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Minim

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  1. I am not a professional musician, but have been around enough of them to feel that Laith is a far above average bar guitarist. I agree with bluepiano though that he is not that incredible among his semi-pro blues-playing peers. While far and away better than most Voice contestants as a musician, I also don’t think he deserves the best-musician-evah tongue bath he’s been getting on the show. Cole Vosbury is at least as good of a guitarist (in my non-expert opinion, better – Cole covering Hendrix, rather note-for-note, but think he is only about 20 here, so I cut him a lot of slack on the originality/lack thereof front https://youtu.be/t2y983DQxTw and he's shown his skills elsewhere). Nicholas David, Judith Hill and this season’s Adam are all also skilled musicians (I’m sure there have been more I can’t remember). Laith is the only one with his musicianship consistently on display though and I think it’s because his voice is mediocre and uninteresting (to me anyway – e.g. growls are used with no subtlety/way too much regularity and sound more like gurgles). Nicholas' voice had a fresh sort of 70s funk-meets-blues-meets-folk thing going on and made top 3 without having to resort to the guitar or piano. Judith had a stunning voice, although may not have gone any further even playing her musical skills cards since she was apparently deemed ‘unlikeable’, but think Cole could’ve really used his skills to go further on the show. Just as Ketzel says, many other contestants play the non-vocal cards they’re holding to get ahead; I can’t blame Laith for doing the same.
  2. You do sound like a bit like a curmudgeon. The youth in my house has plenty of music they love, and I too love a lot of it and know it's a helluva lot better than the crap I listened to in the 70s as a kid. I guess "soul" is in the ears of the listener. I think there's always nostalgia for days gone by, especially for the music of our own youth and nothing else ever quite matches up. Sure there's a ton of pap today, but most performers, composers and music (of any genre from classical to jazz, blues, rock, pop, punk, folk, hip hop) are just fleetingly popular and fall by the wayside as time passes, with just a few classics and superstars holding on ad infinitum. You can't compare the surviving greats of the past with the full spectrum of any contemporary music scene. In ten or twenty years, only a handful of what's around now will be listened to by anyone other than those who listened to it as teens/young adults. (Sorry for any preachiness there.) Anyway, back to the show, which I didn't watch, but I'm going to comment all the same since i caught a few of the perfomances on Youtube. Jessie J and Chris were really good, the other duets less so. I'm surprised Jessie J isn't covered more on the show. Her songs are perfect for a lot of the technically strong and powerful R&B singers (DaNica auditioned with one of her songs IIRC), but not dated like the crap they are normally assigned. Damien probably could've done great with something like 'Nobody's Perfect' or 'Who you are' - technically quite challenging and plenty of opportunities to almost cry. Damien of course being the designated oldies singer this season (along with most of Team Pharrell - sigh, I expected so much more from him). It was discussed over in another thread that Damien may have been given oldies because he's an African-American who cites the likes of Marvin Gaye as his inspiration, But he's just talking about inspiration. He chose Adele and Bruno Mars for himself - surely they could've come up with a more modern song list for him. Maybe he could've done even better - he was definitely the best 'voice' left and did surprisingly well to get to the final considering how stale most of his songs were. Matt and CWB did nothing for me. None of the top 12 did really, in fact, the only contestant who grabbed me was Troy, jettisoned for the painfully wooden, and, to my mind not especially 'Different! Unique!' Best evah!' T3N. Lackluster all around. Time to move to one season a year I think before they flog this horse to death.
