Crowded House v XTC

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Poll Results

OptionVotes
XTC 34
Crowded House 15


ROBOT PENIS (Autumn Almanac), Saturday, 24 January 2009 21:25 (seventeen years ago)

'fore anyone trolls, picked because Partridge's and N Finn's lyrical styles are the same, and because they seem to occupy the same melodic pop space, especially from the late '80s on.

ROBOT PENIS (Autumn Almanac), Saturday, 24 January 2009 21:34 (seventeen years ago)

terry chambers was a great drummer
i never liked crowded house at all, split enz were ok

velko, Saturday, 24 January 2009 21:39 (seventeen years ago)

Gah maybe Split Enz was a better comparison to XTC, oh well.

ROBOT PENIS (Autumn Almanac), Saturday, 24 January 2009 22:04 (seventeen years ago)

velko, Saturday, 24 January 2009 22:05 (seventeen years ago)

this might have well been a Crowded House vs. Steely Dan poll.

Ashee Bolanalli (Mackro Mackro), Saturday, 24 January 2009 22:44 (seventeen years ago)

Partridge's and N Finn's lyrical styles are the same

plz to explain with examples

talk me down off the (ledge), Saturday, 24 January 2009 22:46 (seventeen years ago)

also, crowded house = really really boring. i understand the love for them in the 12 cd owning crowd, but not here.

talk me down off the (ledge), Saturday, 24 January 2009 22:47 (seventeen years ago)

I love Crowded House, but there's ABSOLUTELY NO COMPETITION here. XTC all the way.

Alex in NYC, Saturday, 24 January 2009 22:53 (seventeen years ago)

Good and very difficult poll. I think I'll go for XTC, but this is seriously difficult. "Skylarking" is ever so slightly better than "Woodface". Although "Temple Of Low Men" and "Together Alone" are both better than anything else by XTC.

Geir Hongro, Sunday, 25 January 2009 03:23 (seventeen years ago)

OK. Going for Crowded House because they probably need the votes more. This is ILM after alkl, and ILM loves XTC ;)

Geir Hongro, Sunday, 25 January 2009 03:23 (seventeen years ago)

XTC are more trad and conservative than their critics were wont to admit at the time, so I'll take N. Finn's naked pining to join the Rock Canon. "Don't Dream It's Over" is unspoiled by overplay.

Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Sunday, 25 January 2009 03:31 (seventeen years ago)

great camel tail you're sporting, sir

Turangalila, Sunday, 25 January 2009 03:55 (seventeen years ago)

naked pining to join the Rock Canon

HI DERE
http://chalkhills.org/images/non/Chips.jpg

velko, Sunday, 25 January 2009 04:35 (seventeen years ago)

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

System, Wednesday, 4 February 2009 00:01 (seventeen years ago)

Forgetting to contribute to one's own poll C/D

Donate your display name to Gaza (Autumn Almanac), Wednesday, 4 February 2009 00:41 (seventeen years ago)

xtc vs split enz might have been a better competition

what is your beef with the mac? (electricsound), Wednesday, 4 February 2009 00:43 (seventeen years ago)

XTC - zero contest.

Brooker Buckingham, Wednesday, 4 February 2009 01:26 (seventeen years ago)

I expect this to be a landslide for XTC. Which is kind of unfair because both were absolutely amazing.

Geir Hongro, Wednesday, 4 February 2009 03:46 (seventeen years ago)

I'm voting for the band who didn't start sucking until after their first three or four albums.

xhuxk, Wednesday, 4 February 2009 04:24 (seventeen years ago)

Crowded House sucks.

Paul in Santa Cruz, Wednesday, 4 February 2009 04:49 (seventeen years ago)

crowded house was formed after a secret NRP committee spent 10,000 vaguely new englandy upper middle class white man hours searching the world to find the perfect show filler music between their fruity shows. this was their result.

