The Draw
| Oblong of Dreams | v | Everything’s AOR |
And so we get to elect a new Favourite Song. In the red-and-white striped corner, perennial contender Everything’s AOR, closing song from the band’s third studio album, 1991’s McIntyre, Treadmore and Davitt. It made the round of 32 in our 2011 tournament, the semi-finals in 2015 (both times losing to National Shite Day) and the quarter finals in 2019 (losing to Light at the End of the Tunnel). In the Voltarol-coloured corner, Oblong of Dreams, closing song from the band’s most recent album, in its first tournament, putting in the strongest ever performance for a new song. Both are massive gig favourites, with Everything’s AOR having been performed in 62 of the last 64 gigs, and Oblong of Dreams in all 17 gigs since it was first heard live. The brilliant Half Man Half Biscuit Data Retrieval System site has loads of live versions of both songs to choose from, but here’s a great example of each if it helps with your deliberations.
If you have a definite favourite and would like to explain its genius, please free to do so in the comments below. You never know, it might persuade a few people!
Clash City Rocker
So will Robbo escape out of his overturned Viva and unmask Kendo Nagasaki to take the coveted title on tournament debut? The power and choice is in your hands Biscuit fans, vote wisely.
24 October 2023
dr DEsperate
Desperate choice: the song that Nigel dedicated to my then recently-deceased bro in Manchester in 2018, or the one that @Wilts Rover described as giving me “an almost religious experience” in Bristol last month? I may have to abstain.
24 October 2023
paul f
While OoD is my favourite, and listening to it can be a euphoric experience, I have a soft spot for AOR. While aware of DHSS back in the day (and Sam Davis, the other Bald Brother, was a teacher at my school), the band’s return to recording initially passed me by. Then somewhere along the way, possibly around 2004, I think I saw a quote online somewhere of the key line in AOR. It made me smile, but then I heard the song and laughed out loud at its delivery, showing me that it wasn’t just the humour of the line, but the whole package. From there I found Gez’s site and downloaded the radio sessions that he had available at the time, and after that watched my CD collection grow…
24 October 2023
Two fat feet
Well the TFF algorithm has decreed that Oblong will win with 54% of the vote; closer than I’d anticipated but both semi-final results meant their respective ratings are now much closer. However with an average error rate of around 3% over the last three rounds, this could be a photo-finish.
24 October 2023
Two fat feet
One of the first impressions I always get when listening to MT&D, certainly when listening to the albums in order, is how much better it *sounds*, in terms of production and musical proficiency. The songs are longer and more throughly arranged, without compromising on the humour which has always been the most prominent characteristic of the band’s output. It sounds just so much more accomplished than previous releases and AOR epitomises this tweaking of the band’s style. Its longevity as a live favourite shows that it deserves to be regarded as a classic of the band’s early years and it’s perhaps surprising that given its strong performance in previous LFC tournaments this is the first time it’s made the final.
Oblong also strikes me as an astonishingly accomplished track, it just sounds like a great song even if it doesn’t lyrically strike any particular chord with me. It was singled out for particular attention when Voltarol was released and it was suggested it could become an instant classic, and the fact that it has swept away all opposition on its tournament debut has to be down to more than recency bias.
My vote goes to AOR but I won’t begrudge the virtual trophy going the way of the enigmatic quadrilateral.
24 October 2023
Chris The Siteowner
Interesting to see that in your post-tournament rankings, TFF, you placed AOR as the second-strongest song in both the 2015 and 2019 tournaments, despite it being knocked out at a fairly early stage. (You placed it 12th in 2011). So perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised at its eventual breakthrough.
Those links show your working at the time.
24 October 2023
Chris The Siteowner
And now the big reveal: in the Baguette Dilemma round, the two finalists were only placed 7th and 9th. The losing semi-finalists were placed 2nd and 12th.
24 October 2023
Two fat feet
I think I did note in an earlier round that AOR had been the one to run the eventual winner closest on two previous occasions, despite having never made the final, hence being ranked second on those occasions as it suggests it may have only been an unfortunate draw that prevented it getting that far on either occasion.
24 October 2023
BAD LOSER
A very worthy final.
