Discovery M4

Friday13th 03.18.16	P.S. Fripper, you're lucky the nagging coincided with my plan.
manosg 03.18.16	Bit weird to have Todd Rundgren on prog discovery but the album has only 10 votes. Modry Efekt & Radim Hladik will have to be something really special to win me on this round.
Friday13th 03.18.16	Yeah, I get that. Most are not aware of Utopia though. That's why he had to introduce it as "Todd Rundgren's Utopia."
SCREAM! 03.18.16	I'd have pushed the round back just to mess with Frip haha I've never listened to any Utopia so I'm glad this tourney is finally going to make me check them out
AnimalsAsSummit 03.18.16	Jamming these tonight a few times each, both look pretty sick
Jethro42 03.18.16	Another great matchup, Friday. I feel it's gonna be tight once again.
Sabrutin 03.18.16	Bit weird to have Todd Rundgren on prog discovery but the album has only 10 votes [2] Would have expected more considering that Something/Anything has 60.
Jethro42 03.20.16	Is there anybody out there
Friday13th 03.20.16	yeah where's Fripper? Thought he'd bring the hype.
Jethro42 03.20.16	Maybe he's looking for some reactions before making an apparition.
Jethro42 03.20.16	Utopia tries too hard to be both bombastic and catchy, but it fails to excite me much. Not a fan of their keyboard layers and of their arrangements. It has couple of great ideas in the first and last songs but they are scattered. I find it too busy as a whole. As busy as Finch can be, for example, and it doesn't help. I still need to listen to both of the albums, but as of now, I prefer Blue Effect with their brillant guitar laden jazz rock/fusion sometimes blended with space and hard rock to a great effect.
zakalwe 03.20.16	Loving Blue Effect at the min.
Jethro42 03.20.16	hey zak, are you still with us?
zakalwe 03.20.16	I'm clinging in there mate. Tumultuous life be damned, sometimes ya just have to prog.
Jethro42 03.20.16	P/
Friday13th 03.20.16	Hey zakalwe, we need your vote for the last match so I can announce the winner.
Jethro42 03.20.16	oh shit, I thought Cressida was the winner.
Friday13th 03.20.16	well it kinda is but I'm stalling ;) it was a close match and if zak and shark vote Aria it actually ties
Jethro42 03.20.16	If it ties, what will you do to determine a winner? Also I misunderstood you when you said that shark and zak left. I thought you meant they left the tourney.
Friday13th 03.20.16	oh no, just that they are "left" as in yet to vote.
Jethro42 03.20.16	Oh yeah gotcha, it also reads well like that :D
Friday13th 03.20.16	If it ties I'll bring in an outside arbiter like menawati to decide.
SCREAM! 03.21.16	Wasn't super impressed with 1. There wasn't anything really wrong with it but it feels like listening to someone going through the motions and making your typical prog album (as Jethro mentioned, it almost sounds like it tries too hard to be as prog as possible in parts). Still have to listen to 2 now
AnimalsAsSummit 03.21.16	I'm going with 2; 1 is really great honestly (especially all the effects and strange scifi atmospheres) but I'm a sucker for well executed jazz fusion, and 2 brings it home
Jethro42 03.21.16	''Utopia theme'' grew on me lately. Still not a fan of the embarassing keyboards... ''Ikon'' also bites, but mostly during its first half. But here and there, I feel song lacks of cohesion between the ideas. Blue Effect is a quality album. Centered around a fantastic guitarist, but I wish that the man would have created more melodies and riffs instead of soloing almost all the time, but the bassman covers the guitarist's playing very well and the quality of the tracks make up for it. I still dig 4 out of 5 songs off of it. Both albums are great, but I tend to prefer Blue Effect as a whole, so there's my vote.
Friday13th 03.21.16	okay 0:2 so far You guys are pretty harsh on poor Rundgren haha. I will say Wizard is clearly a better album. More poppy but more experimental too.
gagnonov 03.21.16	Blue Effect gets my vote, even though none of the two really stood out imo. both are still very good prog by prog standards though
TwigTW 03.21.16	I think Rundgren is great, but not with Utopia. Ra is just awful, and Oops! Wrong Planet isn't much better. This one surprised me; it sounds pretty good after my first listen.
