Babe Rigoletto (Baseball vs. Opera Reviews)

[thehipcola]

reviews to come, but right now I gotta say Boon Liver ROXORS!!!!!

[Niveous]

Reviews will come from me tomorrow but I had to say one thing- my new favorite SF lyric:

"God Damn your subtitles..."!

[Bolio]

Boon Liver for me.

Tempted to announce that next time I'm in a restaurant. Just to see the looks I would get.

...... and it IS Boon Liver for me. beating Hostess Mostess on a bloop single.

[Smalltown Mike]

Hey Leaf:

Why no vegetable grade for Mastersonshahcappappella?

[Leaf]

Hey Leaf:

Why no vegetable grade for Mastersonshahcappappella?

Because... uh... because... uh...

because I'm chronically inconsistent?

Fine. Let's see... acapella... cool voice, clipping sounds... short but sweet... nifty accent... needs some work... hhhmmmm.

Sounds like spinach to me. In a salad. with Raisens. Yum.

[EightLeggedOedipus]

Boon Liver
+++ The drums are great. The organ is very baseball, good tie-in. Oh nice, this chorus is sweet. +++
/// Vocals are kind of loose, and don't seem to rock out appropriately. Decent, nonetheless. I would have expected a little mor evariation in the main verse guitar riff every once ina while. ///

Captain Synth
--- There is no insult effortless enough to match this ---

Hostess Mostess
+++ Probably the best GnG I can recall on here. Nice harmony in second chorus. Great build throughout. Perfect amount of bluesy noodling. +++
--- Sounds more like "Baseball AND Opera" than "Baseball vs. Opera" ---

Masterson's Ah! Acapaella
--- Please give me back the telemarketers. My answering machine is crying. ---

Ross Durand
/// Seemed inevitable that someone use the fat lady cliche. This whole thing sounds remarkably like this car commercial that ran here in San Diego for years. ///
+++ Accordian is a nice touch. +++
--- Too repetitive. Not enough drum. Ross, you haev the ability to rock out for real. Get noisy next time. ---

Tuba Toothpaste
+++ Now THIS evokes the title. Experimental edits, nice. +++
/// The simple Ledbelly blues progression is the backbone of this song. If it wasn't for the changing instrumentation, this might sound really cliched also. As is it's pretty good. Vocals are better, but I'm still not sold on them. ///

[ken]

Reviews from a laptop

Boon Liver: Nice back up track. Your voice is familiar, but I can't place it. This track is very well produced.

Captian Synth: Wow, this is so classic Octothorpe I can't believe it. Try using two drum beats next time. Really annoying over all.

Hostess Mostess: A breath of fresh air after the first two tracks. This is really good. Excellent harmonies. Needs some tamborine. There is something very Cat Stevens meets Crowded House meets Simon and Garfunkle about this song.

Masterson's Ah! Acapella: Did you call someone to record this?

Ross Durand: Nice Dylan style vocal rhythm. I like the accordion, or is that harmonica? Excellent chorus. Very catchy. I like the electric guitar part in the middle.

Tuba Toothpaste: Not sure what to make of this track. Certainly has some interesting parts.

1. Hostess Mostess
2. Ross Durand
3. Boon Liver

[Smalltown Mike]

The voice in the Boon Liver track might sound familiar because, well, it's mine. Then again it might just sound like someone else you've heard before.
I owe the "very well-produced" part to the Almighty Leaf.

[Tuba Toothpaste]

Hostess Mostess - great song. The Simon and Garfunkel connection has already been noted. Playing and singing are perfect for the tune. It creates that nostalgic, sad feeling and gives supports the depth of the lyrics, which are deeper than would be expected from the given title.

Ross Durand - good idea. Well executed. Do like the cajun feel. Everyline makes you try to quickly make the connection between the two until the "fat lady" stuff. I like how many of these duos you could come up with. Kept my interest to listen to the end. "It ain't over 'til it's over"

Boon Liver (wider than a mile) - Good take on the title - different personalities in a relationship. This does rock well. Good balance in the mix.

Tuba Toothpaste - I always enjoy this group. I think the translation from the recording software to the MP3 loses some of the fidelity. Here it lost some of the bass. The deal is, did the Mets get new players, or has the Met (Metropolita Opera) got new players? It's like Ella or Memorex. Probably gets my vote.

Captain Synth - voice not loud enough. Clearly the trombonist knows at least 2 positions until the solo occurs (or is committed). Lyrics are amusing enough but I can't see the connection between the trombone and anything.

Masterson - sounds like there's a nice voice out there. Recorded through the condenser mic in the laptop? Gives kind of the impression of an anthem, like when singers do the National Anthem a capella at the games (which is usually just terrible).

[Tuba Toothpaste]

Tuba Toothpaste: Not sure what to make of this track. Certainly has some interesting parts.

