Jethro42: Prog epic Rd 8

Jethro42 06.27.23	Voting ends July the fifth. Good match!
Scheumke 06.28.23	Oeh the last one's up already. Very curious to dive into my opponent!
Donchivo 06.28.23	Wow, both sound like they could be up my alley. I am all in for obscure stuff! I liked Novela quite a lot, so especially looking forward to Terutsugu, but stoked for Charlie. I guess it's safe to say that Charlie don't surf??
tmthycnnlly 06.28.23	Unfortunately I didn't realize you had kept these tournaments going Jethro42, wish I had known about it earlier(but major thanks and appreciation for the work involved). If you'll allow a last minute spectator to vote I'm going with Castle of Noi. While both are in what I personally consider a kitschy area of prog, Buon vecchio Charlie had way more parts that were self indulgent to me. The closest Castle of Noi comes to that was track 3 with the cartoonish cat(?) voice but it's relatively short. Curious to see what others who like this side of prog more than I do will think.
Zig 06.28.23	Castle of Noi was one of my options for the tourney. glad to see it here. good luck for Sab and Scheu !
Scheumke 06.28.23	For real Zig? I was looking for a physical copy of it while I was in Japan. Went to at least 5 different record stores for it, none had it so I figured it was pretty obscure and unknown if I can't even find it in the land of its origin. Cool to hear someone else was looking at it haha.
Sabrutin 06.28.23	ooh a nice final round for the first wave. Charlie (who doesn't surf but definitely progs) is a little indulgent for sure but I love the flow. Castle is one of the albums I was most curious to check, let's see. Interesting the relation to Novela. A Sab-themed round
Sabrutin 06.28.23	When I was in Tokyo there was a Disk Union (or Book Off?) place with a shelf dedicated to Italian prog. Unreal how Italian arts are sold/treated better outside of Italy than in Italy. Same for movies, many cult classics have foreign bluray versions but not Italian ones!
kalkwiese 06.28.23	2 is silly and I am all here for it lol!
e210013 06.28.23	Let's see what this last journey of the first round can bring to us. Both are two nice works, but I think I've a favourite. Probably I'll vote early too. Nice journey to all and good luck to both contenders.
Jethro42 06.28.23	Hi tmthy. You sure can vote if you listened carefully to both albums. Is it the case?
TheIntruder 06.28.23	I am very curious about this last round of this first wave. It seems they are two very different proposals. Nice week to all.
Jethro42 06.28.23	Since tmthy participated to some tourneys, he already knows we have to listen to both albums carefully if we want to vote, so here's a point for Castle. Thanks for the feature, manosg! 0:1 tmthy
bgillesp 06.28.23	1 is an absolute blast, looking forward to 2 as well!
Scheumke 06.30.23	Had a lot of fun with Buon Veccio Charlie. It's a playfull round that's for sure, but both in very different ways. Very curious to see how people are gonna land!
zakalwe 06.30.23	Christ. I’m struggling with both of these
Jethro42 06.30.23	Buon Vecchio Charlie got this Genesis vibe with a Mediterranean flavour. Italians know how to jam. Uses a variety of classical forms and techniques. Castle of Noi is diversified within all its segments. Parts of it are majestic, and parts of it are trying to be so. It's always entertaining. It's key oriented and bombastic music. Both are warm. They're hard to choose indeed.
zakalwe 06.30.23	Definitely leaning towards Buon but will give em another go.
Donchivo 07.01.23	Tough round! Definitely my fave match-up together with Onsegen VS. Schizofrantik. Thanks a lot for introducing Sab & Scheumke. Can't decide yet.
bnelso55 07.01.23	Wow. This one is not going to be an easy decision to make.
Jethro42 07.01.23	Here's a trick; Which one would you like to see in a show, or which one would you play the most in your cd player? It could help.
zakalwe 07.02.23	Castle of Noi is certainly a production for the stage. I’m going to go with Buon Vecchio Charlie it greatly improves after the dodgy opener.
Jethro42 07.02.23	1:1 zak tmthy
Jethro42 07.03.23	Castle of Noi is pretty original. I'd like to say that for Buon Vecchio Charlie that rather got rip offs here and there. For that reason, Castle of Noi gets my vote. 1:2 zak tmthy Jethro
Zig 07.03.23	must go with Castle of Noi, which is, hands down, my tourney favourite. so rich and colorful, yes some synths are quite dated, but those fast and slow sections don't fail to impress. there's some experimental add-ons here and there. and the artwork (!!) about Buon Vecchio Charlie, not a fan of classical crossovers.
Jethro42 07.03.23	1:3 zak tmthy Jethro ZIG
kalkwiese 07.03.23	I haven't done much listening this week for some weird reason, but Castle of Noi was my favorite. It also adds quite something to the other remaining albums imo, so that's a nice touch too
Jethro42 07.03.23	1:4 zak tmthy Jethro ZIG kalk
bgillesp 07.03.23	I’ll be voting for buon vecchio charlie this week
Jethro42 07.03.23	2:4 zak bgill tmthy Jethro ZIG kalk
TheIntruder 07.03.23	I will be voting for Buon Vecchio Charlie too. I prefer its classic 70's mood to the bombastic Japanese, though be a nice album to hear.
Jethro42 07.03.23	3:4 zak bgill Intruder tmthy Jethro ZIG kalk
Donchivo 07.04.23	This is freaking hard, even after repeated listens I am quite torn. But as I most likely will be out of internet coverage until Thursday, I gotta vote: It's Buon Vecchio Charlie for me. I will be very sad to see one of them go though. Haha thanks Jethro for your guiding questions. I guess I would prefer to see Buon Vecchio Charlie live (that interplay of the instruments is just so. Damn tasty) but I think Terutsugu is the one I would listen to more at home. The cinematic quality combined with quirkiness to avoid getting self indulgent is pure class, and I love the vocals!