Friday13th 03.21.16	0:3 It's gonna take me a few more listens. I like the vocal melodies of 1 and I quite like most of the keyboard stuff. 2 stands out with great guitar playing but not sure if that's enough for me.
Jethro42 03.21.16	@Friday, God knows I've tried to dig Utopia more. I hope Fripp is gonna get over it :) I'm willing to give a spin to Wizard, now that I'm somewhat accustomed to Rundgren's skill.
TwigTW 03.21.16	Rundgren is a great tunesmith--need to listen to 2 and see what's going on there.
Frippertronics 03.21.16	should've just put in the enid or magma tbh
MrSirLordGentleman 03.21.16	You're not alone Fripp. I only gave Blue Effect a quick listen so far, but I'm really loving Utopia, I prefer it to his "poppier" classics
MeatSalad 03.22.16	Naw fripp you've spread the enid around here plenty. Ive had utopia sitting on my computer for years unlistened to
Frippertronics 03.22.16	their new album comes out on the first week of april and I still have three of their albums to do fug
Sabrutin 03.22.16	I'm quite sure to side with 1 but I want to give 2 more time before voting.
SCREAM! 03.22.16	Preferred the overall atmosphere of 2 by a pretty good margin so it gets my vote. Dat saxophone tho
Friday13th 03.22.16	0:4
SharkTooth 03.22.16	dayum my album's winning
zakalwe 03.22.16	Best one so far. Blue Effect
AnimalsAsSummit 03.22.16	Id say this was a weird match up, hence the contrast in votes
MrSirLordGentleman 03.22.16	Even though I loved Utopia My vote goes to Blue Effect. OMG WHAT AN ALBUM
Friday13th 03.22.16	0:6 I'll try to decide by the end of the day.
Frippertronics 03.22.16	you nerds are dead to me
SharkTooth 03.22.16	RIP us
Friday13th 03.22.16	I'm already a sold man, Fripper. Time to pull out that Utopia vinyl and confirm my allegiance to the Wizard :D
bnelso55 03.22.16	I think I'll give my vote to 2. Both albums were fun, but I felt more consistently drawn in by the composition and atmosphere of Modry Efekt & Radim Hladik. Sorry Fripp..
SharkTooth 03.22.16	And here I was thinking my album was gonna lose for the third time in a row
MrSirLordGentleman 03.22.16	Aw c'mon fripp, have you even checked Blue Effect? you can't deny it is amazing, I might even prefer it over my own nominee even though I'm not sure yet
SCREAM! 03.22.16	Lucifer's Friend was great it just had the unfortunate luck of going against the best album in the tourney during the first round haha
MrSirLordGentleman 03.22.16	Lucifer's Friend was the best album in that tourney though
SharkTooth 03.22.16	Idk there are like 3 albums I personally prefer over it
SCREAM! 03.22.16	Which album did you rec in the first tourney? That one is too far to go back to in Friday's lists
Friday13th 03.22.16	@SCREAM Anoying, right. You can get to it through the sidebar of related lists on the band profiles: http://www.sputnikmusic.com/list.php?memberid=732569&listid=142431#1
SharkTooth 03.22.16	Not first tourney, the psych tourney
Friday13th 03.22.16	Okay, I'm throwing the first vote to Utopia. 1:7
MrSirLordGentleman 03.22.16	brazilian intensifies
Friday13th 03.22.16	lol wa?
MrSirLordGentleman 03.22.16	football joke
Friday13th 03.22.16	oh haha gotcha. Poor Brazil, man. I think the whole world felt bad they got whooped so hard. Here in the U.S. it's not that big of a deal but yeah I can see it being a recurring joke.
