Welcome to a little something I like to call "Conflict Of The Musical Groups," an exciting new feature where I list two versions of a song and you decide which one is better.
Now before we get started, I want to assure that this is 100% absolutely certified to be my original idea, and any similarity to concurrent posts by the following bloggers is purely coincidental, although I suspect they may have gotten the idea from me.
Far Away Series
Ferret-Faced Fascist Friends
Tossing It Out
Your Daily Dose
In spite of their shameless plagarism, you should check their blogs out!
Okay, so I'm kidding-this was their idea-I'm just a wannabe!
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Anyway, here we go!
You may remember that my first several months of BOTB posts featured one artist (a certain Rundgren chap), and I think I mined his catalog to the limit, so I will resume now with an open field for as long as the muses inspire me.
And speaking of Marillion*, who I just saw on the 2014 edition of Cruise To The Edge, a few years ago they covered a Rare Bird song, "Sympathy," and I always liked their take.
Let me know what you think.
RARE BIRD-SYMPATHY
MARILLION-SYMPATHY
Which one do you prefer?
*Yeah, I know, I was not speaking of Marillion. I was just too lazy to come up with some kind of transitional prose.
Incidentally, if you are not familiar with Marillion's work, you should check them out.
Go to their site for a free CD sampler!
Here are a couple of other songs, and old favorite and two from their most recent album:
BEAUTIFUL
GAZA
LUCKY MAN
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Interesting--I'm not familiar with this song, but I'm not that familiar with the music of either group. I remember contemplating an album by Rare Bird back in my record album buying days, but I never bought it.
ReplyDeleteMarillon's version is okay, but I'm going with Rare Bird with that ELP sound. The jazzy organ sound is pretty cool.
Lee
An A to Z Co-Host
Tossing It Out
So far you are the lone Rare Bird vote, Lee (as of 11:30 on 5/1).
DeleteI do not know how big Rare Bird were, as I got introduced to them in 1977, and I think their prime (if that is the right term) was 1972.
The albums I was given to introduce me to the band were Epic Forest and .
I do like the RB versin, but am partial to the Marillion cover. I know I'm not supposed to give my vote away, but I was never good at following the rules....
LC
Since my memory takes me back to the University of Tennessee Book Store where I spent a lot of time looking at albums, seeing this album would have to have been during the early 70's when I was there.
DeleteHow could I not vote for Rare Bird? It would look bad for Arlee Bird not to vote for a fellow Bird. After all, "Birds of a feather..." as the saying goes.
Lee
An A to Z Co-Host
Tossing It Out
After the "birds of a feather" quip, how does one do a rimshot in print?
DeleteThis one is tough. I listened to both and then listened to the first one again and then the second one again. I like the first one better until the song transitions at "Half the world hates the other half..." I don't care for the voice of the singer at that point. Just feels like he's trying too hard. I think Marillion did a much better on that bridge.
ReplyDeleteAfter the second listening to both of them... I think the lead singer's voice is just smoother all the way around. And that bridge is powerful. I don't feel jarred (in a bad way) like I did with the first one. Yes, that change comes suddenly, but it is punctuated with the percussion so that it is powerful. Kind of like an upper cut to the jaw coming out of thin air. The only thing that I don't like about the Marillion version is the instrumental bit in the middle. This is not the sort of song that requires showing off guitar skills. Simpler is better.
So, my vote goes to Marillion, but I didn't have the easiest time getting there.
This is one where I love that transition, and love Steve Rothery's guitar work, but I can see where you are coming from.
DeleteThose "hard" transitions are overused in progressive rock-although Marillion has plenty of songs where they do not use them.
Stephen T. has also likened those transitions to a physical altercation when we've discussed music (I think he feels the same way about classic music).
LC
Marillion gets my vote, since I can't see the other video, Blocked in my country (Canada) sigh. I liked the visuals in the second version and the music.
ReplyDeleteI wonder why these things get blocked....I would think it's publicity for the band. Maybe it does not generate a lot of sales, but it's not like classic rock radio is playing a lot of Rare Bird music....so You Tube is a way ot get heard...
DeleteThis probably won't shock you in the least - definitely Marillion.
ReplyDeleteEaster is probably my favorite song by the band.
