Not sure Texas needed to go so big this round BEB is a 10!!

Just now, vibe said:

Not sure Texas needed to go so big this round BEB is a 10!!

Could say the same for Bananarama

May as well start the voting:

1 Sade - By Your Side

2 Depeche Mode - Precious

3 Ultravox - All Stood Still

4 Fontaines D.C. - Marianne

5 New Order - Crystal

6 Texas - Black Eyed Boy

7 iamamiwhoami - t

8 Years & Years - Sanctify

9 Bananarama - Love in the First Degree

That's my favourite Sade song, so I've had 4 different groups top scoring for me now. 'Precious' earns its place among Depeche Mode's highest charting songs. I knew everything except the iamamiwhoami one so gave that a couple of extra listens - I have enjoyed everything they've had sent including this one, but fear for them here.

1. Bananarama - Love in the First Degree - a gold plated 80s pop classic and my favourite Bananarama song, an absolute joy and one of the best SAW productions

2. Texas - Black Eyed Boy - I have vivid memories attached to this wonderful song. It reminds me of summer 1997 and going to a Cartoon Network-hosted Scooby Doo roadshow in late July on Brighton beach (along with Scooby Snacks by Fun Lovin' Criminals, of course)

3. Sade - By Your Side - I always thought this was an absolutely beautiful track, I remember it from the time well as it was on Hits 2001

4. Fontaines D.C. - Marianne - I remember reading somewhere recently that the chorus melody is reminiscent of Take That, and I definitely get that - it's pretty poppy and mainstream for Fontaines, almost like Embrace in places too - not a bad thing for me at all

5. Depeche Mode - Precious - a strong, brooding and atmospheric mid-00s hit from Depeche Mode, I really like the piano line in this

6. New Order - Crystal - decent track, I remember this from a Hits album at the time too, nice to see something 21st century from them

7. Years & Years - Sanctify - nice chorus, but I do prefer a lot of other singles from them

8. iamamiwhoami - t - nice but wasn't as grabby for me as their last few songs

9. Ultravox - All Stood Still - I vaguely know this already but it's not really a favourite of mine

1. BANANARAMA

2. TEXAS

3. FONTAINES DC

4. ULTRAVOX

5. SADE

6. DEPECHE MODE

7. IAMAMIWHOAMI

8. YEARS & YEARS

9. NEW ORDER

 

Worshipping at the altar of Texas and Bananarama each and every week. I am ready for one of Depeche Mode/Ultravox/New Order to go soon but my favourite and least favourite seem to keep changing each week lol

That Sade song is in my Top 3 fave from theirs

I am really rooting for them, cause I need 'No Ordinary Love' to be sent in here <3

Some very nice discoveries but a very clear top 2 for me after the first listen through.

01 Depeche Mode – Precious (fave)

02 Years & Years - Sanctify

03 Fontaines D.C. - Marianne

04 Texas - Black Eyed Boy

05 New Order - Crystal

06 iamamiwhoami - t

07 Ultravox - All Stood Still

08 Bananarama - Love in the First Degree

09 Sade - By Your Side

01 Fontaines D.C. - Marianne

02 Years & Years - Sanctify

03 New Order - Crystal

04 Sade - By Your Side

05 iamamiwhoami - t

06 Depeche Mode - Precious

07 Ultravox - All Stood Still

08 Texas - Black Eyed Boy

09 Bananarama - Love in the First Degree

I feel like I'm coming across quite shady towards Bananarama so far but I'm not the biggest fan of that SAW sound, apologies!

I love 'Cruel Summer' and 'Robert De Niro's Waiting' so will definitely be supporting the likes of those if they show up.

FAVE

09 Bananarama - Love in the First Degree

08 Texas - Black Eyed Boy

07 Fontaines D.C. - Marianne

06 New Order - Crystal

05 Years & Years - Sanctify

04 Sade - By Your Side

03 Ultravox - All Stood Still

02 Depeche Mode - Precious

01 iamamiwhoami - t

LEAST FAVE

A fairly decent bunch on the whole. Bananarama were never not going to be #1. When I first heard this as a teenager (a long time ago!) I was obsessed! Probably my favourite song of theirs!

Shoutouts to Fontaines and New Order, who both sent much better songs than in the last few rounds for me.

The only one I couldn’t get into at all was iamamiwhoami (sorry!), just not for me that one.

1. Texas - Black Eyed Boy

2. Sade - By Your Side

3. Years & Years - Sanctify

4. New Order - Crystal (their best song yet)

5. Fontaines - Marianne

6. Ultravox - All Stood Still

7. Depeche Mode - Precious

8. Bananarama - Love In The First Degree

9. iamamiwhoiam - t

Voting early this week to avoid the rigging accusations

This to me feels like the round the groups have truly arrived. Enjoyed pretty much everything here to some degree after feeling like there was a lot that just wasn't for me in rounds 1-3.

1. Fontaines D.C. - Marianne

2. Years & Years - Sanctify

3. Bananarama - Love in the First Degree

4. Depeche Mode - Precious

5. Texas - Black Eyed Boy

6. iamamiwhoami - t

7. New Order - Crystal

8. Sade - By Your Side

9. Ultravox - All Stood Still

1. Ultravox - All Stood Still

2. Bananarama - Love in the First Degree

3. Fontaines D.C. - Marianne

4. Years & Years - Sanctify

5. Texas - Black Eyed Boy

6. Sade - By Your Side

7. New Order - Crystal

8. Depeche Mode - Precious

9. iamamiwhoami - t

That DeMo song cannot be beaten here - my favourite of their 2000+ era. Good choices from new Order, Texas, Fontaines and Ultravox.

1. Depeche Mode - Precious

2. New Order - Crystal

3. Texas - Black Eyed Boy

4. Ultravox - All Stood Still

5. Fontaines D.C. - Marianne

6. iamamiwhoami - t

7. Bananarama - Love in the First Degree

8. Years & Years - Sanctify

9. Sade - By Your Side

Finally on my first listen throughs of each category. This definitely feels like a step up in quality for this category. Simply adore one of the choices here and imagine I will be throwing my votes its way!

01 Texas - Black Eyed Boy my favourite Texas song! What a fab song. The chorus is a 10.

02 Years & Years – Sanctify my favourite Y&Y song! I find Olly a bit vocally hit-and-miss but this is a definite HIT. Love the lyrics on this one.

03 Ultravox - All Stood Still really impressed with their selections so far. This is another brilliant one from them.

04 Fontaines D.C. - Marianne my favourite pick from them so far! Great discovery.

05 iamamiwhoami - t the last two minutes of this is amazing - instrumentally at least. I still can't work out whether I like the vocals or not. Sometimes it works for me, other times it borders on unlistenable!

06 Bananarama - Love in the First Degree this is fun, though not as interesting as the songs above imo.

07 New Order - Crystal I liked it but it paled in comparison to their previous choices/the songs above.

08 Depeche Mode - Precious this left little impression on me compared to the others.

09 Sade - By Your Side this is simply not my cuppa but a nice listen nonetheless.

Sade - Best.

Texas

Bananarama

Years and years

Depeche Mode

Iamamiwhoiam

Ultravox

New Order

Fontaines dc

1 banarama love in the first degree

2 depeche mode precious

3 sade by your side

4 years and years sanctify

5 ultravox all stood still

6 texas black eyed boy

7 new order crystal

8 iamwhoiam t

9 fontaines dc marianne

Please remember to mention me in tapes you leave behind.