  3. Mark Ronson has been well known as a producer for quite a while, with moderate success as a singer. IIRC, he produced most of Amy Winehouse's 'Back to Black' and Bruno's own 'Unorthodox Jukebox', parts of Adele '19', Christina Aguilera 'Back to Basics' and many others. Not sure he's widely known in the US though (among the public, obviously people in the biz are hiring/being hired by him left and right). At a guess, I'd say there's a handful of producers and/or DJs who get good/famous enough (because they stay on top of the musical pulse) that singers want to work with them. This, in turn, gives them leverage to put their own names first on the line-up or even produce entire albums of themselves featuring assorted well known artists. Who knows, maybe they trade - 'if you produce my album, I'll sing on yours'? Bruno just showed how not sexy Chris with his sprayed on pants (TM hincandenza) and hip swinging is - he had a good run with some decent songs, but those which required a lot of 'tude or grooviness ('Don't', 'Uptown Funk', 'Sexual Healing') were just awkward. None of the original songs impressed me, but were marginally better than the Eurovision Song Contest-type cheese I'd expected, so props to someone.
  4. I was just listening to Cole today as it happens - his version of ‘Let’s Get it on’ is actually seductive, unlike Luke’s last night. I don’t know if he’s writing his own music, but he seems to be getting bigger/better/more gigs as a lot of the contestants do post-show even if they’re not becoming big stars. Here’s Cole playing to what looks like a sizeable audience. Still doing covers, but he sounds great and he’s a really good guitarist (apparently so is the rest of his family). He seems to prefer bluesy rock - if that's what he does for original music, I may well buy what he's selling. The stuff Blake had him do on the Voice, not so much (I liked his own choices though - Let Her Go and Adorn).
  5. I get the same thing and my name isn't even hard to pronounce. I think people just misread/mis-hear. Back to the show.... Was there a show? Yawn, yawn, yawn. Please stop covering Ed Sheeran and Sam Smith. First they came for Adele and I did not speak out because hey, it's just one amazing Brit singer they're butchering. Next they came for Florence and still I did not speak out because, well, it's about time they did some vaguely alternative music on this show, but I did predict Ed Sheeran would be the next Brit on the chopping block and sure enough..... Now they're killing Sam Smith, in the old-fashioned torture-to-death way. Why would Adam pick 'Don't'???? It's a terrible song to showcase vocals and Chris (?) clearly does not do English white-boy rap. He does look a little bit like Philip Chbeeb from the video I suppose. Hair-wise at least. I guess that's something. They need to step away from the done-to-death golden oldies AND the songs of the moment. Comparisons with the greats or with current hit singers don't show the contestants in their best light. How about some less commonly done songs, long past or fairly recent? Surely the broadcast rights can't be any more expensive than on-the-radio-right-now songs.
  6. Pharrell, Pharrell. I had such high hopes for you, but what a crock of crap those song choices were. I love me some oldies, but not those that have already been done to death. So much great music to choose from, so little imagination. Luke has a good voice, but that was NOT remotely seductive, even if you just listen and don't watch. (I agree just listening really makes Elyjuh tons better though.) I don't care for the Pentatonix version either (too wedding band). Cole Vosbury, however..... It doesn't hurt that I like the arrangement and he's a kick-ass guitarist (one of the few Voice contestants not using an instrument as a prop). Not that he really shows off his skills here, but knowing is enough to make it more seductive. (Check out his covers of 'I don't need no doctor', 'Voodoo Chile' or 'Dirty Diana' to see what he can do. Helluva talented family.) I've already forgotten everyone else and I only watched the performances on Youtube less than twelve hours ago. How sad it is when the best thing I can say about S7 is that I'll probably have watched the whole season in under four hours given my current average of 10 mins per show. I've totally lost patience with uninspired song choices and mediocre performances. I spend more time reading the snark on here than watching the show! ETA: I think this Marvin Gaye performance is even better than the one Ketzel posted. Not because of the partial strip tease :),but because it seems more effortless.