In one corner, the song I probably played more than any other prior to the release of Achtung Bono. After more than 3 decades there isn’t the slightest suggestion of fatigue listening to it and I can even overlook that one or two lines remind me of the worst boss I ever had.
In the other corner: Oblong. When TVY was first released, the neighbours probably got used to hearing this as the drive from my mother’s would see me reach home part way through Oblong and I wasn’t getting out of the car till it had finished. When I saw a design of t-shirts advertised, with a space for a verse from the song of your choice, I chose one from this without a second thought. The great bass intro and great sing-along ending earn this my vote.
I’ll have no complaints if AOR wins: I just wonder what route the open-top bus will take.
24 October 2023
MULDOON LIVES!
Heart (AOR) Vs Head (OOD) – Either a most worthy winner.
24 October 2023
D list paul ross
AOR for me, loved it the first time I heard it and have loved it ever since, especially live. OOD is a great song so either way fair enough.
24 October 2023
Nige nnto
I guess I have less affinity with oblong, never having set foot in the peninsula, so I voted for AOR
24 October 2023
Coops
AOR simply because I was at a low point in my life when MT&D was released and this song was probably the first time I had laughed out loud for weeks.
24 October 2023
AudreY s. EuphemiSMS
Hard, hard, hard choice.
A song I have loved and listened to without losing the joy of it since my early 20s or a song that I have loved for the last 18 months of my mid-50s and listened to and sung along with many many times in that short period of time?
I’ve gone with the new boy, but will be made up if the old lad wins it too – it would be about time.
Showtime!
24 October 2023
Cream cheese and chives
This will influence nobody and neither should it, but this is the final that I wanted and feared at the same time.
Given Neil’s breaking news , I will start with AOR for it is the bass that makes this SUCH a favourite. The genius of his rumbling opening is obvious but live it sounds even better. It sounds so Hooky but with lyrics that are so patently unJoy Division. Who as a kid did not at some time put a tennis racket up against their face and pretend to be all manner of others and even now it remains my favourite imagined riposte to use in any argument? A highlight of any show, it is also Mrs C&C’s favourite HMHB song and she can be relied upon to try to explain its brilliance to non plussed non fans when drink has been taken.
And so to Oblong of Dreams. On first hearing it struck me as a song as good as Terminus and one that would bemuse those lazy critics who still regard HMHB as a comedy band. All that has changed is just how much I love it. It celebrates the normal, the local and the mundane and their brilliance. I have some knowledge of the Wirral but this song is about everyone’s everywhere; for me it is Hazelbadge Fields and behind Lennons’ supermarket. Everyone has a Robbo and bonfire memory and sometimes sunbeams on their childhood. There is poetry here as well as the soaring musical majesty of the
Clouds part, show time/Cowslips and celandine couplet.
Perhaps there is a butcher somewhere who will dress his window, with half Kendo Nagasaki themed and the other adorned with daffodils and cowslips, but there must be a winner and for me it is Oblong of Dreams.
Best wishes to Neil and to all Biscuiteers. Many of us are of an age where bad news seems to arrive more frequently than it ever used to and this magnificent forum has hosted too much of late.
24 October 2023
Rhombus of nigHtmarEs
The two SFs I voted for and a worthy final. I currently think that OOD is the best song the band has ever done – it’s absolutely astonishing. Whether I will think that in 4 years time is another matter. ACP was deemed to be the peak of HMHB back in the day, but almost feels a bit passé now.
AOR is a fantastic song on one of the band’s very best albums and if it wins I’ll be more than happy with that.
24 October 2023
Transit full of keith
I started composing my take on the big clash. An hour in, page two, I was expounding a theory about NB’s almost pathological avoidance of sincerity, the ducking away from emotion towards trivia and surreal jokes, being his most unique, ironically expressive and interesting contribution to songwriting, with his embrace of unironical emotion and nostalgia in Oblong of Dreams an experiment which doesn’t quite come off, like there is an essential ingredient of the Biscuit missing… Suddenly fearing I would be cancelled for this heresy or taunted for pretentiousness, I binned it and will simply say that I am voting “Everything’s AOR” because it is a better song.
