I haven't bought music for quite a while.

Was beginning to wonder if music CD's are still being sold without video.

There's so much available on youtube, it almost seems like audio music alone is nearly obsolete.

Even music WITH video, is so varied, and can go to such extremes, that staying within the bounds of semi-reality; also seems to be nearly obsolete.

However, I don't have an iPod and don't listen to music except as a dedicated, sole activity. I enjoy it quite a lot. But when I'm doing other things, it's too distracting for me to A) control the music I hear, or B) let the music I hear, control me. I can be productive in some ways, that nobody else can. But I need fairly deep concentration to succeed in that. Multitasking is something I can do, but mostly with light-weight, routine, boring, trivial or superficial tasks. I don't do much of that. We played music while I was milking cows back on the farm in the 1950's and 60's. I liked that music a lot. So did the cows. So long as we didn't play too many polkas. Don't want to have the cows dancing around too much. They already stepped on my feet too often, even without music. A 1,200 pound cow's hoof landing on a 10 yr boy's tennis shoed foot, is not a pleasant feeling. Results in too many high noted yells and screams.

I wanted to get over to Wal-mart to get the CD of Endless Love duet with Lionel Richie and Shania Twain.

However I have more weighty matters I need to finish first.

For some reason, with my lack of exposure to buying music in recent years, I'd guessed this Wal-Mart CD was an album of Lionel Richie in duets with multiple other top music singers. I'd not seen, or forgotten, this was a single release.

Also, I wondered whether it would be accompanied by video. I've seen somewhere now, that a video is planned for the future, and who's doing it. So I guess this CD will be audio only.

I got my copy today at Wal-Mart. There were only 3 copies left. Yep, it does have the little ole' Mercury Diamond at the bottom in association with Universal. When will they ever learn that promoting is sooo much better. Well, anyway, man-o-man does she sound great. It is, I don't quite know how to say, a clean rich voice and different than her heyday with ex-hubby. If she had trouble with her throat closing up, I guess now it is wide-open because her sound is rich and vibrant. I listened to it several times on the way home today in the car, and I must have really cranked it up because my dad said it was too loud. He's hard of hearing, so I must have really had it up there. But I was trying to hear different things each time.

Steve

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That's funny, Steve, that your 'hard of hearing' dad said it was too loud.

Glad to hear it sounds as good as I thought, from the link I'd heard some days ago.

Well, I'm probably out of luck then, in hoping to get a copy from Wal-mart today. Sounds like they have limited supply of this cd.

And I have quite a way to go yet on my home repair project today.

Reportedly, the video for Lionel/Shania's duet of "Endless Love", will be developed and produced by someone who's done some of her earlier music videos. I've seen his name, but don't know or remember which of her videos he did in the past. That might be a clue to what will show up in this video.

Meanwhile, last night, TV had a show called "Following Lady Gaga" or something like that. It was a background, semi-documentary. I was curious and some of the info satisfied my curiosity. But I was flipping back and forth from this show, and "The Voice", which also had some good parts (and some not so good parts). Hard to catch the best parts of each show and avoid the less interesting parts. After that, I watched "Smash", a new program about the rise to fame for one or two (fictional) musical performers. While interesting and enjoyable in parts, that too, was somewhat less than the advertisements promised.

All of this got me to thinking about the trend in music performance, live and in videos.

There have been many transitions over the decades. Each generation seems to have "pushed the envelope" along with pushing the buttons of their parents' generation.

The folk singers of the 40's were labeled as liberals and communists.

Elvis Presley and others in the 50's, were considered shocking and sinful with his sexually suggestive pelvic gyrations.

In the 60's, it was the hippies, drugs and anti-war generation of musicians.

Further developments happened in the 70's and 80's, I guess including hard rock, acid rock and similar, only a limited percentage of which I liked. I remember MTV videos in the 80's, some of which were a very enjoyable weave of musical melody, harmony, and rhythm, with exciting, corresponding video.

