ICA WORLD CUP

BONUS SERIES : THE ICA WORLD CUP : ROUND 2 (Part 3)

Three of the ties were tight affairs for about three-quarters of the past week with all the winners finishing strongly.  All four losers this week would certainly have been worthy of a place in the final 32 and their fans will miss them.  The introductory title footage does reflect that this week ultimately proved to be a bit of an triumph for England.

New Order (3) 25 The Go-Betweens (2) 19
The Charlatans 32 Carter USM 13
Lightning Seeds 26 Big Audio Dynamite 17
The Cramps 20 Saint Etienne 26

This lastest batch of ties just about mirrors the full quality of last week and in Match 12, has what I think is the most scary one so far in this round, and in all likelihood the entire competition, partly on the basis of the two bands and partly on the songs that came out.  It would have made a worthy final.

Matches 9-12 of Round 2

The Jam v The Detroit Cobras

The Jam were perhaps fortunate that 1st Round opponents T Rex fielded a relatively weak song that enabled the use of album track The Gift to get the nod.  The Detroit Cobras, who offered Down In Louisiana, were on a hiding to nothing last time out, drawing Chris Martin and his merry men; readers of this corner of t’internet will just not counter any success for the latter, no matter the song.  The evil streak in me wishes I had rigged a Coldplay v Kanye West match-up – that would have got you muttering under your collective breaths.

On paper, the better known English beat-combo are favoured before the songs are drawn…..but it mustn’t be forgotten that their ICA consists solely of album tracks with the singles deliberately excluded.

Billy Hunt (from All Mod Cons, 1979) v  I Wanna Holler (But The Town’s Too Small) (from Baby, 2004)

Half Man Half Biscuit v The Trash Can Sinatras

This really is one for the purists with two of the finest wordsmiths going head-to-head with the extra spice of a cross-border battle which at club level would be Tranmere Rovers v Kilmarnock.  If you really want to enter into the spirit of things, you’d all wait till Friday night to vote for this one. Half Man Half Biscuit saw off the might of Elvis Costello & The Attractions last time out, but had to field a top-notch song in 1966 And All That to get through.  Still, there’s plenty more in their locker.  The Trashies had cult dance act A.R. Kane to overcome and they battled through thanks to All The Dark Horses, which will be an apt name to give to whoever emerges from here into the last 32. This is quality stuff.

National Shite Day (from CSI Ambleside, 2008) v Obscurity Knocks (from Cake, 1990)

Pete Wylie v PJ Harvey

Will you need to call in assistance from Sgt Rock to sort out this battle of the sexes or will the coin and dice make it such a mismatch that it’ll be an easy call to make?  Pete got through very easily last time against The Orwells despite fielding what could be considered a weak track in Remember, while Polly Jane casually went with one of her more  obscure numbers called The Wind which blew away Malcolm Ross despite him cranking things up with a Josef K number from the Postcard era, a result that saw the bookies react by reducing the odds on Ms Harvey being the eventual winner.  This has the makings of a superb tie.

The Story of the Blues (single, 1982) v C’mon Billy (from To Bring You My Love, 1995)

Magazine v The Wedding Present

You know those few opening minutes in the film Four Weddings and A Funeral in which the word ‘fuck’ is deployed on numerous occasions?  It was akin to the room in Villain Towers when these two names came out of the hat together.  Magazine and The Wedding Present….two of the most popular and written-about bands on the blog with very few, if any, dissenting comments ever left behind.

Round 1 saw very comfortable wins over Prince and Deacon Blue respectively, although it could be argued that in utilising The Light Pours Out of Me, Howie & co used a bigger weapon than Always The Quiet One as performed by TWP.

If this one comes down to a casting vote, it will be entirely about the song the coin and dice come up with.

Shot By Both Sides (single, 1978) v Kennedy (from Bizarro, 1990)

Fuckity-fuck fuck fuck.  That doesn’t help does it??

Please have your votes in by 10pm on Friday 3 March….as ever, you don’t have to vote in all of the ties but I’ve a feeling you might want to.

Tune in next Saturday for matches 13-16 which will be previewed by jimdoes, the mad genius who came up with this World Cup concept.  If you thought this week was tough, well babies you just ain’t seen nothin’ yet.

