Sunday, 27 December 2015

2015-12-27 Merry Gameday


close approximation of the event

8-Players: K, W, G, Si, Sc, J, D, DT
Game(s): 7 Wonders + Cities & Stone Age
Choice: Consensus
Location: K

Game One: 7 Wonders + Cities

yay cities!

Player Points
Si 58
J 56
Sc 49
DT 49
G 47
D 44
K 42
W 27

Game Two: 7 Wonders + Cities
yay cities

Player Points
Sc 58
G 56
Si 55
D 43
W 42
J 38
DT 35
K 30

babel on the other hand, not so much yay
Game Three: 7 Wonders + Cities + Babel

Player Points
Si 48
K 47
J 44
W 42
G 38
Sc 33
D 32
DT 32

Game Four: Stone Age (two side by side 4-Player games)


stone age yay!
Player Points
K 168
G 149
Sc 149
Si 133
J 132
DT 124
D 120
W 97

Final Tally

Point totals from all games were added together to get the final tally for each player

Player Points
Si 294
G 290
Sc 289
K 287
J 270
DT 240
D 239
W 208



Wednesday, 23 December 2015

2015-12-23 This is why we put up with johnny b goode

definitely not a donkey!

4-Players: K, W, G & Z
Game: Tigris and Euphrates
Location: W
Choice: Consensus


Game One:
Player Points
G 11(12)
Z 11(11)
W 9
K 8

Final Tally:

G and Z were tied at the end of the game with eleven cubes in their smallest pile. G won the tie breaker having twelve in his next smallest pile. G was declared this week's winner.

Game Notes:
  • First appearance of Z at ESBS
  • First time Z plays T & E
  • Time left at end allowed for a quick game of Dominion base (Village Square setup)
    • Scores: K (28), Z (24), W (21), G (16)
  • "Killer filler"
  • "Winning is winning"
Music Notes:



Acid Jazz on the Rocks Vol 2 (1999)

[Notes from G] Enjoyable compilation from the Italian label Irma of then contemporary artists including Jestofunk







Jethro Tull: Stand Up (1969)

[Notes from AllMusic commenter MarkYorkel] Jethro Tull's second album saw Martin Barre on guitar replace Mick Abrahams who went off to form Blodwyn Pig. Barre would form a long partnership with Ian Anderson and Stand Up is one of their best albums. Glenn Cornick's bass playing is also outstanding. While Tull has had many fine bass players, Glenn Cornick is by far the best and his sound is unique and critical to the Tull vibe. Stand out cuts include "Back To The Family", "We Used To Know", "Nothing Is Easy" and "Look Into The Sun". Other notables included "Bouree" and "Fat Man". The signature Jethro Tull sound consisting of outstanding acoustic cuts and top shelf hard rock tunes make Stand Up an absolutely essential purchase. Original vinyl copies had the pop out Tull puppets, which are a must have for the serious collector.


Jethro Tull: This Was (1968)

[Notes from AllMusic] Jethro Tull was very much a blues band on their debut album, vaguely reminiscent of the Graham Bond Organization only more cohesive, and with greater commercial sense. The revelations about the group's roots on This Was -- which was recorded during the summer of 1968 -- can be astonishing, even 30 years after the fact. Original lead guitarist Mick Abrahams contributed to the songwriting and the singing, and his presence as a serious bluesman is felt throughout, often for the better: "Some Day the Sun Won't Shine for You," an Ian Anderson original that could just as easily be credited to Big Bill Broonzy or Robert Johnson; "Cat's Squirrel," Abrahams' big showcase, where he ventures into Eric Clapton territory; and "It's Breaking Me Up," which also features some pretty hot guitar from Abrahams. Roland Kirk's "Serenade to a Cuckoo" (the first song Anderson learned to play on flute), their jazziest track ever, is one of the best parts of the album. The drum solo on "Dharma for One" now seems like a mistake, but is understandable in the context of the time in which it was done. The one number here that everybody knows, "A Song for Jeffrey," almost pales amid these surroundings, but at the time it was a superb example of commercial psychedelic blues. This would be the last album of its kind by the group, as Abrahams' departure and the lure of more fertile inspiration tugged them toward English folk music.