Michael Jackson did a number of excellent music videos and concerts, during a rather long span of years. However I did not personally see a lot of that. Probably too preoccupied with my own career, etc.

Among the changes in the 90's, included the repopularization of country music, a sizable part of which involved Shania Twain.

Somewhere along the way, Madonna turned much of music in a new direction. She had some pleasing songs and catchy tunes. But many did not catch my attention. Her running around in overstated, dramatic underwear and foundation wear was something of a turn-off for me. A bit too cold, crass and in-your-face. Not really adversarial or insulting, but with implications in that direction at times.

Hip-hop and rap also developed a sizable new following. That included a lot of explicit hostility and semi-violent attitude. I did not relate to hardly any of that. Some of it had a good beat, but I didn't see a lot else with constructive appeal. Perhaps the under-served portions of our populations needed a cathartic outlet, to express their rage and disaffection.

In recent years, some parts of music have gone on an increasingly irresponsible and dark side. People like Britney Spears have been worshiped by droves of younger generations, even while her personal life is almost a text book case for mental, emotional and social dysfunction. Virtually a worst case example of behavior to copy.

Then there's Lady Gaga. I can not say she is mentally, emotionally or socially dysfunctional. She's a hard worker, with good humane goals and intentions. And she has one or two songs that sound like dynamite to me. I really like "Caught in a Bad Romance". It keeps popping up in my head. I mean the sound, not the video. The video is very ostentatious. She's making a statement of one kind or another, some of which eludes me. She runs around in underclothing even skimpier than Madonna. However it's not as much of a turn-off. I tolerate it, sort of like I would a child's getting a bit carried away, during their learning, development and communication.

The first time I saw a Gaga song, was a variation of "Bad Romance", where she was more tastefully dressed, and the focus was on her excellent singing and her dancer's group rhythms. I've never seen a dance troupe look that good before. These were mostly her guy dancers prioritizing their great dancing moves, not her girl dancers prioritizing mostly just how much of their bodies they could uncover.

This "following Gaga" show last night covered quite a lot of ground. Some of which I missed due to channel switching. I didn't know she was such a strong supporter, maybe even advocate, of gay and lesbian life style. I don't find that life style as the most natural and constructive for human beings. There is a natural range of human genetics and sexual predispositions. So I tolerate it and respect individual rights for gays and lesbians. But I do not promote it. And I do not believe it should be promoted as an optimal way to live, for the vast majority of populations. I remember being taught history, and how civilizations became carelessly decadent and collapsed.

Overall, Gaga seems to have a wide range of video content. A lot of it is in stark colors, action and themes. But it seems to have a soft underpinning. I get the impression that she wishes well for the members of the viewing audience, even though she is sometimes giving them or their conscience, verbal or musical jabs.

My point in writing all this, is to wonder what is the potential of video in music, as time rolls on. And specifically, what is the potential for video in Shania's music.

Lady Gaga and some others have gone so far over the top, that maybe a niche would be better for Shania, rather than trying to expand the envelope again, like she did with the videos in "Any Man Of Mine", the "Come On Over Album", or the "Up!" album.

A few months ago, I noticed that Gaga's "Bad Romance" had nearly half a billion views on youtube. Shania's top song had just shy of 50 million, or about 1/10th as much. I wonder how much that is due to the passage of time, the change in music, change in audience, or maybe just the increase in a shapely lady running around in skimpy underwear. I think the latter has some influence on the numbers. But I don't know how much. It might be nice to compare apples with apples, eg just the music, with similar video content, instead of very different video content.

I see reviews of the cd are starting to come out. One from "Taste of Country" compared it to the earlier version with Lionel Richie and Diana Ross.

Another person noted that the two songs are very different, the earlier version being a power ballad, and the current version being an uptempo country ballad.

I have seen the term "power ballad" before. But must admit I haven't hung around music enough to know or remember what that is. So I looked it up. The history and origins are not particularly exciting for me. But some of the later developments, and examples, were things I recognized and in some cases, I had found very impressive and enjoyable.

