Words about Music
Are you tonedeaf?
Monday, November 13th, 2006Here’s an online test to see if you’re tonedeaf. It takes about 6 minutes, and requires a quiet room and a computer with Flash 8 or 9.
The scoring model is as follows:
Greater than 90% correct: World-class musical abilities
Greater than 75% correct: Excellent musical abilities
Greater than 60% correct: Good musical abilities
Less than 50% correct: You may have a pitch perception deficit
My score was 63.9%.
While the test may have its flaws, I think the result was about right. I always considered my musical ear to be pretty good, but not great, which explains why I can play several musical instruments, but can’t really sing.
As for the test, it’s a series of musical passages that you need to compare and judge “same” or “different.” I think singers have the advantage here, because they practice tonal memory in their training, and it’s got to get easier over time. Also, the passsages can be quite long, and if the difference is a half-step somewhere in the middle, then the test is more about memory than it is about tonedeafness. Finally, I’ve always found that I’m better at picking out pitches on instruments I’m familiar with (piano, trumpet, and even a singer’s voice). Some of these passages were done in tech/funk MIDI stops that make discerning them harder (although that might just be me, and a valid reason to get a lower score).
Anyway, check it out & report your score here…
Categories: Words about Music | 1 Comment »
People…People who Curse at People…
Friday, October 13th, 2006Barbra Streisand is on tour again (for what Variety is calling her “return-farewell tour”). The reviews are generally good – lots of Broadway showtunes, heartfelt ballads and classic standards. The only complaint most critics have is, ironically, the political commentary. Streisand has long played upon the common misperception that famous people are automatically well-informed and intelligent people as well. And so, she insists on taking advantage of the microphone, the stage, and the media attention that always surrounds her to enlighten us with her views on politics, morality, and the American way of life. If you don’t believe me, check out her website, which contains several political “Statements” on the homepage, but requires you to click through to find out anything about her music or other entertainment-related ventures.
All of this is well and good for the casual fan, who can buy her albums, listen to her music, watch her movies, etc. and ignore the political commentary if he/she wishes. But put a few thousand of them in Madison Square Garden, charge them anywhere from $150-$750 for the ticket, and watch how quickly the patience level drops when the music is interrupted for a lesson on representative democracy. Things get even worse when the commentary turns into sketch comedy (a la Saturday Night Live), complete with a George W. Bush impersonator. Here’s how E! Online described the scene:
[Babs:]”How would the President erase the national debt?
[Bush:]”Sell Canada; they don’t use half of it.”[Babs:]How does Bush feel about his low approval ratings?
[Bush:]”If I cared about polls, I would have run for President of Poland.”Some fans began to tire of the twosome’s routine, with one man going so far as to shout, “What is this, a fundraiser?”
Apparently, Babs can dish it out, but she can’t take it.
“Why don’t you shut the f— up?” she shouted back to the delight of her more sycophantic fans. “If you can’t take a joke, why don’t you leave and get your money back.”
Apparently, the man did just that. He left, and Streisand’s people refunded his money. The Daily Intelligencer spoke with some people about the incident after the show:
Among Streisand’s most natural constituency these things went over only somewhat better. “She’s got balls,” said George Gustafson, 49, of New Haven, after the show. He was there with his partner Gary Gustafson, also 49, but Gary wasn’t as forgiving. “He’s the leader of our country, and I think we should respect him.” Oy. On her way out, a woman behind us muttered, “We’re not paying money to see politics.”
And Variety panned it as well:
The angry audience member was a disgruntled Republican, responding to some ill-considered shtick involving George W. Bush impersonator Steve Bridges. No matter what side of the political fence you’re on, the material was lame. . . . The belabored spoken interludes don’t dampen the spell of Streisand’s singing, but they feel pat and counterfeit next to the real, expressive personality in her vocals. That’s why the lapse in self-control and the unleashed expletive were almost welcome.
The irony here is palpable. Streisand is in her hometown, New York City, where her popularity is arguably at its highest, and where the political climate is generally welcoming to anti-Bush or anti-Republican material. Nonetheless, people who are willing to shell out $750 to hear her sing are telling her loud and clear: We don’t care what you think of the President, the war, or the country. Shut up and sing another song.
Maybe this farewell tour should be the real deal, huh?
(SIDE NOTE: Blogger’s spell checker doesn’t recognize “Streisand.” It’s suggestion? “Stressing.” Hah!)
UPDATE: Audience members and other fans have begun writing to newspapers & websites with basically the same message: Shut up and sing!
Categories: Political Rantings, Words about Music | Comments Off on People…People who Curse at People…
A Not-So-Innocent Man
Friday, July 14th, 2006So I’m listening to Billy Joel’s New Album – “Billy Joel – 12 Gardens Live,” which is a pretty good album, in that it’s a high quality recording of a bunch of live performances, some songs in which Billy Joel rarely, if ever, performs live. As a collector, it’s a must.
