¤ milky moon ¤

Tie 1 - In California
Tie 2 - Sawdust & Diamonds
Tie 3 - Emily
Tie 4 - Only Skin

SECOND CONSOLATION ROUND

1. Swansea
2. Sadie
3. Look and Despair
4. Monkey & Bear
5. Soft As Chalk
6. Easy
7. Good Intentions Paving Company
8. Colleen

Tie 1: In California
Tie 2: Sawdust & Diamonds
Tie 3: Have One On Me
Tie 4: Only Skin

In Tie 3 I found it very difficult to pick between the title track and Go Long.. HOOM won out for its higher musical diversity and for the intro and ending which I think are so ingenious. But I love them both equally.

Second Consolation Round:

1. Sadie
2. Easy
3. Swansea
4. Soft As Chalk
5. Monkey & Bear
6. Good Intentions Paving Company
7. Look And Despair
8. Colleen

This was really hard!

Tie 1 - In California
Tie 2 - Sawdust & Diamonds
Tie 3 - Emily
Tie 4 - Only Skin

Consolation Round:

1 Sadie
2 Monkey & Bear
3 Good Intentions Paving Company
4 Easy
5 Swansea
6 Soft As Chalk
7 Look And Despair
8 Colleen

Tie 1 - Cosmia
Tie 2 - Sawdust & Diamonds
Tie 3 - Emily
Tie 4 - Only Skin

Guess I'm still a Ys woman despite the fact that I listen to HOOM more often these days.

1. Monkey & Bear *
2. Colleen
3. Look And Despair
4. Sadie
5. Easy
6. Good Intentions Paving Company
7. Soft As Chalk
8. Swansea

Tie 1 - Cosmia
Tie 2 - Kingfisher
Tie 3 - Go Long
Tie 4 - Only Skin

I'm very pleased my favourite 2 songs from Ys are here and my 2 of my favourites from HOOM as well!

Consolation Round:

01 Good Intentions Paving Company
02 Sadie
03 Easy
04 Soft As Chalk
05 Swansea
06 Colleen
07 Look And Despair
08 Monkey & Bear *

I guess I just don't like Monkey & Bear all that much, although I think the story/lyrics are wonderful, the melody doesn't do it for me...

Thank you for your votes, Alex Ysoltsev, claire, solfatara, gman_48, Headless_Caboose, and under a CPell. There is now less than one hour to go, so if anyone else is thinking of voting, please do so soon!

Taking my own advice here are my votes, all of which I found surprisingly difficult ...

Tie 1 - Cosmia
Tie 2 - Sawdust & Diamonds
Tie 3 - Emily
Tie 4 - Only Skin

Just like Headless_Caboose, I've ended up going for all the Ys songs ... but there was very little in it, and (in contrast) under a CPell's final comment is also very pertinent when it comes to my votes for the Consolation Round:

Soft As Chalk
Sadie
----
Swansea
Look And Despair
Easy
Good Intentions Paving Company
Monkey & Bear *
----
Colleen

Tie 1 In California
Tie 2 Only Skin

FOURTH CONSOLATION ROUND

1. Cosmia
2. Go Long
3. Sadie
4. Have One On Me
5. Kingfisher
6. --------------
7. Baby Birch

Tie 1 Sawdust & Diamonds
Tie 2 Only Skin

Only Skin vs. Emily was probably the hardest choice of this tournament!


FOURTH CONSOLATION ROUND

1. Baby Birch
2. Cosmia
3. Go Long
4. Have One On Me
5. Sadie
6. Kingfisher

Thank you, under a CPell and claire, for your votes.

My choices are -

Tie 1 Sawdust & Diamonds
Tie 2 Only Skin


FOURTH CONSOLATION ROUND
1. Baby Birch
2. Kingfisher
3. Go Long
4. Cosmia
5. Have One On Me
6. Sadie
----

The Consolation Round was really hard for me, and having professed to be an Ys-thusiast in the last round, it was odd that I found myself putting Cosmia way down in 4th. Kingfisher has come a very long way since I first listened to HOOM (the album), from being one of the 'ugly ducklings', it's now one of my very favourites. Baby Birch was an early favourite, and I've put it top not only for the studio version but for the staggeringly emotional way she performed it as an encore on the South Bank in 2010. I also felt bad about putting Sadie down in 6th, as I have rediscovered my early attraction for this song after a period when I could only focus on its jarring nature. Looking at the top four and the next six as a whole, I'm pretty happy with the songs that have made it through. In fact, if I was picking a personal "top 15", I'd have all of these in there, along with En Gallop (of course!), and perhaps Soft As Chalk, Clam, Flying A Kite, and one from What We Have Known, Bridges & Balloons, Erin, Ribbon Bows, and (just to be controversial) The Man Who Ran The Town!

Sawdust & Diamonds
Emily

Baby Birch
Sadie
Cosmia
Have One On Me
Kingfisher
Go Long

Tie 1 In California
Tie 2 Only Skin

Almost voted for Emily, though.

FOURTH CONSOLATION ROUND
1. Go Long
2. Sadie
3. Kingfisher
4. Have One On Me
5. Baby Birch
6. Cosmia

As for me, this consolation round is much much weaker than the previous one.

Tie 1: In California
Tie 2: Only Skin

Right, Tie 1 is pretty much impossible for me, I can't compare these two so I had to more or less flip a coin in my mind and there we are.

Fourth Consolation Round:

1. Have One On Me
2. Go Long
3. Cosmia
4. Kingfisher
5. Sadie
6. Baby Birch

SEMI-FINAL (FIFTH ROUND) DRAW

Please choose your favourite from each of these two ties.

Tie 1: Sawdust & Diamonds
Tie 2: Emily

My love for Emily has grown even stronger since I read through the discussion on the "song meanings" site. What an amazingly layered masterpiece it is! I think the lyrics are among the best she's ever written.

FOURTH CONSOLATION ROUND

1. Cosmia
2. Have One On Me
3. Sadie
4. Baby Birch
5. Kingfisher
6. Go Long

Thank you for your votes, Headless_Caboose, solfatara, and gman_48 (you're obviously still unfortunately on time-lapse, but it came through in plenty of time).

There are now about 25½ hours remaining if anyone else would like to vote in this Semi-Final round.

Incidentally, up to and including this round, there have been a total of 49 rounds of voting in the four JNSTs 2011-2014. Every vote received is pleasing, but I am especially gratified that four people have taken the trouble to vote in every tournament so far, namely claire, Headless_Caboose, and under a CPell. In fact, claire has missed voting only once in the four editions of JNST (the Preliminary Round for 2014), and the others have missed only four times each. Others who've supported the event solidly include Jordan~ (42 rounds voted in total), LawnsOfDawns (the originator of the idea have voted 38 times), Weirdelves (31), and madpawn (30).

JNST1 involved a total of 27 people casting their votes, and JNST2 had 26. JNST3 attracted only 16, and this time it looks like the winner will be determined by only 10 different voters (quality not quantity ) ... but that doesn't mean we won't welcome new and returning voters to the last day or so of this Semi-final, or for the Final which will run over the next fortnight.

I'll start the voting off ...

FINAL
Only Skin

CONSOLATION FINAL
1. Emily
2. Cosmia
3. In California
4. ----

FINAL

Sawdust & Diamonds

CONSOLATION FINAL

Emily
In California
Cosmia

FINAL
Only Skin

CONSOLATION FINAL
1. Emily
2. In California
3. Cosmia

FINAL
Only Skin

CONSOLATION FINAL
1. Cosmia
2. In California
3. Emily