From: owner-harbinger-digest@smoe.org (harbinger-digest) To: harbinger-digest@smoe.org Subject: harbinger-digest V4 #180 Reply-To: harbinger@smoe.org Sender: owner-harbinger-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-harbinger-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk harbinger-digest Friday, December 17 1999 Volume 04 : Number 180 HARBINGER DIGEST To post, mail harbinger@smoe.org To unsubscribe, mail majordomo@smoe.org with: unsubscribe harbinger-digest To get list info file, mail majordomo@smoe.org with: info harbinger-digest Today's Subjects: ---------------- (harbinger) Holiday cheer [DennLRuss@aol.com] (harbinger) A Provocative Turn For Paula Cole [Kenn Subject: (harbinger) A Provocative Turn For Paula Cole Here is a recent AP article that I thought you all might enjoy reading. In it, Paula tries to explain more of where she is coming from right now. http://library.northernlight.com/EB19991208880000146.html?cb=0&dx=1006&sc=0#doc Perhaps it's just that people have been too busy with holiday stuff since the release of Amen. to really be bothered, but for all of the exuberant applause from fans we initially heard from subscribers on this list and from the few reports I've read of Paula saying that she has gotten a lot of positive feedback about Amen. from her peers, I don't see much evidence of a lot of people clamoring to buy the album. And here on the list, no one seems to be talking much about the songs from the album or the non-album tracks ("Ring Finger," "Billy Joe" and "Night") that came out on the singles for "IBIL." When This Fire came out, the Harbinger list was buzzing. Now, aside from reports of upcoming shows, etc., we're mostly hearing crickets. VH1 barely plays the video at all. MTV News talked about the New Year's Eve show in one of their blurbs last week, but MTV never shows "I Believe In Love." The album dropped off the Billboard 200 and, realistically, isn't likely to regain any foothold there. Amen. has been as far from a favorite of most music critics as any album can get. I expected the critics to be dismissive, but is the album pretty much dead in the water on the list before the tour even gets off the ground? I'm just wondering how many of the fans on the list are listening to Amen. on a regular basis. Is it in heavy rotation in your CD player? Has this album managed to touch you? We're coming to the end of a century and we have the whole Hanukkah/Christmas/Kwanzaa thing going on, so it seems to me that this would be an especially good time for an album like Amen. (with its message of peace, love and goodwill toward men) to be selling like hotcakes and inspiring a lot of folks to write to this list about what the songs are saying to them. But that's not happening. Hell, Jewel's Christmas CD is probably getting more attention and better press than Amen. Believe me, I'm not outraged. Nor am I sitting here in disbelief. I have my own ideas as to why fans, critics and consumers alike are turning their backs on this album. I'm just wondering what you all think is going on. What's going on with you? Do you like the album? If you loved it to begin with, do you still love it or has the album not stood up to multiple plays? If you thought Amen. sucked hard from the very start, have you changed your mind at all since listening to the album more? Has everyone heard the non-album tracks - those mentioned before, plus "Feelin' Da Love" and "IDWTW '99"? If so, what do you think? If not, why haven't you heard them? Spill your guts! Kenn - ------------------------------ To unsubscribe, mail majordomo@smoe.org with: unsubscribe harbinger Btw, if you are an AOL subscriber the above instruction will work for your EVERY time. Digest, further unsub and problems FAQ at: http://www.netaxs.com/~jgreshes/lists/harbinger.html ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 16 Dec 1999 18:33:44 -0500 (EST) From: April Dunetz Subject: Re: (harbinger) A Provocative Turn For Paula Cole okay Kenn, you've got me motivated! i am touched by much of Amen. when i saw Paula play at the Bowery Ballroom i was in tears when she was playing Pearl, and i've written her a couple of letters on how personally affecting that song feels to me... i totally feel and love Pearl. Amen is great because i love the twist of perspective paula puts on her life, the world, and other lives, and the world is very much about "so be it" to everything from saddam hussein to marilyn manson :) la tonya has great vocals and the music is really cool, so i like the tone the track applies to the listener, suwannee jo was a fave since the this fire tour, it's mesmerizing and really hits the point of the book she wrote it about well (zora neale hurston's their eyes were watching God - an alumna of my college!) initially i didn't