As a fan, it’s good, but could have been much better. Very little audience banter is here, which after all is what makes a live performance unique. Also, they seem to have intentionally removed the crowd noise, except for obvious moments (like those idiots who still cheer in Miami 2017 when he sings “and picked the Yankees up for free,” as if he’s talking about the New York Yankees…) Without the crowd noise, it’s like a studio recording on crack – high energy, good sound, etc. Having seen the show live, though, some more of the impromptu stuff would have been nice to have forever. The Piano Man track is the exception to this criticism, of course, and I’m glad I’ve got a non-bootleg version of that live.
The coolest thing about the album was a secret it revealed to me, which I missed during the live performance. As I said in my review of the concert:
He also sang all the high notes on Innocent Man himself, something he hasn’t done in years (my wife pointed out that his new-found sobriety might have been the enabler there).
Well, now that I listen to it on headphones, and without the excited rush that comes from a live concert, I can think of another reason he hit the notes: He transposed it down a whole step. The original track is recorded in C Major, and the performance is done in B Flat. Don’t get me wrong: he’s still a 58 year-old man singing a high B flat (and a high G in full-voice, as opposed to falsetto), but he obviously put in a bit of a comfort zone for himself on stage. I guess that’s the benefit of singing a song that was written & recorded twenty-three years ago – who remembers the original key?
Anyway, yet another of life’s mysteries solved…
Categories: Words about Music | 5 Comments »
My First (and Likely Only) Hanson Update
Saturday, June 3rd, 2006Remember Hanson? Those three kids that had a pop hit with a song called MMMBop?
Well, the keyboard player/lead singer has been married for five years, and has two kids. Wait, it gets worse: that little kid who played drums? He’s getting married tomorrow. And here’s the worst of it: their latest album (now two years old) is called The Best of Hanson: Live and Electric.
Categories: Words about Music | Comments Off on My First (and Likely Only) Hanson Update
A Review: Billy Joel – My Lives, Disc 4
Tuesday, March 7th, 2006This is the fourth in my series of reviews of the “My Lives” Box Set from Billy Joel. Scroll to the bottom of this post for links to reviews of the other discs.
I can sum up my feelings on Disc four with one word: Meh.
This disc is basically representative of what Joel has been doing for the last ten years or so (except for his current tour which, not accidentally, harkens back to the previous 3 discs). It contains live versions of those songs that he most often performs live, a couple of benefit performances he’s given recently, and some of his more recent, classical music.
The live stuff comes primarily from his Millennium concert in Madison Square Garden (12/31/99). Don’t get me wrong – these are entertaining and energy-filled versions of the songs, but since the Millennium Concert has already been released on CD, none of it is new. The exceptions here are You May Be Right which comes from a Face-to-Face concert and is a great (new!) version of the song, and Los Angelenos, which sounds like it’s from an older concert and could very well be the version that was on Songs in the Attic (in which case, it’s out of place on this disc).
The benefit numbers include The Beach Boys’ Don’t Worry, Baby from a tribute to Brian Wilson, which may be the best track on the disc. He dedicates it to his daughter, Alexa, which is sweet when the lyrics are “Everything will turn out alright; Don’t worry baby,” but gets kind of creepy when he gets to “Oh what she does to me; When she makes love to me.” I guess we can give him a pass, since the song he wrote for her is much more appropriate. There’s also the September 11th tribute version of New York State of Mind, which is about as soulful as Billy Joel gets (and with good reason, of course).
Finally, there are three selections from Fantasies and Delusions. I have a great respect for those who compose (and perform) classical music, but I have to be in precisely the right mood to want to listen to it, and can’t honestly claim to ever enjoy it, so I’ll refrain from commenting further on these.
The disc also has a hidden track, containing a mock interview with Billy Joel (probably by someone in his band), which purports to be promotional material for Glass Houses, circa 1980. It’s basically Joel kidding around with his buddy, making fun of the concept of promoting an album. He plays a couple of joke songs, including one in the New Wave style that was hot back then (classic moment: he stops in the middle and says, “Oops – too many chords” and plays it again – all on the same chord). He also runs through potential promotional slogans for the album which I greatly enjoyed (examples: “People who live in glass houses shouldn’t listen to the Stones” and “People who buy this album shouldn’t get stoned.”)
So, to summarize: the box set was a nice dose of new Billy Joel material to listen to, which was refreshing for someone who’s been listening to the same old stuff for quite some time now. There are some great nuggets in there, along with a bunch of repeats from previous discs to fill out the mix. I think it’s a must-buy for the “rabid fan,” which is likely why they released it in the first place. The casual fans should probably stick with the studio albums, though, unless they enjoy rarities of any kind, in which case this is certainly a treasure trove.
