Round of 64: (30) The Hotelier - Goodness vs. (35) Paul Simon - Graceland Bracket

Round one is here. 62 years of albums with 2 convenient ties. What album will come out on top?

NOTICE: PLEASE DO NOT VOTE UNLESS YOU'VE HEARD BOTH ALBUMS. STOP DOING THIS SHIT.

For this matchup, we start with:

(30) The Hotelier - Goodness

vs.

(35) Paul Simon - Graceland

 

one of the most overrated albums by the scene in recent years vs. a timeless classic. it's paul, easily, for me.

 

Goodness very, very easily. Exists outside of time and space and “the scene”, ya dork

 

Graceland and it’s not close

 

no one said it didn't lol, it's just overrated here and properly rated elsewhere, quit being weird

 

Who exactly in this thread is a dork?

 

Still kind of shocked that Goodness won its poll but Home didn't win 2014.

Anyway, been like 10 years since I listened to Graceland, so going to revisit that one before voting here.

 

What the hell would beat Home?

 

Home lost to Transgender Dysphoria Blues by 4 points

 

Oh wow. Both are great regardless

 

Pat for his silly comment. But I guess if you really wanna break it down, all of us

 

Never could get too into the Hotelier and especially this, but Graceland is a masterpiece.

 

Graceland is tremendous. Goodness I respect as them trying something new and not standing still, but Home was significantly better

 

I still think Home is their worst record. Some classics on it but I find myself skipping through. The other two are excellent, and Goodness is the best album of that era of rock/x wave emo/whatever. Just miles above everything else, specifically in terms of lyrics.

 

i think this is their worst by a pretty large margin. the debut rocks and home is an all-timer.

 

They both just seem so small in comparison to the themes on Goodness. I can’t think of another “scene” band to take on something so complex and nail it as well.

 

Home being their worst album is maybe the worst take on this entire site.

 

Eh, I’d argue those posts defending a rapist in the Fireworks thread that you were liking were worse than my take on an album I love, but go off I guess

 

all three hotelier albums are near flawless. i dont think home actually gets enough credit for how dense and ambitious it is thematically. hard to think of another band whose records all cohere together in such a moving narrative arc imo

 

oh ok. never defended JJR for the record, he's a piece of shit. I did defend Fireworks tho and am excited about them being back. Not that it has anything to do with this thread.

 

two artists i have almost zero history / knowledge of so going to dive into both over the next day or so.

 

listening to Graceland for the first time is really exciting, have fun!

 

Ah fuck this is a tough one. Big childhood record versus one of the only newer emo bands I genuinely love.

 

Goodness is good no doubt, the hype was lost on me but I'm also a casual Hotelier fan. Graceland on the other hand is undeniable.

 

Time to revisit both of these