Same Name / Different Song - No. 62 Alone

[VelvetGuru9]

A while ago we had another musical showdown that featured songs with the same name but different writers/performers. They were one-offs and not done in conjunction with the Rock Wars. Please listen to all the songs, even the ones that you haven't necessarily heard before and then pick your favorites. Some songs may only have two competitors and some may have as many as four or five or six or even seven max. I'll try to weed out the pretenders from the contenders.

Our 62nd match-up is ALONE (with major thanks to our newest voting member, Shuttle).
As usual, there are a lot of songs on this one, but this will make for a nice time killer while you're working or blogging or whatever it is you do. Just sit back and listen. Give each song a chance, and then decide.

The last matchup featured the song Daydream (Day Dream) and Kraut Rock band Ash Ra Tempel almost pulled out that last second win with a nice spacey psychedelic tune. In the end it was edged out by the classic Lovin’ Spoonful song

In the immortal words of DTM - "So what say you all." Who will be the winner in this latest match-up of Same Name/Different Song? Rank the songs from favorite to least favorite as there'll be a points system to decide winners & losers. Also, if you like, put in comments about the songs - good or bad, it's all cool.

Big Country (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Cc3Pc9k56w)
Vs
Blood, Sweat & Tears (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOfzrnpfngY)
Vs
Buckcherry (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0zh8WpsWy0)
Vs
Bullet for My Valentine (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QA9SzrZ5fnY)
Vs
Ben Harper (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMznBR_gTvY)
Vs
Heart (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYdGLu43ZTw)
Vs
Pearl Jam (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5hPeJwynEI)

upcoming titles so far:
No Way Out
Gypsy Woman
Hurt
Today
Yesterday
Tomorrow
The Best of Times
I Am
You Are
My Love
Love of My Life
Black and White
The End
One More Time
In Your Eyes
In My Life
Up
Down
If
Carnival

To see the winners of the first 20 matches CLICK HERE (http://www.hcrealms.com/forum/showthread.php?t=266922)
To see the winners if matches 21-44 CLICK HERE (http://www.hcrealms.com/forum/showthread.php?t=273926)

Match # 45 Sad Song(s) – Lou Reed (59) beat Ten Years After (55), Elton John (51), Au Revoire Simone (49), Hooverphonic (48), Arthur Lee (48), Oasis (36), Screaming Jets (33), Nazareth (26)

Match # 46 Stranger in a Strange Land - Leon Russell (57) beat Robert Calvert (49), Cruz Silov (47), Iron Maiden (42), Triumph (41), Ace Frehely (30), Barbra Streisand (14!)

Match #47 Rain – The Beatles (65) (isn’t that the name of one of their albums?) beat The Cult (59), Concrete Blonde (49), Madonna (46), Mika (36), Creed (33), Erasure (26)

Match #48 Lemon – U2 (63) beat Katy Rose (51), Broder Daniel (48), Troublemakers (43), Wildlife (42), Scars of Life (36), Floor Plan (25)

Match #49 Rambling Man – Allman Brothers Band (43) beat Hank Williams (32), Lemon Jelly (30), Waylon Jennings (23), Skip Spence (22)

Match #50 Monster(s) – Band of Horses (55) beat Midge Ure (49), The Automatic (45), Meg and Dia (39), Disturbed (32), Lady Gaga (31), Matchbook Romance (29)

Match #51 Street of Dreams – Rainbow (35) beat The Damned (33), Guns n Roses (19), Nas (17), Nia Peeples (16)

Match #52 Shine a Light – Rolling Stones (49) beat Wolf Parade (39), Spiritualized (33), Aslan (28), Constantines (26), Matthew Mikojan (14)

Match #53 Phoenix – Wolfmother (47) beat Aimee Mann (39), The Cult (39), Wishbone Ash (37), Dan Fogelberg (34), Stratovarius (31), Daft Punk (25)

Match #54 Paranoid – Black Sabbath (61) beat Grand Funk Railroad (48), Sara Schiaralli (40), Dansette Jr (37), Eisenfunk (31), Jonas Bros (19), Kanye West (16)

Match #55 Free Ride – Edgar Winter Group (43) beat Nick Drake (39), Dizzy Gillespie (32), Illinois Speed Press (28), Voodoo Lizards (26), Sara Bareilles (21)

Match #56 Oh Boy – Buddy Holly (55) beat Miss Li (41), Duffy (32), Brotherhood of Man (27), Cheap Trick (26), Montana & Rossini (22), Peps Persson (21)

Match #57 Jessica – Allman Brothers Band (45) beat Bloodrock (44), Elliot Minor (36), Wolfgang Petry (31), Avi Buffalo (26), Dir En Grey (25), Adam Green (17)

Match #58 (In) Another Time – Motorhead (51) beat Pearls Before Swine (41), Sade (37), Sagittarius (32), Yngwie Malmsteen (30), Jodie Simmons (18), Edguy (15)

