Crashing a Write-Off in Five Easy Steps! (AYNIL W/O)
Oct 26 '03
The Bottom Line Go away, you silly required bottom line box.
So I’m sitting here on Sunday afternoon, fried out from playing my brain rotting GameCube and trying to figure out a way to stall on the small amount of homework I need to do (yay procrastination!), when I notice a lot of people here on Epinions are participating in yet another write-off. Well, I like write-offs. Write-offs are always so fun to read because everyone has different opinions, and I always feel like such a loser for not participating in any (well, mainly because I never here about them in time and then don’t feel like crashing).
So think to myself, “Self, this write-off doesn’t seem very hard. Self, this write-off would be a good way to kill some time. Self, this write-off will let you get another review up (because you like reviewing) without needing to type 5000 words on Madonna. Self, you can talk about some artists you find rather hard to review. Self, you shall crash this write off and not write a 6000 word long review. Okay?” So to keep my brain from shutting down, I agree with myself. And basically, here I am!
The concept to this here write-off’s pretty simple, the host decided that due to all of the “Songs I HATE,” stuff going on last week, that the idea was for all invited parties (myself not included. :D) to spread some love about albums, songs, and Epinions writers they particularly enjoy. Sound simple? Basically, yeah. Let’s see if I can be to the point though. Oh dear – that sounds hard…
Five Albums I Love:
It took me of all three seconds to figure my top five out. But this isn’t in any particular order, because I’d drive myself batty trying to order them by preference. I think they all rock my world.
1. From the Choirgirl Hotel by Tori Amos
Tori Amos is one of those artists I really really enjoy, but find frightening to review due to her rather cryptic lyrics, overall strangeness, and huge obsessive following (even though I consider myself part of it). There is no doubt 1998’s from the choirgirl hotel is my favorite Amos disc. It brought in so many firsts for Tori; her first album after her “trilogy” of Little Earthquakes, Under the Pink and Boys for Pele. It was her first endeavor with a backing band. It also showed Tori playing around with electronica and screwing with her style ala Madonna. While there’s a song I find a tad bizarre, boring, unappealing or hard to get used to on all of Tori’s other discs - choirgirl was something I just immediately picked up and enjoyed from start to finish. The music is lush, operatic if you will, and although the music sometimes blocks out the vocals, the album is just damn appealing to listen to as it’s very catchy and melodic as far as Tori goes. Similarly, the lyrics are, in some places understandable (and still amazing) and in others, the typical Tori “huh?” inducing kinds. And finally, the vocals are powerful as Tori can really belt out a song when she wants to.
Key Tracks: Spark, Raspberry Swirl, and Hotel
2. Haunted by Poe
I still find it quite ironic that before March, I had no idea in the world who Poe was. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again – thank god Aerocat reviewed Poe’s albums or I would have been deeply deprived! After her debut album Hello in 1995, Poe returned with Haunted in late 2000. This is one of the best concept albums I’ve ever heard and it all pulls together to make for an incredible experience. Simply put, Poe found recordings of her father one day and was quite disturbed by hearing his voice again – “haunted” if you will. She sampled his voice into a computer and then built the album around the past experiences such as her relationships, family and love. Many interludes are featured between the “real” songs that have Mr. Danielewski’s recordings leading into the themes of the next song. Musically and lyrically, Poe is a genius. The musical is tightly produced, eliminating the awkward moments from her debut and incorporating rock, electronica, pop and trip hop into the mix. Lyrically, Poe knows how to tell a story. Her name fits her as she quite simply a poet, and a contradiction of her self in many ways as she can come off cold and then warm, strong and then vulnerable and playful and then serious. Vocally, Poe is typically good, and can really sing well she likes to.
Key Tracks: Walk the Walk, Wild, and Hey Pretty.
3. Ray of Light by Madonna
Arguably the best moment in Madonna’s career, unless one wants to bring Like a Prayer into the competition. After the “dark period,” of her career (Erotica and Bedtime Stories), Madonna gave birth to her first child (Lourdes) and disappeared for a while. People thought she was finished – hah, how wrong they were! Madonna zipped back in like a ray of light and proved to any doubters that she could still be force to reckon with ever after battling through dozens of controversies and pushing out a kid throughout her 15 years in the music biz. In a similar manner to Tori (and almost around the same time - 1998 - at that), Madonna had embraced an electronica style for her music, calling up William Orbit to produce a lot of the album. The beats are pounding, the music is ironically, quite dark sounding in style but lush in instruments with strings and gritty guitars and a whole mess of aquatic effects. Ray of Light could also be the height of Madonna’s vocal and lyrical talent. Vocally, Madonna returned from Evita able to sing high and low and anywhere in between, and she sounds surprisingly good. Lyrically, much of album is based on spirituality and quite simply, Maddie’s views on life. She deals with bad relationships and bad choices of the past, and then throws those things out the window to celebrate what she has to be grateful for and proud of in the present. I’m sure she’s proud of this album at least – a strong contender for her best.
