Name: Keno
E-Mail: keno@fairpoint.net
Subject: Poll Post for the week starting Monday, Sept 6
Date: Monday, September 06, 2021
Time: 12:25:22 AM
Remote Address: 8.41.160.9
Message ID: 321027
Parent ID: 0
Thread ID: 321027

Poll Post for the week starting Monday, Sept 6

Welcome to this week's Poll Post, where I talk about and you read about what our 4 new weekly polls will be about. I always start off with the Stones Poll first, which enters week 1,153 of polling, and where we are rating all of the songs released by the Stones throughout all of the many past years.

This week we look at the song that most of us hardnosed fans called "Criss Cross Mind", or "Save Me", for years on end, when this was just a bootleg song. Recorded way back in November and December of 1972, it wasn’t released until July 9, 2020. But when the Stones finally did release this one and placed it on the newly reissued Goat's Head Soup album, they simply titled it "Criss Cross", which made no sense, since in the song while the verse "Criss Cross Mind" comes up often enough, "Criss Cross" never does. Yet IMO, "Save Me" was what it should had been titled, as that also is sang a lot in this one, and really is the only hook lyric sang in the song that fans remember first (talking about lyrics, I also just noticed that I never change the old, original lyrics to this song yet at the Stones Lyrics Page, after Mick changed some of the lyrics 2 years ago. I just forgot to do that I guess). But why didn’t MJ just title it as to what his most supporting fans have been calling it since ’72? Why Mick?

Anyway, before I forget to even note it, this week’s Stones Poll question officially asks: Rate the Stones song 'Criss Cross', from zero (lowest) to 10 (highest)

“Sympathy for the Devil?” Nope, just a clip from the “Criss Cross” video, as we are rating the song this week

So, just how will you rate this new but old song? Now no, we are not comparing the old boot of this tune to its new release, so you hardnosed Stones fans must forget about that old boot tape you have of this song and only go by the still new version of the song. That's it... Plus, while as usual I link to the song’s 2020 video, which most guys love and many gals hate or dislike, well just forget about the video (then “why did you post that pic above, Keno?”, some of you just asked me. Yes, I hear you, but I have no answer to that, either, other than to me it’s no big deal). We already rated the video; its link is there so you can hear the song before you vote. Yes indeed, we’re only rating the song here - that's it! So, if you’re a female who thinks the video is too sexual and the Stones are once again making women look like nothing but a piece of meat for men to get excited over, and/or if your' a guy who just loves to look at the gal in this video – since she does look nice, well, just forget about her (but her name is Marina Ontanaya, just in case you want to know). It's only the song that we are rating here. So when the video starts up - close your eyes and don't even look at it, just listen to the music that plays, and listen to the vocals, too, and then rate it by voting in our poll! After doing that, if you’re a guy, you can then go back and actually look at the video (like you didn’t the first time anyway) and then wonder why you hadn’t looked at this cool sexy video again since it first came out 2 years ago (I hadn’t, anyway). But if you’re female or a male and you dislike the vid, well then, just don’t watch it again! Damn, I should have just linked to a music only video of the song, instead of that sexy video, but is there even such a video out there? But deep down, yes, we know what to do when or if we click on that link, just listen to the song, since that’s all we are rating this week. Really, I mean that!

The lineup for this song is: Vocals: Mick Jagger; Lead Guitar: Mick Taylor; Rhythm Guitar: Keith Richards; Bass: Bill Wyman; Drums: Charlie Watts; Sax: Bobby Keys; Keyboards: Nicky Hopkins; Percussion: Rebop Kwaku Baah and Pascal.

Anyhow, it’s time to rate this song. To do so, just click on the following link: Stones Weekly Poll.

Last week at the Stones polls we answered this question: Rate the Stones song “Get Off of My Cloud”, from zero (lowest) to 10 (highest))

“Get Off of My Cloud”,the front cover from the Stones U.S. single

Now I already know what you already know, that the top rating for this song was a 10. Yes indeed, it was and should be just that. But to see the full final results from this poll, just click here: Stones Weekly Poll - week 1,152. Or to see the updated song rating standings for this ongoing series, and see where this song landed in the ratings (after all, I didn’t give you the percentage of the ten vote that it scored). So, did it make the Top 10 list? To find that out if that happened or not, just click on here: Stones Top Picks - Page 3, List Page 5.