24 October 2023
EXXO
I might regret this, but I won’t be the only one burning with curiosity about your arguments on page two (send email if you prefer). Why doesn’t it quite come off IYHO?
Seriously, one reason why I don’t participate in the discussions about songs is that, there isn’t any – people very rarely go beyond saying which their favourite is. there is often a clause or two that purports to be a reason, but in effect it will just say “because it is/isn’t as good/powerful/important to me” and not actually analyse why. It’s understandable – people aren’t trained in critical analysis and lack the vocabulary. But I know you, of all people, are. So do go ‘ead.
25 October 2023
EXXO
I’d argue that “the almost pathological avoidance of sincerity,” has to be qualified with something like “in most emotions, with notable exceptions such as (i) sincere and constant anger at privilege, affectation, pretentiousness, sycophancy and bullshit” (which has always been there from the start) (ii) sincere expression of alienation on behalf of all kinds of alienated viewpoints. And that ‘experiment[ation] [with sincerity in a much wider range of emotions]’ began at least as early as several songs on ‘UFO’. And that ‘Terminus’ and ‘Escort’ and ‘Oblong’ are the true masterpieces of this phase so far, and so it isn’t really an experiment at all – it’s only our mindset which might still see it like that, because of the sheer weight of the “avoiding sincerity” songs.
25 October 2023
dr DEsperate
I was asked in the pre-gig pub in Norwich last year if Nigel had ever written any honest-to-God love songs, and I came up with ‘Slipping the Escort’, ‘Swerving the Checkatrade’, ‘Bane of Constance’ and ‘Teenage Bride’.
@Bastard in the Hat, for it was he, said “You’re going through a mental Rolodex, aren’t you?”
(I later thought of a few unrequited ones like ‘Mod. Diff.’, ‘Tess’, ‘Outstretched Arms’ and ‘Persian Rug Sale’).
25 October 2023
Huddersfield’s Very Own Steve Malkmus
I was on Team Oblong all the way through, but I’ve switched my allegiance at the last minute like little Timmy (aka “Spoilt B*st*rd”) from Viz deciding he was now a Chelsea fan rather than Manchester United.
My reasoning? Basically I’d not listened to TVY as much since it was released as my only copy of it was the physical media- so my musical entertainment when leaving the home was restricted to things I had in digital form on my phone. A couple of weeks ago I acquired my first car in ten years, Trans-Pennine Express having finally tested my love of train travel to the limit. This car, being 12 years old, has a CD player in it.
TVR has been in near constant rotation since, and as much as it’s a damn good album it’s also quite emotionally trying. This would hold it in good stead for the Mercury Music Prize (q.v.), but the LFC is a different beast. Tess, Big Man, Escort and Oblong all tug at my heart strings in a way that is both exhilarating and devastating, and they leave me floored and with damp eyes that make it difficult to safely negotiate Chain Bar. With Oblong being the closer, I’m often emotionally “bottomed out” by the time it comes around.
EAOR (or ETAOR to some- we need a stewards’ inquiry on that one) is a well constructed and hilarious song that has stood the test of time. I realise that for many this post will probably have made a better case for Oblong than it has for AOR, but anyway that’s the reasoning for my last minute switch. No sillier than swapping Neil Warnock for a “nice bloke”.
25 October 2023
gipton teenager
For me, OOD is my second-favourite song by anyone, ever. EAOR is probably not in my top five by HMHB.
25 October 2023
Transit full of keith
Maybe for me OOD falls a little short partly because it can be understood fully on one listen. Other songs seem a lot more complex and ambiguous and therefore inexhaustible (eg ‘LHQ’, ‘Harsh Times’, ‘Emerging from Gorse’). They still contain secrets, I never get bored with them.
25 October 2023
Exxo
Maybe you need to start a petition for Paddy Shennan not to ask Mr B anything about those songs then 😀
Seriously though, decent answer, swerving the critical analysis with aplomb.
@Gipton T. That is quite an accolade from an F-club/moshpit man for HMHB’s Rogers and Hammerstein moment.
@HVOSM Great post! I am concerned for safety on the M62 though so just do what I do and start the album at track 5.