like rhythm of life or God is watching too much, but after i saw them performed live i LOVE them. they are now alive in my heart after seeing paula do them at her best... i like the groove of i believe in love and soem of the lyrics are good, but right now it's not hitting me too well because love is destructive as much as it is constructive... my own current "love hardships" are distancing me from the song... and be somebody and free, i like them, but they don't strike me as too original, and i think that paula could have said what she did in those songs a bit better... oh and billy joe and ringfinger are amazing! they feel like old school paula emotions, angers and fears and i love them! i want paula to be super successful, she is great and deserves it more than the average pop superstars whose faces are matched to songs they didn't write and are aimed at one thing-marketing, marketing, marketing. i bought Amen. a week before it's release date, i convinced most my friends to buy it and they did, and for the friends that don't have the album i buy it for them when birthdays and stuff come up, so i'm trying hard to keep paula afloat. well i hope to read some other assessments! Amen. april On Thu, 16 Dec 1999, Kenn wrote: > Here is a recent AP article that I thought you all might enjoy reading. > In it, Paula tries to explain more of where she is coming from right > now. > > http://library.northernlight.com/EB19991208880000146.html?cb=0&dx=1006&sc=0#doc > > Perhaps it's just that people have been too busy with holiday stuff > since the release of Amen. to really be bothered, but for all of the > exuberant applause from fans we initially heard from subscribers on this > list and from the few reports I've read of Paula saying that she has > gotten a lot of positive feedback about Amen. from her peers, I don't > see much evidence of a lot of people clamoring to buy the album. And > here on the list, no one seems to be talking much about the songs from > the album or the non-album tracks ("Ring Finger," "Billy Joe" and > "Night") that came out on the singles for "IBIL." > > When This Fire came out, the Harbinger list was buzzing. Now, aside > from reports of upcoming shows, etc., we're mostly hearing crickets. > VH1 barely plays the video at all. MTV News talked about the New Year's > Eve show in one of their blurbs last week, but MTV never shows "I > Believe In Love." The album dropped off the Billboard 200 and, > realistically, isn't likely to regain any foothold there. Amen. has > been as far from a favorite of most music critics as any album can get. > I expected the critics to be dismissive, but is the album pretty much > dead in the water on the list before the tour even gets off the ground? > > I'm just wondering how many of the fans on the list are listening to > Amen. on a regular basis. Is it in heavy rotation in your CD player? > Has this album managed to touch you? We're coming to the end of a > century and we have the whole Hanukkah/Christmas/Kwanzaa thing going on, > so it seems to me that this would be an especially good time for an > album like Amen. (with its message of peace, love and goodwill toward > men) to be selling like hotcakes and inspiring a lot of folks to write > to this list about what the songs are saying to them. But that's not > happening. Hell, Jewel's Christmas CD is probably getting more > attention and better press than Amen. > > Believe me, I'm not outraged. Nor am I sitting here in disbelief. I > have my own ideas as to why fans, critics and consumers alike are > turning their backs on this album. I'm just wondering what you all > think is going on. What's going on with you? Do you like the album? > If you loved it to begin with, do you still love it or has the album not > stood up to multiple plays? If you thought Amen. sucked hard from the > very start, have you changed your mind at all since listening to the > album more? Has everyone heard the non-album tracks - those mentioned > before, plus "Feelin' Da Love" and "IDWTW '99"? If so, what do you > think? If not, why haven't you heard them? Spill your guts! > > Kenn > > > > ------------------------------ > To unsubscribe, mail majordomo@smoe.org with: > unsubscribe harbinger > > Btw, if you are an AOL subscriber the above instruction will > work for your EVERY time. > > Digest, further unsub and problems FAQ at: > http://www.netaxs.com/~jgreshes/lists/harbinger.html > > - ------------------------------ To unsubscribe, mail majordomo@smoe.org with: unsubscribe harbinger Btw, if you are an AOL subscriber the above instruction will work for your EVERY time. Digest, further unsub and problems FAQ at: http://www.netaxs.com/~jgreshes/lists/harbinger.html ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 16 Dec 1999 19:51:59 EST