Round 1: Heat 7: Doolittle vs Give 'em Enough Rope

[BLUEBLOOD]

Another interesting match up at The Big Shrimps seriously underrated band The Pixies - Doolittle square up to The Clash - Give 'em Enough Rope (Firestorm)

Personally i think Garry should post up a load of Alina Vacariu pictures and claim he got his comps mixed up !!!

 

[Ron Manager]

Really, really torn on this. I love both bands annd specifically both albums with a passion. Need some time to think about this one.

 

[Firestorm]

The Pixies are , from what i have heard , a vastly underrated band and do have cult status in some quarters but Give Em Enough Rope is a classic album

Side one
"Safe European Home" – 3:50
"English Civil War" (Traditional; arranged Mick Jones/Joe Strummer)– 2:35
"Tommy Gun" – 3:17
"Julie's Been Working for the Drug Squad" – 3:03
"Last Gang in Town" – 5:14

[edit] Side two
"Guns on the Roof" (Topper Headon/Mick Jones/Paul Simonon/Joe Strummer) – 3:15
"Drug-Stabbing Time" – 3:43
"Stay Free" – 3:40
"Cheapskates" – 3:25
"All the Young Punks (New Boots and Contracts)" – 4:55

Not even a slightly dodgy track on there and I never tire of pointing out the Brilliance, and power of the Albums opening

Stay Free is a brilliant song about Mick Jones school days mate and is a great "there but for the grace of god" style message

1978 Album of the year in Time magazine , Rolling Stone and Sounds (was it really 30 years ago !!!)

Link to Rolling Stones Review

http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/theclash/albums/album/248769/review/5940574/give_em_enough_rope

An often ignored Clash album, Punk purists prefering the First Album and the mainstream preferring London calling , but it is the best of both worlds, Raw , Edgy, powerful Rock music with meaning and each track is sharp and concise

 

[MK Shrimper]

As much as I love The Clash, to me this wasn't their strongest album, and it would be criminal for the genre defining Doolittle to get knocked out at this stage.

 

[seany t]

As much as I love The Clash, to me this wasn't their strongest album, and it would be criminal for the genre defining Doolittle to get knocked out at this stage.

Agree 100%. Another vote for Doolittle here...

 

[Napster]

The Pixies are a poor man's Pere Ubu.

 

[Manchester Shrimper]

As much as I love The Clash and can see Firestorm's point about the amazing start to 'Give Em Enough Rope'...I think Doolittle edges it.

Packed with great songs (Debaser, I Bleed, Wave of Mutilation, Monkey Gone to Heaven) while still working really well as an album. The album was an important forerunner to grunge while still being pretty catchy and accessible.

 

[seany t]

The Pixies are a poor man's Pere Ubu.

Well I am a bit skint right now...

 

[Jedi Shrimper]

That Doolittle tracklisting in full...

Debaser
Tame
Wave of Mutilation
I Bleed
Here Comes Your Man
Dead
Monkey Gone To Heaven
Mr Grieves
Crackity Jones
La La Love You
No. 13 Baby
There Goes My Gun
Hey
Silver
Gouge Away

Tame is worth the admission on it's own.

 

[Pubey]

As much as I love The Clash, to me this wasn't their strongest album, and it would be criminal for the genre defining Doolittle to get knocked out at this stage.

and again. i've got a horrible feeling that we're gonna have a quarter-final stage just full of The Clash and Beatles albums. I think each of those bands should have had a preliminary section to choose just 1 album

(not that I'm bitter about OK Computer going out or anything!)

 

[Ron Manager]

I've had a blast of both albums whilst cooking the barbeque this evening and I'm going to say Doolittle, but only just....