25 October 2023
GOK WAN ACOLYTE
Since we got to the Knockout stages I have only voted for 2 winners, so am reluctant to state my preference for fear of jeopardising its chances. But given that I’m clearly out of step with the majority, I will just comment that I don’t think either of these are the two ‘best’ HMHB songs (also a win for either will wreck a theory I had about the winner reflecting the political climate at the time)
(If interested, it was
2011 – ACP – the song’s cynicism of New Labour having just been reflected in the 2010 General Election
2015 – NSD – a reflection of the state of the UK after 5 years of austerity
2019 – Light – with no apparent answer to the Brexit stalemate, any possible solution or hope was likely to turn out to be worse than what had gone before
But I can’t really fit AOR or OOD into that thesis)
25 October 2023
parsfan
If I’d remembered in time I’d have voted for both of these in the semis but, again if I’d remembered, only for one of those four in the quarters. I’ve remembered this time and stuck with that one.
25 October 2023
No chi(m)ps allowed
So, here we are at the Grand Finale. They may not be your particular favourite songs, but they are both very decent tunes. Well deserving of their place in the final. Like the FA Cup, the luck of the draw has brought us here. So do I go for the regular bridesmaid, one of the old guard full of punk defiance, or the new kid on the block, which shows a certain maturity, full of nostalgia and reminiscing, looking back with fondness to earlier good days. Both are excellent live, and interestingly, both begin with a boss bass intro. Hmmm!
25 October 2023
John A
The song I most want them to play when I see them live is AOR. So that’s why I’m voting for it.
And of course the fact, as picked up by Cream Cheese above, that it has the greatest line to shout back into the face of an uncaring and often brutal universe [even better if you actually have a racket to hand at the time].
I still have a lot to find in further listening to OoD and I look forward to hearing it more live. Maybe one day it will replace AOR as my most hoped for tune.
But that will be for a future Cup.
Thanks for organising this one.
26 October 2023
GIpton teenager
Sorry Exxo, totally airshipped me there. Mind you, I’ve been playing board games in the brewery all night.
26 October 2023
dr DEsperate
@Gippo: possibly a reference to OoD being one of Neil’s least moshable arrangements; more in the style of Richard Ro(d)gers.
26 October 2023
Cream CHEESE AND chives
Could the likes of Damian Green or David Lloyd not be door stepped to find their preferences? What is a cup final competition without the obligatory celebs?
26 October 2023
Chris The Siteowner
It’s a very good point. I have contacted both of them. I await a response! If anyone can think of other celebs who can be drafted in to the Cup Final Grandstand studio, please do contact them. I believe that the great Robert Bathurst has been voting in earlier rounds.
26 October 2023
Sid
My case for Oblong Of Dreams: it’s just a really good song innit
To elaborate a bit more, I work a job that enables me to play music over loudspeakers to often dozens of people. As a result, I have been able to inflict vast quantities of Half Man Half Biscuit on people otherwise unable to escape, and while it hasn’t yet yielded much results in the department of getting asked “what is this and where do I find more”, it’s still a fun experience to get to hear all my favourite songs playing so loud. And *every* time Oblong Of Dreams comes on, it sounds absolutely *incredible* over proper speakers.
So much Half Man Half Biscuit stuff sounds great over speakers, don’t get me wrong. But there is something about Oblong Of Dreams that turns it into a truly beautiful experience.
It’s also just a great song for listening to while out on a walk, though perhaps too great: I feel an overwhelming urge to belt it out, which I obviously have to suppress in public.
Really, though, these are both great songs and I don’t think there will be any tears no matter who wins. I just know who I’ll be voting for.
26 October 2023
Whitcombe L Judson
Oblong for me. Music, lyricism, whimsy. Oh, and it’s newer.
26 October 2023
Jim in the norwegian seA
I’m voting for “Everything’s AOR”. Why?
So many anthemic rock n roll songs out there, with lines like “it’s a town full of losers/I’m pulling out of here to win”. Great stuff, fist pumps and hurrah all round BUT…..
Dear old NB10 comes along with an anthemic chorus, where the boast is the ability to impersonate an all-in wrestler. Pure genius, and I adore the whole “defiant mouse squeak” of it….