"Easter" is a pretty song, Alex. Those first couple of Hogarth albums had so many potential singles that I always wonder how they got missed, but I guess it was the impact of grunge-left little room for anything else.
DeleteAlthough I liked the Fish albums a lot, and many people still identify the band with Fish, the continuing Hogarth era has really produced some great music.
Odd that he is still referred to as the "new" singer after more than 25 years...
LC
'Conflict of the Musical Groups', Ha, ha, ha. I hate to tell you this, but that sounds like something my father would have said.
ReplyDeleteAnyway...I tried to listen to everything. I actually like 'Beautiful'. 'Gaza', not so much. I had to shut her down after about 3 or 4 minutes. After the first few notes of 'Lucky Man', I also had to stop because my brain was really conflicted. See I kept hearing EL&P's 'Lucky Man' in my head. Oh well, what can you expect. So, none of this has anything to do with my vote.
Rare bird's version of 'Sympathy' I'm thinking, 'ah a nice mellow song'. THEN, I was about jarred out of my chair by those 'different' vocals. After a few seconds I got used to it and thought 'not too bad,UNTIL that little 'Twilight Zone' stuff at the end.
With Marillion I was more prepared for the change in tone on the vocals. I also like their guitar sound. That guitar and the absence of the 'Twilight Zone' ending, made it for me.
Give my vote to Marillion.
I sure do hope you're not gonna make me miss Todd.
Gaza is one that grew on me after seeing them play it live...and I like the message-you can wish a better life for people without taking sides on the issue.
DeleteBeautiful is probably my favorite song by the band-why it never made it as a huge hit is beyond me.
The same high school teacher (Tom Williams) who got me into Todd Rundgren turned me onto Rare Bird's music...which made me think of using this song for my "comeback."
LC
I laughed out loud at this: "Conflict Of The Musical Groups". Very... uh... clever plagiarism. Funny!
ReplyDeleteAlso, that 'BOTB' logo looks especially great against a black background - it makes the blue lettering really pop, as well as the red guitar. That logo never looked so cool!
I'd never even heard of Rare Bird. Rare Earth, yes, but Rare Bird? No. They sure do have good taste in album cover art though!
The song... Hmmm... well, I like the organ in the first version, but I like the guitar solo in the second. Vocals-wise, I think I like Rare Bird's vocalist better, and the second one definitely has that "Progressive" aspect to it that doesn't appeal to me.
I think I'm going give it (to) the Rare Bird. (Wonder where one would find a rare bird like that one? She says both "angel" and "devil" to me at the same time.)
~ D-FensDogg
'Loyal American Underground'
My initial thought was to keep the "Conflict" joke going past this post, but thought if new readers followed one of your links here they'd not get the joke.
DeleteSadly, the actual album cover is not quite as appealing as what you see-must be the 45 picture sleeve.
I thought the progressive element would get to ya!
I gotta go with Rare Bird. Why? Not really sure. I guess the "jarring effect" for me was more pronounced on Marrilion, but that wasn't a problem. Maybe it was that the music suited the words better, I don't know. But I guess it's not an essay test, so there's my vote!
ReplyDeleteThere's never a right answer with music, CW-when something speaks to you, it speaks to you!
DeleteLC
I love the way you started out this post. Totally cracked me up.
ReplyDeleteI'm not familiar with this song, or either group, so I was listening to it with no preconceived notion. When the first version started, I immediately liked the gentle breathy sound of the singer's voice. Then kaboom! The second voice took over. At first, I didn't like it, but it kinda grew on me. Yeah, I liked the first version!
Then the second. Liked that voice, too. Liked the guitar solo. Liked the whole thing. A lot, as a matter of fact. So, bottom line, I enjoyed both versions, but I'm voting for the second one.
Susan- I had taken April off as well (well I cheated a bit), and was not sure if I'd return to these BOTB posts-I liked it better when I had a "theme," but I figured, it's twice a month, it's fun...and then I got the idea to act like I came up with on my own. I decided against carrying that gag forward just in case some of the A to Z blogger's new followers came by-they wouldn't have gotten the joke.
DeleteI enjoy both as well, but love the guitar solo on the second as well. Plus there is something about Steve Hogarth's voice...