Who wants a free Gold membership to chess.com?

I’m about to upgrade my membership to Platinum and have decided to hold this self-indulgent competition to decide who gets the free Gold membership.

All you need to do is list my 10 favourite CDs in the right order.  None of you know me well so I’ve posted some clues on my chess.com home page, some more obvious than others.  With a bit of thought & research I think you could work out all the CDs; but there’s not much help on the positions so that you’ll have to guess.

Points are awarded in this way:

• For a correct artist that corresponds with my choice you get one point, e.g. if I choose 3 Bing Crosby CDs (& you choose 2 other Bing Crosby CDs then you get 2 points).  Hint: there are no Bing Crosby CDs in my top 10.
• For every correct CD by the correct artist, you get 3 points (if you choose the same 3 Bing Crosby CDs I chose you get 3x3=9 points)
• For every correct CD by the correct artist in the right position, you get 4 points.  E.g. if White Christmas by Bing is my no. 1 CD and you choose that as number 1 – you get 4 points.  (Don’t forget - there are no Bing Crosby CDs in my top 10.)

So there are 40 points up for grabs.

There are no compilations in the top 10 but there may be live albums.

In the case of a draw you have to answer this decider question, which you should post with your guess:

• What is my wife’s birth date?  You have to write out the month (11 January 1957) – otherwise I might not know if you’re using little endian (11/01/57) or middle endian (01/11/57) format (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calendar_date#Date_format)

Erik has agreed to be the honest broker in all of this – he’s already got my list of CDs (so I can’t change it once you begin to post your guesses).

The competition closes on at 20.00 GMT on Dec 19^th – I’ll do my best to announce the winner before the 25th so someone will have a nice Xmas present to look forward to playing with.

Chris

Number of entries so far (17 Dec): 3

I really don't think it's so difficult - I reckon that at least 2 of the albums are pretty easy to get from the clues.  The others you could get with some effort - though you'd probably need to know a bit about music to know what you're looking for.

Incidentally, Erik tells me that the membership will be transferable so even if you are already a member & have no need for it you can give it to someone else.

Two more things - if you're confident of your list you may want to send your entry by private message so you don't give away your selections to anyone else (good idea lennon2007).  And don't forget to include your guess of my wife's date of birth in case there's a draw :-)

1965 and 1967.... too young to know that :(

Are they albums or singles? And surely in the 60s, they'd be on vinyl, not CD? :-P

All albums - 3 on vinyl, 2 on eight-track & one on wax cylinder ...

This is ludicrous!!!

Nobody in their right mind would bother trying to work out somebody they dont even know's top ten albums in order!

Look at the clues!

Nirvana - In Utero/Live at Gotham Hall (both are fantastic, but my own favorite based on what I guess your faves are; see lake of fire/ bowie covers; I doubt this, but it should be the case)

Johnny Cash - Ring of Fire

Rolling Stones - This is one of the artists, choose your song

Bob Dylan - Like a Rolling Stone

Dylan - Blowing in the wind

Hendrix - Purple Haze (I hope so)

Joplin's version of Red House (great if you haven't heard it)

Doors- (self titled LP) Break on through (if you appreciate those who pushed boundaries)

Tom Waits - Fish with his pants down

Post the favorites when you're done but I think this is close enough for the win.  And thank you if it is.

-JenkinsAPDX

Note that they're all albums (not singles) - sorry if that wasn't obvious from the rules.

Paul - I saw that post too & when I realised he was only 11 I wanted to give him the membership but now I've got some entries I can't really change the rules.

Don't forget Erik has said that the membership if transferable - so if a current member wins they can still give this one to anyone else.  A day and a half to go & still only 3 entries (& that includes the one by you earlier Paul). 

It's still up for grabs :-)

Please don't give it to him if you win.  I'm a full-time college student without a job that can support both school AND chess.  my membership (silver) lapses on the 23rd, and I really need this to stay on track towards trying to become a master.  I researched songs for 8+ hours total before putting in my guess and I AM going to submit another guess now that I know they stopped making wax cylinders in 1914. 

look, I really really need this.  I am willing to play the game, and do the work for it despite the fact I was born in '84.  No, please don't give it to the 11 year old if you win.  I really need it if I want to be able to train.  I was so happy when I found this thread.  I'd feel better if you won and you needed it, but if you win and just give it away to someone who can still count on their parents for support I will seriously lose it.  Please don't. 

Is it Fergie?

It's Fergie isn't it?  #1:  Fergie

Well - we have a winner - it's Lennon2007.

I'll post details later today if I get chance.

Chris

Yeah, I'm pretty bummed about it too.  I wanna know how close I was.

I'm sorry - got a few things going on at home currently which are taking priority.

I promise I'll post details before the 25th as I said in my first post - probably tonight or tomorrow.