Key Tracks: Drowned World/Substitute for Love, Frozen and The Power of Goodbye.
4. When the Pawn… by Fiona Apple
To some, Fiona just comes off as annoying brat who whines an awful lot about everything and tries to be a bad Tori Amos clone. I judge her more by her music, because that’s what I’m listening to, and she’s very different from Tori outside of the playing piano chick part. I thought Tidal was an okay album – kind of overrated, on the whole somewhat of a yawn. It was fairly solid though. Fiona was definitely out to top herself on 1999's When the Pawn as she upped her game in all aspects from her debut. A lot of her vocals were wimpery yelps on Tidal but on here, she’s not afraid growl and yell and show off the soul in her voice. Lyrically – quite simply, Fiona is a poet. She has the ability to flow words together and sound cool as opposed to incredibly lame and cheesy. The music is far more lush than Tidal as well, making When the Pawn a nice hybrid of jazz and rock, with Fiona’s piano playing as the centerpiece, surrounded by a lot of classical elements. She comes off strong at times and vulnerable at others, and I can actually relate with some of things she has to say here. Hopefully, Fiona can continue to put out albums as good as this one.
Key Tracks: Limp, Fast as You Can and Love Ridden.
5. Jagged Little Pill by Alanis Morissette
Way back when I reviewed Ms. Morisette’s albums x months ago, I was obsessed with the woman. I did enjoy both Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie and Under Rug Swept but they probably didn’t deserve the five stars I gave them at the time I reviewed them (they most definitely do now, though!) However, all Alanis fans agree - 1995's Jagged Little Pill was a great album and the height of female angst. I feel kind of silly explaining it now… it is one of the biggest selling albums of all time, but it was one of the few albums to deserve such praise. Like all of the other women on my list, Alanis is talented songwriter. She’s able to convey her emotions like no one else I know. She’s angry, you fear her. She’s sad, you sympathize with her. She’s happy, you laugh with her. Musically, Jagged was also Alanis at her most accessible and “alternative rocker chick.” A lot of the songs rocked out, the slower ones were nice pop/rock numbers, and all the while Alanis is humming away on her harmonica. Lyrically, I do enjoy Alanis' whine – it’s just easy to tease her with it, but she’s definitely got a strong set of pipes, and definitely displays what she’s feeling through them. You can say what you want about the second and third albums being weird or boring, but you all know that this one is definitely amazing.
Key Tracks: You Oughta Know, Hand in My Pocket, You Learn and Ironic.
Five Songs I Love:
I tried hard not to repeat the same artists as above… but that was too difficult, because leaving out these particular songs by such artists just wouldn’t feel right.
1. ”Secret” by Madonna
As anyone who reads my reviews know, I love many Madonna songs, however – my current obsession is with ”Secret” from 1994’s Bedtime Stories. Supposedly written about a transvestite, I can see this as one of those silly “gay anthems” or what have you. This is one of Madonna’s most unique singles. She sounds great here, alternating from high to low quite well. Musically, the R&B flavor and hip hop-ish beats paired with the acoustic guitar, strings and echo-y effects just makes me drool every single time I listen to it. It doesn’t hurt that the chorus is quite memorable, either. Madonna also shares one of her best pieces of advice in lyrics: ”Happiness lies in your own hands.”
2. ”Cornflake Girl” by Tori Amos
There’s always one particular song on all of Tori’s albums that strikes me the most; from 1994’s Under the Pink it was ”Cornflake Girl”, and I picked it over the other songs because it’s so fun; probably Tori’s overal funnest. There’s so many things going on musically – crazy dancing pianos (a fun mental image!), irish guitars, bells, operatic yelps and deep sounding choir-type backings. Like I said above, Tori has an awesome voice. End of discussion. From the lyrics, I always got a topic on cliques or peer pressure or something (or maybe just a bowl of cereal); there’s “raisin” girls and “cornflake” girls. There’s also some hysterical nonsense lyrics; “Rabbit! Where’d you put the keys, girl?!”
3. ”Special” by Garbage
Although I own none of Garbage’s full length albums, I continue to admire lead singer Shirley Manson from afar. ”Special” was from 1998’s Version 2.0. Garbage is big on electro-rock, and this song is no exception. However, I can’t find any fault about the song sonically; the sound is great, with a very summertime feel to it, making it a killer pop song. Shirley sounds particularly strong vocally here - especially when she sings the chorus (”Do you have an opinion? A mind of your own?”). This is a break up song of sorts, but doesn’t come off weepy. Obviously – she thought a guy was special and he wasn’t. They part. Boo-hoo. At least the result was a good song.
