Free Form Cup Semi Final Match 4 *C 5- neige 12*

[never/ever]

A

The Pogues - Thousands are Sailing






B

Ken Smart – The Company I Keep

[The Modernist]

I bailed out of A halfway through, perhaps it was making me a bit seasick! It wasn't bad, but just sort of what you'd expect of The Pogues. It didn't really grab me.

Ken isn't a very good name for a pop star is it? I thought initially that B might be a bit formulaic as it reminded me of a number of other things from that period (Searchers,early Cat Stevens etc.) but it's a really strong song with a great arrangement. I enjoyed this one a lot, it had pizazz!
Great pick!

B

[Purgatory Brite]

B

[pcqgod]

A -- Middling Pogues track. Kind of a weak choice, even if the universe of choices is just the songs on this album.
B - Now this is poppy! My only criticism is that the part that I suppose is the chorus sounds like a bridge to a knockout chorus that never happens, so it sounds a little incomplete from a songwriting perspective to my ears.

B.

[Mike Boom]

A

Always thought this was a great epic Pogues track even if it wasn't one of Shanes

[toomanyhatz]

A is a fantastic song by the late, lamented Philip Chevron - the second-best songwriter ever in the Pogues, and not even that far behind. I know this track well, of course, but this kind of shift from the obvious is what the cup should be all about, in theory.

B is a very pleasing product of a studio system that was in some ways the greatest ever, but the actual song doesn't have enough to make it stand out from the dozens of others that were churned out, likely on the same day.

[Good Night Austin, Texas]

Love the Pogues and B is shit so

A

[Neige]

To me, Philip Chevron's legacy are two fantastic songs for the ages and this is one of them (the other being Faithful Departed).
I really love it, more than many Shane MacGowan songs. I think I even used it in a cup once.

B is a bit baroque pop by numbers but also totally charming.
I'm surprised that there are still obscure and forgotten singles from the sixties turning up that haven't been compiled to death.
It's slight, sure, I wouldn't award it as many points, but it's also a real find and gets my vote.

B

[fange]

I like A but it's just not as much my thing as B is in the end.


B

[trans-chigley express]

Not a big Pogues fan but this was pretty rousing with some really great and memorable playing.

Ken Smart probably should have got himself a stage name but this is a very decent song with good orchestration, galloping drums and a neat little acoustic break.

Another strong tie for me but I'll go B just.

[Darkness_Fish]

A's keeping the disappointing record-stall feeling going. I never got why the music press loved The Pogues, their sound is always really cheesy, that big stadium rock production with unimaginative oirish folk twiddling. Foster & Allen should've been allowed the same amount of slack.

Ken Smart, Barbie dumb, is that what this is intimating, huh? Fucking sexists. The obsession with unearthing lost sixties singles not withstanding, this is actually not a bad effort. Sure, it's very much of its time, and if it was up against something better I would've given it a harder time. But it's ... ok. I'm hugely disappointed with the lack of adventure in the picks for this final though, such a shame after some interesting rounds.

B

[The Fish]

I think A blew it with their choice of Pogues song. LIked the baroque feel of B but still it would have lost out to any number of POgues song. This isn't one of them alas.

B

[Santa C]

Love the Pogues track



A



..

[Andrews Sisters Conundrum]

A was very 'side 2, track 3'. Nothing much distinguished about it.

G's right to cite early Cat Stevens and Searchers when talking about ol' Ken's number - nice and spangly 1968 feel to the thing. I'm a little bit less enthusiastic about it than he is, but it wins this match

B

[Lord Rother]

B is nice, but to continue my support to all the losing tracks (it seems) I’m going A.

A

[Hightea]

Well B isn’t A.

So B

[GoogaMooga]

The orchestration on B is better than the feeble melody, but I am a sucker for this kind of spangly sixties baroque pop.

B

[Rayge]

Neither really excited, but on the whole, I preferred B

[never/ever]

C 5

neige 12