Of course I belt it out at the top of me lungs at live gigs.
26 October 2023
Kanikoski
I’ve been backing losers all the way so far, so maybe I should vote tactically. Whatever that means. However, I’ll be moderately content with either result, as long as it doesn’t go to VAR.
26 October 2023
Amanda Warhurst
Sid – I totally agree. OOD is the best song to listen to when out on a walk in springtime. It’s going to get my vote, not just for this reason thought. AOR is wonderful heard live at a gig, great to sing (shout?!) along to, has amusing lyrics, and as a former “Jackie” reader I appreciate the reference even if I no longer follow the make up tips.
OOD however, is just in another league for me. Poetry with a thumping bass line. Lyrics that make my heart soar and my eyes water at the same time. I’ve heard it described as a love song to the Wirral, which being brought up in the north west of England made my whole family laugh (rude!). When I first got my hands on TVY this was the song that I played several times repeatedly rather than simply listening to the whole album again. If I get in the car and on my CD it’s part way through OOD I have to skip back to the start to hear it in its entirety (although it’s not unknown for me to sit in the car and wait for it to finish).
My final reason for voting for this track is because when I first saw the track listing for the new album, I presumed OOD was going to be a football-related song. I feel the need to atone!
26 October 2023
snout
EAOR for me. Bouncey bounce at gigs.
26 October 2023
BAD LOSER
My criticisms of Derek Pringle’s cricketing abilities became less harsh when I discovered he was a fan of the band.
26 October 2023
bobbybottler
AOR for me.
And I think that both Simon Mayo and Elis James are ardent Biscuiteers in public life.
26 October 2023
Transit full of keith
On the joys & mental health benefits of springtime country walks, I think that “welcome to the daylight at the back of my mind” in ‘Even Men With Steel Hearts’ packs more emotional punch than the “spring is sprung” stuff in OOD. Honourable mention too for ‘Tyrolean Knockabout’ there. What a story is told in just the line “and let’s face it it beats skulking round the seven-inch import section with him”.
26 October 2023
Blighted ray
Oblong Of Dreams. This is it.
26 October 2023
Ferencváros fan
Reckon I’m backing another loser but AOR. It has stood the test of time and if vomiting bugs and family bereavements don’t prevent me from attending gigs, when I am there I just get that frisson when I hear the opening chords. All of a sudden the world feels like it’s a better place. I also feel the same about ETABR so yeah that semi was an almighty tough choice. FWIW I backed the loser there too…
26 October 2023
SQUID YES OCTOPUS NO
EAOR has one of the best opening lines ever (particularly for those of a certain vintage). As for the argument that OoD has more emotion, I’d challenge that, EAOR is filled with righteous, if impotent, rage. It just means more to me. (I think the best line in OoD is ‘anyway, he’s out of it now…’)
26 October 2023
Cream CHEESE AND chives
Do the two finalists have other halves who might be gazed upon as they sit in the stands?
26 October 2023
Irish Niall
Deeply conflicted on this and haven’t voted yet. I suspect OoD is unbeatable and I don’t have a problem with it winning -it’s a wonderful song that’s come to mean a lot to me (and some of my family) in a very short period of time. I’ve mentioned elsewhere -the album arrived and went straight into the cars CD player (still there!) as my mam entered the home straight in a battle with leukemia and dementia. Though obviously a stand alone classic, its coming right after Slipping the Escort is a reminder of lots of things about life. Not least that life is good but life is impermanent and transient. Life is rich but also life’s about change and loss.
And ultimately life will go on.
Yet, I’ve a whole lifetime of memories built up around AOR from final exams to first long-term GF all the way to first HMHB gig over a decade later and of course later again trying to make it sound “right” with HAHB (we genuinely considered going Spinal Taps Big Bottoms on it and using two basses to try and emulate the huge sound Neil gets out of his Rick. Take a bow Mr. Crossley)
I’m also left wondering should seniority not count for something and if AOR doesn’t bring it home now -will it ever?
Yet Oblong is Oblong and if HMHB never made another record what a song to sign off with.
