Another massive voting turnout, with around 500 votes for each tie on average, compared with half of that figure in the previous tournament four years ago. If you’d based your predictions for each tie on how well the songs did in the Baguette Dilemma Round, you’d have got almost every winner. But that’s for the post-tournament analysis. In the meantime, soak up the results and look forward to some excruciating ties in the last 16. Here’s the draw for that one. Comments, howls of outrage and commiserations in the comments below.
| % | % | Votes | ||||
| 1 | The Light at the End of the Tunnel | 82 | v | 18 | Adam Boyle Has Cast Lad Rock Aside | 584 |
| 2 | Joy Division Oven Gloves | 65 | v | 35 | Tending The Wrong Grave For 23 Years | 500 |
| 3 | The Trumpton Riots | 59 | v | 41 | When The Evening Sun Goes Down | 523 |
| 4 | National Shite Day | 59 | v | 41 | We Built This Village On A Trad. Arr. Tune | 512 |
| 5 | Everything’s AOR | 70 | v | 30 | Irk The Purists | 497 |
| 6 | Lord Hereford’s Knob | 49 | v | 51 | Dead Men Don’t Need Season Tickets | 468 |
| 7 | The Unfortunate Gwatkin | 36 | v | 64 | Evening Of Swing (Has Been Cancelled) | 466 |
| 8 | Running Order Squabble Fest | 34 | v | 66 | All I Want For Christmas Is A Dukla Prague Away Kit | 463 |
| 9 | Turned Up Clocked On Laid Off | 49 | v | 51 | A Country Practice | 454 |
| 10 | Westward Ho! – Massive Letdown | 49 | v | 51 | Fix It So She Dreams Of Me | 464 |
| 11 | Asparagus Next Left | 56 | v | 44 | Thy Damnation Slumbereth Not | 477 |
| 12 | Outbreak Of Vitas Gerulaitis | 54 | v | 46 | Restless Legs | 505 |
| 13 | Twenty Four Hour Garage People | 66 | v | 34 | Depressed Beyond Tablets | 515 |
| 14 | For What Is Chatteris… | 52 | v | 48 | The Bastard Son Of Dean Friedman | 532 |
| 15 | Rock And Roll Is Full Of Bad Wools | 62 | v | 38 | Descent Of The Stiperstones | 497 |
| 16 | Them’s The Vagaries | 47 | v | 53 | Bob Wilson – Anchorman | 530 |
See the scores and chat for individual ties (chat now closed)
Match 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16
The losers have now taken their place in the updated table for the Baguette Dilemma round.
TWO FAT FEET
Carnage. Only got seven of mine through, although I did correctly predict eleven.
Curious how the most intriguing tie of the lot gathered the fewest votes …
8 November 2015
Dickhead in quicksand
11-5 for me, including three last-minute arse-squeakers (including one in which a bastard slip of a sub etc).
A good day for the visitors, with 10 ties going to the away side.
Let me be the first to say, FIXED FIXED FIXED!
8 November 2015
Dickhead in quicksand
If only Frank Ifield hadn’t shown his studs. he must have known the likely consequences.
8 November 2015
Telly savalas
11 for me too
8 November 2015
Beltane beard
10-6 for me. Absolutely gutted about Turned Up Clocked On Laid Off missing out effectively on penalties. Also Evening Sun leaving the tournament is a massive letdown.
Great to see Bob Wilson and Chatteris made it though.
8 November 2015
Chris The Siteowner
TFF: I think I recall at least one of your score predictions being spot on! Chapeau.
DiQ: *Six* ties going to the away side, surely?
Only eight of my choices through. I was hoping for better.
8 November 2015
Two fat feet
Out of interest Chris, three of the ties finished as close as you can get without calling it a draw based on percentages – how close actually were they on votes?
Also a suggestion for the second round draw, base it on balls 1-16 from the F A Cup draw.
8 November 2015
Talking to plankton
Pleasantly surprised that 11 of mine got through. Gutted at Trad. Arr. Tune’s defeat and amazed by how much, also very surprised at how much Stiperstones lost by.
8 November 2015
Dave Cooper
A rather decent 12-4 for me. Gutted for Evening Sun but well chuffed that Dead Men and Fix It scraped through.
8 November 2015
Dave Cooper
Adam Boyle got the equivalent of a plucky consolation goal in a 9-1 thrashing by a Premier League side.
8 November 2015
Jeff dreadnought
To sum up the highlights of the round in verse (of sorts):
Chatteris (just, ‘cos many aren’t fussed)
Beat the Bastards; it was no cakewalk.
