Re: babel-digest V12 #110

[Juan Cadadia <juancadadia>]

Here's the thing about reviewing a cover album including such a wide  
range of material - its almost never going to get rave reviews.  Yes,  
I do see that they pretty consistently say that the songs are a bit  
tame, and most love Teen Spirit.  But, beyond that, they are wildly  
inconsistent.  Same thing comes through on this list.  Mitch hates  
Within You.   That's my current favorite - beautiful melody and first  
time I've listened to the beautiful lyrics in my life.  I skip over  
Passtime P and Midnight Rider...others love them (and they might be  
my favorites next week).  But then, I never loved the originals of  
either.  Two of my friends who don't know Patti very well were nearly  
brought to tears by Helpless.  I love it but not THAT much.  Most of  
the material on the cd is so familar, that most of us have  
preconceived notions as to how they should sound.  Before 12 came out  
I was hoping she would transform ever cover a la Gloria or Wicked  
Messenger.  But you know...then you'd have people whining "what has  
she DONE to my favorite song!!).  I do wish she had gone a bit  
further and been a bit crazier, but on the other hand I think the  
album sounds beautiful, and I have never in 30 years heard her voice  
sound so rich and strong.  And frankly, with a few exceptions (most  
of Gone Again...or Radio Baghdad on the last one) when comparing live  
to studio of her post Fred albums, I usually think the studio  
versions are a bit too tame and then come to life after she's done  
them a bunch of times (like wearing comfortable worn in shoes instead  
of the new ones with the nice leather smell).  Anyway, more power to  
her and if this brings her a bit more financial success and better  
yet the opportunity to add a third album to her Columbia deal, more  
power to her.  And, I like it.

PS, Not sure how that metacritic site comes up with its numbers...  
they characterize the Rolling Stone review as a 70 --- sounds kind of  
so so, right?  But, RollingStone gave the cd 3.8 stars.  Only one cd  
in the recent issue got four.  So, its not bad...