Harem Scarem vs Gotthard

[AlphaMale]

Let's put some of their discs up against each other and you guys pick your favorites!!

[KarpetRydOFunk]

Let's put some of their discs up against each other and you guys pick your favorites!!

 

You bastard! How dare you!

[AlphaMale]

 

Let's put some of their discs up against each other and you guys pick your favorites!!

 

You bastard! How dare you!

 

 

I am surprised at how many better discs HS has over Gotthard.

[Nightrain]

done

[Glen]

Virtual clean sweep for HS. I like Gotthard but they only have one truly great album imo and that is Lipservice. Even with that Overload is not far behind.

 

Looking at the results....did someone really vote Human Zoo over Higher? Wow.

[Geoff]

 

 

Let's put some of their discs up against each other and you guys pick your favorites!!

 

You bastard! How dare you!

 

 

I am surprised at how many better discs HS has over Gotthard.

 

 

Really? I saw this thread and was all like wow, really? Two completely different classes of bands in my honest opinion.

 

It was a clean sweep for me. I hesitated for a second when it came to 'Domino Effect' but a quick look at the track lists, and I was immediately reminded that even though 'Domino Effect' is Gotthard's best album, and 'Human Nature' is just an "average" HS disc, HS are so much a better band it's ridiculous, and the better album is easily 'Human Nature.'

 

But yeah, Harem Scarem by a mile at every point.

[Glen]

Surprised you dont rate Lipservice higher? That is a great album imo and probably marginally better than Overload but there's not much in it.....both great albums

 

The rest as you say is a no brainer.....for me at least.

 

I have to say that when I saw Gotthard live with Steve Lee they were awesome and one of the best bands I have ever seen - their albums tend to have a couple of gems on each, so whilst the albums overall arent as strong as they could be, live they were fantastic.

[heavyharmonies]

Geoff, you voted Harem Scarem's Overload higher than Lipservice?

 

 

Seriously, that is the ONE choice above which is an absolute no brainer, do not pass GO, do NOT collect $200. Harem Scarem is easily an across-the-board winner, but in that one album comparison, Gotthard destroys HS by 18.7 miles.

[Glen]

 

Geoff, you voted Harem Scarem's Overload higher than Lipservice?

 

 

Seriously, that is the ONE choice above which is an absolute no brainer, do not pass GO, do NOT collect $200. Harem Scarem is easily an across-the-board winner, but in that one album comparison, Gotthard destroys HS by 18.7 miles.

Really.

 

I love Overload.....it contains a few of my absolute fav HS songs.

 

Id say Lipservice nicks it, but its pretty close.

[Jez]

An equal split with me with HS taking the first 4 and Gotthard taking the next 4...and Yes 'Human Zoo' is my fave Gotthard album and I voted it above 'Higher'...deal with it

[lettard]

Harem Scarem for the 1st 2 for me,then Gotthard for the rest,just never really liked much that Harem Scarem did after mood swings,for me anyway

[Kristian]

For me HS wins the debut duel, and the Weight of the world vs. Homerun duel. Gotthard wins the rest.

[KarpetRydOFunk]

Also, there's no doubt in my mind "Thirteen" is gonna spank "Bang!"

[The Rocker]

Virtual clean sweep for HS. I like Gotthard but they only have one truly great album imo and that is Lipservice. Even with that Overload is not far behind.

 

Looking at the results....did someone really vote Human Zoo over Higher? Wow.

I did, love both, but had to choose one.

[The Rocker]

For me HS wins the debut duel, and the Weight of the world vs. Homerun duel. Gotthard wins the rest.

Basically agree.

[The Rocker]

An equal split with me with HS taking the first 4 and Gotthard taking the next 4...and Yes 'Human Zoo' is my fave Gotthard album and I voted it above 'Higher'...deal with it

Nice

[The Rocker]

First 2 and WOTW to HS

The rest to Gotthard

[Glen]

 

An equal split with me with HS taking the first 4 and Gotthard taking the next 4...and Yes 'Human Zoo' is my fave Gotthard album and I voted it above 'Higher'...deal with it

 

Nice

But wrong ;-)

[KarpetRydOFunk]

First 2 and WOTW to HS

The rest to Gotthard

Same!

[Geoff]

 

Geoff, you voted Harem Scarem's Overload higher than Lipservice?

 

 

Seriously, that is the ONE choice above which is an absolute no brainer, do not pass GO, do NOT collect $200. Harem Scarem is easily an across-the-board winner, but in that one album comparison, Gotthard destroys HS by 18.7 miles.

Really.

 

I love Overload.....it contains a few of my absolute fav HS songs.

 

Id say Lipservice nicks it, but its pretty close.

 

 

Sorry dudes, that was a no brainer for me too. As Glen says, some of my favourite Harem Scarem stuff is on 'Overload.' I absolutely LOVE that CD. I like 'Lipservice,' but it is arguably one of the most over-rated albums discussed on this forum. It's not even my favourite Gotthard album, let alone better than any Harem Scarem disc (except 'Voice of Reason').

 

I will actually rate their discography this week and discuss my ratings at the end of the week, but I dare say that I prefer 'Domino Effect,' 'Homerun' and s/t all over 'Lipservice,' but I will confirm that. It's a good disc, but not even close to 'Overload' in my honest opinion.

