Game 1: Ballads of The Green Berets by SSgt. Barry Sadler vs. Supremes A'Go-Go by The Supremes
Game 2: The Monkees vs. Strangers in the Night by Frank Sinatra
Game 3: Revolver by The Beatles vs. If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears by The Mamas & the Papas
Game 4: What Now My Love? by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass vs. Game 1 winner
Game 5: Game 2 winner vs. Game 3 winner
Game 6: Game 4 winner vs. Game 5 winner
wrt "The Ballad of the Green Berets," I don't remember this Cheers episode at all: "Though its usage here is not a parody, in an episode of Cheers, Cliff aborts his plans to emigrate to Canada with his love interest when Sam, Woody, and Frasier appeal to his patriotic side by singing this song."
ReplyDeleteThe Supremes are going down, and I'm as surprised as anyone.
ReplyDeleteit occur to me that this would be better staged as golf majors. each of three listeners could be a major tournament, choose his or her own fields of albums for that given year in whatever way makes sense to that individual and then score those records against par based on whatever qualities that person individually values. and then there could be a fourth major, which might be the u.s. open, that would all be sales-driven for that particular year.
ReplyDeleteor, the four majors could be me and my tastes (the masters), billboard sales (the u.s. open), some kind of rotten tomatoes-ish critics aggregatoion (the british open) and the grammies (pga championship).
yes, i agree with me here. this is a good idea.
DeleteGame 1 final:
ReplyDeleteBallads of The Green Berets by SSgt. Barry Sadler 61
Supremes A'Go-Go by The Supremes 53
i started sorting my album by release date a few years ago, and now i know why.
ReplyDeletei think i'm just going to become a golf fan altogether.
ReplyDeleteDear Topps, please go back and produce 150-trading-card sets for golfers for each year from 1860 until now, and please ship one of each set to me.
ReplyDeleteinteresting. the first cut on the second side of the monkees record is a kellogg's jingle, which i figured drew its inspiration from the who sell out. but, alas, the who record came out in 1967.
ReplyDeletecheck that. the youtube link that i'm listening to is a later reissue of the 1966 monkees record, and the kellogg's jingle is included among some bonus material. well, that's pretty funny.
ReplyDeleteBoom. I just created a YouTube playlist. BOOM!
ReplyDeleteFrank Sinatra is slaughtering the Monkees.
ReplyDeleteWith Frank Sinatra amid a blowout win, all of the 1966 Conference fans are beginning to explore their dinner options near the arena. I might check out the Lee's Famous Recipe Chicken. It looks great!
ReplyDeleteGame 2 final:
ReplyDeleteStrangers in the Night by Frank Sinatra 94
The Monkees 64
I want an explanation of the scoring system.
ReplyDeleteI'm just making it up. For example, the Monkees' album has some good songs, but, overall, it didn't do anything that made me want to stand in its defense. The Frank Sinatra record, meanwhile, seems to do perfectly what it sets out to do. So that seemed to me to be the kind of basketball game where the Frank Sinatras would just come out and efficiently execute their offense and run away with the game.
ReplyDeleteThe early-session game, however, was quite a bit different. Neither would rank with me as a particularly great album, but both have a lot to like about them. I saw this as mostly a stalemate. Foul problems plagued both teams in such a physical game. The SSgt. Sadlers pulled away in the last five minutes, though, as they continued to execute their offense, stay in their 2-3 zone and hit 75 percent of their free throws. The Supremes tried some really kooky things to throw the Sadlers off the rails--a version of "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'" at the end of the first half and The Beatles' "Money" about midway through the second half--and these plays out of timeouts did seem to stun the opposition momentarily. But the Sadlers converted a couple of and-one backdoor layups and forced the Supremes into some crazy shots at the end of the shot clock, and that was that.
I got my fried chicken to go, by the way, and went back to the hotel room and watched a My Three Sons.