Chris

Muso Ko-Pick your song

Apologies again for the delay in posting more info.  I wanted to but for various reasons it’s currently not easy.

Thanks for those who did take part – only 3 :-( but I do appreciate it.  And sorry JenkinsaPDX – I know you were very hopeful.

I really thought the clues were solvable but I knew it would take some research & maybe I should have said that it would have helped if you were familiar with the style of clues in cryptic crosswords.  If you’re not then the explanations below will seem like nonsense :-)

I got 2 entries by private message:

Lennon2007 (6 points I reckon):
Srgnt peppers lonley heart clubs band
abbey road
the white album
highway 61 revisited- bob Dylan
flowers -rolling stones
exile on main street- rolling stones
axis bold as love- jimi Hendrix

JenkinsaPDX (4 points):
1.The Beatles - White Album
2.The Beatles - Sgt. Peppers Lonely Heart's Club Band
3.The Beatles - Abbey Road
4.Rolling Stones - Let It Bleed
5.Blondie - No Exit
5.Bob Dylan - Blood on the tracks
6.John Mayall - Spinning Coin
7. Jorge Vidal -
9.Nirvana - Live at Gotham Hall/ In Utero
10.Edgar Winters Group - They Only Come Out At Night

And paul211’s entry in the forum (2 points):
1.  The Best of Domino Fats by D Fats
2. Abbey roads the Beatles.
3. Under review: 1971-1982 by Tom Waits.
4 . Hot Rocks 1964-1971 by The Rolling Stones.
5. Unchained Melody: Very Best Of The Righteous Brothers,

I discounted JenkinsaPDX’s first entry (but it wasn’t a winner either)

Here’s my list:
1    Highway 61 Revisited    Bob Dylan
2    Revolver    The Beatles
3    Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band    The Beatles
4    Chicken Skin Music    Ry Cooder
5    Blonde On Blonde    Bob Dylan
6    Stop Making Sense    Talking Heads
7    Heartattack and Vine    Tom Waits
8    Dark Side Of The Moon    Pink Floyd
9    Sex Without Bodies    Dave's True Story
10    The Velvet Underground & Nico    The Velvet Underground

All the albums are hidden in clues (some admittedly very contrived) & there are some other hints to help out.  Apart from the video & the reference to Billy Shears there aren’t really any direct clues – they all take a bit of lateral thinking.  If you’d used Google on a few you’d have found the answer immediately (put “big suit”, “I’ll never read Trollope again” or the long quote at the end of the piece into Google & you’ll see what I mean).  To get the anagram clues you need to know how to recognise one – no one did so I guess it was fair at least.

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Other interests - I like music.  The last concert I went to was The Mercy and Grand Project (this band do mainly reinterpretations of Tom Waits songs), the next one is The Bootleg Beatles (obvious clue).

I reckon the very best albums were made between 1965 and 1967 (5 of my favourites are from those years) - but lots of good ones since then too (the others are all from later years).

A spun coin could get you the singer on one of my favourites (here’s where it helps if you are familiar with cryptic crosswords. When a coin is spun it might meant that the letters are spun around – it’s an anagram of coin – Nico - the only album I’m aware of with a singer called Nico is The Velvet Underground and Nico).  A line (L is an abbreviation for Line) (cross (X is a cross), one (I is roman numeral for one) (LXI is roman numerals for 61 – link this to the video & it points to Highway 61 Revisited – Like a Rolling Stone is on that album), going round (what goes around? - A Revolver) Billy Shears (Ringo Starr’s alter ego on Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band) could get you 3 more.  You’ll find another at a MI (an abbreviation – fairly well known so I’m told - for myocardial infarction – or Heartattack) in LA (Vine is a famous street in LA, link it to the Tom Wait reference above – Heartattack and Vine) and for another consider Debbie Harry singing over Edgar Winter (nothing to do with either of them, except they’re both blonde, one blonde over another or Blonde on Blonde – not the White Album which you may have thought?).

I like Burnley Football Club (not a clue, just a fact :-) ), big suits (as worn by David Byrne in the film of Stop Making Sense) and Schmuck Sickie Inn (all over the place) (again all over the place is a possible indicator of an anagram – Schmuck Sickie Inn is an anagram of Chicken Skin Music).  I read a lot - mainly biography and history but also fiction.  I like modern and classic literature but I’ll never read Trollope again (why would I put something odd like this except it may be a song title – put it into Google & you’ll find Sex without Bodies by Dave’s True Story).

I would like to think that I could get 48 minutes of awareness, anticipation, satisfaction, confidence [and] almost exultation (put this into Google & you get a reference to Michael Collins who flew the Command Module on Apollo 11 while Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were on the moon’s surface – it’s how he described his state of mind while he was on the far Side Of The Moon – not always Dark admittedly but I hoped people would get my meaning) but I doubt I ever will.

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I now hang my head in shame & swear never to run another competition again …

STOP