I mean really, who listens to this stuff for real? XTC A+

burt_stanton, Wednesday, 4 February 2009 05:10 (seventeen years ago)

lol @ deluded hipster

carbonara not glue (electricsound), Wednesday, 4 February 2009 05:13 (seventeen years ago)

and if any of you dicks at pfork steals that line for the upcoming review of Crowded House's new box set retrospective, It's Only Natural, I'm going to eat your skin. ssssssssss!

burt_stanton, Wednesday, 4 February 2009 05:16 (seventeen years ago)

Crowded House by a long, long way. Apart from their mid-period (English Settlment/Mummer/Big Express) XTC are one of the most overrated bands in existence. Crowded House do melancholic English pastoral much better than them.

Shallow Gravy (Billy Dods), Wednesday, 4 February 2009 12:18 (seventeen years ago)

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

System, Thursday, 5 February 2009 00:01 (seventeen years ago)

Expected result. And those who go for XTC also have no idea what is their best stuff.

The fact is these two bands were both amazing, and at their artistic prime at the same time. That is, Crowded House were for their entire existence, while XTC were from 1986 to 1992. The early XTC stuff is overrated whereas "Oranges And Lemons" and "Nonsuch" are terribly underrated. 1986 to 1993 was generally a horrible time for music, but these two bands - along with Jellyfish, Depeche Mode and Prefab Sprout - made the best music in the world during that otherwise bad period.

Geir Hongro, Thursday, 5 February 2009 00:05 (seventeen years ago)

Would love to wake up in 200 years time and find XTC, Crowded House, Jellyfish, Depeche Mode, and Prefab Sprout to be the only surviving relics of 20th century pop culture.

talk me down off the (ledge), Thursday, 5 February 2009 00:07 (seventeen years ago)

Oh no. Beatles and Genesis would be in there, for starters ;)

Geir Hongro, Thursday, 5 February 2009 00:08 (seventeen years ago)

Time on Earth was rubbish though, Geir.

Donate your display name to Farfisa, I mean Moog (Autumn Almanac), Thursday, 5 February 2009 01:32 (seventeen years ago)

No, not at all. It was an excellent album. Actually better than their debut.

Geir Hongro, Thursday, 5 February 2009 14:32 (seventeen years ago)

I mean, maybe rubbish in the eyes of those who wanted some musical development, but Crowded House was never about that. They were a classist band from day one, and will of course remain classist in their reunited guise too.

Geir Hongro, Thursday, 5 February 2009 14:33 (seventeen years ago)

Suprised Crowded House got any votes

Vicious Cop Kills Gentle Fool (Tom D.), Thursday, 5 February 2009 14:33 (seventeen years ago)

i missed this poll but I would have voted for Crowded House. I recently realised that I just don't like about 80% of XTC's output. 20% of it is amazing but the rest just washes over me, or worse, annoys me.

akm, Thursday, 5 February 2009 17:50 (seventeen years ago)

Next up: Spacemen 3 v. Simply Red. or John Cale v. Michael Bolton.

burt_stanton, Thursday, 5 February 2009 17:51 (seventeen years ago)

To Crowded House fans: do you also similarly appreciate Kenny G? I just don't understand the appeal.

burt_stanton, Thursday, 5 February 2009 17:52 (seventeen years ago)

It's more of a hardcore XTC fan box set, but wow, "Sleepyheads" is one of XTC's finest tracks ever, maybe Moulding's best? Why "Sleepyheads" didn't make the cut for Drums & Wires but "Day in Day out" or "That is the Way" did, ?????

all respect to Crowded House, but they couldn't come up with a song as awesome as "Sleepyheads" ever, which was the only basis on which I voted XTC, in a long line of 'em.