Match #59 Down to Earth – Peter Gabriel (55) beat Jem (52), Barenaked Ladies (43), Stevie Wonder (40), Charlie Landsborough (27), Curiosity Killed the Cat (26), Justin Bieber (9)

Match #60 She – The Monkees (63) beat The Sundays (56), Gram Parsons (55), Elvis Costello (47), The Misfits (43), Green Day (33), Halford (32), KISS (31)

Match #61 Daydream – Lovin Spoonful (59) beat Ash Ra Tempel (58), Robin Trower (44), Ella Fitzgerald (41), Vinnie Moore (39), Wallace Collection (35), Smashing Pumpkins (32)

[Gargantua]

1. Blood, Sweat & Tears - I've always loved this group. The big jazz horns incorporated with the funky rock is a great combo. Easily tops the list for me.
2. Heart - Terrific stuff. One of the classic power ballads
3. Ben Harper - After all the other songs in this, the minimalist, bare acoutsic sound made this one standout for me .
4. Big Country - Between the next two, it was a bit of a tossup, but I preferred these guys to the Pearl Jam song.
5. Pearl Jam - Never been a huge fan, but I could listen to this. I wouldn't go hunting it out, but s'alright.
6. Bullets for Valentines - Last two were a bit too heavy for my tastes, but at least this one did some interesting things with the instumentals.
7. Buckcherry - Just not my style. Not the worst song I've heard in one of these things, but in this group, it's at the end of my personal rankings.

[Surfer13]

Heart

Bullet for my Valentine

Big Country
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Buckcherry

Ben Harper

Pearl Jam

Blood, Sweat, and Tears

[DTM]

1. Heart (what I think about first when I hear Alone and song)
2. Pearl Jam (an OK PJ tune)
3. Bullet for My Valentine (a decent enough rock/metal song)
4. Big Country (a so so song really)
5. Blood, Sweat & Tears (nothing special for me)
6. Buckcherry (Nothing great)
7. Ben Harper (got a razor handy?)

[readyeddy?]

1. Ben Harper - Pleasant surprise, not something to be listening to if you really are bumming out though.
2. Blood, Sweat & Tears - Horns and rock, combination leads to some funky fun.
3. Big Country - Not my favorite Big Country song (You'll be seeing that in the 80s rock wars.) good enough though.
4. Pearl Jam - Always room for Pearl Jam for me, sorta like Jello.
5. Heart - When I want to hear Heart I want Barracuda.
6. Bullet For My Valentine - passable
7. Buckcherry - I'd rather hear Chuck Berry.

[AlienFlanders]

1. Heart
2. Ben Harper
3. Pearl Jam
4. Blood Sweat & Tears
5. Bullet for my Valentine
6. Buckcherry
7. Big Country

[readyeddy?]

Where are the rest of the slackers?

[VelvetGuru9]

I'm in a weird mood this morning and this ranking shows it too.

Pearl Jam – Following up Heart we go right to another Seattle Band and the Pac Northwest is going to take the top two spots. I remember getting PJ's Go single and hearing Alone for the first time and thinking this could have been the A side. No. 1 of the grouping of Alone songs. PS - I've only ever admitted this to my wife, but I have a man-crush on Eddie Vedder.
Heart – What a heart-wrenching song. I had almost forgotten how good it was. Ann and Nancy play together so well and they’re like a well-oiled Bentley when they’re on. They were on here.
Buckcherry – I wish I could see these guys at the old Button South. They were made for rocking in clubs. Not their best effort, but certainly pleasuring to the barroom rocker’s ears.
Bullet for My Valentine – How many times in a person’s life do they feel like this after a nasty breakup. I like these guys, and saw them a couple years back at a festival where they totally rocked the house. Good musicians all and perfect song for their style.
Big Country – I like Big Country and I liked this tune, I just didn’t love it.
Ben Harper – Normally I dig a laid back acoustic song in this style – I do loves me some Iron and Wine – but I don’t know…maybe it’s the mood I’m in because I just didn’t feel it on this song. Check back with me tomorrow to see if I’ve changed my mind.
Blood Sweat & Tears – Really nice guitar work here and horns (as usual), but as a composition from point A to point Z, they lost me. It seemed like the song wanted to be more than it was.

[Shuttle]

1) Ben Harper - Quieter than most of today's entries and better for it I feel. Strange vocal style at times, but definately falling on the 'strange, but cool' side of things. Will see if I can find anything more by him.
2) Pearl Jam - Good rock tune.
3) Heart - The one I was most familiar with. Slightly cheesy maybe, but a nice mild kind of cheesy.
4) Buckcherry - Well they get points for the name at least! :laugh: The problems with the ones below raise this higher than it might normally have climbed. OK, but nothing special.
5) Big Country - The quality of the video doesn't do it any favours. An enjoyable enough tune was hidden in there. I think. :ermm:
6) Blood Sweat & Tears - Very stop-start. I'd just be getting into it and it would halt, then kick in, I'd start to get into it again, and... Very frustrating.
7) My Bloody Valentine - Just not to my taste at all.

