Steve F
11-29-2002, 02:23 PM
I read this article today in our "What's Happening insert to our Newspaper. It is written by Boston Globe Staff Writer and Music Critic, Steve Morse. I found it totally depressing and way off base. I had to scan this and copy it here, so I may have missed some errors in words, but I think you'll have no trouble getting the idea. I have also included my response to the Boston Globe's e-mail feedback which I have identified at the bottom of this article. Whether I hear from them, I can't say, but at least I gave them an honest response without blowing my top. :mad:
SHANIA TWAIN'S SELF-MARKETING IS DOUBLE TROUBLE
If you thought Shania Twain was the top-selling artist of the '90s, then pat yourself on the back, because you're right. She moved 50 million records during the decade, proving that sexy videos and bubble-gum pop were what the music business - and many fans - wanted. And, no surprise, it's what she offers again with her new album, "Up!," which comes out today.
The formula, though, is growing staler by the minute. Perhaps the clearest evidence that Twain is all about the marketing is that the new album comes in two versions: The first CD is sanded-down pop (and bears a photo of Twain looking like a teeny-bopper in halter top and pigtails), while the second has the same 19 songs but with countrified production (Twain wears a cowboy hat this time), with fiddIe, banjo, and pedal steel added. The country version is better, though some of it sounds really tinny.
"Up!" is more often a downer, as Twain sounds like someone making cookie-cutter replicas of past songs but with worse (and dumber) lyrics. In fact, lyrically speaking, she makes Britney Spears sound like a Rhodes scholar. Many titles feature exclamation points that only point up the forced absurdity of such tracks as "I'm Gonna Getcha Good!" (the sugary new sin-
gle), "I'm Not in the Mood (To Say No!)," "What aWay to Wanna Be!," "(Wanna Get to Know You) That Good!," "Thank You Baby! (For Makin' Someday Come So Soon)" and "Waiter! Bring Me Water!"
Excuse me, bring some aspirin while you're at it!
Some of Twain's past hits have been certifiable guilty pleasures, including "Don't Be Stupid"' and "That Don't Impress Me Much," which helped put this Canadian glamour girl on the map. But
the new album doesn't have as much sass and spunk as her previous highs; too often it slips into vapid schmaltz; more fitting for a Disney ice show.
Twain, 37, moved three years ago to a 100-room, 18th-century castle in Switzerland with her husband/producer, Robert "Mutt" Lange, with whom she has a 1-year old child, Eja (pronounced "Asia"). She's been living a dream life, but this new album is more like a nightmare. Songs that were supposed to be fun often end up treacly and embarrassing. In the gloppy "Nah," she sings, "1 miss you now and then, but would I do it all over- Nah!" It seems kind of funny on paper, but try listening to the chorus more than once without wincing.
In the grating "C'est la Vie," she sings, "The daily life can freak
your mind, but life isn't all that bad." And in the sleepy ballad
"I'm Jealous," she declares, "When the sun's on your skin, I can't
hold it in And I know it's a sin, but I'm jealous of the sun/ I wish I were the rain runnin' down your neck and drippin' from your fingers/ Then I could be the drops rollin' off your back; I'd love
to let it linger." Zzzzz.
Lange's production of this disc often misses the mark. As the for-
mer producer of rock acts such as Def Leppard and the Cars, he can't resist shameless allusions to various rock songs. "Ka-Ching!" opens with a cash register sound that seems lifted from Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon," while "She's Not Just a Pretty Face" has a trebly, U2-style guitar intro that is close to plagiarism. Lange has used such gimmicks before, but it's getting tiresome. There are a couple of empowerment songs, the best of
which is "Pretty Face" (about women who can become astronauts and - gasp -even journalists if they want to), but there's nothing remotely as powerful as the antiabuse song "Black Eyes, Blue Tears" from her last album, "Come on Over" (which sold 34 million
copies worldwide).
You want a bottom line? Most of this new album feels like recycled marketing ideas rather than music that strives for any growth.
==========
I could not find and e-mail address for Steve Morse, but I did find a feed-back address for the Boston Globe which is the newspaper he writes for:
http://www.globe.com/globe/feedback/
HERE IS MY COMMENTS TO THE GLOBE:
I read an article today in my local Kennebec Journal newspaper, Augusta, ME, by Steve Morse of your staff regarding Shania Twain's new CD UP. It is a free Country and everyone has a right to their own opinion, but I really have to take exception to it. When you diss Shania you are making millions of her fans mad. Mr. Morse can tear her down all he wants, but in the end Shania's "Gonna Get Him Good" with her continuing success. Apparently he thinks she just another singer, but this lady is an extremely talented songwriter and singer. Critics like Steve Morse said the same type of things about her previous album Come On Over, but everyone knows what happened there, so I will take his off the wall comments as a joke. Shania can only go "Up, up, up from here.