And the Maroons, it seems, had their hopes and dreams
Destroyed by the mighty Shitehawks.
Frank Ifield, it’s said,
Hid under the bed
When the Olive And Red were in town
And the Trumpton boys
Were making all of the noise
When the Evening Sun went down,
When the Evening Sun went down.
8 November 2015
MAN IN BLACK
I think I got 8 of mine through. Really surprised Trad ar tune went out and sad DBTGBT got stuffed!
Look forward to the draw for the next round.
8 November 2015
Schoon
13-3 back of the net!
8 November 2015
Featureless tv producer steve
OUCH.
A final sixteen without “Thy Damnation Slumbereth Not” is like a final sixteen of…….something………that I really care about……..without…….something else……..that I…..uh…….also really care about.
Appropriate analogies elude my grief-stricken mind. Totally gutted by that one, despite my fondness for Asparagus.
But soldier on we must, so soldier on we shall. As a silent form of protest, I will play TDSN in the background while I vote on every match from here on out.
8 November 2015
THIS LEADEN PAUL
The magic of the cup, etc.
To answer TFF in post 1: I would ascribe it to people abstaining, genuinely unable to choose.
8 November 2015
Chris The Siteowner
TLP/TFF: I think the ties in the middle got fewer votes generally because (a) the early ones were around for longer, and (b) the later ones were at the top of the list of ties, and several people probably just worked their way down but gave up after a few.
TFF: Match 9 was 222-232; Match 10 was 226-238. Nice idea about the FA Cup Draw. I’ll shelve the idea we were planning to use until the last 8.
8 November 2015
Cygnus
10 – 6 overall isn’t too shabby; 2 – 1 for my choices in those three nail-biting away wins.
Vagaries beaten by Bob Wilson! Say it ain’t so, I’m off to The Wailing Wall
8 November 2015
Chris The Siteowner
Performance by album
Urge For Offal (2014) P3 W0
90 Bisodol (Crimond) (2011) P3 W2
CSI:Ambleside (2008) P3 W2
Achtung Bono (2005) P6 W3
Saucy Haulage Ballads EP (2003) P1 W0
Cammell Laird Social Club (2002) P4 W1
Editor’s Recommendation EP (2001) P1 W1
Trouble Over Bridgwater (2000) P2 W1
Look Dad No Tunes EP (1999) –
Four Lads Who Shook The Wirral (1998) P1 W1
Voyage To The Bottom Of The Road (1997) P1 W1
Eno Collaboration EP (1996) –
Some Call It Godcore (1995) –
This Leaden Pall (1993) P2 W0
McIntyre, Treadmore And Davitt (1991) P2 W2
ACD (1988) –
Back Again In The D.H.S.S. (1987) P1 W0
Back In The D.H.S.S. (1985) P2 W2
Unreleased Songs (1990 – 2006) –
Although relatively few songs from the 1980s and 1990s got this far (9), six have made the last 16.
8 November 2015
bobby svarc
I wonder if the band have a go?
8 November 2015
Chris The Siteowner
Performance compared to 2011
Songs released since 2011: P6 W2
Songs which didn’t make the last 32 in 2011: P6 W2
Songs which went out in the last 32 in 2011: P8 W4
Songs which went out in the last 16 in 2011: P4 W2
Songs which went out in the last 8 in 2011: P4 W2
Songs which went out in the semi-finals in 2011: P2 W2
Songs which made the final in 2011: P2 W2
Based on this, the biggest casualties so far are the two 2011 quarter-finalists from Cammell Laird Social Club, Them’s The Vagaries and When The Evening Sun Goes Down. Our plucky outsiders who didn’t get out of qualifying last time but are still with us, are Asparagus and Dead Men.
8 November 2015
Hazelsound
Or the more cynical mind might suspect some underhand tactics. No cynics here, but temptation to up the votes on some of those ties was pretty hard to resist. Resist I did though and came in at 10-6. Not so bad, but feeling the pain for Thy Damnation Slumbereth Not & Turned Up Clocked On Laid Off. Them’s the Vagaries (sob).
8 November 2015
Chris The Siteowner
Bobby – I always wonder that too. I do know that one member of the band once made a comment on the site (his only comment ever), but I don’t know if he visits regularly and I’ve no idea if the others are even aware of its existence. I spoke to Geoff Davies last week (much better, thanks) and he didn’t know this was on. Mind you, he was amazed when I told him there were 192 songs. Then, in typical GD fashion, he started telling me about other songs the band have recorded and never released. Aaargh. The frustration.
