Wow, One of the Most Rebellious American Voices
581665
The Story of Mary Maclane is somewhat difficult to categorize. It's approximately four months of diary entries by a very well read nineteen year old woman trapped in turn of the century Butte, Montana but it doesn't read like I-did-this-I did-that today prose. It's really an exposition of her rambling thoughts and feelings about herself and a wide array of subjects. Stylistically, she's amazing for a nineteen year old. She's an incredibly clever girl and she knows it. She comments on Butte and its environment, people and things. She's frankly bisexual, she's in love with Napoleon and the Devil, though that might be a pose to shock but at the same time it adds a strange element of mystery to her work.  This book may still be shocking to some. At times there is a dark humor here which creates the book's modern vibe. Mostly the book is a catalog of her unhappiness and yearning for happiness for which she's willing to sacrifice everything. She has Antonin Artaud's screech of misery which is the same reason it's as hard to read her as it is to read Artaud. In general, I liked this book. Mary MacLane is quite funny and precocious but the prolonged screech is a little trying and I also prefer a little more wild imagery than what she offers.
2757530
This CD of the Broadway version from more than 20 years ago is still fresh, entertaining, and features singing that is top notch! In particular, Narrator Laurie Beechman's performance is superb--she has one of the best singing voices you will ever hear! The songs are very catchy, and will stick in your head all day. The audio quality is also quite good. I enjoyed the 1990's Canadian version (with Donny Osmond and Maria Friedman), but this is the CD to buy--because of Beechman's incredible performance.
2976609
I don't know what this is or how you would categorize it.  All I know is that this CD will launch an attack on you speakers like an American missle on a taliban shelter, leaving your stereo a smoldering fiery mess in your living room.  These songs are wierd, but their groovey.  They rock hard with twisted Jon Lord syle keyboard riffs and angular guitars.  Maybe a cross between Royal Trux and early Uriah Heep would best describe this CD.  It's not like their other discs either.  If you own C'mon Everybody Lets Rock and heard this CD playing you wouldn't guess it was Oneida.  This CD is a statement and defines character.  It has an affect on people similar to the way fighting had an affect on Ed Norton Jr. in the movie Fight Club.  Take this to work and crank it up in your office.  Your boss will be afraid of you.  People will complain about you.  Some may even stare when you walk by.  However, you will gain a few admirers along the way.  Your group will be the "in" crowd.  People will find you irresistable and want to have sex with you.  Your haters will be the old, the weak, the people who are already dead but walking around in stupor because they are afraid to live their lives.  These people let the TV think for them.  Your followers will be able to think for themselves.  They are the idealistic, the young, the beautiful, the free.  Which side do you prefer to be on?  All this defined in one CD.  Buy it.
995
Unfortunately, Grant Lee Buffalo is one of the most critically and commercially underrated bands in America, and there is no reason for this.  Just listen to this album.  Grant Lee Phillips's deep, rich voice resonates with his thought-provoking, original lyrics.  This album perhaps best captures the spirit of American history, and is comparable to anything released by Bruce Springsteen.  The country tinge to several of the songs builds effectively on the themes of America's rugged history from the late 1880s to contemporary society, name-checking people from Tecumseh to David Koresh.  However, this is rock and roll at its very best ranging from loud guitar songs like "Sing Along" to soft, pretty ballads such as "It's the Life."  All in all, this is an extraordinary album in which you won't be disappointed.
3078154
Americans often get caught up in their own self-righteousness. This video is a funny dose of analgesic to American self-import, speaking as one myself.
2563010
The five-part harmony in the original lineup of New York Voices is simply unearthly. On top of that they have amazing composers in the group. This record would be worth ten times its price for the original tunes alone. "Sign of Spring" and "Soon One Day" take me to another world entirely. This is possibly the group's best effort ever, but all of their first three records are mind-altering. Don't listen to this stuff while driving - you'll forget where you are! I can't recommend this one enough.