Tho he is not cited in what I read just now about power ballads, at least a few of the songs by Randall Waller, with his Oasis band, seem to fit that category. I have one or two of his albums, from before the time he was in Shania's band. One of the songs he performed for us informally in Timmins one year, was impressive and I think was a power ballad. There was a rather awed hush, after he finished it. I asked him if he wrote that song. He said "I wish! It was written by ______". I don't remember now, who the "_______" was.

I don't easily find any definition of uptempo country ballad. I know what uptempo means. And I know generally what country ballads are. However they are so numerous, and cover such a large area of music topics and variations, that it's not yet clear to me, that they must be completely different, even if the adjective 'uptempo' is applied.

Frankly, I heard a lot of similarities in the two versions of the same song. I also heard some differences. I did not notice only the one and ignore the other.

But it may be fair to suggest that there are limits to how much the two versions of the song can be compared. Even the article from "Taste of Country" acknowledges that. I have to agree, there are enough differences, that I find it a bit difficult to compare. Not sure that will stop me from trying.

Some folks just want to be left in peace, to enjoy a song. They don't want to hear any detractions, criticism or any point of view that undermines their enjoyment. I feel the same way about some activities in which I invest deeply.

On the other hand, I like to learn, and grow. I do that not just by consuming what I like. I also do that by exploring things, noting similarities and differences to what I've encountered before. Some persons feel insulted by comparisons. It can bring together, positives and negatives in awkward or uncomfortable ways. It can indeed risk stirring up emotions, especially when comparing people or their performances.

Yet, little in life is gained, without some risk. So long as it's kept within reasonable bounds, where the hoped for benefit is more than the likely cost. The wild card in that mix, is the reaction of responders. Do they have hot buttons waiting to be set off? Are they having a bad day? No one can ever be completely sure how to negotiate that landscape. But if we don't try, at least sometimes, life can become rather tepid or stagnant. As an oldster, I already indulge in plenty of that. Once in a while, I have to take a breath of fresh, new air. Listneing and looking at this new version of a fine song, in a duet by Shania and Lionel, is one way to do that.

Wal-Mart nearest me, did not have any copies left, that I could find, by the time I got there Wed. Feb 8, mid-day.

http://www.theboot.com/2012/03/23/lione ... ove-video/


John -

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(Part of the Boot article:
""All artists are egotistical maniacs with inferiority complexes," Lionel tells The Boot with a laugh, answering our question of how he was able to convince Shania. "We're great until we're alone. Once we're left alone, a little voice creeps in and says, 'I don't know if we can do that again.' When left alone too long, that little voice can talk us into madness. But what I had to do with Shania was just very simple. I said to her, 'We have something in common: we are both scared to death.' She said, 'But you're Lionel Richie!' And I said, 'But you're Shania Twain!' And in the middle of her paranoia, once she heard her own voice on that opening line, she loosened up. Greatness comes from fear. Fear can either shut us down and we go home, or we fight through it.")

All artists are egotistical maniacs with inferiority complexes?

I wasn't aware that is different from many, if not most people.

Maybe it's similar to the metaphor that all robins are birds, but not all birds are robins.

We may all be artists, but not in a way that is pleasing to others, or that is commercially successful.

It's a good line though. And I like Lionel's approach, especially with Shania.

I like the original song.

Shania covers it beautifully.


John -

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Heh. That is so true. Most people don't have to live that part of their lives in the front of public eye, though. And some of them choose to live it in more public way, that they need to heh.
So maybe that is the similarity to your metaphor of the robins eh?

Still most anxious to hear her next album.

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Well, Shania has finally made it, to AARP that is! They did an article in this months' magazine for April/May with Diane Keaton on the cover. Go here to see it.

http://pubs.aarp.org/aarptm/20120405_PR?pg=36#pg36

Just hit the +sign to blow it up to read.


Steve

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