8 November 2015
peter mcornithologist
@ Mr.Featureless. I share your grief. Also one can only assume Wanchorman beat Vagaries due to Kazakh leaders recent chat with supermarket Dave Cameron.
8 November 2015
Two fat feet
Several of those results were like a knife to my heart each time. Damnation, Tending, Purists, Letdown, Restless, Stiperstones … I voted for Squabble Fest more in hope than expectation against a formidable and worthy opponent, but some of the others got a right kicking for no fathomable reason. I demand a recount for Tending.
8 November 2015
Hazelsound
Surprised (and at the same time not surprised) at how low the vote was for Tending. A sad loss.
8 November 2015
Bobby SVARC
Yeah, Spoke to Geoff last Tuesday.
8 November 2015
Martin a
8-8 for me, which I predicted. I tended to back the losers in the closer ties though, which makes some of the results that bit more painful. Surprised at Thy Damnation going out the most.
8 November 2015
Telly savalas
Yeah, Westward, Damnation and Dean Friedman are the most painful for me, as they were so close…
Everything’s SOB
8 November 2015
SIMON P
Ten for me. Gutted about Vagaries.
Apparently the bookies are installing NSD as early favourite based on its sound kicking of another heavyweight.
8 November 2015
Nigel
Are the losers places in the BD round now going to be revealed?
Yep. Here they are. – CtSO
8 November 2015
Paul f
12-4 for me with one obvious “massive letdown”. And I am still yet to fathom the attractions of Evening of Swing that could lead to it ousting Gwatkin.
8 November 2015
Two fat feet
Somehow the knowledge that Damnation only just made the cut in the first place is of little consolation.
8 November 2015
Martin a
It’s also of little consolation that it was Damnation that just edged out 27 yards, Fred Titmus, Paintball and Bad losers, all of which I would have had in my top 32.
8 November 2015
alan
I’d get a stadium ban if I aired my thoughts on the Westward Ho! – Massive Letdown ‘decision’
8 November 2015
counterblast to Agnosticism
Well that’s democracy for you . Still, as someone mentioned in an earlier round, a load of songs I like beat another load of songs I like, in some cases more and in others, less.
8 November 2015
LitTlegrafter
Ooof!! only 7 of mine through, shocked by Vagaries after its fine run last time, and as for Gwatkin, I really thought this had potential to go all the way, refocus for the next round,
8 November 2015
alan
@COUNTERBLAST TO AGNOSTICISM
taps nose, Qatari Baksheesh, Russian doping
the Lux Familiar Cup is more corrupt that Fifa & the ICC banded together
is it true that Chris Rand’s son now works as director at the HMHB Dubai HQ?
9 November 2015
Chris The Siteowner
I love the idea of HMHB having a Dubai HQ. Or my son ever working.
9 November 2015
Bill Smith
13 of my choices made it through, but disappointed about Dean Friedman and am totally perplexed that the filler Restless Legs ran classic Vitas Gerulaitis so close. And that Light at the End of the Tunnel is so popular. And that Fix It didn’t get anywhere near the 100% it deserves.
9 November 2015
Martin
13-3. Very happy.
9 November 2015
EXXO
I notice comments are closed on the big 192-song list thingy, but I dare say I’m not the only one who would enjoy a side project guessing the final Top 7 at this point, based on the results of the last 32 and the clue given a few weeks ago that it was so very different from the 2011 top ten.
I propose 1 point for every correct song of the 7, 1 further point for a song 1 place out, and 2 further points for a song correctly guessed in the right place.
(e.g. if I get 4 of the top 7 songs right, two of them one place out and one of them in the exact right place I’d score 8 points (maximum possible 21).
Tie breaker would be the one whose guess for top song was nearest to the top.
9 November 2015
gipton teenager
I posted on the ‘voting’ bit last night after getting home late having seen a brutal film at the film festival, but the brutality of the film was was nothing compared to the brutality of the last 32. How long before the next round? The participants will need some serious physio to be in top shape for the next games. (6-10)
(Draw tonight, voting starts in the next day or two – CtSO)
9 November 2015
Chris The Siteowner
Here’s as good a place as any if people want to do that, Exxo!
We can also have a follow-up competition after the next round, on that round’s results page, if you like.
