NAS Walrus Reveal Thread

Deleted User

Deleted User wrote: »

11th: Northern Sky - Nick Drake

Wow! That's my first time ever listening to Nick Drake - I will definitely be listening to more. Beautiful music and an interesting (if not immediately accessible) voice. Love these discoveries.

Deleted User wrote: »

10th: War of the Worlds, The Spirit of Man - Jeff Waynes

.....I have absolutely no idea what to make of this! I either love this or hate this, but can't figure out which yet! :pac:

Deleted User wrote: »

9th: Dreams - The Cranberries

Have to agree with Stu on this one, I do like The Cranberries but was never mad about Dreams. Again, purely personal taste.
@Necro: I'd probably have said Linger, rather than Dreams, was their second biggest hit. Though that's just based how many times I've heard it (radio play etc.) maybe Dreams sold more copies, I dunno.

osh

osh wrote: »

You're not alone.

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/way-to-blue-an-introduction-to-nick-drake-124433/

My CV is going into Rolling Stone

sullivlo

"Dreams" has incredible memories for me.

One of the more random things: I was working in Spain for a summer and I was standing in the ladies toilet with a male staff member and we were filling up water balloons. We had the radio on to some mad Spanish radio station and then out of nowhere "Dreams" came on and its just one of those moments I will never forget.

Sheridan81

I never heard that Fat Pat song either until I just googled some dead rappers for this game and came up with it! I think it's a classic track and pretty famous in Houston, where he was from. It has served me well; I'm pretty happy to get seventh.

Pretzill

Pretzill wrote: »

Wart of the Worlds coming to a cinema near you."

Oh great, Oliver Cromwell; The Musical!, just what we need! :mad::P

6th: Grace - Jeff Buckley

Stu: A great album from a top talent, however Grace the song was a grower for me over the years and it still hasn't reached the heights for me that it has with many others. It's undoubtedly a quality song and the songwriting and performances are top drawer. There are people who write essays about this song and study it, however I'm not one of them. 'Lover You Should've Come Over' might have brought this paragraph into TLDR fawning territory, but unfortunately and admittedly sacrilegiously, Jeff Buckley is outside my Top 10 for this round.

Necro: This has been a great round for belters. Grace of course is right up there with the best of them. Just an all round brilliant song. Top three the first time I listened to it and just never moved.

Scores

Stu: 11th
Necro: 2nd

Overall: 12 points to

Kitten

Edit: We mixed up the spoiler, apologies.

Rikand

osh wrote: »

Nice choice Rikand, I didn't expect anyone else to be picking him.

Was a a tough choice deciding on what song to go for from him.

I love Nick Drake. I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought to submit him too

It was my first thought to submit for him. Either that or Riverman but just to be sure, I listened to about 20 Nick Drake songs including a few instrumentals all of which I said "Yep, I'd really love to submit this" and just ended up coming back to Northern Sky anyway.

Pink Moon is probably his most famous for all the adverts it has been in for anyone else wanting to get into him. But if you really want to be dragged down Stu, then Nick Drake has got that in abundance!

Top 5 to begin in about 7-10 minutes, quick break here...

Necro

And they are:

Banjo
Kolido
Homer J. Fong
Tammy!
Barney92

osh

Rikand wrote: »

I love Nick Drake. I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought to submit him too

It was my first thought to submit for him. Either that or Riverman but just to be sure, I listened to about 20 Nick Drake songs including a few instrumentals all of which I said "Yep, I'd really love to submit this" and just ended up coming back to Northern Sky anyway.

Pink Moon is probably his most famous for all the adverts it has been in for anyone else wanting to get into him. But if you really want to be dragged down Stu, then Nick Drake has got that in abundance!

Yeah, went for one of his more uplifting songs! Between Riverman for me too, and Place to be, One of these things first, From the morning etc. So many good songs but so few also given what he could have made.

Was thinking about possibly going for another artist instead who I'll post at the end

Necro

Haha, it appears you were kitten

Top 5 spoiler...

There is no Prince or Elliot Smith.

Rikand

LIke, I said in my own walrus. I hate hallelujah, but I love Grace. It's a much better demonstration of his talents imo.

Probably my favourite though ^^

osh

Deleted User wrote: »

Top 5 spoiler...

There is no Prince or Elliot Smith.

I'd be surprised if no Jimi, and possibly no more Nirvana

5th: I L U - School of Seven Bells

Stu: I thought the music had a surreal vibe, then I actually paid attention to the video :eek: Did Aphex Twin direct this?? Back to the song, I have no idea what genre to put this in, 'pop' would do it a disservice and 'indie' is too broad, but fúck genres or labels, I really like this song. Never heard of it or the band before, but will be checking out more of their material and putting this song on a playlist for regular listening.