26 October 2023
No chi(m)ps allowed
So, after much debating, the decision is made. Two of my favourite songs by the band, definitely top 10, maybe even top 5. I did think of abstaining, but I didn’t know where to stick my “X”. By the narrowest of margins 50.5% to 49.5% my vote goes to AOR. Oblong is an excellent song and if it isn’t already, it WILL become a classic for the music and its fine lyrics. I can’t wait to go on that walk of discovery. The bridesmaid may never get this close again. So, here’s to the flailing arms, the crashing bodies, the sweat and the sing along aloud chorus. Whichever loses, I won’t be as sick as the proverbial. PS Anyone for tennis?
26 October 2023
Johnny kwango
Ex-wrestlers surely need to stick up for one another, so that’s made a very difficult choice that little bit easier.
EAOR by one fall, one submission or a knockout.
27 October 2023
dr DEsperate
@CC&C: The two finalists do (or did) indeed have other halves. Oblong’s German wife Eintracht – her name means Harmony – will be in the stands; Everything was married to Carla Lane, but since she handed in her season ticket in 2016 he’s done without her.
27 October 2023
Lux inferior
Odds for the final were originally going to be 2/7 Oblong, 5/2 AOR. However, the comments on this thread seem to suggest it will be a more closely fought battle than perhaps anticipated, so a slight tweak required (although still with Oblong as a very clear favourite), and I’ve settled on:
Oblong 1/3
AOR 9/4
TFF’s statistical analysis from previous LFCs makes for fascinating reading, and much kudos to him for the continued accuracy of his predictions. AOR has only ever been eliminated by one of the ‘big four’, and almost certainly would have made at least one previous final with a slightly more favourable draw. Lovely to see it make it all the way this time, though it would only ever be destined for the runner-up spot as the result of…
An
Oblong
Reversal
27 October 2023
Old tige
I’m enough of an Anglophile to understand a lot of Nigel’s references, but as a benighted American I will never understand EAOR because 1) I have no idea who Kendo Nagasaki is, and 2) Sade, Whitney, and T’Pau aren’t considered AOR over here.
There seems to be something about class and gender roles that I can see the outlines of, but it doesn’t resonate with me like it does with many of you. Not to go all Area Studies on you.
Oblong is more accessible to me. I even know some Telepudlians. Similarly ETaBR, though I see aspects of myself in the hated non-hedgecutting dabblers.
27 October 2023
two fat feet
I will admit to being rather surprised at how accurate the predictions have been – not just because it suggests I’ve stumbled upon a fairly strong algorithm, but it works on the slightly flawed premise that the popularity of songs remains both constant over time and somehow quantifiable. Even the first round, which included songs with no tournament history at all, came out 92% accurate and subsequent rounds have been between 95% and 98%. At least the prediction for the final is close enough that the margin of error doesn’t make it a foregone conclusion, and judging by the balance of comments so far 9/4 is good value for AOR.
27 October 2023
POP-TART MARK
@Tige – I don’t think they are considered AOR anywhere. I always assumed they key word was “with” meaning everything you listen to is AOR, “with the addition of other shite like Sade, Whitney, Vandross and T’Pau.”
Meanwhile all you need to know about Kendo Nagasaki is find a youtube video of him wrestling in about 73, and imagine the impression that would make on you as ten year-old in a world where everything else was boring (there were only 3 channels on British telly).
(And, er, we have a page on him – CtSO)
28 October 2023
dr DEsperate
I’ve always assumed that the list of musical acts answers the question “Tell me how does your CD collection grow?”, in the same way that “With silver bells and cockleshells…” answers the original. (Incidentally, should that question be punctuated lin the same way as this one?)
In any case, Wikipedia informs me that the term ‘AOR’ can have various meanings, with the ‘A’ standing for “adult”, “album” and “arena”, among other things.
I would have posted this on the ‘AOR’ page, but there isn’t one.
(Yeah, my fault, some kind person pointed that out last week and I added it, but then forgot to put it in the listing. It’s there now – CtSO)
28 October 2023
POP-TART MARK
It’s the “R” that doesn’t apply, whatever the “A” stands for.