Let’s just make it a Top 4 prediction though. You’ve got 16 songs left from which to predict the 4 which came highest in the Baguette Dilemma round. They are: A Country Practice; All I Want For Christmas Is A Dukla Prague Away Kit; Asparagus Next Left; Bob Wilson – Anchorman; Dead Men Don’t Need Season Tickets; Evening Of Swing (Has Been Cancelled); Everything’s AOR; Fix It So She Dreams Of Me; For What Is Chatteris…; Joy Division Oven Gloves; National Shite Day; Outbreak Of Vitas Gerulaitis; Rock And Roll Is Full Of Bad Wools; The Light at the End of the Tunnel; The Trumpton Riots; and Twenty Four Hour Garage People. As Exxo points out, the only clue I’ve dropped is that it ain’t that much like last time.
9 November 2015
EXXO
Why 4? The top 7 are there to be guessed.
Or shall we take that as a hint that 5-7 are trickier?
9 November 2015
EXXO
In coming to my conclusions I’m effectively trying to guess more or less what’s in the 16 blank spaces anyway so I do strongly suggest we do at least 1-7
9 November 2015
Two fat feet
Can we take it that the draw numbers for tonight relate to the match no from the previous round, rather than alphabetically? We might be following the draw and be all excited that our favourite has an easy tie against a complete no-hoper, only to find when the voting begins that it actually has a long midweek trip to National Shite Day.
Of course, we know there are no easy games at this stage Brian.
9 November 2015
Kendo nagasaki
Gotta agree with the featureless tv producer on this one. Thy damnation missing out is pretty tragic. Also not that happy about theme the vagaries being brushed aside. That said 10-6 in my favourite in terms of the overall result
9 November 2015
Chris The Siteowner
Exxo: Feel free to do what you want, it just seemed like it might be too much of a chore for some people to do so many. TFF: Duh, of course it should have been the match numbers relating to the balls, but I missed that one, and ordered them based on their scores in the Last 32. Shan’t change it now. You can see the numbers (and watch the draw take place live!) here.
9 November 2015
Bobby SVARC
Quite surprised that UFO hasn’t got any runners in the last 16.
9 November 2015
Two fat feet
One step closer to my dream of witnessing the draw being made live in front of the whole nation. Probably as close as it will ever be.
9 November 2015
Stringy BOB
Chatteris you bastard !
9 November 2015
Jeff Dreadnought
@Bobby, I agree, a great shame, what with it being their best yet.
9 November 2015
Bobby SVARC
@Jeff. I’d feel a tad miffed tbh. their best yet?…definitely.
9 November 2015
Schoon
1. National Shite Day
The Trumpton Riots
Bob Wilson – Anchorman
For What Is Chatteris…
Joy Division Oven Gloves
Country Practice
7. All I Want For Christmas Is A Dukla Prague Away Kit
What do I win?
9 November 2015
Iam Burn
How the ruddy heck did Restless Legs not get through?
This will no doubt lead to an outbreak of Lisa Riley.
12 November 2015
Geordie Paul
I am disappointed that the Dracula song got knocked out. It was the best one on the last album. I didn’t know when the voting finished so I only voted for the top 8 or so ties. Chris in 4 years time can we have reminders in the daily email please, or that it’s on even. My ideal final now would be National Shite versus Dukla Prague, but I am fed up that Westward Hope can’t contest the pointless third place play off.
12 November 2015
Clwydian IAN HILL
@Paul The Dracula song ?
12 November 2015
Dr Desperate
Adam Boyle – Wicker Man – Christopher Lee – Dracula?
On that basis, which song might be referred to as the Solo song?
12 November 2015
Chris The Siteowner
This? But it wasn’t on the last album.
12 November 2015
Clwydian IAN HILL
The Betterware man as Dracula perhaps ? Or maybe a bizarre auto-correct of dementia ?
12 November 2015
TWO FAT FEET
@Dr Desperate – I know I know! Fix It So She Dreams Of Me.
Or am I over-thinking this?
12 November 2015
Dr Desperate
Correctamundo, @2FF!
FISSDOM – Blade Runner – Harrison Ford – (Han) Solo.
13 November 2015
Geordie Paul
The Dracula song is Westward Hope obviously. I got into listening to it at the same time as Bram Stoker’s Dracula pinball table was released on the PS3 and the 2 things somehow merged in my mind.
13 November 2015
EXXO
OK back to the guessing game anyone?
I thought I had my order for that Baguette Round Top 7 sorted the other day when I first posited the guess-the-top-seven challenge, but then while I had time to kill in an airport the other day I started thinking about, then seriously over-thinking, the significance of Chris’ allocations of Europa teams for the round of 32 draw (you hinted at some sort of not-really-seeding-but-a-bit-of-help for the big guns) …
I’m also guessing that the “very different top ten” business could be a bit of a red herring if we over-estimate “very” and that in fact only about 4 of the top 13 are different, even if that might mean say 5 or 6 of the top 10.
