March Music Madness, CHAMPIONSHIP match: Miles Davis vs. Pixies

[newtrix1]

Championship match:

Miles Davis vs. Pixies

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Fyi, here's the results of all prior matches (winners in bold):

Final four:

Pixies (9) vs. Modest Mouse (3)

Miles Davis (7) vs. REM (5)

Elite eight:

REM (8) vs. Beach Boys (7)

Doves (4) vs. Modest Mouse (5)

Miles Davis (9) vs. Lou Reed (6)

Pixies (9) vs. Nirvana (8)

Preliminary round:

Match 1: Nirvana (12) vs. Joy Division (10)

Match 2: Beach Boys (13) vs. Doors (10)

Match 3: Modest Mouse (9) vs. ⦣8364;¦and You Will Know us by the Trail of Dead (5)

Match 4: REM (12) vs. XTC (7)

Match 5: Miles Davis (13) vs. Jimi Hendrix (7)

Match 6: Gomez (5) vs. Doves (7)

Match 7: Lou Reed (14) vs. Peter Gabriel (10)

Match 8: Television (4) vs. Pixies (7)

[kexodusc]

Normally one would expect the top two seeds to make the final...
Whoever bet on Davis vs. the Pixies for the finals would be very rich today (assuming Vegas was taking these bets).
I can only assume that The Pixies will win this, but I just can't bring myself to voting for them over Sir Miles...
Let's see...the Pixies knocked off:
Television, Nirvana (surprise), Modest Mouse (cinderella of the tourney) to get here...not bad

Davis had to get past: Hendrix, Reed, and REM...I'm not sure The Pixies could have done that talk...Three legends...No offense to Modest Mouse, or Television, but c'mon...

The question is: Is there enough Davis fans here to avoid giving The Pixies the default win?

[ForeverAutumn]

The question is: Is there enough Davis fans here to avoid giving The Pixies the default win?

I'm not sure it's as much a question of being a Davis fan as it is not being a Pixies fan.

I'm sure that it'll come as no surprise to anyone here when I say that...I just don't get The Pixies.

[Davey]

...I just don't get The Pixies.

Hehehe, I just don't get people that use that expression about music. Is there really something to "get" with some bands or albums? Yeah, maybe so. But the Pixies? It's just good clean wholesome fun, ain't it? Joey plays a mean wailing guitar and freaky solos over those eccentric Black Francis hot and cold vocals that go from a mumble to a scream on a moment's notice, with Kim's breathy voice and bass making them loveable, and David in the back locking them all togehter with his rockin' beat. But the songs! That's where they really shined. So many great ones, one after another on the albums. Probably not that many people love them all, but they sure had a lot of good ones stacked up in a short time. But yeah, I guess maybe you do have to "get" them a little

[ForeverAutumn]

It just seemed more polite than saying that I think they suck hippo balls.

[Davey]

It just seemed more polite than saying that I think they suck hippo balls.

Yea, I kind of figured that's what you meant

It's funny that you like that British Sea Power album so much when the Pixies seem to be such a strong influence on their sound in some of the songs. Course, those are probably the songs you hate and I love I know they've talked in interviews about how big of fans they are and how much they were influenced by them. Think they've even mentioned loving Broken Social Scene too! I know the keyboardist is originally Canadian, but he joined after The Decline... was done. Should be a hot new album...I hope

[Stone]

It just seemed more polite than saying that I think they suck hippo balls.

I'm typically not a violent person, but them's fightin' words.

Anyway, the only Miles I have is Kind of Blue and frankly, it bores me. I never have been a huge jazz fan, but I've found the stuff I do like is usually offbeat, like Ornette Coleman's Dancing In Your Head. Is there a good place for me to go in the Miles catalog given that info?

[mad rhetorik]

Anyway, the only Miles I have is Kind of Blue and frankly, it bores me. I never have been a huge jazz fan, but I've found the stuff I do like is usually offbeat, like Ornette Coleman's Dancing In Your Head. Is there a good place for me to go in the Miles catalog given that info?

Try Milestones. It's the predescessor (and flip side) to Kind Of Blue. A totally swingin' upbeat record, and made by the same sextet (substituting Red Garland on piano, I believe). About the closest thing to "hard bop" that Miles ever created, it borders on downright furious at times. Great stuff, very underrated. In particular, the title track is awesome.

You may want to try his fusion stuff like Bitches' Brew, Agharta, Pangaea, and Dark Magus if you like abstract, noisy, dark music. Not really my bag, though. Not so much in the concept but in the execution. Feels a bit too leaden and interminable for my tastes. In A Silent Way is better in my opinion, but that's closer to a "cool" jazz/fusion direction. I dig it though, and Jay and Darren do too.. so you might wanna give it a shot.

Anyway, I'm abstaining from the vote on this one. I just can't choose. Miles and The Pixies... legends, about equal in my eyes. 'Nuff said.

[newtrix1]

Congrats and take your place next to last years favorite artist Talking Heads. Gotta admit that this surprised me. I though Hendrix would be more popular, and then Lou Reed after that. But Miles just kept cleanly moving on. Ironically I own 3 Miles titles (KOB, Birth of the Cool, Porgie & Bess) and zero Pixies albums, yet I voted for the Pixies. Why? Because none of the Miles albums I own ever really grabbed me. Birth/Cool is pretty easy on the ears, but I usually have to make a conscious effort to seek it out. I think, based on Mad Rhetorics advice here I'll be putting Milestones on my wish list.

regarding the Pixies, I've borrowed Surfer Rosa & Doolittle and both intruiged me enough to put them on my wishlist, but I haven't pulled the trigger yet.

Thanks for playing MMM, I it was fun coming up with the matchups. Some great comments were posted which helped serve to expose these atrists to others here.

[Davey]

Thanks for playing MMM, I it was fun coming up with the matchups. Some great comments were posted which helped serve to expose these atrists to others here.

Thanks back at you for making it all happen this year, Rick. You came up with some fun matchups, and although I didn't post in every one, I did enjoy reading all the comments, even the goofy ones. In fact, especially the goofy ones!

You really need to score a copy of Somethin' Else, preferably the Classic Records 24/96 DVD that I have, or if you click on the image below you can read about the more recent version that has both the standard 24/96 DVD side and a 24/192 DVD-A side. (btw, not an endorsement of Acoustic Sounds and you can buy them cheaper at other places, but they do have excellent service) Essential....

[newtrix1]

Thanks back at you for making it all happen this year, Rick. You came up with some fun matchups, and although I didn't post in every one, I did enjoy reading all the comments, even the goofy ones. In fact, especially the goofy ones!

You really need to score a copy of Somethin' Else, preferably the Classic Records 24/96 DVD that I have, or if you click on the image below you can read about the more recent version that has both the standard 24/96 DVD side and a 24/192 DVD-A side. (btw, not an endorsement of Acoustic Sounds and you can buy them cheaper at other places, but they do have excellent service) Essential....

hmmm, that one looks mighty cool, I just checked YOURMUSIC.com (which I'm now a member of and has been treating me quite nicely btw ) and found both Milestones & Somethin' Else (standard remastered cd not hi-res) for $5.99 each. I put Milestones in my queue, and if I like that, I'll look into Somethin Else down the road. Thanks for the tip.