 
[Notes from G] Fantastic entry in the Dick's series, this time featuring a show recorded on home turf Winterland Arena (San Francisco) on December 29, 1977. Overall a great year for dead shows and this release is no exception. We listened to the last disc which included the encore from Dec 29th and a selection of tunes (killer filler) from the following night's show. Check out the track list to see why I chose that particular disc:
 
Encore:

  1. "Terrapin Station" (Hunter, Garcia) – 10:29
  2. "Johnny B. Goode" (Berry) – 4:36
Bonus tracks -- 12/30/77
  1. "Estimated Prophet" (Barlow, Weir) – 10:46
  2. "Eyes of the World" (Hunter, Garcia) – 15:25
  3. "St. Stephen" (Hunter, Garcia, Phil Lesh) – 9:18
  4. "Sugar Magnolia" (Hunter, Weir) – 9:53

Thursday, 17 December 2015

2015-12-17 Guildhall Level Three


4 Players: J, G, K & W
Game: Guildhall
Location: W
Choice: J


Game One:
Me, taking minutes
Player Points
G 21
W 9
J 6
K 6

Game Two:
Player Points
W 20
G 19
J 18
K 17



Game Notes:
  • J had a great opening move:
    • 1st player.
    • Started with an assassin in his guildhall
    • Played Weaver as 1st action: placed second assassin in guildhall
    • Played Assassin as 2nd action: attacked K (2nd player) and removed two out of three starting cards from K's guildhall effectively hamstringing K before he even got a chance to play
  • Discussion of xmas gaming. Some options identified:
    • Option 1:
      • 8-player Caverna (5 hours)
      • 8-player 7 Wonders + Cities (1.5 hours)
      • side by side 4-player Dominion (1 hour)
    • Option 2:
      • side by side 4-player Dominion (1 hour)
      • side by side 4-player Stone Age (1.5 hours)
      • final: El Grande or Agricola (4 hours)
    • Option 3:
      • Dominion tournament
    • Option 4:
      • Great Canadian-style tournament with drawn games side by side
Music Notes:

Moby: Play (1999)

[Notes from AllMusic commenter Rick Star] Though nominally an 'electronica' album, the songs also feature not just the soulful singing samples, but plenty of piano and guitars, even acoustic. The liberal use of these instruments complete the organic sound of the album, and often add a dramatic flourish you might expect in a film soundtrack. More importantly, it means the songs on Play are continually clothing the electronica that serves as the bones with emotion-stirring, organic sounds.

Black Sabbath: Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (1973)

[Notes from AllMusic] With 1973's Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, heavy metal godfathers Black Sabbath made a concerted effort to prove their remaining critics wrong by raising their creative stakes and dispensing unprecedented attention to the album's production standards, arrangements, and even the cover artwork. As a result, bold new efforts like the timeless title track, "A National Acrobat," and "Killing Yourself to Live" positively glistened with a newfound level of finesse and maturity, while remaining largely faithful, aesthetically speaking, to the band's signature compositional style. In fact, their sheer songwriting excellence may even have helped to ease the transition for suspicious older fans left yearning for the rough-hewn, brute strength that had made recent triumphs like Master of Reality and Vol. 4 (really, all their previous albums) such undeniable forces of nature. But thanks to Sabbath Bloody Sabbath's nearly flawless execution, even a more adventurous experiment like the string-laden "Spiral Architect," with its tasteful background orchestration, managed to sound surprisingly natural, and in the dreamy instrumental "Fluff," Tony Iommi scored his first truly memorable solo piece. If anything, only the group's at times heavy-handed adoption of synthesizers met with inconsistent consequences, with erstwhile Yes keyboard wizard Rick Wakeman bringing only good things to the memorable "Sabbra Cadabra" (who know he was such a great boogie-woogie pianist?), while the robotically dull "Who Are You" definitely suffered from synthesizer novelty overkill. All things considered, though, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath was arguably Black Sabbath's fifth masterpiece in four years, and remains an essential item in any heavy metal collection.