So I’d be surprised if I haven’t got more of the right top 7 here than the only other guesser so far (to whom a big chapeau for having the nerve to go for it first), but equally unsurprised if my order is totally arse-over-tit:
1. The Light
2. R& R is Full of BW
3. NSD
4. JDOG
5. T. Riots
6. AOR
7. 24HGP
8. (known) Vagaries
9. Bob Wilson
10. (known) Village
11. DPAK
12. Evening of Swing
13. Outbreak of VG
15 November 2015
Chris The Siteowner
Some black pegs, some white ones. #Mastermind
15 November 2015
Paul f
Bold predictions Exxo – surely ACP can’t have sunk that far in 4 years?
15 November 2015
EXXO
The 2 songs whose poor performance in the 32 surprised me most were probably ACP & Fix It, though they both progressed. You have to fill the blank spaces mainly on performance in the 32 … and let’s face it Chris allocated Spurs to ACP when they were away at a very decent team….
15 November 2015
Jeff Dreadnought
Not a bad shout from Exxo there, as (apart from the clue that they got lumbers with Spurs in the seeding) there’s a good case to be made for ACP finishing outside the top ten in qualifying this year. For a start, it only came sixth in qualifying in 2011, and this time round it had another two albums’ worth of competition. And this year there may have been a bit of an underdog effect going on, with people voting against ACP because they don’t want a predictable tournament with the same winner as last time. And finally, it may seem a daft question given they won in 2011, but just how popular is ACP? Judging by some of the comments, there are those who see it as a “long-winded rant” that “goes on a bit”. And it arguably had a pretty easy ride to the finals last time before coming up against a song that polarises opinion perhaps more than any other.
15 November 2015
Jeff Dreadnought
*lumbered. Bloody predictive text.
15 November 2015
Schoon
‘Lumbered’ with the mighty Spurs, who were third closest to Tranmere? Or wherever it was.
15 November 2015
Jeff Dreadnought
I suppose by my ironic use of “lumbered” I mean that Spurs weren’t expected to do that well away to Anderlecht (wrongly, as we outplayed them – although of course found a way of losing all the same). In other words ACP weren’t one of the “big guns” so weren’t give the extra being allocated a team expected to rack up a lot of points.
My brain hurts.
15 November 2015
Jeff Dreadnought
*given the extra help of being. Apologies.
15 November 2015
Schoon
No apology needed. Just thought the distance tie break thing meant Spurs were a reasonably good draw for ACP.
15 November 2015
Jeff Dreadnought
Yes… it would be interesting to know what Chris’s intentions were, although if he told us it would be giving too much away.
My predictions:
1. NSD
2. Wools
3. AOR
4. Chatteris
5. 24h GP
6. Light … Tunnel
7. Bob
8. Vagaries
9. JDOG
10 Village
11 ACP
12 DPAK
13. Riots
Biggest surprise is how much worse Dean Friedman did this time round, after performing so well in qualifying in 2011. Although I suppose the change in format makes it hard to compare the two.
15 November 2015
Jeff dreadnought
If you can call guessing something that has already happened a “prediction”, that is. Which you probably can’t.
15 November 2015
EXXO
@ Jeff, good to see you venturing your arm although neither yourself nor the Schoonster seem to have fully registered Chris’ comments re the impact of the antics of the “ABC” brigade. Have a look at the ‘skip’ percentage on the song that finished 18th, and then look what positions other songs with a similar “skip” percentage finished in.
15 November 2015
Schoon
I can’t find the skip comment, but I assume you are saying a lot of people skipped Chatteris? Why not just vote against it?
15 November 2015
Jeff dreadnought
@Exxo – ah yes. That looks like quite an opinion-polarising song there in 18th. I didn’t factor that into my spreadsheet. Black peg for me, then.
15 November 2015
Jeff dreadnought
Or come to think of it no peg at all in fact, if I remember the rules to Mastermind correctly.
15 November 2015
EXXO
@ Schoon, no the opposite, all I’m saying is for me the most obvious guess was what finished 18th based on what Chris aid the low skip %.
15 November 2015
EXXO
What Chris said and the low skip %, even.
16 November 2015
Chris The Siteowner
So DPAK did a lot better in the qualifiers than our predictors above thought then. Not sure if the plucky Czechs will take much consolation from that for not making the last eight though.
19 November 2015
EXXO
Very pleasantly impressed by that position. 30 years tomorrow since its broadcast on the first Peel session by the way.
19 November 2015