Look at it this way: the Voice has 13 million viewers, Blake sold 100,000 copies of his new album. That is pretty abysmal, right? Otherwise we gain less and less insight from the album charts. what does the script moving 25,000 units tell you? Nothing?
It is not every day a live performance changes instantaneously from a non believer to a fan, and it is not that I think Hurray For The Riff Raff were actually that great, they weren’t bad but not that great, but the songs revealed their stickiness and suddenly you could hear just how strong the riffs in the riff raff were. Blake Shelton was a blast
So $100 for four hours of better than average modern country played by topnotch Nashville Cats and singers who know better than to phone in anything. Ten times crazier? Maybe, OK, why not? Grade: B+
I have been disappointed in Conor Oberst for years now and the last two times I’ve seen him live I’ve not been thrilled. It is six years since I caught him at the tiny “Other Music” and longer still since his residency at the Town Hall. So Conor at Summerstage on Tuesday: why is it a pick of the week? Because it’s Conor Oberst, that’s why.
So what’s with Blake? The album was on sale at ITunes for $5.99 and and the moral of this story is: if Itunes and/or the record business wanted to really battle streaming they should drop their prices in half…
Forget – Ben Watt – Another strong ballad off Ben’s new album, the Joe’s Pub gig is the same day as Mr. and Mrs. Carter and I am seriously considering passing on Jigga for him – A-
Miss You In My Life – The Belle Brigade – This is too soft even for the soft sidey Souther Cali Laurel Canyon hand, the song is too ethereal, the melody doesn’t lock you in, and much like the album, it floats away – C+
Only Dierks Bentley, Brad Paisley and Jamie Johnson can compare with Blake Shleton -the country star who married Miranda Lambert and became a judge on “The Vouce” and then, last year, released his best album to date Based On A True Story.
Does New York have a problem with Governor’s or what? I can’t remember a good one. Pataki, any one? Hugh Carey? Nelson Rockefeller. Like the man said, can no one play this game any more? Well, de Blasio needs to up his game through the roof. and stop handing Cuomo opportunities to make Bill look like a reactionary half wit. Of course, maybe Bill is a reactionary half wit…
Let Her Dance – The Bobby Fuller Four – It is to Bobby Fuller’s credit that Marshall Crenshaw’s cover doesn’t run the band out of town on a pole -indeed, as great as Crenshaw’s cover was, Fuller had all the highlights on this power pop early rock and roll triumph from the beginning – A+