JC

 

43 thoughts on “BONUS SERIES : THE ICA WORLD CUP : ROUND 2 (Part 3)”

  2. The Jam – there were Yellow Cards all around for this match
    Trashcan Sinatras – managing to play through the Defender chaos on the field
    Pete Wylie – his Hero Mick Jones of The Clash/BAD calling the plays
    Magazine – proving the bookies wrong and stunning the crowd

  5. Like a disgruntled england fan , thought about turnung to cricket after the gobetwwens early exit

  6. The Jam
    HMHB
    Pete Wylie (fielding his strongest possible team)

    Magazine v The Wedding Present went to extra time, then a replay. Then another replay. Then penalties. Then another replay. Then a coin toss. The coin landed on its edge. Unseparateable. Do your worst JC.

  10. Ouchie, ouchie, ouchie. This is gonna sting.
    The Jam (easie peasie)
    Half Man Half Biscuit (twinges, soon past)
    Pete or Polly? Pete’s very best, and no real shot past this round, vs Polly’s 2nd team. I’m afraid Polly’s done an Arsenal – would win 9 times out of 10 but fielding the reserves has lead to an upset. Pete Wylie (who is certain to lose next time round)
    Magazine or the Weddoes? Omg. Rip the plaster off quick and its the Weddoes.

  12. I’m officially in the hugg given my 4 choices got beat last time out.
    So this week the kiss of death goes to
    The Cobras
    HMHB
    Pete Wylie
    Magazine

  14. The Jam- that wasn’t difficult. Several goals up by half time but that Weller’s a dirty git, picking up a late red card (dissent second yellow following an earlier one for turning up in bowling shoes, not appropriate match footwear) but the Woking trio walk it.
    HMHB- National Shite Day is our new national anthem so no contest. Overhead a rainbow appears. In black and white.
    Pete Wylie- one of the best records of the 20th century. Sal Paradise nets the winner late on.
    The Wedding Present- doess Kennedy beat Shot By Both Sides? It would seem so.

  15. Funnily enough this one felt relatively easy!
    Perhaps because….
    …..I……..don’t…….. really………like……. the……………………………
    Wedding Present…. (sorry sorry sorry)

    So:
    The Jam
    HMHB (would win on song title alone)
    PJ Harvey
    Magazine

  16. Evening the TSOBO team say
    The Jam
    HMHB
    PJ Harvey
    The Wedding Present

    Easiest four of the round as it happens.

  17. I love a plucky underdog, especially against a mighty top side (in recent weeks I’ve been cheering on Newport County (well, OK, most weeks I cheer for the County), Rochdale and Wigan!) So when I saw The Jam vs The Detroit Cobras, I was ready to cast my vote for Motor City’s finest R&B covers band. Until I saw Weller & Co had fielded Billy Hunt. From that moment on, there was only going to be one result…

    Not a big fan of the Trashcan Sinatras, though Obscurity Knocks is my fave track of theirs. Shame for them they were up against four boys from the Wirral with one of their strongest songs. Again, another one-sided affair.

    The Westcountry boy in me so wanted to vote for Peej, especially as, on any other day, she would have breezed it. However, I always thought C’mon Billy was one of her lower-mid table efforts, whereas the LFC-supporting Wylie just went for broke and chucked out a Champions League-winning line-up – one of the greatest pop songs ever written.

    And finally – well, loyalty ultimately wins out here. Magazine’s best song might well have won against most other songs in this round, but it never – NEVER – stood a chance against the boy Gedge’s classic indie anthem. A comfortable away win in the end.

    (In case I didn’t make it obvious: Jam, HMHB, Wah!, Weddoes)

  19. Detroit Cobras
    Trashcan Sinatras
    Pete Wylie
    Magazine

    Three of these are a foregone conclusion to lose, though.

  20. Easier than I expected when I first saw the ties- well, except for the fourth pairing. Having said that, all 8 songs are perfectly fine and it’s a shame to see some plucky performers potentially departing.
    Jam
    Trash Can Sinatras
    Pete Wylie (one of my Top 10 singles of the 80s when I compiled a list on 01.01.90. I stand by that selection 28 and a bit years later)
    Magazine (I now promise to listen to TWP for the next hour to atone for this heresy, but I just love SBBS)

  22. And I’m hoping the Lightning Seeds draw The Clash in the next round so Mick Jones gets another go at knocking them out.