4. ”Angry Johnny” by Poe
Although I love every single thing about Haunted, it just doesn’t work to pick a single song and take it away from the context of the album. And I wouldn’t be able to pick a favorite from that album anyway. So I chose my favorite song from Poe’s 1995 debut Hello. This song is musically built with elements of dance, trip hop and rock. The music, mixed with the airy and calm vocals, makes ”Angry Johnny” sound quite relaxing to listen to. This shows Poe’s ironic nature – the song is about a woman who wants to kill her ex, listing the ways, times and places she can, and will, kill him by. Also kinda ironic is the line “I wanna kill you, I wanna blow you [pause] away.” Of course, it always brings a grin to my face.
5. ”Uninvited” by Alanis Morissette
I love ”Uninvited” in so many ways. I think it stands as the one song that shows you what Alanis as an artist is all about. Featured on 1998’s City of Angels soundtrack, you can expect a highly dramatic feel to the music. It starts out with a piano chord similar to Junkie’s ”Are You Still Mad” and slowly builds up a dramatic explosion of gritty guitars and drums. The piano represents Alanis’ soft side. The ending instrumental represents her rage. She’s made up equally of both. But enough about the music - Alanis shows great control over her voice, in possibly her best vocal performance. The lyrics – I heard the song is about a ghost of a loved one who shows up unexpectedly to “haunt” the person they left; which probably fits with the them of the movie, but I don’t really know. I do know that this is my favorite Morissette song, though.
Five (or six, or seven) Writers I Love:
I found it impossible to decide on just five (because I’d feel guilty on leaving the sixth and seventh persons out, whoever they’d be)… so I cheated a little bit, nyahaha. Besides, this is a love write-off and so I’m spreading an extra amount of love out. You can’t fault me! :D
Aerocat
Beth was really the first of those intimidating Advisors to trust me way back in the Summer in 2002. She gave me my first Most Helpful (cue hearts falling out of my ears here), she and I always left each other nice comments, and I almost cried when she took a hiatus because I thought she was the coolest, kindest person on the site. I was ecstatic to see her return earlier this year and we have communicated more since then. It doesn’t hurt that we like so many of the same artists and her reviews have gotten me to experiment with so many new musical fems (to me). And it doesn’t hurt that she’s a kickass writer, but come on, that one’s an obvious one, yes? :D
broomqueesha
Broomy (aka Rachel) came in a few months ago and she’s already succeeded in writing way more reviews than silly old me, hehe. I love it when she reviews a bad album and shows her wit, or when she reviews a good album well. I’m also a big fan of her reviewing style, and she seems like a nice, funny person. Again, it doesn’t hurt that I’m interested in a lot of the things she reviews as well.
caffienatedyak
TJ’s really the only Epinioner I speak with on instant messenger (not on purpose, though…) and it's fun just to sit around like the pair of catty gay dudes we are and dig into Madonna’s age or something. He’s almost as in-depth in his writing as I am (which is a good thing, because I ramble on), typically likes the same music that I do, and is basically a kickass reviewer. He also possesses a very unique sense of humor.
cletta1201
Carletta was also one of the earlier people to trust little old me, and she enjoys the full spectrum of musics, even though R&B is probably her biggest thing. Her reviews are to the point, enjoyable to read, and written well. I love the way she describes bad songs, good songs and everything in between. She’s a fellow Toriphile, which is also a plus. :D And she’s a nice person, above all.
flamepillar
Tim was one of the first people I really enjoyed reading around Epinions. To me, I find him incredibly cool and funny, and I love to read his reviews as they are written well, humorous, and descriptive. He’s also a fellow Alanis nut, and he likes a lot of the same stuff I do musically.
kristinafh
Oops? What’s this silly person doing on here? Everybody hates that Kristina lady! [/sarcasm] Kristina has to be the most popular person on Epinions, or at least in the top five. She’s honest, funny, nice, and also a very strong woman. She reviews pretty much everything and I rush to read most of her reviews, because they are ALL enjoyable. Oh, and she loves Evanescence and Madonna - or did you not know that? – much like I do. :D
shadesofblue
Khendra and I actually do have a lot in common. Of course, the most obvious is the huge love of Tori Amos (and Coldplay, and finding Trent Reznor sexy, and…), but we share many personality traits as well, and I love to read stuff by her even if I have no clue what a Seal is outside of a marine mammal. I love her weirdness and she’s a very nice person.
The End. Love is a good thing. But not like I’d know. :)
The People Legally in this Write-Off:
plorentz | thevoid99 | stairway2drew | Guildenstern | flamepillar | speeddemon531 | kristinafh | atchesonate | jeff_wilder78 | drdevience | vanwarp | shadesofblue | treeseed | shilmafone
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Epinions.com ID:
pt-paratroopa
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Member: Mike Slapp
Location: NY
Reviews written: 35
Trusted by: 50 members
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