MrSirLordGentleman 03.22.16	Considering how Colombia and Chile deserved way more to be on semis, I call it divine justice
Friday13th 03.22.16	haha manifest destiny, right ;)
SharkTooth 03.22.16	I was rootin' for Argentina anyway
Friday13th 03.22.16	yeah they were fun to watch but Germany had much better teamwork
SharkTooth 03.22.16	agreed, Argentina didn't stand a chance, but I was still hopeful they'd put a good fight
Sabrutin 03.22.16	I vote for Utopia, surprised almost nobody else did. 2 is a great album but it doesn't strike any ~special~ chord in me. It comes close in parts though.
Friday13th 03.22.16	2:7
Frippertronics 03.22.16	"brazilian intensifies" sirloin, you have been ~forgiven~
TwigTW 03.24.16	I vote for Sputnik as slowest website on the internet . . . And Utopia.
Friday13th 03.24.16	3:7 yeah sputnik acting up again
SharkTooth 03.24.16	Nice 2 see utopia's catching up Now if only the site did the same
tmthycnnlly 03.24.16	I'm voting for 2 before the site goes down permanently
Friday13th 03.24.16	3:8
Jethro42 03.24.16	Wizard by Todd Rundgren is so catchy, original kind of pop/psych... Thanks for mentioning that album, Friday. It's quite unique for me. Reminds me of some The Guess Who at places, or perhaps Stevie Wonder in high.
SCREAM! 03.24.16	So since it's a holiday tomorrow, do we get our M5 a day early? ;)
MrSirLordGentleman 03.24.16	fripper and the rage on that 3.0
Snowdog808 03.25.16	I vote for Utopia, not that it will make as much of a difference now.
Friday13th 03.25.16	4:8 It's not just Friday. It's good Friday...like me :D
TwigTW 03.25.16	I was born on Friday the 13th, so I have to agree it's good ;-)
Onirium 03.25.16	My vote goes to Utopia; as much as I usually love bolder experiments like Blue Effect, I found it a bit clumsy at times. And Utopia's spectacular success at merging prog with pop sensibilities and memorable riffs and hooks gave it an attractive and charming character.
Friday13th 03.25.16	5:8 sweet Twig, yeah my 13th birthday was on Friday the 13th so it kinda stuck after that
TwigTW 03.25.16	nice!
MeatSalad 03.25.16	close but, 1
Friday13th 03.25.16	6:8 Utopia is catching up
SharkTooth 03.25.16	Sweet, I might lose after all
manosg 03.25.16	Count me in for 1 as well.
SharkTooth 03.25.16	RIP me
Friday13th 03.25.16	7:8 Sharktooth, if you've jammed them you can still vote. That would kinda seal the deal.
Friday13th 03.25.16	It's actually just you and Fripper left so you can end it here...unless you pull a menawati and vote against your own haha
MrSirLordGentleman 03.25.16	fripper gave Utopia a 4.5 and Blue Effect a 3.0 so his vote is kinda obvious
SCREAM! 03.25.16	"fripper gave Utopia a 4.5 and Blue Effect a 3.0 so his vote is kinda obvious" You still gotta show up to the polls
Friday13th 03.25.16	the new match is up
Frippertronics 03.26.16	you know what I want, boi 8:8
Friday13th 03.26.16	Yeah, saw that one coming. Sharktooth, what will it be? The fate of all rests in your hands.
Frippertronics 03.26.16	just vote for the better album Something Wicked This Way Comes
SCREAM! 03.26.16	Something wicked up your bum
SharkTooth 03.28.16	Goddammit do I have to be the deciding vote? both albums are equally great in my opinion but if I have to....................................................................................... I guess 2
Friday13th 03.28.16	WE HAVE A WINNERRRRRRR Blue Effect poor Rundgren had a grand run
SharkTooth 03.28.16	;_;7
Frippertronics 03.28.16	you know what this means, right? apologies to frippertronics part two
SharkTooth 03.28.16	no fuck you I'm not doing that shit again
Frippertronics 03.28.16	forever a bitch
SharkTooth 03.28.16	"Be your own bitch" That's my philosophy
Frippertronics 03.28.16	That's a horrible philosophy, bitch boi.