System Jr. (Mackro Mackro), Thursday, 5 February 2009 17:55 (seventeen years ago)

sorry box set = Coat Of Many Cupboards

System Jr. (Mackro Mackro), Thursday, 5 February 2009 17:56 (seventeen years ago)

XTC have too many horrible songs to vote for them. In the late 80s and 90s they came across like some sickening cross between Smithereens and They Might Be Giants.

james k polk, Thursday, 5 February 2009 18:15 (seventeen years ago)

I told my professor that he looked like Andy Partridge. He made this imploded kind of expression and said, "That's better than last night when my nephew told me I looked like Kermit the Frog."

i'm shy (Abbott), Thursday, 5 February 2009 18:28 (seventeen years ago)

If you think Crowded House sound anything like Kenny G you need your ears syringed.

Shallow Gravy (Billy Dods), Thursday, 5 February 2009 18:50 (seventeen years ago)

o/~ It's only natural / for you to fall asleep / listening to this o/~

burt_stanton, Thursday, 5 February 2009 18:56 (seventeen years ago)

Ah I'm just bored, they're all right

burt_stanton, Thursday, 5 February 2009 18:57 (seventeen years ago)

In the late 80s and 90s they came across like some sickening cross between Smithereens and They Might Be Giants.

ok wtf

System Jr. (Mackro Mackro), Thursday, 5 February 2009 19:22 (seventeen years ago)

i mean, the first TMBG album is basically a Three Wise Men B-side ("Countdown to Christmas Party Time") rewritten 19 times with more nasal vocals. Not that this is bad, I sorta like the first TMBG, but calling XTC a sickening cross of TMBG and something else in the late 80s is just LOLsy.

System Jr. (Mackro Mackro), Thursday, 5 February 2009 19:24 (seventeen years ago)

To Crowded House fans: do you also similarly appreciate Kenny G?

Neil Finn has more musical sophistication in his little finger than Kenny G does in his entire body.

But surely if you cannot appreciate the greatness of Paul McCartney or Brian Wilson (their ballads in particular), then you will not understand Neil Finn either. Because he is about much of the same as those two.

Geir Hongro, Thursday, 5 February 2009 21:00 (seventeen years ago)

not a crowded house fan, but i do love several songs off the few albums i've heard. (kind of the same way i felt about split enz, really.) kenny g comparison seems cheap, lazy and way off base

that said, i'm very happy to see xtc walk away with this one

Calling All Creeps! (contenderizer), Thursday, 5 February 2009 21:04 (seventeen years ago)

Even during the time both were active, and XTC were IMO at their best, XTC were obviously slightly more leftfield musically than Crowded House. And, in fact, I prefer XTC. But I love both, and the reason why I voted Crowded House here is that I knew XTC would walk it.

Geir Hongro, Thursday, 5 February 2009 23:12 (seventeen years ago)

xxxxxxxp Neil Finn's ability to marry emotive tunes with appropriate lyrics is terrifyingly effective. Just listen to Into Temptation if you fucking don't believe me.

Donate your display name to Farfisa, I mean Moog (Autumn Almanac), Thursday, 5 February 2009 23:26 (seventeen years ago)

In fact the motivation for this thread was Partridge's similar ability, which was particularly strong from Mummer onward.

Donate your display name to Farfisa, I mean Moog (Autumn Almanac), Thursday, 5 February 2009 23:28 (seventeen years ago)

Would I like Crowded House? Bear in mind I am absolutely head-over-heels with XTC

Robin van Injury (country matters), Thursday, 5 February 2009 23:31 (seventeen years ago)

Best examples:

Let's Make a Den (also off that ace box set)
Ra Ra for Red Rocking Horse
That Wave
Wounded Horse
Greenman
River of Fucking Orchids
Train Running Low on Soul Coal
Broomstick Rhythm
The Bland Leading the Bland
Living in a Haunted Heart
Ballet for a Rainy Day

Donate your display name to Farfisa, I mean Moog (Autumn Almanac), Thursday, 5 February 2009 23:37 (seventeen years ago)

xp Probably. Start with Recurring Dream.

