This was another pretty close round, at least until the very end. However, this time it didn't follow the pattern of come-from-behind victory that so many of the other rounds did. I had a few comments about the matchup throughout. Here they were:
Dagmar doesn't sound anything like I remember on the joint album with Henry Cow.
After a brief discussion on the list about how this was more of a straight pop album as opposed to that one, I added:
Very much. There's even a "Girl From Ipanema"-type number.
After a discussion as to whether the Slapp Happy album should even be classified as progressive rock, I went on to add:
Well, as far as my scoring goes, I've told you guys before I don't worry about how progressive it is. I leave that up to the tournament host. And once an album has been accepted for the tournament, I score it solely on how much I like it.
Then I moved on to talk about the Jono El Grande album, saying:
The beginning of Jono El Grande almost sounds like Zappa to me.
When it came time to vote, I brought it all together:
I'm ready to vote. My curse...um, I mean vote...goes to Jono El Grande. (Sorry about that, zak.)
I like several of the tracks on the Slapp Happy album, especially the first one and most of the later ones. Some of the ones in the middle left me a little cold, though.
I liked the Jono El Grande album pretty much throughout. As several of us stated, it's in the vein of Zappa, but I found it to be a little more contained than a lot of Zappa. I liked a lot of the use of strings throughout the album.
For once, the majority of the group agreed with me. Although at one point, Slapp Happy led 5 votes to 3, in the end, the vote went the other way.
Final Result: Slapp Happy 7 votes, Jono El Grande 13 votes.
Only two matches left in the first round.