Scheumke 07.04.23	I'll be staying true to my knight in this round. I really enjoyed Buon Vecchio Charlie and all the classical references, but Castle of Noi has become a warm comfy sweater over time that I just love to put on. This last one is shaping up to be close match!
Sabrutin 07.04.23	Great round! I'm a big fan of Good Ol' Charlie, especially the looser jazzy parts, although I agree that the first track indulges a bit too much with the quoting. Castle of Noi is also a lot of fun but in this case I find my attention fluctuates a bit throughout, perhaps because some of the individual sections aren't super memorable by themselves. I still need to decide
Jethro42 07.04.23	@Don, you're welcome, buddy. Happy to help. My idea came lately, during a difficulty to choose. And you're right; Buon Vecchio would be more of a live affair. 4:5 zak bgill Intruder Don tmthy Jethro ZIG kalk Scheumke
SlothcoreSam 07.04.23	Ok onto my last Listen of each, then will vote. This ones looking closer.
e210013 07.04.23	"Buon Vecchio Charlie" is a classic Italian prog rock album with some of the best ingredients of the great works from that country. This is great pure symphonic prog dominated by flute, with strong classical influences and a touch of jazz. "Castle Of Noi" is mostly a symphonic instrumental work very interesting and ballanced without a dull moment. It's a conceptual album especially apprecited for technical keyboard fans, as happen with me. I like both works. "Buon Vecchio Charlie" was love at the first sight and "Castle Of Noi" was growing on me with listenings. Against my usual tastes, since I love sympnhonic and bombastic keyboard works, I'm going to vote on "Buon Vecchio Charlie". It's charming vintage Italian prog work.
Jethro42 07.04.23	Good analysis, e21. At that stade, every choice is a good one. I've listened to both a lot, to the point I couldn't choose at all. One could follow a trick; Which one would you like to see in a show, or which one would you play the most in your cd player? It's a thing to try. 5:5 zak bgill Intruder Don e21 tmthy Jethro ZIG kalk Scheumke
Koris 07.04.23	Terutsugu Hirayama gets my vote, although I'm really biased here because I already love the Ghibli aesthetic to begin with. So the fact that there's Ghibli-prog out there? Absolutely fantastic
Jethro42 07.04.23	I don't know about Ghibli. 5:6 zak bgill Intruder Don e21 tmthy Jethro ZIG kalk Scheumke Koris
Mythodea 07.05.23	Howdy It does give off a Ghibli impression on first sight, also the castle subject... Anyways, I find it very impressive how it remains cohesive despite being so unorthodox at places, and perhaps it lacks the rawness of Novella (THAT fretless bass!) but it's still very dynamic and colorful. Many intersting ideas here and there, and amazing musicianship of course, without sounding robotic. On the other hand, Charlie sounds stellar as well, and the whole "tribute-but-some-notes-are-changed" thingie with the Mountain King was definitely the music equivalent to uncanny valley (or edging!). The sax parts go hard too. It is very difficult to choose between the two, as they both have left an impression, yet for different reasons. In terms of enjoyability, I'd probably go with Charlie, but in terms of adventurousness, I think Noi's Castle takes the cake... I'll be back in a while again with my final vote.
bnelso55 07.05.23	Terutsugu Hirayama gets my vote this time.
Jethro42 07.05.23	5:7 zak bgill Intruder Don e21 tmthy Jethro ZIG kalk Scheumke Koris bnelso
SlothcoreSam 07.05.23	Ok, I'm gonna go with the Italians, lock me in for Buon Vecchio Charlie
Jethro42 07.05.23	3 regular votes left 6:7 zak bgill Intruder Don e21 Sloth tmthy Jethro ZIG kalk Scheumke Koris bnelso
Scheumke 07.05.23	Have we ever actually gotten a tie in these competitons? It's a really tight race!
Jethro42 07.05.23	The tournament got a tie almost all the way through. Incredible!
Donchivo 07.05.23	The one which will drop out in this round, will be in my top 3 of early departed contestants together with Fish and Schizofrantik...
Mythodea 07.05.23	I'm going to roll with Castle of Noi on this one. Sounds like it's the meatier of the two, although I get that both albums in their time were very adventurous
Jethro42 07.05.23	Sab and porc are left to vote. The outsider Helentroy could vote too. I will wait couple of hours since we can have a reversal. 6:8 zak bgill Intruder Don e21 Sloth tmthy Jethro ZIG kalk Scheumke Koris bnelso Myth
Helentroy 07.05.23	Sorry for the delay. I was busy. My vote is going to Castle of Noi too. I love its mood.
Jethro42 07.06.23	If we get another point in favor to Castle of Noi, I'm calling it.
Jethro42 07.06.23	So it's done. Castle of Noi won. Congrats Scheumke. Let's move to the Elimination Rd. 6:9 zak bgill Intruder Don e21 Sloth tmthy Jethro ZIG kalk Scheumke Koris bnelso Myth Helentroy
Scheumke 07.06.23	Though match and well fought Sabrutin! Sad to see Charlie go nevertheless.
Sabrutin 07.06.23	Oh sorry for not voting! Seems the match was decided though, so fair play. I would've probably voted for my knight but Castle has beaten it
Jethro42 07.06.23	@Sab, it could have turned from one way to another!