 

Like I said in my first post, two totally different classes of band - Harem Scarem are arguably one of if not the finest melodic rock band of all time. Gotthard released a promising debut, then followed it up with three clunkers as they pottered around in poor to average hard rock and weird balladry... and it wasn't even until almost a decade after their debut that they actually even released their second good album. Then, from 2001 they've been quite good to excellent at times, until the tragic passing of Steve Lee, and now I can't see them ever being even a shadow of what they were before. But yeah, moral of the story, Harem Scarem have always been excellent (except maybe in 1995) but Gotthard not so much.

[Glen]

The voice of reason lol

[Kristian]

 

 

Geoff, you voted Harem Scarem's Overload higher than Lipservice?

 

 

Seriously, that is the ONE choice above which is an absolute no brainer, do not pass GO, do NOT collect $200. Harem Scarem is easily an across-the-board winner, but in that one album comparison, Gotthard destroys HS by 18.7 miles.

Really.

 

I love Overload.....it contains a few of my absolute fav HS songs.

 

Id say Lipservice nicks it, but its pretty close.

 

 

Sorry dudes, that was a no brainer for me too. As Glen says, some of my favourite Harem Scarem stuff is on 'Overload.' I absolutely LOVE that CD. I like 'Lipservice,' but it is arguably one of the most over-rated albums discussed on this forum. It's not even my favourite Gotthard album, let alone better than any Harem Scarem disc (except 'Voice of Reason').

 

I will actually rate their discography this week and discuss my ratings at the end of the week, but I dare say that I prefer 'Domino Effect,' 'Homerun' and s/t all over 'Lipservice,' but I will confirm that. It's a good disc, but not even close to 'Overload' in my honest opinion.

 

Like I said in my first post, two totally different classes of band - Harem Scarem are arguably one of if not the finest melodic rock band of all time. Gotthard released a promising debut, then followed it up with three clunkers as they pottered around in poor to average hard rock and weird balladry... and it wasn't even until almost a decade after their debut that they actually even released their second good album. Then, from 2001 they've been quite good to excellent at times, until the tragic passing of Steve Lee, and now I can't see them ever being even a shadow of what they were before. But yeah, moral of the story, Harem Scarem have always been excellent (except maybe in 1995) but Gotthard not so much.

 

"Dial Hard" is Gotthard's finest hour in my book, while Harem Scarem's debut is their best work.

I'm gonna get killed for this, but imo "Mood Swings" is over-rated.

[Glen]

First half of mood swings is better. Its a great album though although I do prefer the debut & Higher - they are the 2 best imo

[Geoff]

I always say it, but I adore 'Early Years' as well. Understandably overlooked when it comes to Harem Scarem, but that stuff is pure gold. I always thought 'Believe' was utterly brilliant too.

 

I always thought in my head that 'Dial Hard' was Gotthard's weakest album. But I'm almost finished my ratings for their entire catalogue - just got to finish up 'Need to believe' tomorrow morning - and 'Dial Hard' actually fared better than 'G,' 'Open' and 'Firebirth.' And of course 'Bang.' But yeah, that surprised me.

 

For the record, 'Lipservice' is currently ranked 5th, but if 'Need to Believe' is as good as the first 3 songs, that'll smoke it too, and 'Lipservice' will rank 6th! However, if memory serves, 'Need to believe' goes downhill pretty quick. And that's the thing with Gotthard - they were their own worst enemy. In 'Lipservice' and 'Domino Effect,' they released two 15 song albums in a row. Both albums have AT LEAST five pure fillers on them and would have benefited to no end by having just been 10 track discs without the clunkers. And I know people hate when blatant fillers are called fillers, so to put it in other terms - both discs have about 10 good to great melodic / commercial rock songs, and then there's 5 unmelodic hookless wastes of space on there. And how about tracks 6, 7 and 8 on 'Homerun' single-handedly bringing the score for that album down by a mile. Very silly band at times.

 

I was relistening to 'Domino Effect' just thinking, shit this is good. No wonder this is my favourite Gotthard album. The first 9 songs are all great. And then it hits. The meekest end to a CD possible. The 13th track is another winner, but the other 5 songs at the end of that CD are all so pointless, and bring down the entire score of the album so much further than it needs to go.

 

And same with 'Lipservice.' Although it features 2 of Gotthard's best songs ever in 'I wonder' and 'Anytime anywhere,' but jeez the album takes forever to get started, with the first 5 songs being very poor to okay, and the last 3, before the good bonus track, being weak too. I don't know how people overlook all the fillers on this disc to rate it so high. Compared to 'Overload,' with only one single weaker song, I don't see how the two albums are even comparable.

 

Anyway, rant over. I've kind of given it away anyway, but I'll post my Gotthard rankings tomorrow fyi anyway. It's funny how critical I've been of this year in music in general, but every time I go back and rate an old discography like Gotthard's (the top rated album so far is their debut, with 79%) I realise that I've just come to expect so much from music that I'm far more critical of "good" albums now than I was in the past. There's just too much music around!!!

[Glen]

Im actually giving bands who provide value for money the benefit of the doubt this year, by rating the best 12 songs.........seems only fair. Afterall there is a skip button and one man's trash is another man's gold so how is the band to know what constitutes a filler....

 

12 seems about right for the length of an album.

 

So if Gotthard or any other band want to record more than 12 songs I wont penalise that album in my ratings if there are a few fillers.....or a real clunker (imho) which really drags the rating down.