It’s the third qualifying group in The Lux Familiar Cup – in which readers of The Half Man Half Biscuit Lyrics Project choose their favourite songs of all time. Voting on this album closed on Sat 26 February 2011, and the results from this qualifying group are below. An impressive 440 votes were cast, and we had a runaway winner and a comfortable second-place going through to the knockout stage. One or two songs may stand a chance in the “strongest third place” slots which will be available.
Qualified for last 32
1. Everything’s AOR (26.1%)
2. Outbreak Of Vitas Gerulaitis (15.5%)
In the race for the fastest losers:
3. A Lilac Harry Quinn (11.4%)
4. Hedley Verityesque (10.9%)
5. Yipps (My Baby Got The) (10.2%)
The voting may be over, but I’m sure the post-match analyses are only just beginning.
Chris The Siteowner
So I listened to the album again before voting, as you should, and “Yipps” has become a complete earworm, even through the football and rugby this afternoon. Oh well, could be worse songs by worse artists, I suppose.
12 February 2011
Poolio
Subsequent to re-listen… reinstated as fave “album du bisquit”…
13 February 2011
BrumBiscuit
A Lilac Harry Quinn’s my favourite off this album. It usually appears on gigs’ playlists, so no complaints when it does. My only quibble is that no one considering Campagnolo components for a bike would also consider Sturmey Archer. Chalk & cheese really. A bit like bunging Stella and Timothy Taylor Landlord together – it just doesn’t work. Catchy lyric though.
16 February 2011
Steve Nicholls
The Kendo Nagasaki chorus of Everything’s AOR usually wedges itself into my head for a few days after one listen.
(Not telling you what I’m voting for, mind)
20 February 2011
Pete T
2nd best LP after This Leaden Pall for me, nearly every song a winner, and Yipps, is sublime, especially the n n n n n no bit, always makes me smile. And the LP contains prob my fave Biscuit lyric, in “6 weeks to live but at least I’m not in Journey, sign on you crazy diamond”. Hopefully the HMHB curse will strike those who covered Don’t Stop Believing…
20 February 2011
Dave Cooper
Everything’s AOR will surely be a runner for overall winner, it came second to Country Practice on the mailing list vote a few years back.
23 February 2011
Vendor of Quack Nostrums
A week is a long time in The Lux Familiar Cup. The last seven days have seen challenges to the rules which, if implemented, would result in complexities only elsewhere seen if one tries to purchase a train ticket and accusations of selling out to The Man after the announcement of one additional gig per season to be played on foreign soil. ‘Keep the Cup Familiar’ should be the rallying call and ‘More Gigs Anywhere!’ the battle cry. However during this unprecedented turmoil one song has just quietly got on with doing what it does best and has laid down a gauntlet to challenge all comers.
Isaac Newton had his apple (possibly), John Snow had his standpipe, August Kekulé had his snake (albeit in a daydream) and Nigel Blackwell had his tennis racket. Key moments in history when everything changed. Paradigm moments when hyperbole became insufficient to express the essence of what was going on. Whilst Newton, Snow and Kekulé, it can be argued, have had the greater impact on the whole of humanity, none of them had the foresight to hold an apple, a standpipe or an imaginary snake up against their faces and pretend to be a masked wrestler. And that is, in effect, the difference. For many Biscuiteers Everything’s AOR was the moment when HMHB went from being ‘a good band, a laugh, funny but clever too, loike’ to being jaw droppingly sensational. That single moment of lyrical genius has, I suspect, carried this song safely through the group stage and is likely to carry it quite a long way further yet.
Joining Everything’s AOR in the next round is An Outbreak of Vitas Gerulaitis, making it a tennis themed clean sweep. Vitus may well have broken out of this group but it won’t be too long before he, yet again, meets a challenge that he just cannot cope with. More long term hope will come from A Lilac Harry Quinn, if it can safely negotiate the group stage play-offs. It will have to move up a gear or two in order to prevent its challenge from being derailleured, but it’s a strong finisher; it will take a quality song to outpace it and deny it a second round berth.
26 February 2011
Chris The Siteowner
I can’t wait to see your reports in later stages from the Tactics Truck.
26 February 2011
Chris
Hopefully, Ordinary To Enschede will pop up in the EPs round as thats my favourite from this period, weirdly.
Odd there were no shouts for Let’s Not – probably shows why the lads don’t release many singles as they always pick the wrong ones!
9 March 2011