A:I Couldn't If I Tried (History of My Broken Heart reviews)

Billy's Little Trip · Tue Sep 11, 2007 10:01 pm

Albatross proposed doing a written precis -- summary -- what have you -- in addition to the audio commentary/review, and I think that's a damned good idea. Not this time, but if I do it again, that'll be a component.

Like so many great things that evolve, I really like this idea too. Plus, I will guarantee who ever sticks with this format will become the voice of SF audio reviews. And as always, we become comfortable with certain voices.
Nerdcore = Front
Internet alt = Brad Sucks
Chocolate Rain = Tay Zonday
SF reviews = _______?
Who is next inline for pseudo fame?

Paco Del Stinko · Post by **Paco Del Stinko** » Tue Sep 11, 2007 10:46 pm

Meatwad wrote:7-string tuned down to G-flat.

I guessed F, but wasn't even thinking 7 string. That's a low B like a baritone, isn't it?

Steve D - Yes, the audio reviews take a lot of time to listen to, even the Weakest Suits shorter ones were half an hour-ish. I wouldn't say that I prefer them over the written ones, but they certainly offer a different feel and fun factor over the written. How long will they be around though, too?

Meatwad · Post by **Meatwad** » Tue Sep 11, 2007 11:01 pm

Paco Del Stinko wrote:
Meatwad wrote:7-string tuned down to G-flat.
I guessed F, but wasn't even thinking 7 string. That's a low B like a baritone, isn't it?

Absolutely

Ross · Post by **Ross** » Tue Sep 11, 2007 11:27 pm

BTW - Just wanted to say thanks to all the reviewers so far - the audio has been cool, too. Reviews will be coming, I just tend to work on my song first, but I've been listening in the car - maybe I'll do some audio into my voice recorder while I drive. I also usually wait to respond to reviews until I've written my own, but just wanted to say I appreciate the positive feedback. And I don't mind being in the same sentence with the likes of Arlo and Woody.

A fun moment -

Miss Conduct: That wasn't Dylan.
Rabid Garfunkel:No, That was Ross Durand.

BTW Miss Conduct - I attempted something in the style of recent Dylan for "Couldn't have been Worse" if you're interested.

j$ · Post by j$ » Wed Sep 12, 2007 2:09 am

Hell yeahs - cool as ever. A little major-chord perky but that's no bad thing! it makes me think of Shonen Knife, or someone like that. Voti!

Slit Tearduct - in no way reflecting your song, but for some reason I keep reading your bandname as Shit Viaduct. Which is a great name for a band. i reccommend upgrading!

Heather. Redmon. · Post by **Heather. Redmon.** » Wed Sep 12, 2007 3:20 am

As always Mr. Cashpoint, thank you for your support!

I know it's like beating a dead horse, but I miss you around here and in the fights and everything. Come back to us!

Love,

Heather

j$ · Post by j$ » Wed Sep 12, 2007 3:52 am

Well, shucks, thanks heather! Like i say, if and when as SF goes back to multiple titles, i'll be back.

[plug]Also, you can always hear some monthly j$ 'goodness' at http://www.johnnycashpoint.com/SUK [/plug]

Alternatively I am not opposed to helping out in collab with people at one-title SF (see XTRG, Shambles Square etc). *hint*

Caravan Ray · Post by **Caravan Ray** » Wed Sep 12, 2007 6:33 am

Heather. Redmon. wrote:
Ya see, this song is a continuation of the story of our “main character” Emily Sinclair. If you’re up to it, listen to some other Hell Yeahs songs and this one might make more sense…

Might I suggest (in order of story progression):

From This Day On – explains the Maroni line and the “past no body knows”
In the Ditch – the origin of the ring in subsequent songs
Brand New Car – the beginning of the crime spree that leads Emily to meeting Ramona
Outside Paradise – Emily meets Ramona
Couldn’t Have Been Worse – Ramona gets busted and goes to jail, Emily gives her the ring
And finally History of My Broken Heart – Ramona’s not wearing the ring

Is this the genesis of a new Broadway musical?
Can I play the grave-digger from "In The Ditch"?
I can dance.
...sort of.