28 October 2023
LITTLEGRAFTER
Got to be Oblong, since a week after Voltarol came out it’s been my favourite song of theirs, and how many bands can do that almost 40 years into their career. AOR is also top drawer and was probably #1 at least until ACP, and indeed as said elsewhere, the one you most want to hear live. But the thrill of the new kid being the winner is certainly a pull, but also I feel a certain compulsion to make sure Oblong makes up for its bizarre omission from last years Festive 50.
28 October 2023
Just another lackey
My Biscuit moniker might seem to make the decision straightforward but this is anything but. All along I’ve been saying to my Biscuit-loving son that OOD is clearly going to win, such is the love for the song shown on this site. I never expected EAOR to make it this far though, otherwise OOD would be the easy choice.
Thinking about the two songs, they are both album closers from significant stages in the band’s career – one the reunion album without which there wouldn’t even be OOD to vote for (or even this site), the other the first album on their own label. Both begin with bass lines that stir the soul. They deserve their places in the final.
I bought Let’s Not and No Regrets on 12” when they were released and then McIntyre on CD before losing track of the band for a very long time. Over all that time the chorus of EAOR stayed with me – the ultimate earworm and a sentiment that still resonates.
So, much as I love OOD, I’m going to stick with the song that’s been stuck in my head for over thirty years.
Thank you to the band for making so many great songs that this most difficult decision was between two songs written thirty years apart….. Incredible.
29 October 2023
Luminous Strides
Oblong all the way. Up until Voltarol I was struggling to name my favourite song but now this is it. Totally understand the love for a song that is still a cracker 30 years on but I was born in Woodchurch and played football with my mates every week on the “field where she still walks”. Never expected a Biscuit song to move me to tears but Oblong does (and Slipping the Escort – what a surprise ending to TVY!!)
30 October 2023
Dave n barbara
Easy one for me, this: OOD just doesn’t float my boat at all beyond the alliteration. I find I’m left cold by a lot of the ‘fan favourites’ on recent albums: Terminus? Really?
Anyway, ‘long-standing live favourite’ is always going to be a good winner, so AOR it is for me.
2 November 2023
EXXO
At first it’s tempting to debate whether the “autres” who don’t understand why some brilliant songs are brilliant are more “enfer” than the “autres” who don’t realize why the slightly less brilliant songs aren’t as relatively good as they think they are, but then you remember it’s exactly the same thing. All equally “enfer” then.
2 November 2023
D list paul ross
That’s one opinion, although enfer seems a bit strong. You might say Stairway to Heaven is a better song then Sheena is a Punk Rocker but I know which I’d rather listen to.
3 November 2023
No chi(m)ps allowed
Perhaps you should discuss with Jean Paul Satre !
3 November 2023
Cream CHEESE AND chives
Blimey! Just been reading some reactions to the Beatles’ song. There are some very angry people around. Is everybody on the ‘roids?
The tone here is so much more pleasant and civilised.
3 November 2023
BAD LOSER
@ Dave & Barbara #59
I was considering launching into a lengthy explanation about how ‘Terminus’ is my favourite based on how beautifully it explains the feeling of hoplessness that I may experience one day. Then it occured to me that Mrs BL has never suggested that she counts it amongst her favourites.
3 November 2023
Chris The Siteowner
Cream Cheese & Chives (#31 above) will be delighted to know that at least one of the aforementioned celebrities has now responded and voted!
3 November 2023
schoon
Are there security protocols in place should OOD be defeated and its followers refuse to accept the result, and storm this website’s server’s house?
4 November 2023
Cream CHEESE AND chives
Curse those Chartists and their secret ballot demands.
4 November 2023
schoon
I like the countdown timer. Makes it even more exciting. Has the deadline changed since this morning?
5 November 2023
Chris The Siteowner
Bizarrely, it lost two hours somewhere. Still, not planning on adding anything for timewasting. Results page has been prepared, I’ll just need a few minutes to weed out the duplicate votes, but expect the result to be published faster than an election in Sunderland South.
5 November 2023
Schoon
Thanks for all your efforts CtSO.
5 November 2023
nige nnto
Glad the result will be tonight, saves us from a sleepless night of anticipation 🙂
5 November 2023
MULDOON LIVES!
They have started the fireworks in anticipation.
5 November 2023