SFZFAN Posted August 8, 2013 Share Posted August 8, 2013 Not even close - sorry but it's true! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BRASSO Posted August 8, 2013 Share Posted August 8, 2013 (edited) All of that said, in my opinion, this year has the best top 4. And I love pretty much every top 4 mentioned here so far. I think the compelling points to be made on behalf of 2008 is that while there are good points to be made for years where the top 3 are great, I think the 2008 Carolina Crown ( " Finis " theme ) in 4th that year was far and away the best 4th place Corps I ever saw and heard. These were 4 great Corps that year. Crown finished top 4 in all major Corps sections at Finals, and even this 4th place 2008 Crown's Percussion section was better than his year's Carolina Crown Percussion section, imo. Crown in 2008 was better than the 2013 Cadets or SCV one of whom will probably finish 4th this year. I guess it might be best however to reserve final judgement on this until after Saturday. Crown scored 96.80 for 4th place at Finals in 2008, less than 1.4 points out of first. I don't believe this years 4th place Corps will be as close to first place at Finals as Crown was in 2008. And Phantom's 2008 show was electrifying lets not forget,and yet they won by less than a tenth over a super talented BD at Finals. These are a couple of the reasons why I make the case that the top 4 of 2008 are collectively better than the top 4 of this year. But lets see what we observe these next few days, before casting final comparisons. Edited August 8, 2013 by BRASSO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N.E. Brigand Posted August 8, 2013 Share Posted August 8, 2013 I think the top four in 1989 were the best ever, but I admit to probably being biased because that was the first year I was introduced to DCI. Top six for that matter. All over 95 if my memory serves me correctly? Highest 5th place score until Vanguard 2009 and highest 6th place score as well? All that and more! The only year in which six corps scored above 95. Each of the top seven Finals scores beat the Semis scores of the corps above them. Phantom's second-place Finals score tied the previous highest Finals score. Half the placements were record scores for their position, and would remain so for some time: 1 98.8 Santa Clara Vanguard -- RECORD until 2002 Cavaliers (itself tied by 2005 Cadets) 2 98.4 Phantom Regiment -- RECORD until 2004 Blue Devils 3 97.2 Cavaliers 4 95.9 Blue Devils 5 95.6 Cadets -- RECORD until 2009 Santa Clara Vanguard 6 95.3 Star of Indiana -- RECORD STILL STANDS! 7 93.6 Madison Scouts -- RECORD until 2007 Bluecoats 8 90.3 Bluecoats 9 88.0 Suncoast Sound 10 87.3 Freelancers 11 87.0 Velvet Knights -- RECORD until 2004 Crossmen (itself beat by 2005 Glassmen) 12 84.0 Crossmen That said, the fourth-place corps in 1989 had a notorious frack in Finals. (Although if, like me, you first encountered that show on the CD, you didn't know about that.) I might pick 2008 as my favorite top four, even though I'm not a huge fan of the Cavaliers' music for "Samurai", because I think that show has their finest visuals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlexL Posted August 8, 2013 Share Posted August 8, 2013 2003 had a pretty memorable top 4: Blue Devils- Phenomenon of Cool Cavaliers- Spin Cycle Cadets- Our Favorite Things Phantom Regiment- Harmonic Journey Edit: Granted, Cadets 03 isn't usually mentioned as a "memorable" show, the other 3 are mentioned quite a lot as one of the corps' top shows. That might be my favorite. One of the last times i remember really liking BD, probably the craziest drill Cavaliers put on the field, Cadets malaguena was awesome (and very memorable to me) and phantom 03 was just a very solid show, great musically. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N.E. Brigand Posted August 8, 2013 Share Posted August 8, 2013 That (2003) might be my favorite. One of the last times I remember really liking BD, probably the craziest drill Cavaliers put on the field, Cadets' "Malaguena" was awesome (and very memorable to me), and Phantom '03 was just a very solid show, great musically. "Spin Cycle" is my favorite of Cavaliers' original music, and visually that show is a lot of fun. Championship worthy, if not for that very fine Blue Devils' show in front of it--although I like BD's 2004 "Summertrain Blues Mix" even more (while preferring Cavaliers "007" even to that one). The top twelve for 2003 is one of the seasons I listen to most often. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Link to discussion threads for all 2013 World Class corps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwillis35 Posted August 8, 2013 Share Posted August 8, 2013 I don't go by score as much when thinking about the best top 4, 5, or 6 corps from any one year, I rate more on quality of the entire show even if it didn't get the numbers I thought it should've had. 1980 was very close. BD, SCV, Bridgemen 1984 was very close top, but the top 5 shows were all classics (Madison Ballet in Brass and Cats, Phantom's 1812, SCV's Tender Land and Festive Overture, BD's La Fiesta, and Garfield's West Side Story). 1990 might get my award for best top 6 ever. Cadets (Bernstein), Cavaliers (John Rutter), Star of Indiana (Belshazzar's Feast), BD (Tommy), Phantom Regiment (Saint-Saens Organ Symphony), and SCV (Carmen). Every one of the top 6 won at least one major regional competition. Phantom and BD were undefeated going into DCI Midwest, and were ranked 1 and 2, until the Cavaliers beat them at that regional. Star won brass, Cadets won percussion, Cavaliers was GE fine-tuning that kaleidoscopic style, BD played some fab arrangements of Tommy, and the Cadets did a fake-out z-pull. 1992 was also a fantastic year for the entire Top 12, but the top 6 that year were very special. Cadets jumped from 6th place in mid-season to 2nd place at Finals. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kdaddy Posted August 8, 2013 Share Posted August 8, 2013 I think the compelling points to be made on behalf of 2008 is that while there are good points to be made for years where the top 3 are great, I think the 2008 Carolina Crown ( " Finis " theme ) in 4th that year was far and away the best 4th place Corps I ever saw and heard. These were 4 great Corps that year. Crown finished top 4 in all major Corps sections at Finals, and even this 4th place 2008 Crown's Percussion section was better than his year's Carolina Crown Percussion section, imo. Crown in 2008 was better than the 2013 Cadets or SCV one of whom will probably finish 4th this year. I guess it might be best however to reserve final judgement on this until after Saturday. Crown scored 96.80 for 4th place at Finals in 2008, less than 1.4 points out of first. I don't believe this years 4th place Corps will be as close to first place at Finals as Crown was in 2008. And Phantom's 2008 show was electrifying lets not forget,sand yet they won by less than a tenth over a super talented BD at Finals. These are a couple of the reasons why I make the case that the top 4 of 2008 are collectively better than the top 4 of this year. But lets see what we observe these next few days, before casting final comparisons. Great analysis and compelling points. I was underwhelmed by Cavies that year, but I think you're right in every way about Crown in 4th. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jumbo Staples Posted August 8, 2013 Share Posted August 8, 2013 "Spin Cycle" is my favorite of Cavaliers' original music, and visually that show is a lot of fun. Championship worthy, if not for that very fine Blue Devils' show in front of it--although I like BD's 2004 "Summertrain Blues Mix" even more (while preferring Cavaliers "007" even to that one). The top twelve for 2003 is one of the seasons I listen to most often. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Link to discussion threads for all 2013 World Class corps It's still hard to figure out how the Cavaliers didn't win in 2003 based on difficulty alone. The fact that is all actually tied in to a brilliant theme only strengthened it. I always wondered if the idea of a 4-peat didn't sit in some of the judges' minds. Regardless, I'd have to agree that 2003 as a whole was a fantastic year for drum corps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kamarag Posted August 8, 2013 Share Posted August 8, 2013 It's still hard to figure out how the Cavaliers didn't win in 2003 based on difficulty alone. The fact that is all actually tied in to a brilliant theme only strengthened it. I always wondered if the idea of a 4-peat didn't sit in some of the judges' minds. Regardless, I'd have to agree that 2003 as a whole was a fantastic year for drum corps. Eh, Devils out executed them and had a better brass book. That said, Spin Cycle is far and away my favorite of the early 2000's "original music" Cavaliers. The previous three to me are the musical equivalent of listening to paint dry. Spin Cycle actually had some sweet moments musically, and of course was a whale visually. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BDStaffAlum Posted August 8, 2013 Share Posted August 8, 2013 BD had an awesome show in third place that year with Methods of Madness. Hah...memories of my first year! Wow I don't really remember any of that, it is a blur...was a great one though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.