TS: Ted Leo vs. Travis Morrison

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This should be a good one...

Both (now) in their thirties; both known primarily for their time in DC (though Ted is an NYer since some years ago); both frontmen of late 90s/early-00s landmark bands; both known (for better or worse) as "literate" songwriters; both now solo; both darlings of indie media (well, not Travis as of late...); etc.

Me, I love the Dis. Plan, but I gotta go with my boy Ted. Other than the fact we both went to the same college, lived in the same dorm, had the same major, and lived in DC (albeit all 10 years later) -- I just think Ted has more brilliant moments than Travis.

Although "The Ice of Boston" and "Back and Forth" make it a tough decision...

― PB, Tuesday, 12 April 2005 01:22 (twenty years ago)

Ted Leo. First saw him as part of Chisel, opening for Fugazi and Lungfish, and was humming the songs for the next week after one listen. Still get chunks of Tyranny songs in my head from time to time. Never seen him give a bad show.

― Waking Up Onstage at Jumbo's (Bent Over at the Arclight), Tuesday, 12 April 2005 01:30 (twenty years ago)

Ice of Boston is nonstop partying, and I like You are Invited. But has Travis ever said anything with as much gusto as, "Maybe someday they'll do the Watoosi right down in Hutu hell"?

― WillSommer, Tuesday, 12 April 2005 01:31 (twenty years ago)

if we're talking respective solo careers, Ted easy (although I liked Travistan more than most and the new stuff Travis has been playing on tour is really promising). but Dismemberment Plan over Chisel no question.

― Al (sitcom), Tuesday, 12 April 2005 01:52 (twenty years ago)

I don't even like Ted but Travis is the worst, so.

― Zed Szetlian (Finn MacCool), Tuesday, 12 April 2005 02:00 (twenty years ago)

This is tough. I'd say that I like the ecstatic moments of T-Mo/D-Plan more than the ecstatic moments of Ted Leo, but I'd MUCH rather listen to the latter's albums. I haven't heard a lot of T-Mo's solo stuff, though (and, frankly, have been unfairly swayed by the commentariat) so maybe I'm missing something gold...

Does Ted Leo have, like, freakishly hair arms? That's how I always imagine him for some reason. Extra points to Ted if that's true...

Good thread.

― poortheatre (poortheatre), Tuesday, 12 April 2005 02:01 (twenty years ago)

leo hands down

― brokenfuses (brokenfuses), Tuesday, 12 April 2005 02:15 (twenty years ago)

The Dismemberment Plan is the American Pulp.

― Open your eyes; you can fly! (ex machina), Tuesday, 12 April 2005 02:17 (twenty years ago)

explain.

― Al (sitcom), Tuesday, 12 April 2005 02:24 (twenty years ago)

OH come on.

― Open your eyes; you can fly! (ex machina), Tuesday, 12 April 2005 02:25 (twenty years ago)

i downloaded ted leo's "where have all the rude boys gone" based on it being on pitchfork's top 100 of 00s list and it was generic indie shit

― a banana (alanbanana), Tuesday, 12 April 2005 02:54 (twenty years ago)

never heard any morrison solo

― a banana (alanbanana), Tuesday, 12 April 2005 02:54 (twenty years ago)

chisel kicks the ass of the painfully unfunky d-plan anyday. if we're talkin' solo, then jesus, travis morrison isn't fit to bag ted leo's groceries.

― Zack Richardson (teenagequiet), Tuesday, 12 April 2005 03:04 (twenty years ago)

you come on! I like both the Plan and Pulp but I don't understand that comparison in the slightest.

― Al (sitcom), Tuesday, 12 April 2005 03:24 (twenty years ago)

chisel kicks the ass of the painfully unfunky d-plan anyday. if we're talkin' solo, then jesus, travis morrison isn't fit to bag ted leo's groceries.

OTM

― Morley Timmons (Donna Brown), Tuesday, 12 April 2005 04:02 (twenty years ago)

"i downloaded ted leo's "where have all the rude boys gone" based on it being on pitchfork's top 100 of 00s list and it was generic indie shit"

You mean how he hopped on that bandwagon of bands playing Thin Lizzy-as-a-bar-band-style-laments-about-the-faded-ska-scene? It's like, hey, Ted? My mom has a song about that. Next!

And Donna, with your handle, your vote was pretty much cast...

