After a series of close matches in this year's prog contest, this is the second one in a row that was a bit of a slaughter. The consensus seems to be that it wasn't so much due to any defects in the losing album - it just ran into a buzzsaw.
I'm afraid that my comments when I voted kind of give the results away:
Well the heck with it. I was going to go for at least another listen apiece, but the score being what it is, I'm going with Flaming Row. Excellent as Il Giardino Onirico is, Flaming Row deserved a better fate.
That was because at the time I voted, Flaming Row was down 10 votes to none. Both of the actual contestants declined to vote on this one, so here's how it ended.
Final Result: Flaming Row 2 votes, Il Giardino Onirico 14 votes.
It's a pity. As much as I like the Il Giardino Onirico LP (and I like it a lot - I think it's fair to say that it's probably become the one to beat), the Flaming Row album was certainly one my favorite - possibly my very favorite - LP in the whole tournament. Oh well.
