i've got the 1st record--which i like--but i've never seen the guys live, so
i can't comment on lo-ki's assesment other than to say i've never enjoyed
hearing someone trash a band i like as much as him (lo-ki do you do reviews
for mags or whatever offline? maybe you should!). he may be right about
them being bandwagon jumpers though. i know that at least one of the guys
in
the group used to be in uncle festive--one of the few fuzak bands 1.w/a
sense
of humor 2.that i liked--tell anyone & i'll kill ya!
bd> Which raises the question, how does such a group gain more commercial
bd> success than the more talented ones? Is it because the people who work
jazzhole isn't that successful to my knowledge (everyone's getting their
stuff
as promos--like me--or in bargain bins).
bd> for the labels have such bad taste? Or do group members have the right
bd> connections, or what? Whenever I hear great tracks on comps but no
bd> full-lnegths have been done, I always wonder why not. It's
bd> disappointing to think that we miss out on much of the great talent
bd> because of lousy choices or lack of connections.
welcome to capitalism/big business! if the people at (usually major) labels
have good taste, they can't usually afford to use it & have the label foot
the bill. if they can't move major amts. of units (cds, whatever) then they
get canned--or spoken to very sternly! as an example, marvin gaye's
greatest
record "here my dear" (if you don't agree w/me, listen to it *again*) was
out
of print for several years (and very few people noticed--including me),
whereas "let's get it on", "greatest hits", and "what's going on" are always
availible. people know those records, and they sell because of recognition.
when a label invests in a "new big thing" act (e.g. prodigy/beck/spice girls
--sorry had to get that in) it's more about commerce than art, and we're
lucky
(as consumers) when some of these groups are actually *good*...
> EWF fan, their cover of Shining Star was IMHO a travesty... absolute
> trash! It's another example of how they can't come up with anything
> original.
bd> I'm partial to covers because I like different interpretations of
bd> familiar tunes. However, this was an example of a cover that failed to
bd> do anything for the original and was basically a case of borrowing
bd> lyrics.
man, if it was that bad, i'll just *have* to hear it! i once took a song
and
completely transformed it (w/a vocalist friend) so that the only remaining
bit
was the lyrics. of course, the song we did went from being trite to
interesting rather than the other way around...