Heather. Redmon. · Post by **Heather. Redmon.** » Wed Sep 12, 2007 3:40 pm

Caravan Ray wrote:
Heather. Redmon. wrote:
Ya see, this song is a continuation of the story of our “main character” Emily Sinclair. If you’re up to it, listen to some other Hell Yeahs songs and this one might make more sense…

Might I suggest (in order of story progression):

From This Day On – explains the Maroni line and the “past no body knows”
In the Ditch – the origin of the ring in subsequent songs
Brand New Car – the beginning of the crime spree that leads Emily to meeting Ramona
Outside Paradise – Emily meets Ramona
Couldn’t Have Been Worse – Ramona gets busted and goes to jail, Emily gives her the ring
And finally History of My Broken Heart – Ramona’s not wearing the ring
Is this the genesis of a new Broadway musical?
Can I play the grave-digger from "In The Ditch"?
I can dance.
...sort of.

Maybe not a Broadway musical, but something cool. Who knows where the story will take Emily and Ramona. It all depends on the title!

wages · Post by **wages** » Wed Sep 12, 2007 5:27 pm

For those who give a rats ass, I'm alphabetically up to The Hell Yeahs with audio reviews (and I like most of what I've heard so far), but you'll just have to wait for my crappy reviews until I finish.

completely.

EDIT: BTW, SPUD, being the great admin master that he is (I can not thank you enough!! ), got my Artist's page updated. Take a gander:
http://www.songfight.org/artistpage.php ... rtkey=date

drë · Post by **drë** » Wed Sep 12, 2007 6:15 pm

Rabid the Mz and Weakest suit, those audio reviews were BADASS! i laught my ass off through most of rabid's. They were highly enjoyable.
Thanks.

History of My Broken Heart REVIEWS:

_____________________ TOP OF THE CHARTS _____________________________________
Billy's Little Trip feat. Wages : GREAT FUCKING SONG. On the first listen i was like "shit, Billy has changed his tone" took me a while to realize it was wages. Great marriage of music(Billy) and vocals(wages)...
Billy no more need to beat around the bush, just go straight to wages whenever you need vocals.
love the line "driving home drunk in my car", can just picture wages driving an old beat up Chevy truck in the music video.

Melvin : yippy.. Bring in the pop, Sir McCartney. Such a good classic Melvin tune (tambourine included). Very smart and well written, specially love the line "history of earth the sky and the stars". Your the shit, and Canadian. Have you explained before how you record your drums? Their always so crisp, clear and crunchy.

Kristin : soft spacious intro...bring in the strings, start building the tension...now the drums to release it...sounds like a formula...
Are you a chemist? Now the songs starts and am digging it.
Reminds me of "too much of a good thing" by the Sons from the Dumb And Dumber soundtrack. Liking the lyrics. Digging the vocals, and this tune overall dude... don’t like the intro that much.

Hans Gruber: Ultimate Villain : One of my favorites from the fight. Smooth music, with smooth vocals. The electric guitar and horns combo is swweeatt! Lyrics are good. Great song overall.

Paco Del Stinko : liked the transition between the intro and the song.. i would love to classified this into a box, but just can't.
A bit funk, a bit spoken word, plus jazz, plus rock, plus progressive with some trashing? It’s really a joyest wall of sound.
Interesting lyrics, but the guitar playing really steals the show.

The Hell Yeahs : Short, fast and bouncy. The best part of the song is the chorus with the long "aaahhhh". And for some reason Heather's vocal’s not only sound smoother than before, but also sound very relaxed (if that makes any sense).

Ross Durand : yeahhha. country-folky. The "heroes and villains" line is killer. well sung, with good performance. Also like how your message is very clear and simple, no complications (but then again that’s country/folk). Wish the mix was better, maybe a bit more airy, like sung in the Grand Canyon or something. Great song tho.

