OK, so this one was a nail biter. Here were my comments:
After one listen, I'm not totally sold on either album.
Are any of you guys familiar with the original film version of The Producers with Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder? I like the first song on the Maquina! LP, but it reminds me of a serious version of Dick Shawn's "Love Power" from that film - it has the same chord progression.
When it came time to actually vote, I added:
My vote goes to Polis.This is a case of Maquina! had me, but then lost me when they hit the extended instrumental section, complete with those sour wah-wah's and the endless drum solo. (I know those were a thing at the time, but usually on live albums, not on studio albums.) I liked the first couple of numbers (the second being "Why?" before the instrumental), and "Earth's Daughter" was OK. The second bonus track also got a little sour for my taste at times.
I found Polis solid, if not necessarily exciting, throughout. They avoided losing me more going out of their way to win me.
As I mentioned in my post yesterday, we found ourselves tied 9 votes to 9 four days after the voting was supposed to have ended.
The final result came in this morning.
Final Result: Polis 9 votes, Maquina! 10 votes. So I cursed another one.
Oh well. On to the final match of Round 1.