Necro: This is cool, very poppy in a good way. I love the lead singer's tone, and while listening to it I was really chilled out and relaxed. Nice entry, The ones above it just have a bit more 'oomph', imo.

Scores

Stu: 6th
Necro: 6th

Overall: 13 points to

Homer J.

Rikand

osh wrote: »

Yeah, went for one of his more uplifting songs! Between Riverman for me too, and Place to be, One of these things first, From the morning etc. So many good songs but so few also given what he could have made.

Was thinking about possibly going for another artist instead who I'll post at the end

One of these things first is a great introduction song for Nick for sure Place to be is such a gorgeous tune. Just Nick's beautiful voice and his genius with the guitar. A gorgeous arrangement of chords from major to minor.

Stu was threatening to fawn earlier, I may stop myself before I become a full grown deer

osh

osh wrote: »

I'd be surprised if no Jimi, and possibly no more Nirvana

Considering some of the names which haven't appeared yet, I too would be surprised at the reveals yet to come.

4th: Ghetto Gospel - 2 Pac

Stu: The original version of this which 2 Pac produced is very different to the one which became famous and went to number 1 in 2005, the better known version which was submitted here. This track actually demonstrates the talent and genius of Eminem as he basically created this tune around an old 2 Pac vocal and an even older Elton John chorus. It's not like he just took an Elton John chorus and flung it into the tune either, that chorus doesn't actually appear in Elton's original as it does in Ghetto Gospel. Eminem cut different lines from each chorus to create something new for Ghetto Gospel relevant to what 2 Pac was rhyming about. All that new instrumentation, the song flowing as if it was something created in one vision, room and time-frame, rather than having contributions spanning decades and different songs. It's just an amazing production.

Listen to 2 Pac's original for comparison, they are not even in the same ballpark for similarities…

I'm not his #1 fan, but Eminem is a musical genius. Here he does the memory of 2 Pac a great service on this 'collaboration'. If this was a songwriting round, it would be hard to give 2 Pac credit here. However, it's not, and therefore I rate this song quite highly in this category.

Necro: I'm an absolutely massive 2Pac fan but I never got this song. The posthumous release, Elton John hamming up a chorus, it's just a weird weird collaboration tbh. Still good, but there are better. Much better tbh.

Scores

Stu: 4th
Necro: 8th

Overall: 14 points to

Barney

osh

Rikand wrote: »

One of these things first is a great introduction song for Nick for sure Place to be is such a gorgeous tune. Just Nick's beautiful voice and his genius with the guitar. A gorgeous arrangement of chords from major to minor.

Stu was threatening to fawn earlier, I may stop myself before I become a full grown deer

Not to distract too much but...

Been quite a few years since I listened to Nick, and thanks to this category, not only did I got reacquainted with him, but also John Martyn's Solid Air which I'm sure you know. Such a tune.

Banjo

[Deleted User] wrote: »

[
Overall: [/B] points to Banjopher

Are you waiting for me to ask "what's a banjopher" so you can say "going diddle diddle ding ding djaaaang!"?

Deleted User

Deleted User wrote: »

5th: I L U - School of Seven Bells



Stu: I thought the music had a surreal vibe, then I actually paid attention to the video :eek: Did Aphex Twin direct this??

Haha, I'd never actually seen the video myself until I submitted it here! I just discovered the song by chance one night years ago when it was played on one of those indie-music radio shows (2FM or Today FM, one of those). But yeah, the video is pretty creepy! But also quite sad.

Of all my entries for this Walrus, this was the one I was most curious about to see how it would fare. And am very happy that it did better than I had anticipated. Think it's my first time ever getting in the top 5.

As for genre, I think "dream pop" is the usual description for this kinda-poppy, kinda-shoegazey type of music.

Pretzill

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Top 5 spoiler...

There is no Prince or Elliot Smith.

Prince...but how young is forever young - I was aiming below 40

osh

Pretzill wrote: »

Prince...but how young is forever young - I was aiming below 40

Yeah I was the same, or younger even.

Necro

Ha, there's a mix up in the entries there, Jeff Buckley's Grace was actually submitted by kitten.