I also feel obligated to note (for completeness’ sake) that there’s a DVD included in the box. When I get around to watching it, maybe I’ll post something about it too, but I’m assuming it’s just a collection of concert videos. The big exception there is the two UMixIt tracks at the end, which allows you to remix the songs (and even add your own tracks) if you play the DVD on your PC. At the very least, I look forward to isolating the piano part on these tracks and re-learning them on the piano based on what he’s actually playing, rather than what the sheet music says he’s playing. More to come on that front…
My other reviews:
Disc 1
Disc 2
Disc 3
Disc 4
Categories: ISBS Reviews, Words about Music | 3 Comments »
A Review: Billy Joel – My Lives, Disc 3
Monday, March 6th, 2006This is the third in my series of reviews of the “My Lives” Box Set from Billy Joel. Scroll to the bottom of this post for links to reviews of the other discs.
Disc 3 of the series basically showcases Billy Joel as a kick-ass cover band and movie soundtrack contributor. As a cover artist, Joel offers up the Isley Brothers’ Shout (recorded live at Yankee Stadium), two Elvis Presley tracks from the Honeymoon in Vegas soundtrack (All Shook Up and Heartbreak Hotel), Duke Ellington’s In a Sentimental Mood from the soundtrack of A League of Their Own, the Beatles’ A Hard Day’s Night (a staple of his Face-to-Face setlist with Elton John), Leonard Cohen’s Light As A Breeze, the Disney classic When You Wish Upon a Star, and two Bob Dylan tunes: To Make You Feel My Love and Highway 61 Revisited. It’s been said many times that Joel is quite an impressionist, and putting all of these covers on the same disc highlights that fact. He not only does a pretty good job imitating the voices (especially Presley and Dylan), but also has an uncanny ability to capture the style of the original tune while still providing his own take on the material.
As a soundtrack contributor, there are the songs mentioned above, but also a couple of originals: Why Should I Worry from Disney’s Oliver & Co. and Where Were You (On Our Wedding Day) from Runaway Bride, both of which, in my humble opinion, are good enough to have made it on their own as singles if they weren’t already part of a movie soundtrack.
The real gems on this disc, though, are the live (Yankee Stadium) version of I Go to Extremes and the alternate version of River of Dreams. In the former, Joel’s piano playing exceeds even his own high standards, particularly on the improvisational riffs near the end (over the years, these settled into a scripted few, including the one where he bounces down the keyboard on his backside), and some clever variations in the lyrics (“Darling I don’t know why I go for ice cream…”). The latter has a lot more featured piano than the released track, including a swing-style version of the Goodnight, My Angel theme right in the middle of the piece. In retrospect, they probably cut it down for timing so they could release it as a single, but this version is much, much more entertaining.
Motorcycle Song, a demo that eventually became All About Soul, and the unreleased You Picked a Real Bad Time are the only “rabid fans only” tracks on this disc. I liked Motorcycle Song because the lyrics are such obvious placeholders (they describe Joel riding his motorcycle around various Long Island highways), in much the same way that Allentown was originally written as Levittown (“Well we’re living here in Levittown; The grass is green the dirt is brown…”). You Picked a Real Bad Time is roadhouse blues in the spirit of Big Man on Mulberry Street, and while I like it a lot, it’s not as good as the released material.
The only original album cut on the disc is The Downeaster “Alexa”, the first track on the disc, which I’m sure is there because it has some sentimentality to Joel (“Alexa” is his boat, which he named after his daughter), but given the rest of the material, I think it sticks out like a sore thumb.
All in all, this was my favorite disc so far. The first two discs show Billy Joel, rock & roll hopeful from Levittown, hungry for success and working hard to prove himself to everyone. This disc shows BILLY JOEL – SUPERSTAR, spending some of his hard-earned capital to branch out in different directions, lend his name to smaller projects, and have some fun with the music, rather than trying to create the next classic rock song every time out.
I look forward to Disc 4…
My other reviews:
Disc 1
Disc 2
Disc 3
Disc 4
Categories: ISBS Reviews, Words about Music | Comments Off on A Review: Billy Joel – My Lives, Disc 3
A Review: Billy Joel – My Lives, Disc 2
Thursday, March 2nd, 2006This is the second in my series of reviews of the “My Lives” Box Set from Billy Joel. Scroll to the bottom of this post for links to reviews of the other discs.
