From: owner-jinglejangle-digest@smoe.org (jinglejangle-digest) To: jinglejangle-digest@smoe.org Subject: jinglejangle-digest V4 #53 Reply-To: jinglejangle@smoe.org Sender: owner-jinglejangle-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-jinglejangle-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk jinglejangle-digest Wednesday, April 4 2001 Volume 04 : Number 053 Today's Subjects: ----------------- [MLL] CITY SOUNDS - short review [Recordings@aol.com] [MLL] Live City Sounds ["Jonathan Gillespie" ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 03 Apr 2001 15:26:56 EDT From: Recordings@aol.com Subject: [MLL] CITY SOUNDS - short review Mary Lou Lord LIVE City Sounds Well, the MLL Direct-Mail CD club worked for me! It took less than a week for my copy of LIVE to arrive. Thanks ML & Kev! This is not exactly a review, just a few quick notes: Nice cover - it appears to be color laserprinting, which is much cheaper than the glossy "pro" covers but still looks good (if you make your own bootleg CDs at home, you already know this.) Also - ironically - the cover photo is the ORIGINAL, REJECTED cover of Got No Shadow! The booklet inside features a beautiful shot of ML playing beside the subway tracks, very simply dressed and unassuming (except for the awesome guitar collection - does she ALWAYS haul that much gear?!) ML can look like a knockout rockstar anytime, but the "natural" look always captures my heart. The sound quality is awesome, but that's DAT for ya. ML deserves credit for mic placement, as the mix between vocal and guitar is absolutely perfect, and feels much more organic than MIND THE GAP. That said, there really are NOT a lot of "city sounds" here - a barely audible subway train at the start, some guy yelling "OWWW!" and some applause at the ends of songs are about as city-like as this gets. I was expecting a somewhat grittier document that would somehow convey the rush of commuters pushing past Mary Lou, maybe the occasional train whistle drowning out her voice... not that those things would have made a better CD, but the quality of the sound is so good that most of it could have been recorded in a studio. But, the "live" aspect shines through in the performances, which are lively and wonderful and unmistakeably LIVE. The very first track, I DON'T WANT TO GET OVER YOU, is one of the strongest performances - nice sequencing, Mary Lou! The other songs are well-played and mostly familiar, but for me the standouts are THUNDER ROAD (I can imagine the faces of the awestruck listeners as the Boss's epic tune builds and builds to its gentle climax), OWN WORST ENEMY, the reliably awesome VINCENT 52, and the quite-well-performed BEESWING. Performance wise, mary Lou is never less than wonderful, which I'm sure is due both to excellent performances and judicious selection. The only cut here I would have replaced is HIS LAMEST FLAME, partly because the tempo is inconsistent, and partly due to overexposure on my part... but now that I think about it, this is the first "official" acoustic recording of FLAME, despite the number of times I may have heard it live. THIRTEEN is also nice to have outside the confines of REAL, as well. There seem to be some digital pops in the song SAYONARA - is this just my copy, or does everyone have this? My only other note would be that I was really hoping for some Mary Lou "patter" between songs, since we all know how funny and endearing she can be, but overall for a first self-produced effort, LIVE kicks butt. Good for you, Mary Lou! I know this thing's gonna sell like hotcakes. Put a little aside for a plane ticket! Dino ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 03 Apr 2001 17:38:32 -0500 From: "Jonathan Gillespie" Subject: [MLL] Live City Sounds Hey Everybody! I just rolled in from work, checked the mail box, and there it was, MLL Live City Sounds. It absolutely brightened my otherwise dismal day. It sounds really really good. Nice and bright and audible in all the right places. I would credit digital audio tape (DAT) and simplicity, as well as good engineering. Too many connections and too many instruments and too many mics and too much outboard gear makes for muddiness and crowding, in my humble opinion. You'll hear none of that here. Mic and a guitar and two tracks of digital tape. And Mary Lou. Live has a really great song selection, some old and some new. Lonesome When You Go has always been a personal favorite of mine, and I was glad to see it included. In short, Live City Sounds ROCKS! You folks better order up. Jonathan _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com ------------------------------ End of jinglejangle-digest V4 #53 *********************************