Taylor Swift – The Life of a Showgirl – Is the audio performance up to the marketing hype? – Review (CD,colored vinyl records, streaming,Stereo Atmos)

[Sal1950]

Country music is less appealing, tho.

To you, your loss.

 

[Chrispy]

To you, your loss.

I can live with that. Taste in music varies. I just find little appealing in that genre.

 

[diddley]

Haven't listened to this nor much of Taytay's music, but this is probably a poor forum for discussing her talents. Country music is less appealing, tho.

IMHO should be written too. A lot of people love country music and when i hear Rhiannon Giddons my heart opens up.
The sheer quality of her songwriting and instrument control puts a Tay Tay way back in the ground.

 

[Chrispy]

IMHO should be written too. A lot of people love country music and when i hear Rhiannon Giddons my heart opens up.
The sheer quality of her songwriting and instrument control puts a Tay Tay way back in the ground.

I saw your post but hadn't tried that video but just did. Definitely not my flavor. Thanks, tho.

 

[diddley]

It's not just country music we are discussing, it's also the use of technology and auto tune.
A few days back i listened to an entire Swift song, and all i heard was a robotic voice and computers. I got the feeling their wasn't a real instrument being used including her voice.
If you take the other side of this Rhiannon Giddons for example you hear clearly how music is ment to be made. without a whole bunch of technology and with Talent.

Sure miss Swift can be music first billionaire, but does she deserve it as a musician?
No.

 

[Sal1950]

I saw your post but hadn't tried that video but just did. Definitely not my flavor. Thanks, tho.

Since I know that bluegrass isn't your stuff, try this recommendation from @SIY and skip to the second song.

Audiophile level country (genre)

I was late to appreciating this genre, and I'm not talking the current hick-hop stuff. I don't ever see country songs or albums listed on audiophile lists. Are there any, or do audiophiles just gravitate jazz, classic, rock etc. I think offerings from Jason Isbell and Justin Townes Earle...

www.audiosciencereview.com

Or spend a few minutes with Alison Krauss and Union Station, TayTay couldn't carry her kit bag.
If you don't like Alison Krauss, there's just no hope for you.

Rick Beato calls her one of the "most celebrated voices in America."

 

[diddley]

One of my finest cd's Robert Plant and Alison Krauss Raising Sand

 

[Chrispy]

Since I know that bluegrass isn't your stuff, try this recommendation from @SIY and skip to the second song.

Audiophile level country (genre)

I was late to appreciating this genre, and I'm not talking the current hick-hop stuff. I don't ever see country songs or albums listed on audiophile lists. Are there any, or do audiophiles just gravitate jazz, classic, rock etc. I think offerings from Jason Isbell and Justin Townes Earle...

www.audiosciencereview.com

Or spend a few minutes with Alison Krauss and Union Station, TayTay couldn't carry her kit bag.
If you don't like Alison Krauss, there's just no hope for you.

Rick Beato calls her one of the "most celebrated voices in America."

I wouldn't call that representative of all bluegrass. I have heard some of Alison Krauss that I liked. Overall just not a genre I spend much time in.

 

[Sal1950]

Since I know that bluegrass isn't your stuff, try this recommendation from @SIY and skip to the second song.

Audiophile level country (genre)

I was late to appreciating this genre, and I'm not talking the current hick-hop stuff. I don't ever see country songs or albums listed on audiophile lists. Are there any, or do audiophiles just gravitate jazz, classic, rock etc. I think offerings from Jason Isbell and Justin Townes Earle...

www.audiosciencereview.com

Or spend a few minutes with Alison Krauss and Union Station, TayTay couldn't carry her kit bag.
If you don't like Alison Krauss, there's just no hope for you.

Rick Beato calls her one of the "most celebrated voices in America."

This is an incredible interview on it's own, Rick will ask a 15 or 20 second question and Alison will fill in a minute or two of very interesting incites about time in the studio, people on the road, whatever. One of his very best because of her..

I wouldn't call that representative of all bluegrass. I have heard some of Alison Krauss that I liked. Overall just not a genre I spend much time in.

I'm not much of a Bluegrass fan myself. We got into this talking about Taylor and her talent "or lack of" when the voice comparos' started.
I could listen to Alison for hours, not so much Rhinannon, then sidetracked into recording quality, etc.
I'm a huge fan of honky-tonk country, from Hank Williams Sr & Jr, Alan Jackson, Willie & Waylon, George Strait, Randy Travis, George Jones, Vince Gill, Merle Haggard, Eagles, David Allan Coe, Conway Twitty, Dwight Yoakam, Clint Black, I could go on for hours. All the stuff I can guaranty will be playin on the jukebox when you walk into a good "stop and sock" of "biker bar". If they're playin TayTay, run for the door..
My rig circa 1985

 

[Talisman]

Can you imagine this song with Autotune?
Taste is not up for debate, but please don't come talking to me about quality music... it is what it is, a commercial operation on a par with many boy bands without any talent other than that of all the people behind it who package the product.

 

[Sal1950]

Can you imagine this song with Autotune?

Johnny never needed it. In this video the lady says something about not needing perfect vocal technique to be a fantastic singer. That technique is something that Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Frank Sinatra, so many more had the Taylor Swift could really use but doesn't have either..

 

[mhardy6647]

So... I love bluegrass. Only in small doses, though. Too depressing. To quote Billy Connolly, only slightly out of context.

You need death, and plenty of it... babies dying -- in the snow.

