From: owner-believers-digest@smoe.org (believers-digest) To: believers-digest@smoe.org Subject: believers-digest V5 #280 Reply-To: believers@smoe.org Sender: owner-believers-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-believers-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk believers-digest Friday, December 21 2001 Volume 05 : Number 280 In Today's believer's digest: ----------------- Re: Shills ["n'woj" ] re: requests ["mosh" ] Re: Shills ["Ron Rosen" ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 20 Dec 2001 21:58:26 -0500 From: "n'woj" Subject: Re: Shills when we last left our heroes, Ron Rosen exclaimed: >It seems that most artists put on CDs what they present live. It seems that >that is what audiences want and expect. I don't know why Susan doesn't. in the contemporary/singer-songwriter/folk field, i think susan is the norm in having a disparity between her live and recorded presentations. folks like susan, richard shindell, peter mulvey, ellis paul and such who are, generally speaking, solo performers live, seem to pull out the stops and do something with a band on their records whenever they can. i dunno why this is; probably a combination of economics -- it's expensive to tour with a band -- and preference -- i suspect a lot of singer/songwriters envision their songs with fuller arrangements than just one instrument. obviously, it may be different for each performer. as far as the new album goes, i have to say i like it but i'm not enthralled by it. it's nice to have studio recordings of several of these songs finally, though i've been enjoying lots of these songs in their live incarnations for a while since we're lucky enough to live somewhere susan tours fairly often (plus, of course, the live recordings floating around). as far as production goes, i can understand why some people would be put off by it, though it doesn't bother me nor do i think it's weak. not sure i understand the weak song-writing criticism though. several of the songs on the new record are among my favorites -- blue guitar, barbwire boys (the bookend to bonsai), stationary (wow!), shade of grey and the jaw-dropping nefertiti's dream. the balance of the songs are good, even if i don't like them as much -- i can live without covers, though i like the treatment that everybody's talkin' got; all of the above and misery and happiness are amusing; little yellow house is decent; may i suggest is very good but i'm not keen on it; dunno why it's ok to feel good made the cut though. as people were discussing today, there are lots of other songs which i would have loved to have on the album (shot tower! shot tower!), but i can live with them being lost to the realm of live recordings. overall, i think it'll be something i listen to more than a few times and then it'll fall off my radar (unless, of course, meredith keeps it in the cd player). but that has been the way of all her albums so far -- i listen to them a lot at first and then just don't feel the need to do so since they don't really have the spark that her shows do. that said, i'm really looking forward to the possibility of band performances that charlie alluded to. between susan's live personality and the album's band orientation, i think those shows could be really good -- kinda like richard shindell's band shows which were amazing (even though we got there late). well, time to wash some dishes... woj HELP! owner-believers@smoe.org Send mail to believers@smoe.org Susan's CD's are available on your desktop at World Cafe CDs http://worldcafecds.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 20 Dec 2001 10:06:07 -0500 From: "mosh" Subject: re: requests a few years ago, i got to see joe jackson on his "heaven and hell" tour. the first hour of the show was a timeline of his earlier work and the second hour was the entire new cd (based on the seven deadly sins). in the middle of the performance of the new material, people started shouting out older songs ("steppin' out!" "sunday papers!"). appropriately enough, they were shouting all this just as he was getting ready to start the song "right" which corresponds with anger. joe responded with, "yes, we'll get to that soon enough. in the meantime, our performance of the new material will take up about an hour of your entire LIFE!" for the encore, he came back and did a few older songs. he asked, "did someone request 'sunday papers?' i'm just curious, i'm not going to play it. this is my show. i'll play what i want. when i go see your band, i'll expect the same thing." rock on! stephen/MOSH "I came from Israel as a child, a stranger in a strange land. I studied to be a rabbi basically to keep me off the streets, and along the way I was saved by rock & roll." - Gene Simmons HELP! owner-believers@smoe.org Send mail to believers@smoe.org Susan's CD's are available on your desktop at World Cafe CDs http://worldcafecds.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 20 Dec 2001 19:23:26 -0800 From: "Ron Rosen" Subject: Re: Shills woj wrote: > in the contemporary/singer-songwriter/folk field, i think susan is the norm > in having a disparity between her live and recorded presentations. folks I stand corrected. I'm stuck in the 60s. > them as much -- i can live without covers, though i like the treatment that > everybody's talkin' got; all of the above and misery and happiness are > amusing; little yellow house is decent; may i suggest is very good but i'm I really like Misery/Happiness in person, even read it at my sister's wedding party, but on the album I just skip over it. It seems I think of it as a story that I've heard before. I wouldn't mind seeing Susan tell it over and over again live, but on a CD, it's like, "I've heard this one before." Message to Jane: I think the batteries for the chip you planted in the back of my head are in need of recharging, as the above comment indicates. Also, I really didn't appreciate waking up in a bathtub full of ice. HELP! owner-believers@smoe.org Send mail to believers@smoe.org Susan's CD's are available on your desktop at World Cafe CDs http://worldcafecds.com ------------------------------ End of believers-digest V5 #280 ******************************* --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------- This has been a posting from the Susan Werner believers-digest To unsubscribe send mail to Majordomo@smoe.org with "unsubscribe believers-digest" in the body of the message