263778
wow...this voice.  perhaps one of the most soul-stirring and emotional voices to have come round in quite some time.  he's 23 years old and lives in arkansas.  this is one of those artists you just have to discover.  word of mouth don't do it justice.  why can't people listen to those samples above?  This is true roots n country n gospel n folk coming from a kid WITH A VOICE.  start with westbound train, go to tage old hunger and end with time.  it's all over after that....100% THE FIND OF THE YEAR.
2646666
I'm sorry, but I'm not part of the bandwagon that thinks that Anna Netrebko is a great bel canto singer.  The fact that the Met is showering her with its new production of I Puritani comes as a great surprise to me.  Netrebko has no sense of a trill, she smudges her coloratura, has less than acceptable diction, and constantly goes sharp when she sings her sour high notes.  She is a very courageous artist, and I admire that, but she has no business singing bel canto roles with such a vocal estate.  She does a fine Mimi, as from what I heard in the Met broadcast, but her Elvira was not to my taste.  If she does not improve in the following performances, I don't think her voice would last with the career choices she is making.  A Mimi, she is...but an Elvira or a Norina...or even an Amina, she is not!  Why is no one taking notice of Mariella Devia?  The soprano has been around for 30 years now and her voice is still in mint condition!  What's more is, she is the one true dramatic coloratura of our generation, an artist to be upheld rather than Netrebko or Renee Fleming's wayward attempts to sing the bel canto repertoire.
3928754
Jim Weatherly has one of the best voices I've ever heard.. and I'm over 60!  When I tell friends what he's written, they don't believe me because they've never heard of him.  How do we get our C&W stations to feature him? He is fantastic!
1464861
Who else could get away with a line like "Meet me on my vast veranda, my sweet untouched Miranda ..."?
Like most Decemberists songs, this one is almost TOO edgy, in so many ways that the listener is always off balance. How Colin Meloy can sing in a way that has that tongue in cheek edge and distance, but with a voice that is totally committed to the song and the character who is speaking, is beyond me - there's just no one else like this group, and this song is one of my favorites. I've started listening to it with a thought to the nature of the unreliable narrator in it (and the many unreliable narrators in their other songs ...)
623283
I am such a fan of the song and of the singer. Gavin Degraw has the most amazing voice. It is a one-of-a-kind unique voice that has been awesome so full quality. This song rocks!
1182807
I was really taken by his voice. I've found that Blacklist is almost a "proving ground" for young artists. I also discovered Radical Face from Blacklist among others. I'd be very interested to know who and how they pick their musical choices. Anyway, I ordered Long Way Down the next day and am looking forward to listening.
2613563
This is one of the greatest Belcanto-recordings of all time. It captures young Sutherland in her best voice and style. But before praising this exquisite jewel further let me say this: I'm not a Callas-Widow (I think that's a VERY nasty word) but a Callas-Fan. I want to thank Larry who wrote the best review on this piece without any nasty remark on La Divina to poison it. Bravo Larry! THIS is how it's done. Neither did Sutherland's singing put Callas to shame, nor is it necessary to bash Maria to support La Stupenda. I have to admit that here and there I too have been a little hard in my reviews but that happened because I can't stand ignorance and lies. The first is stupid, the second vicious. Us Callas-Fans won't have Maria abused for mud-fights. So if you write one-star reviews in a row, don't expect us to remain quiet. (And so far only Callas suffered from this, far worse than Joanie!) I'm not writing one-star-reviews, I try to praise where praise is due. I think BOTH are AMAZING. Lets enjoy both!
Now to La Stupenda's singing here: Perhaps one of her greatest efforts ever to be recorded. Not to be missed! In one word: Essential!!!!
4977146
This isn't so much a review of the MP3 as much as it is an anecdote though it's a great song sung by an iconic and gifted performer. This song and I have a weird history. Though it was a hit the year I was born (`57) it wasn't until roughly forty years later that I first heard it. At least, it wasn't until then that it made an indelible impression on me if I had heard it before.

