The Lonely Goatherd Blog And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats - Matthew 25:32
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Al Barger and MoreThings - getting people's goats since 1998.
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December 02, 2008
New CD Album Releases, 12-2-2008: Akon, Neil Young, Britney Spears The big new thang this week is from Aliaune Thiam aka Akon, with his new joint Freedom. I was not overly impressed with that ow-ow-ow hit, or as it is known in these quarters, "The Bellyache Song." But this new one doesn't sound half bad. The first song, "Against the Grain" actually sounds like a pretty fair song. I dig "Birthmark" but probably the best song is probably the title song "Freedom." Actually, having listened to it again while writing, I find myself singing "Right Now." That's a pretty good sign.
But I'ma half to call him out on the production. Actually, the arrangements are decent. There's some bit of trumpets in that first song that are nice. But like Britney and T-Pain and such, they're effecting the vocals with the mechanized robot sounds or whatever it is they're doing that they lose the emotion of the singing. From what I can hear, he's a perfectly good singer, but it's hard telling under the electronic effects. Enough already.
As much as I among others mock Britney Spears, I figured it only fair that I make a little effort to actually listen to her album before I go on about how bad she sucks. In fairness, the new Circus album isn't that bad. A 46 year old man completely isn't her target market - but even at that, I find this record fairly listenable. I could stand to listen to this around some teenagers without puking, which is better than I might have expected. It trails off after awhile, but at least the first few songs at least sound pretty good while I'm listening to them.
Couple of points of criticism though: For one thing, the whole "circus" theme is boring narcissitic nonsense. Poor Britney being followed by photographers and people writing stories about her. Uh, you're in SHOW BUSINESS. Goes with the territory, don't it? If you REALLY didn't like all that attention, you could quit the business and move to some remote island. Yeah, I didn't think so.
But the main bad thing here musically is the nonsense manipulation of her vocals. Not that Britney's going to make you forget Aretha, but she's at least a competent vocalist. However, most of the vocals on the album are effected with this kind of T-Pain robotic nonsense. Just sing your damned song straight, and trust yourself to put it over.
These newly released Neil Young recordings from the vault, Sugar Mountain: Live at Canterbury House 1968, are noteworthy as the source of the main well known very beautiful and effective recording of "Sugar Mountain" that's on the Decade album.
There's also Cadillac Records, a new movie based on the Chess Records story. Don't know if it's any good, but I'd definitely skip the soundtrack in favor of Best Of Chess: Original Versions Of Songs in Cadillac Records. This features among other luminaries Chuck Berry and ever lovin' Howlin' Wolf.
Here's the listing of this week's new album releases, courtesy AMG:
Neil Young Sugar Mountain: Live at Canterbury House 1968 Reprise Folk-Rock, Singer/Songwriter, Country-Rock
Leonard Bernstein Paul Dukas: The Sorcerer's Apprentice Shout! Factory Post-Romantic Orchestral Music
Boston Camerata A Boston Camerata Christmas Erato Christmas Music for Chorus
Rene Clemencic Eine schone Rose bluht Oehms Classics Hungarian Christmas Music for Chorus
Craig David Greatest Hits Warner Music Contemporary R&B, 2-Step/British Garage, Club/Dance, Urban, Garage/House
Adam Fischer Kodaaly: Hary Janos Suite; Summer Evening; Variations on a Hungarian Folk Song BMC Modern Orchestral Music
Burl Ives Favorites for Children Shout! Factory Children's Stories, Children's Folk
Danny Kaye Grimm's & Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales for Children Shout! Factory Fairy Tales, Children's Stories
Robert Uchida Andrew Violette: Sonata for Unaccompanied Violin Innova Contemporary Music for Violin
Original Soundtrack Cadillac Records Music World Music/Columbia Movie Themes, Original Score, Film Music, Soundtracks, Modern Electric Chicago Blues, Electric Blues
Original Soundtrack Cadillac Records [Bonus CD] Music World Music/Columbia Neo-Soul, Movie Themes, Original Score, Film Music, Soundtracks, Modern Electric Chicago Blues, Electric Blues
Panic at the Disco ...Live in Chicago Decaydance/Fueled by Ramen Emo-Pop, Punk-Pop
Carly & Lucy Simon Sing Songs for Children [2008 Reissue] Shout! Factory Folk Revival
Simply Red 25: The Greatest Hits Simplyred.com Sophisti-Pop, Blue-Eyed Soul, Adult Contemporary, Pop/Rock, Dance-Pop
Various Artists Best Of Chess: Original Versions Of Songs in Cadillac Records Chess Electric Chicago Blues, Rock & Roll, Soul, Electric Blues, Early R&B
The big new thang this week is from Aliaune Thiam aka Akon, with his new joint Freedom. I was not overly impressed with that ow-ow-ow hit, or as it is known in these quarters, "The Bellyache Song." But this new one doesn't sound half bad. The first song, "Against the Grain" actually sounds like a pretty fair song. I dig "Birthmark" but probably the best song is probably the title song "Freedom." Actually, having listened to it again while writing, I find myself singing "Right Now." That's a pretty good sign.
As much as I among others mock Britney Spears, I figured it only fair that I make a little effort to actually listen to her album before I go on about how bad she sucks. In fairness, the new Circus album isn't that bad. A 46 year old man completely isn't her target market - but even at that, I find this record fairly listenable. I could stand to listen to this around some teenagers without puking, which is better than I might have expected. It trails off after awhile, but at least the first few songs at least sound pretty good while I'm listening to them.
Couple of points of criticism though: For one thing, the whole "circus" theme is boring narcissitic nonsense. Poor Britney being followed by photographers and people writing stories about her. Uh, you're in SHOW BUSINESS. Goes with the territory, don't it? If you REALLY didn't like all that attention, you could quit the business and move to some remote island. Yeah, I didn't think so.
Burl Ives