Alison Krauss is good, very good... but she's not a fave of mine (Rick Beato notwithstanding ). Audiophiles love her because her albums generally sound audiophile-great. Take that for what it is worth.

Her voice can get (from my perspective) quite thin and piercing in the high register. Listen to Ghost in This House (a great song) on Alison Krauss and Union Station Live. Worse yet, listen to it on a pair of "Heritage" Klipsch loudspeakers (e.g., Heresys or Cornwalls). Her voice picks up the legendary resonance in the MR horn that might drive one to self-defenestration. So, yeah, admittedly, it's synergy -- her voice and lousy horns, but her voice is part of the 'problem'.

Can I sing better? Heck, no. Can others? Yeah...

 

[Pareto Pragmatic]

It will be interesting if she can maintain that roll as she enters her 40s and beyond.

Given that no one ever does maintain that kind of roll, it would be pretty unique if she did. Fame can stay, production of chart topping music can't. Being discussed by the larger culture can't. We've passed Peak Swift.

To both keep old fans and make new ones is tough. To be relevant and known beyond fans is almost impossible to maintain, given the broader culture stops caring after a period of time. Age tends to mean losing the connection to youth culture as it is in the moment. From that point on, the fan base just gets older and older.

I am sure she will have millions of fans all her life. Her career, and her management of her career is top notch over a lot of years. She's not going to end up doing state fairs or anything.

But it won't be long until her new album is a one day story, and soon after that it will only be niche news. And then comes the Jazz album.

Same as it ever was.

 

[Mart68]

Taylor Swift‘s trainwreck performance with Stevie Nicks at the Grammy Awards 2010 documents strikingly her talent free „singing“, my two cents. Singing can perhaps be learned to a certain extent, but she’ll never come close to reaching the vocal legend Stevie Nicks. It’s a remarkable publicity coup that Taylor Swift can regularly bask in the glow of Stevie Nicks at her gigs. It’s actually a bit sad that the icon Stevie Nicks allows herself to be part of something like this — though maybe she simply feels sorry for Taylor Swift.

The video seems to have been removed from youtube but is still circulating on TikTok.

https://www.tiktok.com/video/7468138485484948779

Stevie Nicks on South Park

 

[Juhazi]

I have 0 interest in Ms Swift's music and I hate Ms Krauss's way of singing. Ms Giddens is a fabulous singer and musician, but I don't like everything she releases.

These stars won't fade away! Each one's original albums are well recorded and mixed too and offer some surprises

Then one can add

and not so well known

 

[Sal1950]

Given that no one ever does maintain that kind of roll, it would be pretty unique if she did. Fame can stay, production of chart topping music can't. Being discussed by the larger culture can't. We've passed Peak Swift.

You probably got it 100% right there. Her juggernaut career has been a space shuttle of unprecedented history.
It will be very interesting how it all goes, "the bigger they are the harder they fall" or something else entirely?
We have a few of the supergroups from the 1960-70s that today are still stadium packers getting huge ticket prices, but not many.
Sadly I won't be around to see if she can equal the 60+ popularity of Eagles, Pink Floyd/David Gilmour, Rolling Stones more.

 

[Robin L]

I can't help but notice that most of the folks chiming in on this thread aren't (and most likely wouldn't be) interested in Taylor Swift in the first place. Like almost all the threads about LPs/turntables or subjective appreciation of audio, there is a pile-on of negative responses. Obviously, this musician has a huge fan base, is inordinately successful and prolific. Maybe, considering that the folks at ASR are overwhelming male (and old), we really aren't in a position to judge. Superpopular pop artists do not aim for the "audiophile" market in the first place, so audiophile considerations really don't amount to much anyway. My sister, who is nearly my (advanced) age loves Taylor Swift's music and has been inspired to learn guitar and has taken vocal lessons. A lot of her inspiration comes from her attraction to this music.

Something to think about.

 

[masterhw]

Maybe, considering that the folks at ASR are overwhelming male (and old), we really aren't in a position to judge.

fine with it if it’s balanced by sharing what the sisters and daughters think of Steely Dan, Dire Straits, and Pink Floyd

 

[Robin L]

fine with it if it’s balanced by sharing what the sisters and daughters think of Steely Dan, Dire Straits, and Pink Floyd

A: Maybe, just maybe, this is all Grandpa's music—you know, like Led Zeppelin?
B: My wife is just crazy about Mark Knopfler/Dire Straits.
C: Back when my granddaughter was about seven, she said "LCD Soundsystem must be the best people in the world". That was over ten years ago.
One stepson's fave is Nick Cave, another makes electronic music, has loads of gear. The Dan, Straits and Floyd don't figure into their interests.
My Swift-loving sister (Toni, the one who just got a vintage Gibson for $4700.00 at Norman's Rare Guitars), her husband and my wife are Deadheads. My wife has a vague allergy around Steely Dan (I'm a fan), likes Pink Floyd (I'm still on the fence).

I've got one Taylor Swift CD—Folklore—doesn't really turn me on. I figure I'm just the wrong demographic, seeing as I'm thrilled by Schubert's D. 958, the Well Tempered Clavier and Beethoven's piano sonatas.

Different strokes and all that.

 

[mhardy6647]

fine with it if it’s balanced by sharing what the sisters and daughters think of Steely Dan, Dire Straits, and Pink Floyd

And Diana Krall and Melody Gardot and Jacintha and Holly Cole... and all those other distaff audiophile phavorites!