Time to move on over to this week’s Classic Rock Poll, where we enter week 793 of voting, and for this one we vote in 2 different Rock Polls for the week. But before I get to the question, as this is Labor Day holiday week in America, well, as Americans know, that marks the end of summer in the U.S. anyway, and for our Rock Polls, it ends the rating of different band’s members, as we have been doing all summer, and at the Rock VS poll, well, that goes back on hiatus until late next spring, as the Video Polls will return next week.

So let’s look at this week’s first poll and ask one last Rock band question: Who was the most underrated member of the band, Kansas?.

Kansas The classic lineup of the band from the 1970s: (L-R): Well, it’s already up there for you to (try to) read.

Kansas is an American rock band that came about in 1969 and by the mid '70s became a very popular band. For this poll we will mainly look at band members from around 1972, to up until the mid-1990s.

Named after the founding members home state of Kansas, they were slowly formed in 1969 by keyboardist Don Montre and guitarist Kerry Livgren in their hometown of Topeka, Kansas. Singer Lynn Meredith then joined them in 1970 and they started playing Livgren's original material at that time, with temporary members Scott Kessler playing bass and Zeke Lowe on drums. There were a few other temporary members to this band early on to boot between '69 and 1970 (who we won’t look at in the poll) when they officially named the band "Kansas".

For a short while Kansas was really 2 different bands and didn’t always use their new found name, as the band’s members seem to split apart at times, and it wasn't until early 1973 that the real Kansas emerged with the arrival of their main violin, viola, and cello player and co-lead vocalist, Robby Steinhardt, along with keyboardist Steve Walsh, who became their other main co-lead vocalist (unofficially, as several other members of the band would sometimes sing lead on many of their records, and I should also note that singer Meredith left the band in ‘73). Rich Williams also joined at that same time as the other 2, and he became their co lead guitar player along with Livgren. At that time, they received a recording contract and the group decided to return to using the name "Kansas" full time. Steinhardt's violin was perhaps the main reason for this rebirth of the band, as his "lead" violin seemed to be the group's main sound, all this while their lead guitarists were still upfront, and with this unusual combo of rock music, they were soon being defined as the very first "heartland rock" group. In time they were known as progressive rock, art rock, hard rock, and the newly coined "arena rock", all rolled into one. There truly was no other hard rock band like this one.

The main and classic Kansas band from the ‘70s was one band where pretty much every member of the group could be looked as being underrated, including their 2 frontmen, Walsh and Steinhardt. Walsh would be perhaps the one band member who is most remembered by average rock fans, since he played the band’s leader the most while up on stage, while a somewhat shyer Steinhardt was the more behind the curtains co-leader, yet as front men, both guys were underrated outside of the band. This became oblivious when they both left the band around the same time, in late '81 (for Walsh) and in early '82 (for Steinhardt), and Kansas was never really ever the same after they left. But Walsh was actually only gone for 3 years, when he returned in late 1985, but he had been gone just long enough for things to change in the group. Steinhardt would also return, but not until in the late '90s. But with Walsh's return did come some new magic from their new lead guitarist, Steve Morse, who replaced Livgren, who at first left the group from 1983 to 1990. Morse was the former lead guitarist of the Dixie Dregs, and his guitar playing made Livgren's leaving manageable for the group during that time span (Morse would then move on and become the leader of Deep Purple after he left Kansas in ’91.).

So yes, a whole lot of history to this band, and that's not even naming everybody listed in this week's poll's choices (there's 13 of them total). I also didn’t know, until I put this poll question together late last week, that Steinhardt had died suddenly a few weeks earlier, at age 71 to ill health, after putting together a new solo album just before becoming ill. So very sad to learn of that news.

But with all that said, who in this band do you feel was the most underrated? To vote in this week’s first Rock poll, just click on here: Classic Rock Poll, and when you get to this page, choose “Poll 1” to vote in this poll.

For this week’s VS Rock Poll, and the last VS poll to vote on in 2021, we ask: The Everly Brothers VS Manfred Mann: Who's cover of the song “Pretty Flamingo” is the better take?