  27. Alright, this week’s “panel of experts” consisted solely of Little Loser who I managed to make a very short break from Lego City Undercover PS4. He just sat down beneath me and listened to parts of all eight tunes. His commitments didn’t allow him to listen to all songs in their entirety, he says.

    The Jam (“Alright.”) vs The Detroit Cobras (“Is that a girl singing? That’s unfair, Daddy. Everyone knows girls sing better than boys!”). Match ended 2:4, he judges.

    HMHB (“Awful, awful!”) vs Trashcan Sinatras (“Good, but not very good.”). Match ended 3:5, he says.

    Pete Wylie (“Turn that off, please!”) vs. PJ Harvey (“Goddamn awful, both of them!”). A goalless draw, he says. I told him this is not possible. “Okay, 1:1 then”, was his answer. I said, “No, there has to be a winner!”. Match ended 1:0 under those circumstances, he decided.

    Magazine (“Oh, 10 points for them and they are very good indeed. 10 points by all accounts!”) vs The Wedding Present (“And 11 points for them because I can understand the singer better!”). I said: “But you don’t speak English.”. “No”, he replied, “but he (Gedge) is a bit a slower and thus more comprehensible.”. So match ended 10:11.

    And you know what? Basically I would have decided likewise by and large. Except perhaps for the last game, but I’m still not absolutely certain about that …

  29. Question: does sexyloser’s vote count as two votes now, since there were clearly two people in agreement with his choices? The fact that I think it should has, of course, nothing to do with the fact that he is supporting Trash Can Sinatras…

  30. Hardest one for me was Pete vs. PJ. Could have gone the other way with any other song selection.

    The Jam
    HMHB (How could anybody residential ‘There’s a man with a mullet going mad with a mallet in Millets’?)
    Pete Wylie
    The Wedding Present

  33. Sorry if I didn’t express myself all too clearly, rhetor, but that was meant to be just ONE vote … well, four, but you know what I mean, I suppose …

  34. This is supposed to be fun…..can’t say I’ve enjoyed having to do a hatchet number on certain folk.

    The Jam over The Detroit Cobras was relatively straightforward. So far, so good.

    HMHB would win nine times out of ten with this one….maybe even ninety-nine times out of a hundred. But it is National Shite Day for the Birkenhead boys as TCS get the vote thanks to what is, without any argument, a deadly combination of a toe-tapping tune and stunningly clever lyric.

    I really thought PJ Harvey was going to win this whole tournament thanks to her combination of sassy street-cred and quality tunes. And who knows, she still might……but for my money, Story of The Blues is a tune that is nigh on impossible to beat in a one-to-one. But if Peej does come through this one, then she must be just about the bookie’s favourite.

    Kennedy is one of the greatest tunes of all time. So too is Shot By Both Sides. Like The Swede, I can’t separate them.

    Fuck it. I’m more scared of Howie than Gedgey…..so I’m going to cast my vote for Magazine.

    Malky Tucker

  35. No drama in this household as the final 3 bands all brought there A-game along this week, hence comfortable victories for;
    The Jam
    HMHB
    Pete Wylie
    Wedding Present

  36. Dirk…..I’m certain Rhetor was displaying a wicked sense of humour in asking how many votes you were looking to cast this week and not being the slightest bit serious!!!

  38. Hey JC,

    Pretty easy for me this week also.
    The Jam
    HMHB
    Pete Wylie
    Wedding Present.

    Cheers

    Jim

  39. Jam
    Sinatras
    Wah

    This song from Magazine should be a cakewalk. Unfortunately, the same could be said for the song by the Wedding Present.

    TWP. No, make that Magazine. Makes me want to play early Buzzcocks… which I will do right now.

  41. Detroit Cobras, Ayrshire’s finest, one of Liverpool’s finest and the best thing from Leeds since Don Revie’s 73-74 League Championship winning team

  43. Trashcan Sinatras. Against overwhelming odds, bad luck, and bad habits remain unsurpassingly relevent 30 years later, charming North American audiences 30-40 cities at a time, with satisfying regularity. This one’s a sitter for Killy.

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