Donate your display name to Farfisa, I mean Moog (Autumn Almanac), Thursday, 5 February 2009 23:38 (seventeen years ago)

Probably not, unless you like weary and populist songsmiths with a knack for half-clever lyricisms and predictable melodies.

talk me down off the (ledge), Thursday, 5 February 2009 23:45 (seventeen years ago)

Cheers, both of you, for stating your cases! ;)

Best lyrical/musical interplay in a post-Mummer XTC song? Will have to think about it...stock answer to any XTC superlative is generally "Wrapped In Grey"

Robin van Injury (country matters), Thursday, 5 February 2009 23:47 (seventeen years ago)

I love "Don't Dream It's Over" and "She Goes On" more than anything XTC's ever recorded, so I pick them. But Crowded House haven't recorded any albums with the cumulative impact of Drums and Wires and Skylarking.

Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Thursday, 5 February 2009 23:49 (seventeen years ago)

Too harsh on Crowded House, ledge. No I will not talk you down btw.

Donate your display name to Farfisa, I mean Moog (Autumn Almanac), Thursday, 5 February 2009 23:51 (seventeen years ago)

Sorry but they've really only ever sounded like bog standard MOR to me. To Louis I would answer Seagulls Screaming Kiss Her, Kiss Her... Wrapped in Grey actually doesn't sound too far from Crowded House though!

talk me down off the (ledge), Thursday, 5 February 2009 23:57 (seventeen years ago)

Would I like Crowded House? Bear in mind I am absolutely head-over-heels with XTC

If you consider "Skylarking", "Nonsuch" and "Oranges And Lemons" among the best XTC albums, and are not too keen on the early new-wave-ish stuff, then you may very well like Crowded House.

Geir Hongro, Friday, 6 February 2009 01:43 (seventeen years ago)

i missed this poll but I would have voted for Crowded House. I recently realised that I just don't like about 80% of XTC's output. 20% of it is amazing but the rest just washes over me, or worse, annoys me.

Sadly OTM.

ilxor, Friday, 6 February 2009 03:31 (seventeen years ago)

Geir, I consider Nonsuch to be possibly THE best, Skylarking to be "pretty good" and O&L to be a bit duff, but then again I am utterly insane.

Drums and Wires through English Settlement is in my opinion super, super, brilliant music.

Robin van Injury (country matters), Friday, 6 February 2009 04:58 (seventeen years ago)

The only album I can't get into is Wasp Star. All the others are brilliant in some way. The tracks on Mummer are in the wrong order, though.

Donate your display name to Farfisa, I mean Moog (Autumn Almanac), Friday, 6 February 2009 05:22 (seventeen years ago)

Drums and Wires through English Settlement is in my opinion super, super, brilliant music.

They are nothing like Crowded House though. Crowded House were always very much about classic Byrds/Beatles/Beach Boys influenced pop, a bit like latter day XTC, but not much like earlier XTC. As I said, XTC were always slightly more musically leftfield, but Crowded House were leftfield enough themselves to know exactly when to put in a chord change or a surprising change from major to minor to spice the song up just that little bit harmonically. Neil Finn is a fantastic songwriter, first and foremost, but there were was never intended to be anything revolutionary about his music, and it wasn't.

Geir Hongro, Friday, 6 February 2009 11:35 (seventeen years ago)

Yep, ok, cheers Geir! :) I might give 'em a go. As I say, I do love late-period XTC as well as early. Apple Venus 1 is also a particularly brilliant and underrated album. Wasp Star has a handful of brilliant songs (The Wheel And The Maypole, anyone?)

Robin van Injury (country matters), Friday, 6 February 2009 13:49 (seventeen years ago)

YES

Donate your display name to Farfisa, I mean Moog (Autumn Almanac), Friday, 6 February 2009 22:56 (seventeen years ago)

It's annoying how Wasp Star meanders through electric gardens (hur, geddit) for ~42 minutes and suddenly delivers the one-two PUNCH that is the Wheel and the Maypole. Top five.

Donate your display name to Farfisa, I mean Moog (Autumn Almanac), Friday, 6 February 2009 22:57 (seventeen years ago)


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