seems like heaven ain't far away....

Shuffleathon 2008 Update

I've actually got something a bit more substantial for you today than the usual chaser for people to post out their CDs..... Paul does not have a blog of his own, so here's his review of Threelight's CD:

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Whether I like it or not (and I don't) I'm a child of the eighties and there was much on the CD I received that brought that decade screaming back at me in all its hideousness. I'd figured out Threelight might be my sender and had a stroll around his blog. I remember clocking that he was a fan of Deacon Blue and bang! Track One: Dignity. I'm afraid I never liked Deacon Blue but I gave the whole track a listen out of courtesy. For the first time I was struck by a similarity to "The Whole of the Moon" by The Waterboys - but that's just another tune I don't like.

Track Two: Straight off I thought it was the title track from the film Footloose but it turned into something I didn't recognise but which I liked. I listened to the CD blind first time around and when I looked at the listing this was revealed to be "Fascination" by Alphabeat. I'd seen them on the telly and thought they were good but hadn't got around to properly checking them out. Their contribution here adds to the impetus to do so.

Track Three: More eighties, "If I Was" by Midge Ure. I quite liked this at the time and still do. It suffers from some bombastic-ness but is superior pop.

Track Four: Without knowing it I've been a fan for years - "Jessica" by The Allman Brothers Band, aka the theme from Top Gear. I've a feeling I probably wouldn't like any of their other stuff and while looking them up on Wikipedia I see that Threelight has a link up his sleeve as Duanne Allman had a hand in the recording of the next track.

Track Five: Sadly this track is Layla by Eric Clapton so the effort is wasted on me. I hit ffwd by about the seventh note. Life's too short to ever, ever have to listen to this song again (am I plagarising someone there with this comment?).

Track Six: When I look at the titles - "The Boys of Summer" by Don Henley. I always thought this was Bryan Adams. Anyway: drab American synth rock.

Track Seven: "Girls in Their Summer Clothes", this was familiar but it surprised me to discover it was Bruce Springsteen. I'm not a fan but I liked this. Was he ever in the Travelling Wilburys? This sounds a bit like them, a bit drowsy.

Track Eight: "Creep" by Radiohead. Like track five I've heard this too many times but I think I liked this more in the first place than I ever liked Layla. But now it's just dust to my ears.

Track Nine: "Break it Down Again" by Tears for Fears. I really don't like this. I listened to it a few times to try and get a hold of what it was exactly that I hated so much but it just defeated me. It's just terrible. An awkward non song. Ironically the neighbours probably think I love it.

Track Ten: "Valerie" by The Zutons. The first song to come along that I know and that I like. Top notch indie pop that I'll probably never be bothered about enough to actually shell out for.

Track Eleven: "Hallelujah" by Jeff Buckley. I am aware of the reverence in which Jeff Buckley is held but I cannot agree. This version of the song is wet. I'm not just being a snob but the John Cale version leaves this standing.

Track Twelve: "I Sing About You" by Ricky Ross. The chappie from Deacon Blue is back. Shorn of all the eighties production he's quite good. Throw in a bit of sleaze and this could even be Mark Lanegan.

Track Thirteen: "Leave the Bourbon on the Shelf" by The Killers. Lazy, lazy music. This bores me in under 30 seconds. I honestly don't believe that this could have been written for any reason other than a 3:38 sized gap on an album.

Track Fourteen: "Yesterday" by The Beatles. Yeah, it's great. Even after all the listens I still like this.

Track Fifteen: "Easy" by the Commodores. Like track fourteen but not quite so much so.

Track Sixteen: "The Dark End of the Street" by James Carr. I'd never heard of James Carr or this song. It's playing while I'm typing and yes it's a lovely song and I'll probably listen to it again. It reminds me a lot of Van Morrison and hang on, didn't Van Morrison write a tune called "Bright Side of the Road"? A co-incidence? I'll look into it.

Track Seventeen: "Chasing Cars" by Snow Patrol. I've heard this before. In the current climate I had thought I might get a whole CD of tracks like this. Musically it's just pleasant and lyrically banal. A bit of a boring track.

Track Eighteen: "Exitlude" by The Killers. More crap from The Killers but I hear what Threelight is up to here and thanks for the sentiment.

In conclusion: it turns out I like nine songs out of eighteen. Which, after the first listen and glance at the track listing, amazes me. Admittedly there's not much I can do with some of these likes ("Yesterday" and "Easy", for instance) but as Threelight half acknowledged in his covering letter, I don't think this CD was ever meant to steer me into new dimensions of sound. But I will have a closer listen to Alphabeat and Bruce Springsteen.

Thanks,

Paul

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Well, I think it's fair to say that's a mixed bag of a review... a few hits, a few misses. I always say that if the reviewer takes away at least one song from the mix that they really like, then overall it's been worth doing. I'm not sure that "Yesterday" or "Easy" count in that regard, but hey! Paul's discovered Alphabeat! Yay!

Thanks for playing guys.

As always, any updates should be sent to the email address in my profile - be that CDs sent, received or reviewed. Did I mention yet that I can't help but notice that a handful of you haven't yet sent out your CDs. Any chance of an update please?

Alright, as you were. Reviews also in from Threelight himself and from Beth.... What are you waiting for? Go check them out. Links below....

Shuffler	Posted out	Received?
1. Me	yes
2. Mandy		yes
3. Charlie	yes	yes
4. Planet Me	yes	yes
5. Ian	yes	review
6. Mike	yes	yes
7. Jerry	yes	review
8. monogodo	nearly	yes
9. Erika	yes	yes
10. Michael	yes	review
11. Lisa	yes	review
12. Cody Bones	yes	review
13. Del	yes	review
14. RussL	yes	review
15. Tina	yes	review
16. Wombat	yes
17. Joe the Troll	yes	yes
18. JamieS	yes
19. Cat	yes	yes
20. Rol	yes	review
21. Beth	yes	review
22. asta	yes	yes
23. bedshaped	yes	on the way
24. Paul	yes	review
25. Alan	yes	review
26. Astronaut	yes	review
27. Threelight	yes	review
28. The Great Grape Ape	yes	review
29. Paul W	yes
30. Ben	yes	review

As I keep forgetting to mention, shuffleathon is based upon an original concept by the lovely YokoSpungeon....