TubularBelle
Group: Members
Posts: 1487
Joined: April 2004 |
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Posted: Sep. 14 2005, 23:03 |
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Quote (STEFOR @ Sep. 14 2005, 21:32) | Just listened to the 4 tracks on the Polish radio site and frankly sat here VERY unimpressed!!! To me it was, same old - same old!! Touches of Tres Lunas, Voyager and why with the talent of Mike does he do cover versions? |
Hello Steve and welcome to the site, a very brave first post esp as you have been perusing the site for a couple of years it seems. I think anyone who interprets the words 'Die Hard Fan' as meaning you have to love everything an artist does is dellusional. I have copped a bit of flak recently for making negative comments about Mike and it hurts me because they interpret that to mean that I am not a Die Hard Fan or true appreciator. But you know how you're not too scared to tell your husband or wife or kids to go and brush their teeth because their breath smells, but you wouldn't dare say it to anyone else, maybe not even to your closest friend. I know that Mike himself would no doubt not agree with this but this site is not for him, it is for the fans, and if he frequented the site or acknowledged his presence and appreciation of us, I'm sure we would be a lot more careful about what was said. The bottom line tho is most people on this site make very valid and very fair criticisms and it is through their love and respect for Mike that they feel they have the right to do this. I have been Mikes BIGGEST fan, yes it's true!!! since the very beginning, and while that may not give me the right to slander him which I would never do anyway, (or even to tell my loved ones that they have bad breath), it does give me the right as someone who has followed his career closely and knows his music as well as I can to have an opinion. I agree with almost everything you said but most esp the above quote. I was sending an email to a friend last night who is a fan but not a member of this site and was trying to describe to him the tracks that I have heard from the forthcoming album. I am not a musician and find doing this very difficult in any true accurate sense, so the best that I could do was make comparisons with Tres Lunas and Voyager. Mike obviously has his own guitar style that we all know and love and recognise in every album and that is how it should be. We would be devastated if we played one of Mikes albums and could not hear any 'trademark' Mike. But there is a difference between this and just repeating 'stuff' from the previous album and as you so rightly say, borrowing other peoples stuff. They all do that but Mike seems to be doing it with increased regularity, and although I have no doubt that Mike may have put an equal amount of blood and sweat into this album as he has with all his others, and I will love and enjoy it, what we have heard so far implies a great sense of laziness when it comes to his emotional and creative input. This could be his age, or it could be because he is trying to keep up with the latest trends rather than sticking with what he knows and does best. Who can really say. Another member suggested that this sort of thing is common after someone recently gets married and starts a new family ( maybe sex drains the creative juices! ). Mike himself has admitted that the only real instruments he has left in his home are a piano and a couple of guitars and these are the only things he has played with his own hands over the top of all these synthed tracks and vocaloids. I'm not giving up on Mike, I never will, no matter what, that is the definition of a Die Hard Fan, I don't admire him any less than I ever did! I don't even mind the use of machinery, SODE is one of my Top 5 favourite albums. And I even like the dance tracks, dare I say that the least liked track so far, Romance, is my favourite! And the TBIII excerpt on the Essential is an all time favourite! But I do imagine that I will play this album several times for a week or so and then it will begin to gather dust while I am reaching for Amarok and SODE and TB and Incantations and Ommadawn. Cheers,
Tracy.
PS-Go to 'Miscellaneous' in the 'Gallery' and post a picture of yourself in 'Members Photographs'. This is a new thread and it takes a while for posts to appear as they have to be cleared by the moderators first, but I am there and hopefully many others will be there soon too.
PSS-In fact it I wanted to make an analagy, I would compare it to buying a gorgeous pair of brand new sexy jeans and looking and feeling wonderful in them, but eventually you will go back to your old favourites, the ones that are comfortable and you can relax in, that fit like a second skin, and are a part of you and your personality.
-------------- I hate getting up early. I didn't even realise there were two 6 o'clocks in one day!
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