70s Cup Final Round Match 16 *Algroth 9- C 15*

[Penk!]

Neal Ardley has been sacked by AFC Wimbledon in between D-Fish's post and mine. More time for the arty poetry-pop then.
I hadn't heard this before; I enjoyed the drowsy riverbank jazz feel, though I found the vocal a little overbearing and unsuited, and liked it less when it got more jazz club later on.

B is one of the most exciting things ever put on record. One of the all-time great production jobs, Morris the jackhammer, Sumner's guitar roaring and screaming. Three minutes of pure edge-of-the-seat nervous energy and thrill.

But - and let's face it - it's quite hard to imagine a more obvious selection. It's one of those BCB Classics to beat all BCB Classics.

Hmmm. I can't fully get with A and I'm not sure I can vote for a pick as unimaginative as B, great as it is. I wonder how many times it's been used in BCB Cups down the years?

Abstain

[echolalia]

A

This completes the voting in the 70s cup final from the Further Spanish jury. It's been pretty good!

[T. Willy Rye]

B

[mantochanga]

B

[pcqgod]

A

[Ranking Ted]

B

[algroth]

Argh, this is a frustrating match. Little to say about B that hasn't already been said, it's a great track but its sheer standing in the canon and history of music pretty much means anything short of a miracle will tend a match against it. But even so, my preference is for A, which I think evokes a really wonderful atmosphere, and changes in ways unexpected and immensely rewarding. I could picture a whole new Archers musical playing as a visual counterpart to this, absolutely brilliant.

[Rayge]

Well, the last match in the last round, and this is the first time any of the picks on my short list has turned up. But first, 11 minutes of Neal Ardley, which is no hardship - I was more than passing fond of his Gamelan album, Kaleidoscope of Rainbows –
a - Well, I listened to all 11 minutes of this, and I was impressed. It reminded me that it was in the 1970s that British jazz got to be as interesting as the American stuff. Lord, I even liked the trumpet (Ian Carr? I knew his second wife well), which is quite something. And Norma Winstone is great. I can afford to give it 7 / 10, because
b - is a monster, better than anything on Unknown Pleasures by a distance and the beginning of a run of three singles by Joy Division that rank with those of any other artist, anywhere. And it doesn't really matter that it's a live performance, because I saw this when it was first broadcast, visiting my friend Frankie (who died earlier this year) at her parents' house in Beeston, Leeds. Saw it on a black and white set, because that's what they had, and what I heard then was the magnificently propulsive throb of the single, Ian's desperate vocal rattling through my head, with Martin Hannett in all his glory. First live footage of the band I ever saw. Steve Morris is a wonder, isn't he? And we've had thirty years of them sniping at one another since, but Barney and Peter Hook seemed to enjoy playing off one another here. It is lacking some Hannnett, the single would have got more, but 8 / 10
Sorry A, really liked it, but not enough to provoke a damascene conversion

B

[never/ever]

algroth 9

C 15