From: owner-navy-soup-digest@smoe.org (navy-soup-digest) To: navy-soup-digest@smoe.org Subject: navy-soup-digest V4 #81 Reply-To: navy-soup@smoe.org Sender: owner-navy-soup-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-navy-soup-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk navy-soup-digest Saturday, July 28 2001 Volume 04 : Number 081 In This Digest: ----------------- New EP ["Bryan Winkelman" ] My thoughts on Sarah Slean's new EP... [Michael Curry ] Re: My thoughts on Sarah Slean's new EP... ["Coz Baldwin" ] Sarah and radio Play in boston/What Boston thinks.... [JewelEDA21@aol.com] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 27 Jul 2001 08:51:59 -0400 From: "Bryan Winkelman" Subject: New EP My 2 cents. I think change is good and expected. Just look at all the other artists that have changed/expanded their sound. If they stayed the same the fans would probably get bored and stop listening, eventually (maybe, but not with Sarah). The last couple of times I've seen her perform she played these songs, and it sounded great. The new sound just adds to more songs of hers that I like. This will just make her more popular with a wider group of people who will like her music. I definitely support the new sound and EP. It must be tough to have people listen to music that you worked so hard to make, and take the good and bad comments. I applaud her for having the courage to do so. I'm just glad Sarah is making more music and hope she does for a long time. Keep up the good work, Sarah. Bryan (Scotch rules) ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 27 Jul 2001 20:25:41 -0400 From: Michael Curry Subject: My thoughts on Sarah Slean's new EP... Hi all, Well, I got the new Sarah Slean EP in the mail a few days ago, but I actually didn't work up the nerve to listen to it 'til today. I really didn't like the samples I'd heard at all, and didn't want to find out that they truly were representative of the newly recorded stuff. Fortunately, they aren't! This is not to say that I'm enamored of the new stuff however. I suppose I should do this in order... Track 1 - Eliot Umm... I really don't like this new version of the song at all, and of the three newly done tracks I think its easily the worst. Sarah's "new voice" just doesn't fit the song at all in my opinion, and I think the production is kinda dreadful too. Track 2 - Book Smart, Street Stupid I think this one fits Sarah's "new voice" the best, though at times I still found it grating on me a little. Frankly, I don't hate Sarah's new sound the way some people do, but I do think she's taken things too far in using it. There are points in the songs where the vibrato thing works fine, and then there are others where I just found it tiresome. Oh, and once again I wasn't at all fond of the production. Sense a trend here? Track 3 - Sweet Ones I'd heard this song live several times, and really loved it, but... well, I think there's just way too much going on in this version. Once again it's a matter of production and arrangements. One thing that did impress me about this track though was what seemed to me a more restrained, and therefore much better, use of the "new voice". So, as you can see, I'm not particularly thrilled with the newly released material. I'll likely buy the new album, and I'll definitely go see Sarah perform live every chance I get, but I just don't think I'm going to be very enthusiastic about the album itself. I'm looking forward to future albums, which I hope will in no way involve Hawksley Workman and will see another change in Sarah's vocal delivery. One other thing, and this is mainly addressed to navy-soupers rather than ectophiles. I'm starting to resent the implication that has been made by some people who do like Sarah's new sound that somehow those of us who prefer her older material want her to never change. I'm sure that, at least in the case of most of us, we think it's great when an artist explores new things. However, just because we respect Sarah's right and need to change doesn't mean we have to like the results. She has the right to do whatever she wants to do, and we have the right to like or dislike it as suits our individual tastes. After all, we're fans, not sycophants. Oh, and for the record, I did like Universe better than Blue Parade, but if I think that's just because BP had room for a few weaker tracks that might not have been included in an EP. Michael - ---------------------------------------------------------------- Michael Curry mcurry@io.com mcurry@mindspring.com "Welcome to 21st Century America, where the profits of the major record labels, movie houses, and publishing companies are more important than First Amendment rights." -- Bruce Schneier - ---------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 27 Jul 2001 20:48:14 -0400 From: "Coz Baldwin" Subject: Re: My thoughts on Sarah Slean's new EP... OK....... So how do I get the damned thing??? Virtually Yours, Coz **Check out ALL-NEW cozbaldwin.com version 5.0!