ReplyDeleteDay 2 of the tournament. Early on, the refs are whistling "Tax Man" for palming a lot more frequently than the Beatles are accustomed to having it called. Beatles fans are complaining to one another about inconsistent officiating, and one can understand their frustration.
ReplyDeleteThe Mamas & the Papas come out sharp with the fluid "Monday, Monday" and "Straight Shooter" and take a somewhat surprising early lead. But the Beatles, unbothered, come back from the first TV timeout and answer effectively with perfect "Eleanor Rigby." The Beatles have so many ways to beat you. The teams are trading buckets and leads midway through the first half.
ReplyDeleteThe depth of the Beatles is underrated. "For No One" doesn't get many minutes but makes them count. Those 1966 Conference fans who are arriving at the arena late after church on Sunday, Oct. 2, 1966, are going to see the scoreboard and have no clue of the valiant effort posted by the Ms&Ps early in this game.
ReplyDeleteFun story about the cover of If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears.
ReplyDeleteBogged down in "Spanish Harlem," the Mamas & the Papas will now have to fight to keep the margin respectable.
ReplyDeleteGame 3 final:
ReplyDeleteRevolver by The Beatles 101
If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears by The Mamas & the Papas 69
The sad story of Barry Sadler's end in Murfreesboro, Tenn.
ReplyDelete"I'm a Lucky One" by Barry Sadler has such a strangely specific transporting effect on me. The Floyd Cramer-ish piano and background vocals send me straight to a particular restaurant with red-vinyl-topped bar stools and a pie case in a particular southeastern Kentucky town--Somerset, maybe--on a particular summer Friday night in 1991 or '92 that I was traveling through there. That song or maybe some Floyd Cramer piano hit must've been playing in there that evening.
ReplyDeleteII'm listening the game 4 of the 1966 conference tournament on the radio in my car
ReplyDeleteit's pretty clear that Barry Sadler is going to have a hard time disrupting herb Alpert's beautiful game this afternoon
ReplyDeleteAlpert came into this tournament as the top seed his records led the billboard 200 album sales charts for the United States more weeks than any other artists in 1966
ReplyDeletealbert plays hey lovely precise game that is pleasing to the eyes in years traditional fan
ReplyDeletebut albert also ad exotic modern innovation and the combination has taken he and the tijuana brass to the top of the 1966 conference standings
ReplyDeletebut the 1966 conference tournament is not her B Alberts coronation party
ReplyDeletethe gritty Saddlers have come outand and demanded that this game herbs conform to their preferred slow tempo
ReplyDeleteat half the berries lead 39 234and the herb appear confounded
ReplyDeleteLike the Internet, voice-recognition software on smartphones is amazing.
ReplyDeleteGame 4 final ...
ReplyDeleteBallads of The Green Berets by SSgt. Barry Sadler 78
What Now My Love? by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass 74
Game 5 ... Frank Sinatra is up, 25-17, midway through the first half on the Beatles ... all of us middle-aged guys who showed up at the arena in our suits on this Monday, Oct. 3, 1966, are standing at the urinals in the men's room, smoking our cigarettes and telling each other that maybe things aren't changing so much, after all ...
ReplyDeleteBut, suddenly, "Call Me" has come on, and the Sinatras can't seem to find decent shots ...
ReplyDeleteHalf: Beatles pull even, 43 apiece.
ReplyDelete"'Yellow Submarine'?" I say to no one in particular before taking a sip of coffee from a Styrofoam cup while waiting for my hot dog at the concession stand.
More solid, Side 2 minutes from "For No One." Tournament-MVP talk is picking up around the longer-haired boys on press row.
ReplyDeleteGame 5 final ...
ReplyDeleteRevolver by The Beatles 93
Strangers in the Night by Frank Sinatra 80
Championship ...
ReplyDeleteBallads of The Green Berets by SSgt. Barry Sadler 72
Revolver by The Beatles 78