_____________________ GOOD SONGS _____________________________________

Add : Jefff jeffty jeff, born on the first of jeff, nineteen jefffty jefff. <a href='http://fvs.blaststream.com/testapp/shar ... ons/25.mp3' target='_New'>LOVE THAT FUCKING JOKE</a>..
ohh right your song... very short and simple guy and guitar. vox/guitar mix is good, and the tone of the acoustic sounds great.
Their are some really good 1 liner's, like the "I won’t ask for your final answer", but overall the lyrics don’t tie together to paint a clear picture of what your trying to say (either that or am an idiot).
now your vox; always been a fan of your voice and after discovering Rufus Wainwright and reading some of his reviews, i can describe your voice as "timberus". timmmmberrrr. good song.

Embers of Autumn : decent song, specially the music, it's a shame about the mixing.
the vocals are too dry, a bit of reverb on the vocals could help out soften them... the "hhhhuuuuuu" sounds good thought.

Lonbobby : swweeat, swweeat cinematic music. just don’t like the semi-synth vocals. The arrangement of the music is awesome tho.

Rabid Garfunkel :What an odd and explosive fucking tune this is. Half circus music, half spy/detective groove, with a touch of both madness and toonish. Best part, listening to the sheer chaos of the electric guitar, and smooth calmness of the trombone/clarinet combo at the same time. The "aaahhgg" are understandable due to the title, but is a killer instrumental none the less.

Senza Valore : groovy beat and mood. specially with the sample "my broken heart". Wish the levels on the vocals where higher.
a bit long as it doesn’t have many changes. still smooth.

Sheail : ..... mmmmm. ... not sure... music is good, singing is good, but for some reason it doesn’t move me that much. Maybe it needs a more flanboyent drummer, as the drums are pretty boring compare with everything else. Guitar playing and bass work is awesome though.

_____________________ OK SONGS _____________________________________

Bushido Stylus : i like this more than i would like to admit. just cuz it's a smart take on the title. When everybody else was thinking hey, broken heart = relationships, this geeky MOFO thought; HEY! Zelda. Like the music and story telling lyrics, and for the record i always hated fucking Zelda!

KB Bren : WOW! 3 guitars to start off the song. they don't sound 100% on time. i like the voice, hard to understand the lyrics at times.
too many guitars, all at once.. too busy for my taste. could use a better mix, to bring the bass up more.

Klownhole : 7:27! bring it on! too much treble on the drums, not enough bass. guitar tone sounds good tho. Really like the drums on this, but they come off as flat and with no punch on the mix. i hope this is sloowwly building up ... to something. vocals+lyrics seemed to be more for textural effect, than anything else. starting to draggg. where's your bass player? okk now its starting to imploded, with the organ+drums getting crazier. Really like the overall texture of the song, once the mind gets into it. Best part: the drums (even if recorded/mixed poorly)

Lord of Oats : another 7+ minutes songs? bring it on! Good Acoustic intro.. hey, what? ahhhhhhh... balls to the walls rock.
Digging the intro so far, and silent gaps between symbols and guitar, the thumping is great too.
You can't follow up a balls out intro like that, with some guy signing like he's about to go to sleep! it fuck's with peoples heads.
Like the music, but the tired(flat) kid in the bedroom is killing the energy of the music. the screaming didn’t help.

veGetar Ianra Ge : uhhh , am i on a island? What some guy on the answer machine? good lounge singing. Laid back and groovy music. The answer machine bit is annoying as hell tho, did u run out of lyrics? ohh some horns on this song would have awesome. ahh we do have a flute. Remove the lame answer machine and bring up the bass to give it some dynamics.

MC Eric B : Cynical midi soft nerdcord ballad?
I relate allot to your thoughtful writing style, not just this song but your previous songs as well. This songs just sounds bland, nothing in the music stands out (mixing wise) theirs no distinction of individual instruments, just one musical track with all the instruments blended into something.
at least bring up the vocals in the mix a bit more, so it doesn’t completely blend with the background music.

