Opinion-nation

[penfield]

sacrednoise recently suggested that I list my recent Hartford Courant CD reviews on this Web page.

Good idea.

August 11, 2005 Mr. A-Z by Jason Mraz and Looking for Lucky by Hootie and the Blowfish

August 4, 2005 Mr. Hollywood Jr., 1947 by Michael Penn

June 30, 2005 Hearts on Parade by American Hi-Fi

May 26, 2005 Before the Robots by Better than Ezra

May 5, 2005 Joe Perry by Joe Perry

April 21, 2005 Nature by Dave's True Story

March 31, 2005 Atom Bomb by The Blind Boys of Alabama

March 3, 2005 Make Do With What You Got by Solomon Burke

Comments

Music or Lyrics

[sacrednoise.livejournal.com]

A twist on the ultimate singer-songwriter question:

When you review an album, do you focus on the music first, the lyrics first, or do you take it all in together? Do you read the liner notes before or after hearing the album? Do you read the lyrics while your playing the music, or do you analyze them separately?

Inquiring minds want to know......

Re: Music or Lyrics

[enchanted-pants.livejournal.com]

There isn't a single tried-and-true procedure that I use when reviewing a CD. Sometimes I'll sit down at the computer and type things out as I listen to the album for the first time. Other times I'll listen to the CD casually for a few days -- on my mp3 player, or while doing housework, etc. -- before I even think about what I'm going to write.

I suppose I try to absorb the music and the lyrics all at once, whenever possible. But this is not always possible, because the pain-in-the-ass record companies and PR services often don't bother to send completed liner notes with the promo versions of the CD. This is particularly bothersome when I want to comment on certain instrumentation or production.

In 200 words, I don't have a lot of elbow room to do much microanalysis, so I'm better off concentrating on the big picture anyway.

The "ultimate singer-songwriter question"

[(Anonymous)]

What's that?

Re: The "ultimate singer-songwriter question"

[enchanted-pants.livejournal.com]

Normally I would leave this comment unscreened, but perhaps you don't know the rules:
If you want your comment posted, I have to know who you are.

Thanks for reading.

The disappearing Internet

[hbinc.livejournal.com]

At a certain point, those reviews will disappear from ctnow.com (so the benevolent, not-at-all evil corporation that owns it can charge a fee for access to "archived" material), and the links won't work anymore. If you are able and/or willing, feel free to copy the text into the vast enchanted_pants web empire.