My bad Stu

Top 3 hype though for

Kolido
Tammy!
Banjo

3rd: Like Suicide - Soundgarden

Stu: I was expecting Cornell in this round, but not this track. I'm a Soundgarden fan but I haven't heard Like Suicide in years. I forgot that it has one of the genuine best guitar solos in any SG tune. Cornell's vocal…ah, that's like judging a Mediterranean sky for its lush blues, an obvious statement. It's more his songwriting here which catches me…He heard a crow crash into a window in a room next to him, and even though the crow did not mean it, his act was 'Like Suicide'. Writers who can create a song from such a random incident, without spelling it out directly in the lyrics, were born to write songs. Finally…Matt fúcking Cameron on the drums. Just 'yeah'.

Necro: Ok this took me a while to get into. The start is a bit slow and I was ready to flick it off but I'm very glad I stuck with it. Once it gets going this is a choon. Loving the solo in the middle. Really something I can badly strum my air guitar along to.

Scores

Stu: 3rd
Necro: 9th

Overall: 15 points to

Banjo

Edit: We mixed up the spoiler.

osh

osh wrote: »

Not to distract too much but...

Been quite a few years since I listened to Nick, and thanks to this category, not only did I got reacquainted with him, but also John Martyn's Solid Air which I'm sure you know. Such a tune.

Ah here, tune and artist.

Pretzill

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Ah here, tune and artist.

Absolutely love John Martyn

Jesus didnt know he was dead

2nd: The Port of Amsterdam - David Bowie

Stu: I love Amsterdam, I love Bowie, and this is song is a really good mix of the two. A rousing ballad, a quality cover and live performance, it's almost like a sea shanty which captures and conveys a mood I can certainly hop on board with. When I'm listening to Bowie, this tune wouldn't be among the first 30 I'd think to put on, but when I do hear it I find it a treat. Same as how certain Tom Waits songs place me in NYC, listening to this I'm down by the canals at sunrise watching the boats go by. Bowie died at an older age to most of the other artists in this round, but he was still making good music and produced his final album 'Black Star' more or less from his death bed.

Necro: I never 'got' Bowie if I'm honest. Though that being said I may have to revise my viewpoint as the more I listen to this, the more I actually start to enjoy it. It's really raw too, I just love the tone of Bowie's voice in this song. Started off very low due to my preconceptions but begins to rise and rise as I keep listening.

Scores

Stu: 2nd
Necro: 10th

Overall: 16 points to

***Tammy***

Bejaysus, I'm out of the bad books

Deleted User

Deleted User wrote: »

Jesus didnt know he was dead

Who?? Cornell?

May 2017 unfortunately.

osh

Deleted User wrote: »

Ah here, tune and artist.

Ah yeah I agree, just pointing out this tune given he wrote it about Nick Drake

osh

Like with Prince, I love Bowie but wouldn't have thought about him for this category

Banjo

I suppose with Bowie he could be 150 and have another good album in him so it's always going to be too soon

Pretzill

Loved Bowie but he wasn't young when he died.

Sheridan81

Tammy gets second in 'forever young' entering a guy who died at the age of 69...my suspicions are raised again

If he hadn't been recording up to his final moments then I'd question using Bowie for this round. But, as someone who's never been a particularly big fan of Bowie anyway, BlackStar is a pretty damn great album. Maybe he wasn't quite "in his prime" but if he had another album as good as that in him then he was definitely taken "before his time".

Come to think of it, by the same token I kinda wish now I'd put Leonard Cohen's "You Want It Darker" in for this round!

Deleted User

Deleted User wrote: »

Who?? Cornell?

May 2017 unfortunately.

Ya, not sure how i missed it probably my favorite voice ever up there at leaat

1st: Changes - 2 Pac

Stu: First time I heard this upon release, I was blown away. I was already infatuated with the Bruce Hornsby original, but quality remixes or sampling wasn't something I was too familiar with at that age. My only previous experience of it really was Vanilla Ice creating 'Ice Ice Baby' from Queen's 'Under Pressure'. That's a bright and fun song, 'Changes' was something completely different though. Probably one of the first chart songs which made me take notice of social issues (outside of 'Feed The World' of course) and really think about the world through music. I was listening to some really safe and bland material up until the mid to late 90s, but 'Changes' was around the time that…changed

Almost 25+ years later and the themes and rhymes in Changes are still just as relevant. I'm not usually a fan of voiceovers or soundbytes in song videos, but that news report which comes in over the last verse ("Rapstar and actor 2 Pac Shakur was gunned down today…") is vital to the song and overall effect of the truth that 2 Pac died telling. Um yeah, him getting gunned down unfortunately elevates what he was talking about to something even more morbidly real.

Sad that 2 Pac didn't live to see "a black president"…or did he?

