Black Cat Bone

A

Be Bop Deluxe – Maid In Heaven





B

Robbie Basho - Night Way

A is probably my fave track by Bebop Deluxe. However I though B was going to beat it ... until the singing started. Shut up and play yer guitar, pleeeze.

A

Unpalatable dross from both parties. Absolutely inexcusable - and unfathomable - to enter these in any kind of contest.

ABSTAIN

A

Tonner has got me in to Be Bop Deluxe. An easy

A

is that a cowbell I hear on the BBD track? Put "good" for the cowbell. We need more cowbell. A

A has the kind of brash, metallic, stadium friendly airbrushed sound that the Americans lapped up in the 80s. Did they make it huge over there or were they a bit too early with their sound? It wasn't what I was expecting though as I had Bill Nelson down as an arty type, closer to Roxy than Cheap Trick. I didn't care for it anyway.

B's vocal is an acquired taste and I haven't acquired it. But I did think the playing was rather beautiful. Intriguing enough to make me want to investigate this artist further.

B

B and it's not even close really.

a

Be Bop Deluxe are pleasant enough - I have a couple of their albums but never play them. That's not suggest they haven't got any robustness because they have. The track selection is reasonable enough and bops along quite nicely if a little poppy for me.


Robbie Basho is a great guitarist and sarod player - the latter he learnt from the great pandit Ali Akbar Khan.

He also has a superb, somewhat unusual vocal which one tends to either love or hate. I love it. This track shows all aspects of the great man off well

An easy choice

-+B+-






.

There is a decent powerpop song fighting to get out from under the chunky stadium drivetime toss of A. It never makes it. RIP

B I thought was very nice. The playing was superb and though the vocals were mannered I thought they worked with the picking to capture a kind of hazy, old-timey late-night world-music radio feel, sounding like a field recording of a tramp in a tent in the desert or something. The kind of thing that is followed by a soothingly-voiced announcer sending you to sleep and in the morning you can't remember what it was called or why you liked it so much. I'm not sure I could stand too much more of it, but very nice in a small dose.

I admire Bill Nelson much more than actually enjoy his work.

The vocals on the second track are very..ahem... interesting... but the whole tune sounds much more authentic.

B it is.

A. nothing great. BN wasn't much for tunes but Roy Thomas Baker made nice clean tracks that showed off the bands strength - BN's guitar playing. it's a snappy track. I think it's aged somewhat better than a lot of that stuff did.

Beige guitar pop or Anohni's dad sings folk ?.....Vote for B for being different...

Jeremy Clarkson is properly fist-pumping away to A, yeah, proper music with chunky guitars, a chorus you can sing along to, and drums that let you know when shit is going to go down. And backing vocals that kind of piss themselves and hide away behind the singer's luxurious arse.

Well, I think I can guess at who chose B, if for no other reason than he gave me a digital copy of the album a couple of weeks ago. I absolutely love Basho, and even though I get why his voice is an acquired taste, I really miss his vocals on his instrumental tracks. His guitar playing is extraordinary, and not in the rock way of playing lots of notes which have no intrinsic belonging in the song, here he's just picking away throughout, it's beautiful and elegant. His voice, which at first sounds awkward and mannered, when you get used to it becomes such a widely expressive, rolling holler of expression. And it does all that and still sounds like the sound of sheer joy. Easiest win of the cup so far, for me.

B

A because I've always liked Bill Nelson's work in all his guises.

I found B irritating due to the vocal stylings. It's a shame because the guitar playing sounded good.

A

A

And only because of Basho's vocal. I like his guitar stuff so decided to explore further, then stopped immediately once I heard him sing. Pity.

I like BBD when I hear their songs in isolation but generally get bore listening to a whole album and I'm not a huge fan of Bill Nelson's vocals but can just about cope with them. I like this track although there's others I prefer.

B was a contender for my vote but the singing was a deal breaker. An instrumental version would be a nice option.

A