[Jason Garrett]

Anybody pick this up? I'm interested to hear what the ears of the board think about it. I didn't get all the way through it yet tonight - she's on Leno in a minute. I like it - I'm sure some might think of it as over produced or something. I'm not really well versed in hi-fi, but I like DVD-Audio surround mixes, so slick production isn't a turn off to me. It’s got a varied feel throughout it from what I’ve listed to so far. A pretty nice variance in my opinion.

I'm something of a fanboy for Joss - so of course I like it, but the music is actually pretty nice on this. I'm interested to hear others opinions.

Interesting note - I stopped by the local Wal-Mart and this album was nowhere to be found there. I wonder if it's because it's a small town store or if there was an issue with distribution at Wal-Mart? I expected to see it on the end cap of the isle.

[Simon Basso]

Don't like it. The songs are weak and a conscious effort seems to have been made to to make her more radio-friendly. Her unique voice isn't coming through like it did on The Soul Sessions, in places she sounds like Anastacia. A disappointment.

[John Milton]

Some good tracks, some not so good. She did look hot in HD on Leno last night though.

[Alf S]

She got a pretty scathing review in EW this week.

[Cameron Yee]

Quote:

Some good tracks, some not so good. She did look hot in HD on Leno last night though.

Yeah, I stayed up to watch her (and Heather Graham of course) and was not disappointed. I read the EW review and have not heard her second release, but I thought she looked and sounded great last night.

[Jason Garrett]

Thanks for the responses. I haven't really listened to it enough to say if any of the songs are particularly spectacular in my opinion. I was actually wondering what everybody on the Home Theater Forum with the fancy audio equipment (not just listening with an iPod) thought of the instrumentation and production (?) of the album. Not that some of the songs might not be great, but I'm not looking to Joss for the best songs - she's already an outstanding vocal talent and that's enough for me. If she becomes a great songwriter (or if I find some of these songs to be special) then that's icing on the cake for me. I've seen her live and I'm totally won over. She's special and it's not just marketing hype.



This is kind of a question asking for education on the finer points of hi-fi (I guess) with a subject that interests me.



You guys convinced me to go with the Ascends (which I love) and I'm getting my feet wet with proper listening. I was pretty impressed with the sound of the album's - stereo imaging (?). While it didn't so much highlight the best thing they had to offer (her outstanding voice) it was pretty entertaining the first listen through - in my opinion. Not to dismiss the musicians' talent on the album. I can see how some might feel that it's over produced (?) in that it's not an album of simple arrangements of instruments showcasing her voice (many years to come for that hopefully).



I'm not very familiar with how production works, but man, they were all over the country in the studio credits to the songs. I wonder if that lends to the different sound of the different tracks? I actually stopped half way through after 'Young At Heart' played to see why it seemed so different to me from the sound of the other tracks - it's the only one recorded at Creative Space in Miami. Now, I guess that once recorded the songs can be mixed anywhere and that probably has more bearing on what I'm referring to, but I'm curious.



Anyway, if anyone has an opinion on these aspects (if any of that makes any sense) I would like to hear it as well as the overall album opinions.