VS

Manfred Mann’s “Pretty Flamingo” VS The Everly Brothers’ “Pretty Flamingo”

A true song written by Mark Barkan, with the opening lyrics about a gal who Barken wanted to date during his teen years in the late 1940s, when he and his friends had a crush on this woman who walked by their homes each afternoon in Brooklyn, New York. Barkan's daughter noted after his death in ‘20, that it was about this girl who lived above a parking lot in his neighborhood and Barkan and his friends used to call out to her. The opening lyrics (really the entire song) were Barkan's feelings for the girl: “On our block all of the guys call her flamingo, cause her hair glows like the sun, and her eyes can light the skies. When she walks she moves so fine, like a flamingo”… and “When she walks by she brightens up the neighborhood, oh every guy would make her his if he just could”.

Barken wrote other hit songs for bands like The Archies, The Monkees, and for many other recording artists in the late 1960s under different aliases. But besides this number, he’s perhaps best known for being the person who coined the term “psychedelic music”, after he produced an album for a band he called a “psychedelic rock band”, The Deep (which featured David Bromberg), in early 1966.

Both Manfred Mann and The Everly Brothers recorded “Pretty Flamingo” around the very same time in early 1966, and both takes are excellent indeed. While it wasn't released as a single for The Everly Brothers (it should have been) - but was on their album Two Yanks in England, Manfred Mann's single went all the way to #1 in the UK (and kept the Stones' "Paint It Black" from the #1 spot there). But it didn't do anywhere as well in the U.S., just reaching the Top 30 at #29 for one week (yet nowadays we hear it often enough on U.S. Classic Rock stations).

The lineup for the song was, first for the band Manfred Mann: Paul Jones – Lead Vocals; Manfred Mann – Keyboards; Tom McGuinness - Guitars; Jack Bruce – Bass; Mike d'Abo – Keyboards and Backing Vocals; Mike Hugg – Drums; Henry Lowther – Flute... For The Everly Brothers cover: Phil Everly: Co-Lead Vocal; Don Everly: Co-Lead Vocal and Rhythm Guitar; Glen Campbell - more Rhythm Guitar*; Terry Slater- Bass; Jim Gordon: Drums; Tony Hicks: Lead Guitar?*; Jimmy Page - Lead Guitar?* (Page and Hicks both played the lead guitar on several songs on the album, but it's disputed as to which one played the lead on his song; yet other sources credit Glen Campbell for the lead guitar and not rhythm Guitar on this one, but he at least is playing on the song for sure).

To vote in this year’s final VS poll, just click on this link: Classic Rock VS Poll, and when you get to this page, choose “Poll 2” to vote on this question.

Last week in the first Rock Poll we asked this question: Who was the most underrated member of the band, Cheap Trick?.

Cheap Trick The classic lineup of the band from the 1970s: (L-R): Rick Nielsen, Robin Zander, Bun E. Carlos, Tom Petersson

Bassist Tom Petersson barely one this one over former (but officially still the current drummer), Bun E. Carlos, by one single vote. The vote was very close for the entire week of the poll and the other 7 members listed had only 11 votes between them, that with 2,032 votes cast (Note: while I love these band questions, I guess you voters don’t as much as I, as that number is a low vote count for the main Rock poll, which came in dead last in total votes counted for last week out of the 4 weekly polls that ran). To see the poll’s final results, just click on the following link: Classic Rock Poll, week 792, Poll 1. Or, to see “The most underrated member of each rock band” list, and who’s on there from the other bands that we answered this question for already, click on: Top 10 List Page, Page 16, and you will see this listing at the very top of the page.

In last week’s Rock VS poll, we asked: “Monterey” by The Animals vs “Woodstock” by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. Which of these 2 songs about 2 of the most important rock festivals ever held, was better?

VS

The Animals’ “Monterey” VS Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young’s “Woodstock”

In very heavy voting, “Woodstock”, the cover song by CSNY, won the poll with 50.8% of the votes. You can look over the results from this VS poll by clicking on the following link: Classic Rock VS Poll, week 790. Or, to see the results on the VS list page, just click on here: Rock VS Page 2, List Page 10, and when you get there, head on down to the bottom of the page to see the results.