Goldfrapp: Supernature (2005)

[Notes from wikipedia] Goldfrapp's third album, was released in August 2005. The album comprises pop and electronic dance music prominently featured on Black Cherry, but focuses more on subtle hooks instead of the large choruses that made up its predecessor.The band never intended to create dance music, however, previous releases were popular across nightclubs in North America and as a result, they decided to write a more dance-oriented album. Supernature débuted at number two on the UK Albums Chart and was certified platinum in the UK. As of February 2008, it has sold one million copies worldwide. The album received a Grammy Award nomination in 2007 for Best Electronic/Dance Album and "Ooh La La" was nominated for Best Dance Recording. The song was used for an iPhone 5 commercial in 2013.
"Ooh La La", the album's lead single, became Goldfrapp's first UK top five single. The song was chosen as the lead single "because it was up and in your face and carried on the theme of the glammy, discoey beat from the last album". "Ooh La La" became the first song performed by the band to feature the electric guitar and was cited as a highlight of the album by Allmusic. "Number 1" was released as the album's second single. Constructed around a synthesiser and bass arrangement, it was written about the importance of relationships. The album's third single "Ride a White Horse" was inspired by the disco era and reached number 15 in the UK. "Fly Me Away" was released as the album's fourth single, but did not perform as well as its predecessors.

Thursday, 10 December 2015

2015-12-10 Love Me Two Times


If you say it in a Shrek voice, it never gets old. Does it, Donkey?


4 Players: M, G, K & W
Game: Tigris & Euphrates
Location: W
Choice: G


Game One:
Player Points
M 10
W 9
K 8
G 7



Game Notes:
  • M's first game of T&E; K's second
  • The game ended early but with not enough time for a second game so we played a quick game of Dominion without M who acted responsibly and went home. We enjoyed the pretzel sticks he left behind. Thank you M!
  • G had whipped up a custom set of 10 cards all from the Dark Ages expansion.
  • Name of the deck: Trash Ahoy and it features Rats, Market Square, Death Cart and other combo friendly cards
  • Score: G 40 K 36 W 29
  • Xmas game day proposed as Dec 27, 3 - 11pm possibly at Sc's, possibly involving Uber





Music Notes:

Herbie Hancock: Headhunters (1973)

M was strangely unfamiliar with the best jazz album of 1974 (Billboard). Bringing the synthesizer to the forefront with a rock solid fast-paced funky groove providing finger tapping goodness, this album represented a turning point for HH and for jazz fusion by effectively spearheading jazz-funk.
Beastie Boys: Hot Sauce Committee Part Two (2011)

Enjoyed in Si's absence. Fresh beats from some what would be their last album.
Quantic Soul Orchestra: Stampede (2003)

Soul/Funk grooves from some contemporary masters
Frank Zappa: Apostrophe (1974)

Amazingly, this was his 18th and highest charting album. Not hard to see why, strong musicianship with some naughty lyrics. Check out the intro to this amazing track: Uncle Remus for proof of some of the beautiful songwriting on display. Or how about the title track, featuring Jack Bruce? It's an amazing instrumental piece that rips the listener right out of the previous track and totally satisfies all those primal rock and roll urges. Definitely a more rock flavoured FZ album compared to some of his more jazz-oriented material. And certainly one of the silliest and regrettable in terms of lyrical content.

Thursday, 3 December 2015

2015-12-03 Tigris and you're 'fraidy

The King arrives in Babylon, passing through the azure gates, while
in the foreground a priestess pours a libation. (original art by Stephen Walshart)

4 Players: G, Sc, W, K
Game: Tigris & Euphrates
Location: W
Choice: W
Guess who got the donkey?


Game One:
Player Points
Sc 7
G 6
K 5
W 3


Game Notes:
  • Game ended early but not early enough to start a second game
  • K had to work so he left while the rest of us played a quick 3-player game of vanilla Dominion
  • Scores: G 46, W 39, Sc 23

Music Notes:

9Lazy9: Paradise Blown (1994)

[Notes by G] We all enjoyed the funky downtempo acid jazz. This the first album by the band. Apparently former metal heads on  a genre bending trip. Features the single: Black Jesus


9Lazy9: Sweet Jones (2003)

[Notes by G] We were lazy and let W's iTunes keep playing into the next album. Once we realized what had happened, we decided to keep listening as we were all enjoying it.