Tig : this reminds me of another artist, just cant remember. Soft and long. Decent song, just a bit slow and long for taste right now.
Could use a better mix, as no 1 instrument stands out.. Just one long droning track.

The Weakest Suit : Interesting intro. I like the "i love u.. Shaking like a leaf..." part. The bass seems to be slightly behind the band. Singing is not bad at all.

_____________________ TRY AGAIN _____________________________________

AUDIO VIDEO iNTERCOURSE :
ummmmmmm, needs more bass? too much noise not enough thumping.

Blues Train Blues in D : introducing the song? heh?
like the low tone of your voice, too bad it doesn’t blend in to well with the guitar playing. better recording set up might help out next time.

Slit Tearduct :........ Good finger picking? at least she didn’t break your finger.

wages · Post by **wages** » Wed Sep 12, 2007 8:07 pm

Ross · Post by **Ross** » Wed Sep 12, 2007 8:11 pm

Bummer - I'm 404 as is your list of best songs and vote.

EDIT - duh, I should have read your whole post - thanks for the review.

BTW - I started audio reviews today myself - any one know a free way to convert dss to mp3 on a mac?

Rabid Garfunkel · Post by **Rabid Garfunkel** » Wed Sep 12, 2007 8:39 pm

http://www.freedownloadscenter.com/Mult ... witch.html

... is what Google threw up from a search for the keywords: audio dss format

Hope that begets functionality, yo.

Fun review(s) Phil. Glad I'm not the only one laughing when I hear my song

! There wasn't any scripting on my end either. The commentary was off the cuff. But then, Mrs Rabid was on a mike along with me, and we do like to talk, heh.

Never thought I'd see me & Dr. D in the same sentence

Billy's Little Trip · Post by **Billy's Little Trip** » Wed Sep 12, 2007 9:31 pm

Phil, I loved the review of yourself showing that you really hit those vox for real. I don't know where this will go either, but I've been convinced from the day I first heard your out of key vox, that this is where you should be.
And I'm happy you stood up for the line in the chorus that you didn't want me to pull. I can officially say, you were right. Now I'm second guessing myself on the million little pieces line, but you didn't fight for it, so I guess it wasn't meant to be.

You are a power house of voice dude, good luck in the future no matter what happens. And I hope we win this week, because you deserve it.
By the way, my wife said this was the best BLT song she has ever heard, then said, if the singer could just get a better band.

Rabid Garfunkel · Post by **Rabid Garfunkel** » Wed Sep 12, 2007 10:00 pm

rdurand wrote:any one know a free way to convert dss to mp3 on a mac?

Duh... Should've known you were a mac guy (being a teacher, &c.)

A combination of something like Ambrosia Software's Wiretap http://www.ambrosiasw.com/utilities/wiretap/ and this http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/13575 Olympus (?) application might get you there...

Or the Olympus app and Jack OSX http://www.jackosx.com/ might be more better, though it's a bit of work, I suspect.

Also a Mac user, me

Ross · Post by **Ross** » Wed Sep 12, 2007 11:54 pm

Thanks Rabid.

I think it turns out the best way is that I can export an aiff from my dss player then convert to mp3.

But I'll check your links out, too.

Coming soon - AudioReviewFight! (.org? .net?)

wages · Post by **wages** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 5:55 am

rdurand wrote:Bummer - I'm 404 as is your list of best songs and vote.
EDIT - duh, I should have read your whole post - thanks for the review.

It was inevitable! Just because your music is smart doesn't mean that... j/k! "Thanks" = no problem!

Rabid Garfunkel wrote:Fun review(s) Phil. Glad I'm not the only one laughing when I hear my song ! There wasn't any scripting on my end either. The commentary was off the cuff. But then, Mrs Rabid was on a mike along with me, and we do like to talk, heh.

Never thought I'd see me & Dr. D in the same sentence

I'm glad they were fun. I was afraid they would be taken as "WTF!?"!