One last note on this VS poll… Since I was talking above about the vote total at the first Rock Poll being low, the VS poll’s vote total last week was a different story, as it saw a record high for this poll with 2,112 votes, and for the VS poll this marks only the third time the VS poll has been over 2,000 votes cast in a week (BTW, all 4 polls last week saw over 2,000 votes cast last week for each poll, only the second time that has happened, with 2 weeks ago being the first time). Guess I could also note since I bitched about the low voter turnout at the main Rock poll last week, its total of 2,032 (and keeping in mind that the VS has only seen over 2,000 votes in a week just 3 times now), for the main Rock poll, last week’s total doesn’t even make the Top 30 for the most voted on Rock polls (it’s highest total was 2,628 back earlier in this year in May, before we started to vote on the different Rock bands, and before the summer drop off in votes that our polls usually see each summer).

Okay, so it’s time to wrap up this Poll Post as usual talking about the Beatles Poll, where this week we enter week 544 of voting, and we are answering questions right now about The Beatles videos. This week’s video poll question asks us to: Rate The Beatles' video for “Here Comes the Sun” from zero to 10 (Click here for the video)

“Here Comes the Sun” Beatles 2019 video

This is one of the newer official Beatle videos, released just 2 years ago and in my future poll file folder, I had a note to myself to ask this question in “the spring of 2020, or in '21”, and I guess - well I know, I just forgot to ever get around to running this question. I was thinking that maybe I should wait until the spring of 2022 to ask it, since it’s just a great springtime song - but then again, I still don’t know if the Beatle poll will still be running next spring (but once the Fab’s video polls are done with, and they are almost done with, well before that time I will have to make a final decision on if the poll ends or not – so perhaps in the next week or so I will to do that… I hope), but I did make one decision on this, which I can’t recall if I noted it here or not, but if I keep this poll going, we will take the same route that the Stones poll has taken, and that would mean we would rate Beatle songs only at that point in time if I do keep it going. So anyway, this great spring-time song's video, must be rated now regardless of what happens to the poll, so it will be rated this week as we approach the fall season (on well, so the timing is off).

I really don't have to say a lot about this song itself as all Beatle fans know all about it’s making, and that this masterpiece was written by George Harrison. Now while some claim that his "Something" was his greatest written song, I totally disagree! For me, this one and several other of his songs were better. “Here Comes the Sun” was a hit from the day it was released, and even into today, it still reenters the current Top 50 music charts in both the U.S. and UK and it has even reentered The Top 10 music charts in both the U.S. and UK at times. The last time in the U.S. being in 2019, when this video was released, it went all the way to #3! The video itself, was directed by Alasdair Brotherston and Jock Mooney, and features, among other things, photos from the Apple Corps archive, and also photos and footage shot by Linda McCartney and supplied by Paul McCartney. The lineup for this classic tune, was one of the few non-McCartney Beatle songs to not feature John Lennon on it, as he had just gotten out of the hospital along with his wife Yoko, and their 2 children (John's son Julian, and Yoko's daughter, Kyoko), with the family still recovering from a bad car accident that they all were involved in, on the days that the song was being recorded in July of 1969. So here's the song's lineup: George Harrison – Lead and backing vocals, all acoustic and electric guitars, harmonium, synthesizer; Paul McCartney – Backing vocal and bass; Ringo Starr – Drums; Additional musicians were uncredited for: the four violas, four cellos, a double bass, two piccolos, two flutes, two alto flutes, and two clarinets.

To cast your vote in this poll, just click on the following link: Beatles Weekly Poll.

Looking back at last week’s Beatles poll, we asked: Rate The Beatles' video for “Words Of Love” from zero to 10 (Click here for the video)

“ Words Of Love” Beatles video

Another week and another top score of a 10. Most of their videos have scored a ten rating and this is actually the reason why I’m not sure if I should keep the poll going after voting on the vids all ends…. Since…. If we rate songs for this band, well I know my fellow Fab fans well, and you can bet most of their songs, even the deep cuts (is there even such a thing with Beatle songs?), will see 10 scores – and I’ve always said, what’s the use if we already know the answer to a poll question in advance – it’s really a waste of time to run such a poll in the first place… Don’t you agree? Yet Beatle fans seem to not care and wish to see me keep the poll going…. And how do I say no to such loyal voters? Hell, I was 100% sure several months ago that the Poll would end for sure, but now thanks to a few emails I’m undecided on what to do. But deep down I still want to end the poll and only run 3 a week from now on.

Anyway, to see the full, final results of last week’s Beatle poll, just click on: Beatles Weekly Poll – week 543. To see the results on the Beatles/John Lennon Videos and Movies list page, just go to this page: Beatles/John Lennon Videos and Movies, and look under the “Video Ratings” standings.