  7. Very sorry to see Troy go. Yes, he seems like a Valley-surfer cross, but he’s one of the better entertainers to have been on the show and I love his voice, reminds me a bit of Graham Parker c. ‘Squeezing Out Sparks’. His performance was the most enjoyable I’ve seen (probably since Cody), even though the dancing was goofy (taking his cue from the Fine Young Cannibals dorky dancing maybe? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruT7MUQ42aQ) and he didn’t have perfect vocals. I agree with the poster up-thread who said Troy probably should’ve followed the Cody route - safe heartfelt ballad, working up to more energetic/flamboyant performances if he’d advanced. But I don’t think Gwen would’ve taken him through anyway. Maybe it’s just editing, but 3NTaylor seems like one of her favourites and a big hit with the other coaches. Me - I find he performs in ‘an almost Zen-like state of woodenness’ (TM Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian). I’ll admit my judgment may be clouded by my hatred of hipster hats and professions to be oh-so-deep, and the fact that I love the original song, but the slow-it-down= solemn-and-meaningful thing has been done to death. Ricky, yes, very good, sounds like he’s working hard, but, sorry, he seems like another been there done that contestant. I didn’t make it through the whole performance. Elyjuh (sp.?) at least has the potential to be interesting. Losing the auditioning-for-Glee exaggerated facial expressions would help. I only watched the performances or parts thereof, so didn’t see Pharrell trying to justify choosing the weaker performer as the winner, but I think all the coaches have done this at one point or another. Agree Juhi may have been the most egregious example of this. The show seems to be getting more and more karaoke singers, especially teens, and fewer singer-songwriters/musicians. A shame IMO. I know the show is called the Voice, but how often has best vocalist actually won the show? Tessanne is probably the only example. So why not encourage more musical diversity and interesting performers like Troy, and stop with the darned Whitney covers? (Yes, I’m a hater. Hate Mariah Carey, Celine Dion and all music of that ilk too.)
  8. Only Luke and Taylor were interesting enough to keep my attention all the way through their performances, although agree with other posters that both have been over-hyped. Also Damien, purely because of how emotionally he performs (horrible song choice and enunciation though). Everyone else lost me at hello, or at least by the 30 second mark, largely because of boring songs/performance choices. (The advantage of this, however, is that a 2-hour show only takes ten minutes to watch on YT.) On which topic, it seems like the song list is not just stale, but has mold growing all over it. Someone mentioned royalty costs/broadcasting rights in another thread and I’m wondering whether that varies by (potential) size of audience – looking at some YT performances from the Voice UK and Australia, there are more interesting songs (or maybe just more to my taste) than what seem to be staples here. Is NBC really nit-picking over the cost of fresher songs when they spend so much on the show, or do the contestants/coaches/producers just have boring taste in music? And, coaches, PLEASE stop pretending Jessie Pitts and all the other whispery girls with faux-English accents who have come along the Voice conveyor belt are ‘unique’ or ‘quirky’. They’re just derivative singers with weak voices and lousy breath control. (No, I don’t include Caroline Pennell or Lindsey Paveo in that group – they were actually creative.) As an aside, I think all Pharrell’s steals are from Gwen’s team – producer shenanigans, helping a buddy out, or is Gwen just good at maximizing limited talent? (Read that last part how you will.)
  9. Makes sense to me! Also having an "If my singer doesn't win, I want yours to" strategy. This could be a big advantage, particularly when it comes to song selection. I suspect all the coaches and the producers work together to plan the steals and steer the audience towards a preference for certain contestants (admittedly I'm pretty cynical). I've been skipping most of this season (the last 2-3 seasons really) and thought Pharrell would lure me back, but found the blinds unwatchable thanks to the same old problems - too much coach chatter and contestant woe, not enough singing or constructive criticism. The battles, though (if you skip the filler) have been impressive overall compared to previous seasons. Troy seemed to come out of nowhere (probably because I skipped the blinds, duh) and I'm wishing CeeLo were here to tell me just whose voice his sounds similar to. Can't place it, but think it reminds me of someone late 70s, early 80s - maybe early Elvis Costello, Graham Parker (Graham Parker and the Rumour), Roland Gift (Fine Young Cannibals)? I like it a lot anyway. Hope he sticks around.
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