 

[Rob Noxious]

The Pixies are , from what i have heard , a vastly underrated band and do have cult status in some quarters but Give Em Enough Rope is a classic album

Side one
"Safe European Home" – 3:50
"English Civil War" (Traditional; arranged Mick Jones/Joe Strummer)– 2:35
"Tommy Gun" – 3:17
"Julie's Been Working for the Drug Squad" – 3:03
"Last Gang in Town" – 5:14

[edit] Side two
"Guns on the Roof" (Topper Headon/Mick Jones/Paul Simonon/Joe Strummer) – 3:15
"Drug-Stabbing Time" – 3:43
"Stay Free" – 3:40
"Cheapskates" – 3:25
"All the Young Punks (New Boots and Contracts)" – 4:55

Not even a slightly dodgy track on there and I never tire of pointing out the Brilliance, and power of the Albums opening

Stay Free is a brilliant song about Mick Jones school days mate and is a great "there but for the grace of god" style message

1978 Album of the year in Time magazine , Rolling Stone and Sounds (was it really 30 years ago !!!)

Link to Rolling Stones Review

http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/theclash/albums/album/248769/review/5940574/give_em_enough_rope

An often ignored Clash album, Punk purists prefering the First Album and the mainstream preferring London calling , but it is the best of both worlds, Raw , Edgy, powerful Rock music with meaning and each track is sharp and concise

'Stay Free' is a fine song, FS- did you see 'Rude Boy' when Mick Jones was performing it in the studio? The subsequent chat he has with Ray Gange about it being understood beyond Brixton & Streatham is one of the best bits in the film. The album is underrated- I also really like 'Julie's Been Working For The Drug Squad,' some brilliant Strummer lyrics in there and even a bit of 'joanna,' which was quite a departure from the classic punk mould at that time. But sorry, I can't vote on this, as I haven't heard The Pixies LP.

 

[Thorpe Groyney]

Aaaaaarrrrrrrggggggh, what a choice, how can you do this to people? How do you measure greatness objectively in two different genres?

Had to just edge it towards The Clash (though now I'm not sure) on the basis that having Safe European Home waking me up each morning made sure I had an uplifting start to every day in my youth.

 

[Nobby Snide]

not fair, not fair, not fair....dont make me choose......










The clash

 

[Nobby Snide]

The Pixies are a poor man's Pere Ubu.

oooh...controversial, but I like your thinking. I know where youre coming from, I doubt many people have heard of Pere Ubu.

 

[Jedi Shrimper]

Doolittle is behind? This simply won't do!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcn0f5s-aas

 

[The Big Shrimp]

A bit late, but what can I say about the great Pixies? Their influence on music is greatly unknown! Amongst those who give the Pixies as their main influences include, The Smashing Pumpkins, Thom Yorke (Radiohead) Pearl Jam, The Bloodhound Gang to name a few. Probably the biggest band who claim that Pixies were their biggest influence, is Nirvana. Kurt Cobain even admitted to trying to copy Pixies songs!

Doolittle is probably my favourite album, due to the wide variation of songs, ranging from the melodic Here Comes Your Man to the thrashy punkiness of Tame or Debaser.

Below are a few examples of their greatness!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hvi4iA3PnKE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHVKndMZIwI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IB_sf647O8

The Clash are good, but not in this "Classics" League!

 

[The Big Shrimp]

'Stay Free' is a fine song, FS- did you see 'Rude Boy' when Mick Jones was performing it in the studio? The subsequent chat he has with Ray Gange about it being understood beyond Brixton & Streatham is one of the best bits in the film. The album is underrated- I also really like 'Julie's Been Working For The Drug Squad,' some brilliant Strummer lyrics in there and even a bit of 'joanna,' which was quite a departure from the classic punk mould at that time. But sorry, I can't vote on this, as I haven't heard The Pixies LP.

You can, Doolittle is a mile better. You know you can trust my musical taste! ;)

 

[Pubey]

T'was great seeing the pixies a few years ago, what a band, and what an album

 

[The Big Shrimp]

I saw them about 6 times when they were at there peak. Short shows, but as the saying goes, All Killer, No Filler! All the times I saw them live, I hardly heard Black Francis speak!