| One more review of Braver | |
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Posted by: |
Marklbetya 08:42 pm UTC 09/19/16 |
| MY BRAVER REVIEW 1) Who Needs the Young. Not a good song for Meat’s voice. My wife hit the nail on the head when she said he sounded like the Grinch in an animated cartoon. This has the potential to be a looooong CD. 2) Going All the Way is Just a Start. Refreshing and surprising change. Meats voice suits this song nicely, and when he does duets, you still have that tonal quality you need for a Steinman song while other voices can carry the melody. This is a very Steinmanesque song and arrangement, and of course it’s great to hear Karla and Ellen. If nothing else, this will probably make the album worthwhile. 3) Speaking in Tongues. While I think this “gospelly” song also suits Meat’s voice, the music doesn’t feel like Steinman to me. The lyrics, certainly do, but it doesn’t feel to me like part of a Bat Trilogy. The song may grow on me. 4) Loving You’s a Dirty Job. A reasonable version. Interesting to see the male/female role reversal from Bonnie Tyler. And this is a good song for the angry/gravelly voice (like Jim’s version of Left in the Dark), so Meat’s voice does work on this song...at least until the end. The last verse was a little shaky. I prefer Bonnie’s version, but I wouldn’t skip this track when listening to this CD. 5) Souvenirs. There is no doubt in my mind a preliminary version of 2 out of 3 Ain’t Bad. From starting with “Baby” and the “crying icicles instead of tears”, sending outside into the cold night, and breaking up. And even the line: “Take my soul, You can have my mind, But you're never gonna get your hands on my love.” There is 2 out of 3, literally. It also seems to have the same lyrical and timing qualities of Left in the Dark during other verses as well. I like the song, but it just seems like earlier works that have evolved in to two, stronger works. I prefer the Steinman online demo version on Youtube. 6) Only When I Feel. What is this? I’ve never been a fan of this song. This is somewhat painful to listen to. It seems like a reprisal of something from a broadway musical. And it doesn’t have that Steinman feel to the music again. 7) More. Maybe it’s me. When I think of the best Steinman, I hear a piano, not electrical music. To me, this is the “If it’s not Broke, break it” of the album. I’ll be skipping this one. I like the female refrain enough, but not that much. And it certainly goes on longer than necessary. 8) This seems like another one-off from a musical that doesn’t fit. This is the song that the army would sing as they march off to war in a musical. It’s not even a song, in that nobody in their right mind would release this for radio play. It’s like a novelty song with a drum beat and not much more. I would never had guessed this was a Steinman composition. 9) Skull of Your Country. Similar to Souvenirs, there are parts in here that eventually made it to “Total Eclipse of the Heart”. Again, we’re just listening to a work in progress that evolved into a much more polished song. I wouldn’t say I don’t like it. It clearly does sound like a Steinman song and arrangement, so it’s clearly worth listening to, but it’s a shell of Eclipse. 10) I think I like this. It’s more commercial that most of the songs on this album, but it definitely has the Steinman lyrics we’ve come to expect. More rock/drums than piano, which as you probably figured by now is my taste, but Meat’s vocals work here at least. Overall, I would say it was about what I expected after hearing some of the leaked items. Disappointing, in that I still had hopes of something remarkable that I hadn’t heard before. But there is nothing new here, and Meat’s vocal qualities can’t elevate this to new heights. I still love Meat’s voice, and think when he’s doing a duet of Steinman works, we can still imagine how they were meant to be sung, but I think I’m going to go listen to Bat out of Hell for the 50,000th time instead. I wish them both well, and will never be able to repay Jim or Meat for the hours of joy they’ve given me, but it’s over. Jim isn’t writing much new, and Meat is pretty much done. It was quite a ride though. Thanks guys. | |
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