*** http://www.cozbaldwin.com - ----- Original Message ----- From: "Michael Curry" To: ; "ecto" Sent: Friday, July 27, 2001 8:25 PM Subject: My thoughts on Sarah Slean's new EP... > Hi all, > > Well, I got the new Sarah Slean EP in the mail a few days ago, > but I actually didn't work up the nerve to listen to it 'til today. > I really didn't like the samples I'd heard at all, and didn't want > to find out that they truly were representative of the newly recorded > stuff. Fortunately, they aren't! This is not to say that I'm > enamored of the new stuff however. > > I suppose I should do this in order... > > Track 1 - Eliot > > Umm... I really don't like this new version of the > song at all, and of the three newly done tracks I think > its easily the worst. Sarah's "new voice" just doesn't > fit the song at all in my opinion, and I think the > production is kinda dreadful too. > > Track 2 - Book Smart, Street Stupid > > I think this one fits Sarah's "new voice" the best, > though at times I still found it grating on me a little. > Frankly, I don't hate Sarah's new sound the way some > people do, but I do think she's taken things too far > in using it. There are points in the songs where the > vibrato thing works fine, and then there are others > where I just found it tiresome. Oh, and once again > I wasn't at all fond of the production. Sense a > trend here? > > Track 3 - Sweet Ones > > I'd heard this song live several times, and really > loved it, but... well, I think there's just way too > much going on in this version. Once again it's a > matter of production and arrangements. One thing > that did impress me about this track though was > what seemed to me a more restrained, and therefore > much better, use of the "new voice". > > So, as you can see, I'm not particularly thrilled with > the newly released material. I'll likely buy the new > album, and I'll definitely go see Sarah perform live > every chance I get, but I just don't think I'm going > to be very enthusiastic about the album itself. I'm > looking forward to future albums, which I hope will > in no way involve Hawksley Workman and will see another > change in Sarah's vocal delivery. > > One other thing, and this is mainly addressed to > navy-soupers rather than ectophiles. I'm starting > to resent the implication that has been made by some > people who do like Sarah's new sound that somehow > those of us who prefer her older material want her > to never change. I'm sure that, at least in the > case of most of us, we think it's great when an > artist explores new things. However, just because > we respect Sarah's right and need to change doesn't > mean we have to like the results. She has the right > to do whatever she wants to do, and we have the > right to like or dislike it as suits our individual > tastes. After all, we're fans, not sycophants. > > Oh, and for the record, I did like Universe better > than Blue Parade, but if I think that's just because > BP had room for a few weaker tracks that might not > have been included in an EP. > > Michael > > > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------- > Michael Curry mcurry@io.com mcurry@mindspring.com > > "Welcome to 21st Century America, where the profits of the major > record labels, movie houses, and publishing companies are more > important than First Amendment rights." -- Bruce Schneier > ---------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 27 Jul 2001 20:58:09 -0400 From: Michael Curry Subject: Re: My thoughts on Sarah Slean's new EP... At 08:48 PM 7/27/01 -0400, Coz Baldwin wrote: >OK....... So how do I get the damned thing??? I ordered mine from cdnow.com... I'd guess many of the major online spots should have it. Michael ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 27 Jul 2001 21:23:06 EDT From: JewelEDA21@aol.com Subject: Sarah and radio Play in boston/What Boston thinks.... hey there Got the EP in the mail, and have it playing on the radio in boston (89.3fm/640am). Im thinking of how to word this. well.. our station has 50,000 kids that are on our campus and this part of boston... and well, the feedback really wasn't too good. The feedback from UNIVERSE was AMAZING, but the new EP really hasn't gotten good reviews. I think the 'weekly dig' (a village-voice type paper in Boston) might be doing a review on it also, which isn't the greatest thing. It could be fairly bad, so I'm gonna call my friends who work there right now to see whats gonna hit the press (the paper is read moreso than the boston globe). At any rate, im not really digging the "new voice" as we collectivley put it. Anyone can request Sarah on the radio through me, regardless of what the webpage says. However, It's really sad that she's gotten not the greatest reviews here in Boston over the new EP. Moreso, I know I've passed it around to alot of the bigger booker people, radio people, promoters and music types in Boston (we share music up here, hah) I'll let you know what they think about it also. They're some who know sarah well (music wise) and some who have never before. So... hate to bring bad news, but rather be known as the honest music person :) peace all, Sebastien! ------------------------------ End of navy-soup-digest V4 #81 ******************************