Well, Fast Car wasn't country either. It's like if a white dude in a cowboy hat can turn a black folksinger's song into a country hit by just singing and playing it the exact same way, why can't she do the same thing to macca's iconic folk song?
― BrianB, Friday, 29 March 2024 18:07 (two months ago) link
we'll see. I just can't see an R&B/Pop singer covering a Beatles song as a response to a Country artist covering an 80s Folk song.
― President Keyes, Friday, 29 March 2024 18:11 (two months ago) link
Also: Beyonce doesn't have to respond to shit.
― poppers fueled buttsex crescendo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 29 March 2024 18:15 (two months ago) link
"Respond" wasn't the best word to use to make my point: this album is about deconstructing genre expectations, of race in country in particular as she's talked about leading up the the release. So if she's looking at Fast Car as the biggest song in country music as she's putting this album together, I would imagine that the fact that it was written by black female folk singer would play into her decision to take an iconic white male folksong, about black civil rights, no less and play it straight to see how country radio would react.
― BrianB, Friday, 29 March 2024 18:39 (two months ago) link
I like the album a lot, but the “Jolene” cover is a major misfire. The lyric change removes the almost supernatural sense of dread that makes the original so special.
― J. Sam, Friday, 29 March 2024 18:49 (two months ago) link
I think what I'm getting stuck on is the fact that neither Beyonce nor the Beatles are Country artists, so why would a straight cover of a Beatles song, with no Country bells and whistles, be expected to do well on Country radio?
― President Keyes, Friday, 29 March 2024 18:50 (two months ago) link
I dunno, why did Fast Car do so well last year? It sounds pretty similar to Blackbird to me.
― BrianB, Friday, 29 March 2024 18:57 (two months ago) link
It has drums for one things.
― President Keyes, Friday, 29 March 2024 18:58 (two months ago) link
Also Electric guitar
― President Keyes, Friday, 29 March 2024 19:00 (two months ago) link
i.e. Nashville session ninjas
― President Keyes, Friday, 29 March 2024 19:01 (two months ago) link
Ok you got me. I don't listen to country radio and frequently talk out of my ass, but still, I'm fascinated by Beyonce's choices on this record & Blackbird & Jolene don't seem like necessarily bad choices to me.
― BrianB, Friday, 29 March 2024 19:16 (two months ago) link
I will listen some more but … on first pass this strikes me as, erm, well intentioned. A few plausible keepers but mostly kinda dull.
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Friday, 29 March 2024 19:39 (two months ago) link
based on info that has leaked out fromsome collaborators — and honestly based on what her collaborators have consistently said about her work process in the post-4 era — it seems like most if not all of this album finished like 3-5 years ago, i would caution against viewing any of the songs as responses to anything that happened in the last 1-2 years
― slob wizard (J0rdan S.), Friday, 29 March 2024 19:45 (two months ago) link
black female pop artists having been releasing straight covers of Beatles songs for like 60 years, i have a hard time hearing B's "Blackbird" as some kind of boundary-smashing statement of intent. The version is good though, the underlying song is indestructible and her decision to play it straight works in her favor
otoh i agree that "Jolene" is embarrassing, it tops the list of songs that dont need to be badassified and the harder she tries the goofier she sounds
― waste of compute (One Eye Open), Friday, 29 March 2024 19:49 (two months ago) link
This version of Blackbird is straight up lifted from the Glee version which is kinda lol
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-cZ_ElJ1oA
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Friday, 29 March 2024 19:56 (two months ago) link
My two cents from the hot press:- Tends to be overloaded with crap (layers, ad libs), struggles to find its rhythm, compromises readability- Bodyguard is a breath of fresh air- Nobody needs a cover of Jolene and I'm already looking at the time
― Nabozo, Friday, 29 March 2024 20:24 (two months ago) link
Covering Jolene feels like when Pat Boone did his heavy metal album and was like "What are the Heavy Metal songs? Crazy Train? Okay."
― President Keyes, Friday, 29 March 2024 20:27 (two months ago) link
pat boone was ozzy's next door neighbor in the "the osbournes" era
― the defenestration of prog (voodoo chili), Friday, 29 March 2024 20:40 (two months ago) link
I enjoyed this album but would be more tempted to listen to it all through again if they'd snipped a good twenty minutes from the second half
― your mom goes to limgrave (dog latin), Friday, 29 March 2024 21:08 (two months ago) link
well intentioned. A few plausible keepers but mostly kinda dull.― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Friday, March 29, 2024 12:39 PM
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Friday, March 29, 2024 12:39 PM
her entire musical output summed up.