So that will do it for this week’s Poll Post. But one last thing…. I received an email last week from an angry Republican (are there any of them who aren't angry all the time? Well yes, there's a few of them that seem normal). This man, whose name and email address I never recall seeing before, was upset at what I had written at the close of my Poll Post 2 weeks ago (he claimed it was last week, but it was 2 weeks ago). I noted that Republicans were killing themselves off with their insane response to the COVID19 pandemic. He claimed I took joy in this sad news, when I actually went out of my way to note that I wasn't happy with this news at all. He then went on to claim that, according to him, that what I claimed in my post about COVID and being vaccinated wasn't even true! That being vaccinated didn’t help or even work. But smart folks know it is all true and it’s saving a lot of lives. But believing that BS lie from the right is just gonna kill more who are in the GOP, period. But now the latest government stats are out and are showing that what I stated is 100% true.... This from https://thewhyaxis.substack.com/ (sorry, I'm too lazy to set the link)...... But according to the latest U.S. government stats..... Over the past month, people living in the most staunchly Republican counties have been three times more likely to die of Covid than those living in Democratic strongholds. While the disease doesn’t make political distinctions, Republican attitudes, conspiracy theories, and policy failures have created conditions in which the Delta variant can thrive. In U.S. counties where Donald Trump got fewer than 20 percent of 2020 presidential votes, there have been, on average, fewer than 5 Covid deaths for every 100,000 people, since July 31, 2021 — roughly the start of the latest wave of death corresponding with the Delta variant. In places where he got 80 percent or more of the vote, the death rate is closer to 15 per 100,000*. Across all counties there’s effectively a dose-response relationship between Republicanism and Covid mortality: as the share of Republican voters increases in your county, your likelihood of dying from the disease rises as well. (*do note that the totally out of control Republican state of Florida, which is leading the nation is new COVID illness and death rates, isn't included in these stats since the state's asshole governor wouldn’t allow such data to be released from his state - one of only 2 states, and both are red states of course, that applies to. Had Florida been included in this data, the rate among those who voted for Trump and whom are dying, would be even higher.).

So, I'll close this Poll Post out in the same exact way I did 2 weeks ago, word for word (and I will ask the fool who wrote me to stop playing the fool and get vaccinated so he can debate me some more in the future [but only peacefully, dude], since if COVID19 kills you, I nor anybody else can debate you again).... Now... to prove my point to what I stated, here's my close from 2 weeks ago, taken directly from this post here You can read the entire post’s close over again if you like, but if you read it 2 weeks ago, you will see it wasn't altered at all in any way.... But here’s most of it: Our entire world seems to be falling apart right now, in part thanks to COVID and those who refuse to get vaccinated, which is what’s keeping the virus going, and killing off so many everywhere on the planet – and in the U.S., it’s mainly killing Republicans and conservatives. As a strong liberal, no, that brings me no joy, as while I hate right wing politicians (and those insane insurgents from Jan 6), right wing regular folks have always been kind people and friends of mine, even if today where I live there’s so few of those kinds of folks around here. But if the right doesn’t stop making this virus a political issue, and get their asses vaccinated (well, just a shot or 2 in one of their arms, actually), there will be that many fewer right wingers who will be around, as they are now the main group of people who are now dying in the U.S.A., while 99% of us libs are all vaccinated. So, if you haven’t gotten the jab yet, what are you waiting for – a painful death? Instead of that - go and get the shot and live a long, happy life.

Keno

• Poll Post for the week starting Monday, Sept 6 by Keno on 9/6/2021 12:25:22 AM <-- You Are Here
• RE: Poll Post for the week starting Monday, Sept 6 by cool cool hand on 9/6/2021 5:15:28 AM
• RE: RE: Pretty Flamingo by Keno on 9/7/2021 5:28:20 AM
• RE: Pretty Flamingo by cool cool hand on 9/7/2021 6:19:29 AM
• RE: RE: Pretty Flamingo by manny in ny on 9/9/2021 3:12:40 AM
• RE: RE: RE: Pretty Flamingo singer by Keno on 9/9/2021 4:20:53 AM
• RE: Poll Post for the week starting Monday, Sept 6 by gomper on 9/19/2021 10:19:25 PM

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