― Waking Up Onstage at Jumbo's (Bent Over at the Arclight), Tuesday, 12 April 2005 05:49 (twenty years ago)

haha

― j blount (papa la bas), Tuesday, 12 April 2005 05:51 (twenty years ago)

I hate to do this to Travis Morrison, as he is my one true rock god and I have a huge crush on the man's onstage persona, but ... Ted Leo. Just because Travis' solo album was so bad. I think being in a band restrained his worst impulses, whereas I don't think Ted Leo has any impulses as bad as, say, the urge to write an utterly sincere song about how much he wuvs endangered animals.

But that's solo. If we're talking bands, the Plan over Chisel any day.

― Lyra Jane (Lyra Jane), Tuesday, 12 April 2005 12:51 (twenty years ago)

Chisel had less annoying fans than the Dismemberment Plan, but Travis Morrison has less annoying fans (ie no fans) than Ted Leo.

― adam (adam), Tuesday, 12 April 2005 13:00 (twenty years ago)

Chisel had less annoying fans than the Dismemberment Plan, but Travis Morrison has less annoying fans (ie no fans) than Ted Leo.
-- adam (hexenductio...), April 12th, 2005.

Good point. Although it's "fewer."

I don't think Ted Leo has any impulses as bad as, say, the urge to write an utterly sincere song about how much he wuvs endangered animals.

True, but i think Ted has had several (read: emo-ish) impulses.

― PB, Tuesday, 12 April 2005 13:18 (twenty years ago)

Change > Hearts Of Oak > Travistan > Shake The Sheets > Emergency & I > Tyranny Of Distance > Is Terrified > Chisel

Travis by a nose. Plus his new shit sounds damn promising and Ted's don't.

― miccio (miccio), Tuesday, 12 April 2005 13:18 (twenty years ago)

Tyranny of Distance > Is Terrified > Emergency & I > Hearts of Oak > Shake the Sheets > Change >>>>> ! >>>>>> Travistan

― PB, Tuesday, 12 April 2005 13:23 (twenty years ago)

Ted Leo's politics are definitely better that Travis's (and no I will not forgive him for supporting the shitty war).

― Kevin Erickson, Tuesday, 12 April 2005 13:33 (twenty years ago)

Ted Leo by a country mile.

Dismemberment Plan were interesting for a brief spell (Emergency & I, Change), but it seems to me they were the first band to benefit from Pitchfork hype. Prog-emo with Talking Heads/hip hop influences won't age well. In fact, Emergency & I already sounds trite, aside from the solid musicianship.

Travistan was a travesty.

Ted Leo is simply a great songwriter, no matter what influences he is siphoning from (Dexys, Bragg, Weller, Lynott.)

― Brooker Buckingham (Brooker B), Tuesday, 12 April 2005 13:43 (twenty years ago)

Oh, I feel sorry for TM. I vote for him, because I've seen a couple of really really annoying TL solo shows (sans backing band), and because I haven't heard any TM solo so he doesn't lose any points for that, and because Emergency & I is so good. Leo just seems like a more annoying person to me.

― n/a (Nick A.), Tuesday, 12 April 2005 13:47 (twenty years ago)

Chisel seem to've been a poor landmark, in a way.

― A Viking of Some Note (Andrew Thames), Tuesday, 12 April 2005 13:51 (twenty years ago)

Gotta go with Ted Leo. Of the two, it'll be TL/Rx that I pull out to listen to, say, 10 years from now- seems to me that D-Plan will likely sound dated as time passes.

― cdwill, Tuesday, 12 April 2005 14:20 (twenty years ago)

Travis Morrison, because Ted Leo's "Since U Been Gone" cover sucks.

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 12 April 2005 14:33 (twenty years ago)

Good point. Although it's "fewer."

Except I meant "less" qualitatively, not quantitatively. The "no fans" bit was a play on the possible confusion that could (and did) arise from the less/less usage. Please don't correct me on the Internet.

― adam (adam), Tuesday, 12 April 2005 14:33 (twenty years ago)

God, my girlfriend loves that cover. It makes my ears bleed.

― adam (adam), Tuesday, 12 April 2005 14:34 (twenty years ago)

(OH, also because there's lots of Dismemberment Plan songs I really like, and the only Ted Leo song I like is "Where Have All the Rude Boys Gone" -- but I've admittedly heard very little.)

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 12 April 2005 14:34 (twenty years ago)

"What's Your Fantasy?" >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Purgatory >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> "Since U Been Gone/Maps"

― miccio (miccio), Tuesday, 12 April 2005 14:45 (twenty years ago)

five years pass...

Indie guilt or something.

― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 21 April 2010 21:15 (fifteen years ago)

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