70s KnockOut Cup Match 7 *Griff advances*

[never/ever]

A

Amon Düül II - Archangel Thunderbird






B

Big Star - September Gurls

[Darkness_Fish]

Archangel Thunderbird was on my longlist for the original cup, I left it off because I get the feeling that I shouldn't like this. At heart, it's definitely a load of chunky rock bollocks, but that drum beat, that magnificent slightly demented vocal, the way the guitar twangs in a completely out of place way, it's a thing of wonder. It's a mountain of a rock song, a monument of mangled metal, an absolute monster. Yeah, I try and convince myself that I don't, but I love this thing with nearly every fibre of my being.

Big Star make their second appearance of the knockout cup, and this time it's clearly what I expected from the band. This is the kind of 60s influenced twee pop I was expecting, perhaps this is the only track I'd ever heard before. It's kinda competent, I guess, they've got the melody that these kind of things demand. I just don't need this kind of thing, it sounds simplistic, there's not much to get out of it other than a catchy motif, I don't know why you'd listen to it twice.

A

[Jumper K]

Amen Dull have listened to Sabbath. Almost certainly for 6 years continuously. They have learned nothing.
Big Star have listened to The Byrds. A lot. They have learned everything from them. Unfortunately they have wasted their time as there was nothing worth learning.
A with a heavy heart, although both of these choices are offensive to me.

[C]

Oh dear, not Big Star again! Another track that did little for me. Pretty grim to my old ears. Sorry

Nevermind, up against a superb track from AD2 from their second best album (covered by The Breeders too!)

Easy for me - this stuff is in my DNA. Good call!

ooof. Seminal. Robust

-+A+-





.

[Purgatory Brite]

A I don't give a shit about secondhand coolness. Amon Duul II are the dog's bollocks!

Didn't Big Star invent Landfill Indie?

[harvey k-tel]

When A started I just thought "oh no...", but I persevered and it was worth it! A really monstrous groove and cool vocals - kind of like a mash-up of PIL and the Stooges. Glad to have been turned on to it!

September Gurls is obvious Big Star, and I've heard it so many times that it's difficult for me to muster up any enthusiasm for it these days. I mean, it's an undeniable masterpiece, but that's not going to cut it in this competition.

A

[The Modernist]

A certainly has plenty of attitude, but it's also a bit of a caterwauling mess of a track. You want to like it, but it's just a bit unpleasant to listen to. B is blindingly obvious but I think it would be perverse to vote against it here.

B

[sloopjohnc]

B

They should be named Amon Dull.

[naughty boy]

A is one of the best things the mighty ADII ever did. It takes a kind of rough-hewn 70s rock blueprint and just amps it all up to fuck - it's on fire. Just incredible

I like 'September Gurls' but I don't get the magic from it that others do

[echolalia]

A really puts the laut back in Umlaut and is unlucky to be drawn against
B

[Osgood]

When I saw this tie I thought it was going to be a difficult decision. After playing them tracks back to back it really isn't

B

[fange]

Great choices, love both very much. But for all A's mad careening power, it still feels terrestrial for me, like a nitro-powered dragster banging around a track. B is the one that truly takes flight, high and beautiful.


B

[trans-chigley express]

I actually own that Amon Düül II album but the fact I never recognized the track is an indication of how often I've played it. The vocals make it hard to like to start with but beyond that there really isn't much of a tune or anything else to make it stand out anyway. I'm not surprised I've never bothered seeking out anything else by them.

The Big Star track seemed to have everything the Amon Düül II lacked

B

[Nick Danger]

B

[Rayge]

a - I remember that cover in the record store racks in the Seventies, and wondering why it had a picture of Jeff Beck wielding an agricultural implement rather than an, ahem, axe, on it, but I never listened to it to find out, so this is fresh - if we can use such a word about metal to my ears. It's not at all bad, although anyone who praises this guy's voice and was pissy about David Surkamp's in the main cup needs to take a look at themselves. If they did spend 6 years listening to Sabbath, as Jumper K insists, the lessons they took away were what to avoid. May even listen to this again one day 5.5 / 10
b - ah, the 'hit'. I always though Big Star were all right, no more or less (while I owned all three of their albums I probably listened to them a total of six or seven times), and this song is typical (incidentally, they sound nothing at all like the Byrds, who wouldn't have touched this song - what the fuck are you drinking JK?): on the whole, when it comes to Alex, I prefer the Box Tops. 5 / 10
Still, the first tie of seven where both picks get a pass mark.
A, just about

[Diamond Dog]

Do I not like this match up...

Less than competent rock against less than interesting twee bollocks.

A

[Penk!]

Amon Düül II are a bloody nutty band. Almost everything I've heard from them has sounded completely different... apart from that one album I bought that was just one messy, tedious stoned jam. I shouldn't be so critical as there have been a few things I've heard and liked, but this one is just codpiece-rock bollocks, lumpen and incoherent where it tries to be wild and inventive.

'September Gurls' is pop magic. I know a lot of people don't like tunes and choruses and stuff, but that's their loss. It's perhaps a far too obvious pick, but it's up against a load of rubbish that is somehow garnering votes, so it's an easy winner.

B

[toomanyhatz]

B is being punished for picking the Big Star track for people who know absolutely nothing about Big Star.

I don't hate A. That's enough. (Though the vocal is a bit unpleasant in spots.)

[T. Willy Rye]

A

[Samoan]

B