― interstellar anthropologist+music philosopher, (Austin), Friday, 29 March 2024 21:12 (two months ago) link
(no shade, just a very fair assessment imo)
― interstellar anthropologist+music philosopher, (Austin), Friday, 29 March 2024 21:20 (two months ago) link
i think the second half is the stronger half ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
― the defenestration of prog (voodoo chili), Friday, 29 March 2024 21:21 (two months ago) link
I wonder why the « I » is doubled on almost all the titles but not all…― AlXTC from Paris, Friday, March 29, 2024 2:38 AM (seven hours ago) bookmarkflaglinki think it's only not doubled in people's names (linda martell, willie nelson, etc.). beyonce is calling this "act ii" in a series of albums that started with renaissance
― AlXTC from Paris, Saturday, 30 March 2024 06:11 (two months ago) link
it's everywhere the i is not next to another vowel
― c u (crüt), Saturday, 30 March 2024 06:19 (two months ago) link
First Beyoncé album for which I have zero iinterest
― Premises, Premises (flamboyant goon tie included), Saturday, 30 March 2024 13:24 (two months ago) link
this is 100% correct and will be gleefully ignored by many
― J Edgar Noothgrush (Joan Crawford Loves Chachi), Saturday, 30 March 2024 13:57 (two months ago) link
the tyranny of narrative
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Saturday, 30 March 2024 17:09 (two months ago) link
but I definitely associate this kind of "what does it all mean" ILM discussion with a "cultural moment" album that no one is particularly enthusiastic about, divining the artist's intentions substituting for talking about killer jawns
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Saturday, 30 March 2024 17:11 (two months ago) link
this is basically how I feel about this - I will listen out of a sense of obligation around the ~cUlTuRaL cOnVeRsAtIoN~ but it's feeling like a chore before I get to it. Beyonce has made amazing music dealing with feminism, racial politics, and even though I didn't love the last album I was thrilled to see her explicitly celebrating queer minority subculture styles. What I've heard of this feels so uninteresting by comparison, even if I agree that there's an important conversation to be had about who is allowed to make and be successsful with this kind of music.
― boxedjoy, Saturday, 30 March 2024 17:25 (two months ago) link
I’m actually sort of interested in hearing this just because… Beyoncé singing in a country styles sounds extremely badass to me… I have to get through some stacks first tho
― brimstead, Saturday, 30 March 2024 17:28 (two months ago) link
also I'm going to keep rolling the "Charley Pride existed and was way more successful than people remember" boulder up the hill everytime this stuff comes upCharley Frank Pride (March 18, 1934 – December 12, 2020) was an American singer, guitarist, and professional baseball player. His greatest musical success came in the early to mid-1970s, when he was the best-selling performer for RCA Records. During the peak years of his recording career (1966–1987), he had 52 top-10 hits on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, 30 of which made it to number one. He won the Entertainer of the Year award at the Country Music Association Awards in 1971 and was awarded a Grammy for "Best Country Vocal Performance, Male" in 1972.
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Saturday, 30 March 2024 17:29 (two months ago) link
I have to add of course that the UK relationship with country music is very different to the US culture around it
― boxedjoy, Saturday, 30 March 2024 17:32 (two months ago) link
as in it ended in the 70s? chartwise at least
― Left, Saturday, 30 March 2024 17:36 (two months ago) link
You clearly weren't in Scotland in the 80s & 90s
― Toshirō Nofune (The Seventh ILXorai), Saturday, 30 March 2024 17:46 (two months ago) link
boxedjoy wasn't old enough either and he should be thankful that he didn't have to grow up with Thingummyjig stinking up Friday evenings in the 70s/80s
― Toshirō Nofune (The Seventh ILXorai), Saturday, 30 March 2024 17:48 (two months ago) link
I guess the imperial era is ending but it was great while it lasted. speaking of glee I hope there isn't too much of it because there has been this undercurrent of cynicism for a while now (her entire career? temporarily muted to some extent around the the mid 10s)
― Left, Saturday, 30 March 2024 17:49 (two months ago) link
I'm sorry for assuming england is britain again it's just how I was raised
― Left, Saturday, 30 March 2024 17:55 (two months ago) link
She doesn't sing in a country style, though.
― poppers fueled buttsex crescendo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 30 March 2024 17:57 (two months ago) link
damn this is trash. wtf was she thinking w these covers
― flopson, Saturday, 30 March 2024 18:06 (two months ago) link
can’t handle how stomp clap hey texas holdem is
bodyguard is cool
― flopson, Saturday, 30 March 2024 18:22 (two months ago) link
I thought the beatles cover was good! nothing special or anything, she should just do a covers album that would be kind of cool. liked bodyguard too. singles are both fine too I think, 16 carriages is probably the best song here. probably impossible for a beyonce album to not be listenable but can’t imagine how it matters much beyond that. she has nothing to say. happens to the best of them!