======
Steve
SHANIA TWAIN'S SELF-MARKETING IS DOUBLE TROUBLE
If you thought Shania Twain was the top-selling artist of the '90s, then pat yourself on the back, because you're right. She moved 50 million records during the decade, proving that sexy videos and bubble-gum pop were what the music business - and many fans - wanted. And, no surprise, it's what she offers again with her new album, "Up!," which comes out today.
The formula, though, is growing staler by the minute. Perhaps the clearest evidence that Twain is all about the marketing is that the new album comes in two versions: The first CD is sanded-down pop (and bears a photo of Twain looking like a teeny-bopper in halter top and pigtails), while the second has the same 19 songs but with countrified production (Twain wears a cowboy hat this time), with fiddIe, banjo, and pedal steel added. The country version is better, though some of it sounds really tinny.
"Up!" is more often a downer, as Twain sounds like someone making cookie-cutter replicas of past songs but with worse (and dumber) lyrics. In fact, lyrically speaking, she makes Britney Spears sound like a Rhodes scholar. Many titles feature exclamation points that only point up the forced absurdity of such tracks as "I'm Gonna Getcha Good!" (the sugary new sin-
gle), "I'm Not in the Mood (To Say No!)," "What aWay to Wanna Be!," "(Wanna Get to Know You) That Good!," "Thank You Baby! (For Makin' Someday Come So Soon)" and "Waiter! Bring Me Water!"
Excuse me, bring some aspirin while you're at it!
Some of Twain's past hits have been certifiable guilty pleasures, including "Don't Be Stupid"' and "That Don't Impress Me Much," which helped put this Canadian glamour girl on the map. But
the new album doesn't have as much sass and spunk as her previous highs; too often it slips into vapid schmaltz; more fitting for a Disney ice show.
Twain, 37, moved three years ago to a 100-room, 18th-century castle in Switzerland with her husband/producer, Robert "Mutt" Lange, with whom she has a 1-year old child, Eja (pronounced "Asia"). She's been living a dream life, but this new album is more like a nightmare. Songs that were supposed to be fun often end up treacly and embarrassing. In the gloppy "Nah," she sings, "1 miss you now and then, but would I do it all over- Nah!" It seems kind of funny on paper, but try listening to the chorus more than once without wincing.
In the grating "C'est la Vie," she sings, "The daily life can freak
your mind, but life isn't all that bad." And in the sleepy ballad
"I'm Jealous," she declares, "When the sun's on your skin, I can't
hold it in And I know it's a sin, but I'm jealous of the sun/ I wish I were the rain runnin' down your neck and drippin' from your fingers/ Then I could be the drops rollin' off your back; I'd love
to let it linger." Zzzzz.
Lange's production of this disc often misses the mark. As the for-
mer producer of rock acts such as Def Leppard and the Cars, he can't resist shameless allusions to various rock songs. "Ka-Ching!" opens with a cash register sound that seems lifted from Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon," while "She's Not Just a Pretty Face" has a trebly, U2-style guitar intro that is close to plagiarism. Lange has used such gimmicks before, but it's getting tiresome. There are a couple of empowerment songs, the best of
which is "Pretty Face" (about women who can become astronauts and - gasp -even journalists if they want to), but there's nothing remotely as powerful as the antiabuse song "Black Eyes, Blue Tears" from her last album, "Come on Over" (which sold 34 million
copies worldwide).
You want a bottom line? Most of this new album feels like recycled marketing ideas rather than music that strives for any growth.
==========
I could not find and e-mail address for Steve Morse, but I did find a feed-back address for the Boston Globe which is the newspaper he writes for:
http://www.globe.com/globe/feedback/
HERE IS MY COMMENTS TO THE GLOBE:
I read an article today in my local Kennebec Journal newspaper, Augusta, ME, by Steve Morse of your staff regarding Shania Twain's new CD UP. It is a free Country and everyone has a right to their own opinion, but I really have to take exception to it. When you diss Shania you are making millions of her fans mad. Mr. Morse can tear her down all he wants, but in the end Shania's "Gonna Get Him Good" with her continuing success. Apparently he thinks she just another singer, but this lady is an extremely talented songwriter and singer. Critics like Steve Morse said the same type of things about her previous album Come On Over, but everyone knows what happened there, so I will take his off the wall comments as a joke. Shania can only go "Up, up, up from here.
======
Steve