Necro: I mean, 2Pac is arguably the greatest rap artist of all time, and this is arguably his greatest (certainly most popular) song. It's just epic. I loved it then, I love it now, I will always love this song.

Scores

Stu: 1st
Necro: 1st

Overall: Winner and 17 points to

Kolido

Congratulations to our winner!

osh

osh wrote: »

Ah yeah I agree, just pointing out this tune given he wrote it about Nick Drake

My expression was just delight/surprise to see him mentioned, not an 'Ah here...what are you talking about?'

Necro

Two in a row for Kolido...

Congrats to our podium

Necro

And the scoring, in table format with no mix-ups :pac:

Ranking Entry Combined Score Walrus Score Entrant
1 Changes 34 17 Kolido
2 Port of Amsterdam 24 16 Tammy!
3 Like Suicide 24 15 Banjo
4 Ghetto Gospel 24 14 Barney92
5 I L U 24 13 Homer J. Fong
6 Grace 23 12 kitten_k
7 Tops Drop 22 11 Sheridan81
8 Zombie 22 10 MicksJaguar
9 Dreams 20 9 sullivlo
10 War of the Worlds 19 8 Pretzill
11 Northern Sky 17 7 osh, Rikand
12 Orion 13 6 fixxxer
13 Only Yesterday 13 5 Mollyb60
14 Dang! 12 4 partyjungle
15 Pennyroyal Tea 9 3 Electric Nitwit
16 Sexual Healing 4 2 Green&Red

osh

Deleted User wrote: »

My expression was just delight/surprise to see him mentioned, not an 'Ah here...what are you talking about?'

Right sorry, thought you were giving me grief for mentioning it was a great tune but not mentioning him as a great artist

Anyway congrats (again) Kolido! A nice few rounds for you

kitten_k

Thanks guys. Well done Kolido

Great reveal and congrats Kolido

Necro

Forever Young playlist

Tammy!

I have to admit I was just thinking someone who had died and a song from their prime and I think I recall that round was added later so just thought quickly. I don't mind if ye want to deduct points...but I would argue Bowie was always in his prime

It is a great song though. The lyrics are so harsh and it takes a few listens to get into so I didn't think it would do well at all

Well done Kolido!

Pretzill

Congrats Kolido - thanks Stu and Necro for the reveal

osh

So this was my other entry I was thinking of. Love this song.

His only album was released after his death.

Necro

And how we look after four rounds:

Name Ballad of Chasey Lain Irish Songs A Song For Europe Forever Young Total
Tammy! 17 16 4 16 53
Kolido 16 13 17 17 63
fixxxer 15 2 15 6 38
Barney92 14 3 14 14 45
Banjo 13 11 7 15 45
sullivlo 12 4 14 9 39
Electric Nitwit 11 17 9 3 40
Mollyb60 10 6 12 5 33
partyjungle 9 13 15 4 41
osh 8 8 6 7 29
Pretzill 7 9 10 8 34
Green&Red 6 15 13 2 36
kitten_k 5 5 14 12 37
Homer J. Fong 4 12 8 13 37
Rikand 3 10 5 7 25
MicksJaguar 2 7 16 10 35
Sheridan81 1 14 11 11 37


And then in rank and file order:

Name Score
Kolido 63
Tammy! 53
Barney92 45
Banjo 45
partyjungle 41
Electric Nitwit 40
sullivlo 39
fixxxer 38
kitten_k 37
Sheridan81 37
Homer J. Fong 37
Green&Red 36
MicksJaguar 35
Pretzill 34
Mollyb60 33
osh 29
Rikand 25

Seems we have a bit of controversy, and with rightful grounds.

I can't speak for Necro, but for my own mileage the likes of Prince and Bowie were not young by age, but were still striving to produce new music and were not merely doing the nostalgic greatest hits tours that many 'old' acts are doing at similar ages. That counted for me in the scoring with this round.

If this game was something super serious like Werewolf where rules and mechanics were considered for months and a potential meltdown could erupt with players, we might have caught things in advance like a better way to score the duplicate entries...or time to discuss and iron out exact parameters or a cut-off age for a round like this.

As it is though, Walrus is very much a game where I don't want to get too pedantic about rules unless they are easily defined or researched (like original writers in the Irish song round) and I'm aiming for fun rather than being right. It's music and I'm judging it...there's no way this is right so we may as well have some craic.

Hope you will all understand and no one will be upset about the Bowie placing, but absolutely feel free to question it. Also, like every round so far, I had no idea who submitted what song until less than an hour before we kicked off and after the rankings were done.