Jerry Garcia: Way After Midnight (recorded 1980, released 2004)

[Notes by G] A bonus CD that came with After Midnight: Kean College. Recorded over two nights: 2/29/1980 and 3/1/1980. Five songs all covers but one. Features: Dear Prudence (The Beatles), When I Paint My Masterpiece (Dylan & The Band) and a stunning Deal (Jerry by way of Charlie Poole).

Thursday, 26 November 2015

2015-11-26 Deck the Guild Halls




5 Players: G, J, K, Si, W
Game: Guildhall
Location: W
Choice: K


She said she was a dancer...


Game One:
Player Points
G 20
J 18
Si 17
K 15
W 12



Game Notes:
  • Game ended early so we started a second game which we could not finish


Music Notes:

Kevin Yost: Small Town Underground Vol 2 (2003)

[Notes by G] W really enjoyed this American jazz-inspired house music.


Deep Purple: Come Taste the Band (1975)


[Notes by G] Not a popular choice. Skipped most of Side One.

[Notes by wikipedia] The only Deep Purple studio record featuring Tommy Bolin, who replaced Ritchie Blackmore on guitar and is also the final of three albums to feature Glenn Hughes on bass and David Coverdale on lead vocals before he later left to form Whitesnake.
Pink Floyd: Saucerful of Secrets (1968)


[Notes by G] The band's sophomore release catches the band in a time of forced transition from the Syd Barrett driven band of Piper to the Waters/Gilmour juggernaut that would power the 1970's prog-rock movement through to it's eventual death. Bridging both predominant vibes of the psychedelic sixties (light, whimsical and stoned versus dark, heavy and stoned), the album mixes both sensibilities. For example, the song Corporal Clegg, with it's bouncy rhythm and a kazoo in the musical forefront is, has a dark lyrical counterpoint (really it's a song about madness, limb amputation and the toll of war). What really defines this album and puts it up there in the annals of rock and roll history are the mostly instrumental pieces including he title track and Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun. Forever associated with LSD and the band's first album, Piper at the Gates of Dawn (re-issued together in the late seventies as "A Nice Pair"), this album remains one of my all time favourites.


Also, you have to check out this link. It absolutely blew me away and shows clearly that there's an uncredited image from Doctor Strange comic hidden in the album art. I certainly never noticed this before. But now that I see it, I cant help but see it everytime.


Augustus Pablo: King Tubby Meets the Rockers Uptown (1976)


[Notes from the discussion board of Rateyourmusic.com]Aphexquan said: ... It's a compilation of tracks that Augustus Pablo produced from 1972 to 1975 with artists like Jacob Miller and Hugh Mundell. Pablo then brought these tracks to King Tubby. The result is this meeting of two brilliant talents. You've got Augustus Pablo on clavinet and organ-piano. I find that Pablo's melodies have this very earthy, pastoral quality to them. Then King Tubby adds these effects like echo, reverb, and delay to create tension and release but he never overwhelms the natural beauty of the songs. It's like cosmic folk music. The bass lines, pushed to the front of the mix, have this great thick and fat sound to them. Check out the bass swagger on "555 Dub Street". If there actually was a street called Dub, that bass line would pimp stroll its sidewalks. And on the title track, you can pretty much see the beginnings of drum 'n' bass when it was just a glimmer in it's mother's eyes. I highly recommend this album as an introduction to dub and a lesson in how the mixing desk can be an instrument in its own right.

Wednesday, 25 November 2015

Statistical Interlude



From K:
 
Gents,
 
Since G’s proposed blog table wasn’t providing any further context to the # of wins by player that it was presenting, as promised, I’ve compiled the history of the blog entries into a spreadsheet, and then had a little bit too much nerdy accountant fun with it, in order to try to add that context.
 
Suffice it to say, the numbers still clearly show that G has been dominant (not quite as dominant as his original table suggested, but pretty darn close)!
 
Here’s a few tidbits that you may find interesting by doing a little bit of digging:

·         67 individual games*** have been played in total since the start of the blog (excluding ad hocs, as they aren’t blogged).  The most games played is by W (61), not G (60).  The rest of us are as follows: K (48), Si (44), J (41), M (33), I/Sc/DT combined (10).