The objective was to create a set of lyrics using terms common to both baseball and opera that could ambiguously describe an afternoon at either event. So "the Mets got some new players" could mean the Mets, the baseball team, or the "Met has got some new players," where "Met" is the Metropolitan Opera. "Playing the 'A's" could refer to the baseball team or the tuning pitch of the orchestra. You'll hear musical references to opera things and "baseball organ" things.

A few good ones did not get used like "score" and "stands." Unfortunately, Mean Joe Green is a football player. It would have been fun to pair him with Giuseppe Verdi.

[mico saudad]

I tried something new this week, I lisetened to your songs all at once and then waited a half an hour to write reviews for them. In order of liking:

Boon Liver - My vote. I particularly enjoyed your sense of lyrical placement and timing (along with the great 'libretto'). Great song.

Hostess Mostess - "I have no idea to this day what those two Italian ladies were singing about. Truth is, I don't want to know. Some things are best left unsaid. I'd like to think they were singing about something so beautiful, it can't be expressed in words, and makes your heart ache because of it. I tell you, those voices soared higher and farther than anybody in a gray place dares to dream. It was like some beautiful bird flapped into our drab little cage and made those walls dissolve away, and for the briefest of moments, every last man in Shawshank felt free."

If I hadn't known what you were saying, this quote would apply to your song. As it stands you're a close second. Beautiful music.

Ross Durand - Zydecco sounding if I remember right. Some timing problems and I didn't feel that the mix was right or compelling. Also not my favorite musical style, but that's my hangup.

Tuba - I can't remember your song now. At least it must not have been bad. I think the instruments were good but I didn't like the voice.

Captain Synth - You're going to have to refine your recording/mixing/editing techniques in order to pull this off well enough to get a good review from me.

Masterson's - very muffled and thin sounding, doesn't really speak to me.

[Ross]

Baseball v. Opera reviews

Boon Liver – I thought this was a pretty good take on the title. The track sounds great and I think you came up with a great sequence of pairs. Maybe it’s a genre bias (or ignorance) thing, but it didn’t quite get me, and I think one thing is the “we can rock the bedsprings” hook.

Captain Synth – this was pretty awful – but you get points for actually taking a stand on baseball v. opera. The rest of us just compare, but you voted. Along way to go for..”shaving cream!!”…….

Hostess Mostess – Great job. I originally wanted to work with something like this – an ambiguous comparison. I think you pulled it off great!!! Beautiful arrangment. Note:we both paired DiMaggio (Joe) and Verdi. The Simon and Garfunkel sound along with the “where have you gone?” line work well, without being cheesy.

Mastersons Ah! Acappella - a pretty elegant little song. Not especially eventful but pretty. Anyone criticizing your recording ought to ask themselves how good they would sound singing a cappella into a phone (or a computer mic?)

Ross Durand (me) – I think this turned out pretty well for what it is. I started with the idea of these pairs - Dylan influenced lyric work, so I take the comparisons as a complement even if they were meant to be a comment on derivative-ness, although I think I had something more like “everything is broken” in mind than subterranean homesick blues. Anyway, as I started playing it just revealed itself to me as a zydeco song.
I am particularly proud of the following: modern staging – bad call (I know some major opera fans who would agree with this as a statement, but it also works okay as a pair, I think); Wagner (pushed things to the limit, apparently an abhorrent person) – Mark McGuire (ditto); the guitar break, which is derivative of the famous “Flower Duet” from Lakme by Delibes, (I thought Tuba Toothpaste might get this), it’s not exact, but I think it is a clear reference.
Note: the “washboard” is really a broiler pan – my wife’s creative suggestion.

Tuba Toothpaste – great job! Nice orchestration and nice use of quotes in the piece. The third of pieces on this theme – Interestingly, on my most recent listen I hear more of the ambiguity of the piece. On my first couple of listens it seemed to me to be more baseball themed, as if the joke was plugging opera stuff into a baseball context. I don’t know why, but I still feel it leans that way. I hope you’re not taking the singing comments too seriously, after all, it’s songfight, not singfight.

[Tuba Toothpaste]

the guitar break, which is derivative of the famous “Flower Duet” from Lakme by Delibes, (I thought Tuba Toothpaste might get this), it’s not exact, but I think it is a clear reference.

I went back and listened again and I hear what you mean. Hate to say I didn't notice it the first time. I think I was just trying to figure out if it sounded like you were playing 2 lines at once or if you had overdubbed it.

[Ross]

... I hear what you mean. Hate to say I didn't notice it the first time.

I'm glad to hear you think it's there!

I overdubbed.

By the way, a pair I didn'get to use was Leontyne Price (pryse?) and Jackie Robinson.

[Mostess]

Note:we both paired DiMaggio (Joe) and Verdi.

I noticed that, too. Funny.