[songwriterz]

Ugh! Not a good day for me and these songs. On the verge of breaking up with the gf, so songs about being alone just didn't go over well at all

1.) Heart - its a classic, stands the test of time and I still enjoy it very much. Yes, its a power ballad - I hate power ballads - but its a good one.
2.) Big Country - I had never heard this song before, but I liked it very much. This one I will go back to.
3.) Pearl Jam - its typical Pearl Jam, which means its very, very good.
4.) Bullet for my Valentine - easily has the most distinctive lyrics of all the songs on the list, "I Want you to choke when you swallow your pride!" This was loud and angry and kinda fun.
5.) Ben Harper - sorry Ben, just wasn't getting this one. Its one thing to sing with a gravelly voice, its another thing to sing with a throat full of gravel.
6.) Blood, Sweat and Tears - their eponymous 1968 album remains a favorite of mine. But BST - DCT = meh. Great musical arrangement, terrible vocal.
7.) Buck Cherry - holy ####ing carp on stick! What was that! It was just loud and angry and loud and grating. Cripes!

[readyeddy?]

Where's Hail?

[VelvetGuru9]

and where has Lenny been?

[readyeddy?]

Yeah, what's up with these slackers? Like they have more important to do then rate music!

[hail_eris]

7) My Bloody Valentine - Just not to my taste at all.
I read that with a "Who, wait... wha?" Let's be clear - this *isn't* My Bloody Valentine. This is My Bloody Valentine (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiomcuNlVjk).

So let's rank 'em!



Ben Harper (Really hot vocal mix, but reminds me a bit of Vic Chesnutt. This is a good thing.)

Heart (Yeah, I had Bad Animals on CD. And I won't apologize for that. Heck, the longbox might even still be packed away in my parents' basement. Remember how those things could be used for decorative purposes? Remember them at all? *sigh* And that, right there, is what a generation gap looks like.)

Big Country (Well, this isn't at all what I expected. I figured it'd be a lot more "In a Big Country" and a lot less "sounds a bit like a rejected track from Sugar's 'File Under Easy Listening.'" Not that that's a bad thing. Quite the contrary, in fact.)

Pearl Jam (Honestly, I like these guys better when Eddie's voice is doing more work than the guitars. Into the Wild soundtrack? Loved it. Early rocking out Pearl Jam? Well, it has its moments - State of Love and Trust being a standout for me - but this isn't one of them.)

Blood, Sweat, and Tears (Yeah, that was kind of all over the place.)

Buckcherry (Gah! The loudness! I can actually hear the audio clipping in the YouTube stream, and that's a pretty impressive feat. It's like the engineer *wanted* it to sound awful.)

Bullet for My Valentine (About the best thing I can say about this is that it preserves the alphabetical order of the bands as they're currently ranked. As for the video, I kind of feel like it should have been set to something from Dragonball Z. Because everything sounds better with seizure-inducing anime as a visual component.)

[Shuttle]

I read that with a "Who, wait... wha?" Let's be clear - this *isn't* My Bloody Valentine. This is My Bloody Valentine (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiomcuNlVjk).

Oops! :laugh:

Yeah, you're right to complain. That song you pointed me at was much, much better. I'd like to say there was some reason I mistyped, but I'm going to have to put it down to sheer bloody incompetence.

Again.

[lensnart]

Sorry this took me so long, I had a bit of a crazy week but I finally have time to rank some music. So let's do this.


Ben Harper - A very cool haunting song. Ben Harper stretches himself way too thin, but when he is on, he is very good. And this song is very good.

Heart - Sometimes I can be a bit of a sucker for a cheesy power ballad (I blame growing up on a steady diet of 80's movies). This is not a great song, but it can be a lot of fun at the right time and place.

Pearl Jam - This is one of their worst songs, but Pearl Jam's worst is still a heck of a lot better than most of these losers.

Blood Sweat and Tears - This is not my kind of music at all, but it can see how it might have a place on the soundtrack of cheesy 70's movie. I could totally see Black Dynamite chasing down Chocolate Giddy'up with this in the background, and that kind of makes me like it more than I usually would. And it is funky, which put's it head and shoulders above your average 70's classic rock.



Buckcherry - THis was awful, not quite as awful as I thought it would be, but still plenty awful.

Big Country - His voice was a bit grating and the song was that annoying blend of rock/pop that filled the airwaves in the early 90's, also the chorus was very repetitive and the guitar solos were both unnecessary and underwhelming, and it fades out, which is such a terrible way to end a song. P.S. I didn't like this song much at all.

Bullet For My Valentine - Now you're just messing with me. This is so awful it hurts. Of course this is at the bottom of the list.