― tarden, Tuesday, 5 June 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
Is there something genuine that the listeners are responding to? Probably no more or less than ....(name the genre of your choice).
― Dr. C, Tuesday, 5 June 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
― Mike Hanley, Tuesday, 5 June 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
Carpenters are, of course, great. But then, Brit's latest single isn't superproduced, nor is it vocoded, and it seems nearly AC therefore at moments. Like the best of AC actually, in line with Vanessa Williams and cet.
― Sterling Clover, Tuesday, 5 June 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
― Tracer Hand, Tuesday, 5 June 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
Well I've always hated the song because there's something incredibly tedious about it, *but*....being 'grounded in the blues' was what the kids were into in those days. And the lyrics....Eric Clapton was probably about 26-28 when he wrote them - that's adult isn't it?
I reiterate: it just gets harder to be "ambushed by unexpected emotion" - or styles - when the formats are so predictable. (Tracer Hand)
That's the essence of it. That MOR rock/big ballad style seems totally choreographed - there's no hint of individuality or of anyone experimenting with new sounds or ideas. It feels like the songs are always painstakingly modelled on earlier songs - following the established template to the last detail.
― David, Tuesday, 5 June 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
― Geoff, Tuesday, 5 June 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
Wanna hear me sing "Baby I'm A Want You"? Or "I Wanna Make It With You," anyone?
(an encore of the Best of America and Gino Vanelli!)
― Tadeusz Suchodolski, Wednesday, 6 June 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
Randy Newman, when asked about America's "Horse With No Name," described it as "a song about a kid who thinks he's just taken acid." Rumor has it that Neil Young used to get requests to play "Horse" from the more meatheaded members of his audience at his shows.
And, lest we forget, they did "Muskrat Love" before Captain and Tennille. And it wasn't even an America song -- it was a cover!
― tarden, Wednesday, 6 June 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
― Geoff, Wednesday, 6 June 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
The chord structures of these songs are always, as has been mentioned, incredibly simple and emotionally manipulative. Which *can* work, very occasionally, especially at a young age - I could say that Gary Davies playing Wilson Phillips's "Hold On" when I was 9 helped me through my first depression of any sort, and I wouldn't be lying.
― Robin Carmody, Wednesday, 6 June 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
― Stevo, Wednesday, 6 June 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
― mark s, Wednesday, 6 June 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
― Tim, Wednesday, 6 June 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
You don't know how good you got it, Tim. If I have to hear "but she has a great voice" one more time... I've never heard Travis, but I'll take them sound unheard over "The Power Of Love" and "All By Myself" anyday. How could they be worse ? I'll take bland over excruciating oversinging anytime.
― Patrick, Wednesday, 6 June 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
― tarden, Thursday, 7 June 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
What adult contemporary in the seventies sounded like.
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 10 April 2018 01:53 (six years ago) link