Cinerama Cup: Group G

          


A reminder of how the point-scoring works:

  • The panel must award a total of 36 points
  • No song may receive more than 12 points
  • At least one point must be given to 5 songs (i.e. no more than three zeros) 

Group G

  • The One That Got Away
  • Dance, Girl, Dance
  • Me Next
  • King’s Cross
  • Quick Before It Melts
  • Hate
  • Hard, Fast and Beautiful
  • It's Not You, It's Me

My blog scores had this one down as the third strongest of the eight groups, but the majority view seemed to be that it was solid rather than spectacular, unlike the 'group of death' that preceded it. This position was not unanimous, however: Gav M considered this set 'a corker,' whilst Dave's view was 'sh*t... awful.'

The Results

B-side 'The One That Got Away' reached the lofty position of number 24 on my blog, where I described it as 'an often overlooked obscurity... which is a shame, as in many ways it's a quintessential Cinerama-TWP transformation song.' I could only find one point for it, as some of my absolute favourites were also in the group, but several others gave it decent marks. Steve M enjoyed its 'epic chorus,' for example, whilst Ian loved the 'Yardbirds feel of the tune.'  As a result, it finished in fifth with a creditable total.

Another frequently overlooked, lesser-known track, 'It's Not You, It's Me', did not fare so well. Released as a single right at the tail-end of the Cinerama era, it picked up several ones, twos and zeros (Keg found it 'a little insubstantial'; 'not DLG's best work,' thought Derek) and finished firmly at the foot of the table. 



'Me Next' got the maximum 12 from Gav M ('always makes me smile.. simple, fun and flirtatious') but little love elsewhere. 'Great live tune but too many flutes,' was Ian's view. Others, such as Gricey, baulked at the lyric: 'aka Stalker Begs for Sloppy Seconds... a nice enough tune but the lyrics have increasingly bothered me over the years. It feels very wrong.'

Opinion was divided on 'Hate'. 'I adore the adjacency of such jaunty music alongside such cutting, damning lyrics,' commented Johnny; Gricey thought it 'a great juxtaposition of lyrical sentiment and melody.' Keg was a little perturbed by hearing echoes of Fairground Attraction and the Beautiful South, but enjoyed its 'easy-going charm' nonetheless. Gav F was distinctly less positive: 'Whoever brought the f*cking xylophone into the studio instead of a noisy guitar needs a severe kicking.' In the end, it was another that received more than its fair share of two marks or less and finished 31 points from a qualifying place.


The top four became pretty clear fairly early on in the voting, although each had their nay-sayers. 'I think this is one where he got it wrong,' said Ian regarding 'Quick Before It Melts', 'no thanks for the striped underwear'. Keg's comments on the song revealed some tactical voting:

'I suspect this will do well. And it is a rollicking tale of drunken lust. I wouldn't be surprised if this tops the group, actually. For that reason, I'm going to award it fewer points than I think it deserves. Realpolitik, baby!'

Ian also dismissed  'Hard, Fast and Beautiful' as 'pants.' Gricey found 'Dance Girl Dance' to be 'pleasant yet dispensable.' 

To my mind, 'King’s Cross' is so majestically, achingly beautiful that I began to wonder why I'd only placed it at number eight in the blog. So I was shocked to see it pick up some zeros here, for example from Derek, who suggested that Gedge 'mailed it in on this one.' However, Keg's pessimistic prediction - 'this will inevitably fall in this round because it doesn't sound like TWP' - did not, thankfully, come true.


Of course, all four of these tracks received fulsome praise from many of the judges, but I shall save their comments until we reach the last 32 (just one group away!) However, for now, I will leave you with Johnny's words regarding 'King's Cross':

'These songs, this era, it’s where Gedge was really in his element, firing on all cylinders, these vivid, haunting vignettes of lives and loves lost, the pictures painted, they’re so expressive... The test of time will be stood, gallantly, when the fat, baldies hurling pints around the mosh pit during Brassneck are but a faded memory... King’s Cross and it’s ilk will still be filling the ears and hearts of fey, little twee nerds like me.'



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