It definitely pays to have a compadre host when doing reviews. If I try this again, I might try to get a couple of friends to come over and do 'em with me. That should make for some more interesting reviews.

I'm glad I could disillusion you =)

Billy's Little Trip wrote:And I'm happy you stood up for the line in the chorus that you didn't want me to pull. I can officially say, you were right. Now I'm second guessing myself on the million little pieces line, but you didn't fight for it, so I guess it wasn't meant to be.
You are a power house of voice dude, good luck in the future no matter what happens. And I hope we win this week, because you deserve it.
By the way, my wife said this was the best BLT song she has ever heard, then said, if the singer could just get a better band.

I really did like that "driving drunk" line, but after singing the other lines a bazillion times, "million little pieces" got to seem too generic, ya know? Sometimes I throw in a lyrical line that is questionable and should be changed later...and I'm glad it was. BTW, I really like the "Anti-Deez" change and some of the other changes you contributed too. Very nice!

Thanks for the comp! While it would be nice to win, it's not about winning or losing, its about getting good takes and having fun (ha, you thought I was going to say "its about how you play the game/song!", but I faked your ass out!).

The two "locals" (my wife and my best friend) have heard the song and both feel it is the best performance and overall best music that I've been a part of.

With that said and with my voice slowly improving, I'd LOVE to redo the vocals someday on some Gawking Urethra tracks as I think they could be stronger if the vocals had more consistency. The King really does great work and in hindsight, its almost like I let him down! But of course, there WILL be more collabs and I think The King and I (see what I did there?) will eventually pull a win.

EmbersOfAutumn · Post by **EmbersOfAutumn** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 6:03 am

Wages wrote: http://www.philwages.com/music/reviews/ ... Autumn.mp3

Thanks so much for the positive review. I've been getting a whole lot of better-than-anticipated praise for the song. A lot of thanks needs to go out to my bud Matt who laid the drums down for me. He hadn't played in months coming in to record, and he picked it right back up (though you can hear a place or two where he just couldn't get it right).

Yeah, I mixed it just a little better, but I'm probably gonna redo it from scratch in the future. The stereo-mixed version is here. Unfortunately, Purevolume is screwin with my page, and the songs aren't playing right, but if you download the file, it plays fine.

Thanks again.

Tig · Post by **Tig** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 9:15 am

Wages!! Your review was awsome!! I want those vocals in the REMIX!! That cracked me up...love it!! Thank for the positive review, glad you liked the song. Oh...btw BLT...I think I spend more time staring at you avatar than I do reading the posts...but that's just me...and the ...acid ...or something......

veGetar Ianra Ge · Post by **veGetar Ianra Ge** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 4:55 pm

dre wrote: History of My Broken Heart REVIEWS:

_____________________ OK SONGS _____________________________________

veGetar Ianra Ge : uhhh , am i on a island? What some guy on the answer machine? good lounge singing. Laid back and groovy music. The answer machine bit is annoying as hell tho, did u run out of lyrics? ohh some horns on this song would have awesome. ahh we do have a flute. Remove the lame answer machine and bring up the bass to give it some dynamics.

Yeah, I've had almost all negative feedback on the answering machine ploy. For some ungodly reason, it actually did not occur to me to record myself on a real phone. Instad I just hamfisted my way through some low-fi preamp and a tube screamer. Lesson learned. Yes, as a matter of fact, I did run out of lyrics.

Wages wrote: http://www.philwages.com/music/reviews/ ... anrage.mp3

At least your review was funny to listen to. I would have liked a little more constructive input though

. The rhythm in the chorus changes everytime, by the way. It was cool in the first round of recording, but the harmonies were a bitch to line up, as you discovered. I'm kind of sorry that you figured out my name, hehe. That was probably the best part.

Ross · Post by **Ross** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 4:58 pm

So I finished audio reviews but they are currently in two big files htat are dss format. A free dss player is simple to get, but I don't think I'll have time to edit down to mp3 or a file per song until the weekend - I've got to prioritize the current song.

To post now or not post now?

Ross