From: Fumbler310@aol.com Subject: (harbinger) Paula's New years eve gig canceled (?) I was in the village today and someone handed me a flyer for Life's New Years eve bash. Well i quickly read it (nice flyer!) and low and behold Paula's name was NOT on it. They listed The Roots and the DJs and prices, but no where on the flyer did they say anything about Paula's dinner/show so i can only assume she canceled. I say this because a few weeks back she WAS listed in the ad in the Village Voice, and the flyer seemed very new and she WASNT listed....ok enough rambling for me. Anyone else have any information? Steve - ------------------------------ To unsubscribe, mail majordomo@smoe.org with: unsubscribe harbinger Btw, if you are an AOL subscriber the above instruction will work for your EVERY time. Digest, further unsub and problems FAQ at: http://www.netaxs.com/~jgreshes/lists/harbinger.html ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 16 Dec 1999 20:13:20 EST From: Fumbler310@aol.com Subject: (harbinger) a funny thing i noticed (AP paula article) from the AP article recently posted to the list: ``I don't have a fear of what people will think of me,'' Cole said, talking over a cold-cut platter backstage in a New York club a few hours before a performance. ``I know who I am on this album. I know that it comes from my heart and I'm being true to myself.'' - ---------------------------- Correct me if i'm wrong, but isnt Paula a Vegan? As long as she was TALKING over the coldcut platter and not drooling over it.....LOL Steve - ------------------------------ To unsubscribe, mail majordomo@smoe.org with: unsubscribe harbinger Btw, if you are an AOL subscriber the above instruction will work for your EVERY time. Digest, further unsub and problems FAQ at: http://www.netaxs.com/~jgreshes/lists/harbinger.html ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 16 Dec 1999 23:43:40 -0500 From: Jimmy Mac Subject: Re: (harbinger) A Provocative Turn For Paula Cole Kenn, harbinger's harbinger, wrote: > think? If not, why haven't you heard them? Spill your guts! OK, enough of my unfunny anecdotes. I was really excited to hear Amen. for the first time, mostly because I had to wait for CDNow to ship it to me for about 10 days after its release. I purposefully set aside Kenn's excellent advance review until after my first bare and uninfluenced listen. My expectations were high, but by no means specific. I was hoping for three things in her album: creativity, emotion and progress. My assessment: she's delivered all these, and then some. Her album marks an important step in her career, regardless of how many (or few) copies are sold or how many (or few) accolades are bestowed: she's avoided the all-too-common and all-too-awful rut syndrome. Defined: stumble upon a formula that lands you on TRL, milk it for all its worth, and spend the next ten years striving to appeal to that same demographic by pumping out clones. As Peter Gabriel once put it, he'd rather put out every album with the same title (in fact, he wanted to do this but the executive types disallowed it) and new content, rather than the opposite (same old shit with a new name). I really do love Amen.. I don't even try to compare it to her other albums, because although I love them too, I love them for different reasons, and for their differences as well. I've got Amen. sitting on my desk right next to my copy of (while his name is still resonant) Marilyn Manson's "The Last Tour On Earth." I've enjoyed reading about PC and MM in the news...since they're two of my most favorite artists, my interest was piqued when I first heard the title track. I know Paula's praises of Marilyn Manson won't be lost on him....I'd expect him to cast dispersions on her music if asked, but I also know he'd appreciate any kudos she passed his way. One common thread in these artists and other of my favorites (Sarah McLachlan, Nine Inch Nails, Peter Gabriel, Ben Folds Five, et al) is that they, like Paula and Manson, don't strive to please an audience, at least not primarily. They strive to please their muse, first and foremost, and we're just lucky to be witnesses to that pleasure. If we don't like a direction they take, well, then we can always sell back the cd at our local shop and move on with our musical lives. More power to them, and to us as well. JMMJ ps Kenn's in the lead for THE BRIDGE! Everybody had better vote!!! - ------------------------------ To unsubscribe, mail majordomo@smoe.org with: unsubscribe harbinger Btw, if you are an AOL subscriber the above instruction will work for your EVERY time. Digest, further unsub and problems FAQ at: http://www.netaxs.com/~jgreshes/lists/harbinger.html ------------------------------ End of harbinger-digest V4 #180 *******************************