― brony james (k3vin k.), Saturday, 30 March 2024 18:41 (two months ago) link
we’ll always have b’day
idk "Daughter" keeps impressing me: as bare a confession as she'll allow ("If you cross me, I'm just like my father/I am colder than Titanic water"). Make sense that she's most human when she's least likable.
― poppers fueled buttsex crescendo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 30 March 2024 18:45 (two months ago) link
The weird thing abt this album for me so far is that for all the talk of authenticity, gatekeeping, etc, this feels more like a costume than anything. The choice of covers, the voicemails, the gestures, even the title conveys a kind of lackluster, showbiz-y, half-commitment to the bit: Cowboy Carter, barely a step away from like ...Goes Country or Sings the NOW Sounds of Nashville!. Like hey everyone, this year I'm a cowboy, see my new hat? I dont hate it, but its a certainly lot more workmanlike and uninteresting than I was expecting "Beyonce's country album" to be
― waste of compute (One Eye Open), Saturday, 30 March 2024 21:17 (two months ago) link
I like how "Bodyguard" adeptly walks (swims? drives?) the line betwixt Yacht Rock and Moody-Midtempo AOR. It's like the perfect mashup of "Portable Radio", "Don't Talk To Strangers", and "He's So Shy"
― Front-loaded albums are musical gerrymandering (Prefecture), Saturday, 30 March 2024 21:19 (two months ago) link
the Blackbiird cover is as good as anything you'll hear in the acoustic guitar room at Guitar Center
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Saturday, 30 March 2024 21:20 (two months ago) link
I agree with OEO about the vibe of the overall level of investment here but I did hear plenty of good stuff that I think will hold up throughout the year even if this album doesn’t feel nearly as wholly satisfying as Renaissance. It is kinda funny if unsurprising that as this early stage I feel like 80% of the conversation about a 27 track album is focused on the admittedly puzzling Jolene cover.
― Evans on Hammond (evol j), Saturday, 30 March 2024 21:34 (two months ago) link
Cowboy Carter, barely a step away from like ...Goes Country or Sings the NOW Sounds of Nashville!
would’ve been better if she’d gone all in like this. the self consciously deep/meta stuff like the spoken word/voiceover sample of someone philosophically musing about the meaning of “genre” 🙄
― flopson, Saturday, 30 March 2024 21:59 (two months ago) link
I mean this albums alright but it's no Big Tom and The Mainliners now, is it?
― Saxophone Of Futility (Michael B), Saturday, 30 March 2024 22:58 (two months ago) link
It's no Brendan Shine either
― Toshirō Nofune (The Seventh ILXorai), Saturday, 30 March 2024 23:00 (two months ago) link
Sorry Macca but Ebony and Ivory is about a piano
― President Keyes, Friday, 5 April 2024 03:00 (one month ago) link
Regardless of Jolene lyrics being switched for the worse, I think both the Blackbird and Jolene covers are super boring choices to cover and the execution doesn’t do anything interesting either. Blackbird is pretty much a karaoke version… with a fucking great singer, yes.
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Friday, 5 April 2024 03:04 (one month ago) link
I think Blackbird's lovely. It is weird as the second track though, it needs to be tucked in the middle somewhere.
I don't care about the lyrics in Jolene but the singing feels boring and rigid - there's no swing in it. I'm not that familiar with 2010s and 20s Beyonce but does she usually sound so over-formal?
― Chuck_Tatum, Friday, 5 April 2024 10:16 (one month ago) link
Sonically I prefer "Blackbird" to "Jolene" -- it's an all-time beautiful song; personally I love that she used the original master recording and sang it straight. It sounds lovely.
But agree it doesn't "fit" sonically as the second track, and that's because I interpret its position on the record as an egregiously obvious and literal statement of intent, not one that was decided because it made sense in the sequencing as a listening experience. Here's a song called "Blackbird" where the lyrics literally say "Blackbird singing in the dead of night" and we'll feature a bunch of under-appreciated black female country singers! The whole album plays to me as a jumbled mess that's connected by a few very literal skits and ideas.
― Indexed, Friday, 5 April 2024 15:26 (one month ago) link
so a concept album basically
― President Keyes, Friday, 5 April 2024 15:30 (one month ago) link
« Ya Ya » is such a joyful storm. It’s like a distant cousin of « Get Me Bodied »
― AlXTC from Paris, Friday, 5 April 2024 15:36 (one month ago) link