·         G has won a staggering 47% of the games that he has played!  He also has easily the most wins (28), by a wide margin.  The rest of us are as follows: K (33%, 16), Si (23%, 10), W (13%, 8), J (7%, 3), M (6%, 2), I/Sc/DT (0%, 0).


·         It ain’t too shabby finishing in 2nd, particularly when we play 5 or 6 player games.  Both W and J have mastered this, as W has the most 2nd places (15), and Jason has the highest rate of 2nd places for the games he’s played (29%).  The complete listing, by rate: J (29%, 12), Si (27%, 12), W (25%, 15), M (24%, 8), G (23%, 14), K (13%, 6), I/Sc/DT (0%, 0).


***Since the data was there to do it, I compiled everything per individual game.  So, on a night where let’s say 3 games of 7 Wonders were played, although the blog declares a single “winner of the night” (which is what G used for his initial table), my stats treat each of the 3 games as a separate game and therefore each winner of an actual standalone game gets credit for that win.
 
Now, the above is just an example of your everyday accountancy nerdism.  To take the accountancy nerdism to the next level, I’ve created my own stat, which I have affectionately termed the “GAMER RATE”.  Basically, I assigned “gamer points” to all 1st and 2nd place finishes, weighted appropriately depending on the number of players in the game.  For instance, a 2nd place finish in a 3-player game earns you 0.25 gamer points, but a 2nd place finish in a 6-player game would earn you 0.5 gamer points (twice as many players, twice as many gamer points).  Using this approach, I then totalled how many gamer points everybody has earned, as well as how many they could have earned had they won every game they had played, and then divided one by the other to get your “GAMER RATE”.  In a nutshell, the higher the gamer rate, the more successful you have been.  I like this approach because it gives some credit not only for wins but also for 2nd place finishes, but it also gives the necessary context because each person’s rate is based on not only the number of games that they actually played in, but also whether those games were 3-player or 4-player or 5-player or 6-player games (so a player is not disadvantaged by having played 20 less games than another player and having predominantly played in the tough 5 or 6 player games, since those facts are directly factored into the determination of their rate).  TOLD YOU I WENT FULL ACCOUNTANT NERD ON THIS!
 
Anyhow, everybody’s current gamer rates are at the far right of the following table:
PLAYER
# of GAMES PLAYED
WINS
SECONDS
Top-2s
TOTAL GAMER POINTS
POSSIBLE GAMER POINTS
GAMER RATE
G
60
28
14
42
24.80
44.50
55.7%
K
48
16
6
22
12.90
35.40
36.4%
Si
44
10
12
22
12.30
34.30
35.9%
W
61
8
15
23
10.15
44.90
22.6%
J
41
3
12
15
7.15
32.10
22.3%
M
33
2
8
10
4.70
26.60
17.7%
I
4
0
0
0
0.00
3.40
0.0%
Sc
4
0
0
0
0.00
3.20
0.0%
DT
2
0
0
0
0.00
2.00
0.0%

From M:
I still say what's most important is personality. Could you do my report cards next time K?
 
From K:
Updated:
PLAYER
# of GAMES PLAYED
WINS
SECONDS
Top-2s
TOTAL GAMER POINTS
POSSIBLE GAMER POINTS
GAMER RATE
Personality
Potato Chip Consumption Efficiency
THE Y QUOTIENT
M
33
2
8
10
4.70
26.60
17.7%
99.1%
-40%
76.8%
G
60
28
14
42
24.80
44.50
55.7%
1.0%
20%
76.7%
Si
44
10
12
22
12.30
34.30
35.9%
3.0%
15%
53.9%
K
48
16
6
22
12.90
35.40
36.4%
2.0%
10%
48.4%
W
61
8
15
23
10.15
44.90
22.6%
4.0%
20%
46.6%
J
41
3
12
15
7.15
32.10
22.3%
5.0%
15%
42.3%
I
4
0
0
0
0.00
3.40
0.0%
0.0%
0%
0.0%
Sc
4
0
0
0
0.00
3.20
0.0%
0.0%
0%
0.0%
DT
2
0
0
0
0.00
2.00
0.0%
0.0%
0%
0.0%