It was prominently featured on an incredibly disturbing episode of The X Files titled "Home" which was subsequently banned on network TV after the initial airing. The episode was centered around a creepy family of inbred genetic mutants (the Peacocks) and the sweet innocence of "Wonderful! Wonderful!" was used as an immensely powerful and perverted juxtaposition in scenes of brutality (the sheriff and his wife getting clubbed to death by the Peacock `brothers') and the mundane- it also plays as Mother Peacock and her `son' drive away to a new town. I found something appealingly eerie in the whistling that begins the song. For the record, Mr. Mathis would not give the producers of the show his blessing so they had another performer (who sounds almost exactly like Johnny!) sing over the original backing track.

I most recently heard the song on the Desperate Housewives series finale in a scene in which a character named Mrs. McClusky (the late, great Kathryn Joosten) was dying from a long battle with cancer which mirrored Joosten's real life battle with the disease. Where I got chills the first time I heard it on The X Files, this time it brought tears to my eyes. I had to download the MP3.

As I've gotten older, certain songs become more meaningful. This is one of them.
4683831
I've never been able to understand what is so great about Elaine Stritch's singing. It's simple: she can't sing. I've tried and tried to like her, and I do, as an actress, but NOT as a singer. Listening to these CDs, all I hear is a grouchy old lady voice with no vibrato, no range, and no ability to hold notes. If she were to try out for American Idol she would get cringes! I love her humor and honesty, and that's why I bought this, but the voice...ugh.
3012951
Fred Neil was the King of the East Village coffee shop, pass-the-hat folksingers in the very early sixties and this cd shows why. Much of his origins and late life are shrouded in rumour and mystery.

Sinatra, Johnny Cash, even Jim Morrison had great baritone voices, but Fred Neil's Sound was really something else. Neil had the most spectacularly deep resonant baritone voice, a voice that would sound wonderful reading the phone book! Everyone idolized him, everyone imitated him, everyone covered his songs: Roy Orbison, The Jefferson Airplane, the Youngbloods, Harry Nilsson, Tim Buckley, Tim Hardin, Judy Henske, John Sebastian, Gram Parsons, Linda Ronstadt, Tom Rush, Roger McGuinn. An unknown, awestruck, social climbing Bob Dylan used to play backup harmonica for Fred Neil and his ringing 12 string in the Village years before these albums. (Dylan mentions this in bio pic "No Direction Home") Fred was one of the main influences on David Crosby, Steven Stills (Crosby, Stills and Nash were going to call themselves "Sons of Neil" before Neil talked them out of it!).
Neil was a Brill Building song writer, like Carol King, for years before venturing out on his own.

The album bursts with early sixtes (there were TWO sixties!) folkie optimism and energy. There is much more energy and precision here than "The Many Side of Fred Neil" which is also worth having.

A line from Neil's song "Toy Balloon" (not on this CD)so impressed Jefferson Airplane's Paul Kantner & Grace Slick that it found it's way into "The Ballad of You and Me and Pooneil", in fact "PoohNeil" is a combination of Winnie the Pooh and the gentle Fred Neil. See also "House at Pooneil Corner".

Bleeker & MacDougal is a Neil solo with includes his second most famous song "Other Side of This Life" which was covered by Jefferson Airplane and nearly everyone else. (His most famous is "Everybody's Takin at Me", a hit for Harry Nilsson, and the story on Neil's life. Not included here). "Blues on the Ceiling" has a deep world weary quality to it. "A little bit of Rain" is deeply melancholy. "Sweet Mama" is upbeat with ringing 12 string overtones. When he sings the word "home" on "Bleeker & MacDougal" his voice sets up bass standing waves all over the room! The famous line about dating golddigging women with a "Handful of Gimmie (and a mouthful of much obliged)" found it's way into Tom Rush's "Drop-Down Mama" from the same era. (I don't know if it was Fred Neil's first or not). "Yonder Come the Blues" (dressed in high-heeled shoes)! Not a bad cut on this bluesy second album.

Fred hated the music industry and its commercialism. He dropped out and didn't record for the last 30 years of his life or so, living frugally of the proceeds from "Everybody's Talking at Me", despite offers from Rock Giants to record duets again.  Now his incredible talent is forgotten by nearly all but "a small band of admirers (many of them stars in their own right)".

The shy reclusive Fred Neil was the singer's singer.  Just listen and let The Voice wash over you. Like deep rich chocolate. he represents the skill and purity of folk, with occational bluesy jazzy tone.

This album (or the combo import "Tear Down the Walls" which includes this) is the best example extant of his talent. (Lost somewhere is rumoured a tape of a young Bob Dylan and Fred Neil jamming).

Excellent sound on this album.
3692860
I am a part of those "deeply-out-of-it" who recognize great music from this most remarkable man. No, I don't fit in any of those demographics but I am head-over-heels in love with The Voice and The Man. He's not a sell-out, he stayed true to his convictions and we get an album that I enjoyed very, very much.
I love "The Way", "MOAM", "Perfect Day" and "WYSYLM".
BUY THIS AND BE PART OF THE REVOLUTION.