For the rabid Billy Joel fan, Disc 2 will not be as exciting as Disc 1, primarily because it contains more album cuts that the rabid fan already has in his/her collection. The casual fan will be happier with it, though, since the album cuts are generally not obscurities, but songs that were released as singles and received some decent radio air play. Examples include An Innocent Man, Easy Money (which was the title song for a 1983 movie of the same name, starring Rodney Dangerfield and Joe Pesci), Modern Woman (which was on the Ruthless People soundtrack in 1986), and Baby Grand (the duet with Ray Charles).
Like Disc 1, this collection also includes some live performances, although Captain Jack sounds basically like the album version, and The Times They Are A Changin’ was already released on the Russian album. The golden nugget of the live tunes on this disc is I’ll Cry Instead, a Beatles cover that Joel did with Elton John at one of their Face-to-Face concerts. I always enjoy hearing Joel cover the Beatles – his attention to detail and his ability to do various musical styles (increasingly rare in today’s artists) make these versions good imitations of the original, but still come across sounding fresh and energetic.
The demo tracks on this disc are also interesting to the rabid fan. The End of the World eventually became Elvis Presley Blvd., which was released as the B-side to Allentown, back when records had B-sides. Elvis Presley Blvd. is also included, so you can hear how the lyrics went from intricate and cheesy to clever and catchy.
The Prime of Your Life eventually became For The Longest Time. This track is most interesting for the music, since he had very few words written when it was recorded (most of the track has him simply humming along). The music, though, is a very dense piano arrangement, and sounds very much like classical music. It’s funny to listen to the classical piano and hear the doo-wop in your head that it eventually morphed into.
Also of note is Christie Lee, his most explicit ode to Christie Brinkley (now referred to as “Ex #2”). The unreleased version is a swing number, but eventually became straight rock & roll when it appeared on the Innocent Man album.
There are other unreleased songs, including a version of Getting Closer with Steve Winwood (although Winwood never sings a note, so you wouldn’t know he was there unless you read the liner notes), and And So It Goes, which also sounds very much like the released version.
Then there’s the Roadhouse Blues number, House of Blue Light and the Beatles-esque Money or Love, both of which have nostalgic value to the rabid fan, but probably wouldn’t be appreciated by too many others.
All in all, I enjoyed Disc 2, but with a few exceptions, much prefer Disc 1. Stay tuned for more on Discs 3 and 4.
My other reviews:
Disc 1
Disc 2
Disc 3
Disc 4
Categories: ISBS Reviews, Words about Music | 2 Comments »
A Review: Billy Joel – My Lives, Disc 1
Wednesday, March 1st, 2006My posts about Billy Joel have been getting hundreds of hits (helped along, I’m sure, by Google and the fact that he’s touring), but people are clicking through, so who am I to not respond with more content?
First of all, a backhanded compliment to buy.com. I ordered My Lives on Saturday night, and chose Budget Shipping (5-7 days), which is free, as opposed to Standard Shipping (3-5 days), which would have cost me a few bucks. The discs arrived at my door Monday afternoon. So, first, wow – that’s incredibly fast service, especially given there was a weekend involved. But then, hey – good thing I didn’t pay money to have it delivered faster, since I got it within one day anyway.
That aside, on to the music (I’ve only listened to Disc 1 so far (1960’s – 1980), so I’ll post more as I go). Bottom line: this material is for the real Billy Joel fan. The ones who know all the songs, not just Greatest Hits 1 through 3. As one of those fans, I thoroughly enjoyed it. If I weren’t one of those fans, though, I think I would have hated it. Passionately.
The first two tracks are from The Lost Souls, Joel’s first band. I’ve heard him say on his college lecture tours that My Journey’s End was the first song he ever wrote, so here’s your chance to hear studio version of the first ever Billy Joel song. That said, the recording quality is awful (so much so, that I originally thought something was wrong with the CD). The quality improves as we move toward the 1970s, with a couple of tracks from The Hassles and one from Attila (a Jazz Ensemble and Heavy Metal band that Joel experimented with before going solo). The insert warns that the Attila tune, Amplifier Fire is loud enough to be scary, but I didn’t mind it in the least. There’s even a rather clever mixing technique in the middle, where the keyboard is vamping in the left channel and the drums are in the right, and then they gradually switch, then switch back, then switch again, etc. At the time, that was probably high technology. Today it’s so easy to do that folks don’t bother doing it, making it unique once again.
After that, we get back to what we all know as Billy Joel music. Piano-centric, melodically interesting tunes ranging from ballads to full-blown rock & roll. Basically, the songs can be broken down into three groups: album versions of lesser known songs, unreleased studio and/or live versions of popular songs, and unreleased demos.
For the rabid fan, the album versions are nice, but nothing new. For the more casual fan, I think they’d probably highlight why these songs were never hits (with the possible exception of She’s Got a Way, which is a gorgeous ballad no matter how you slice it).
The unreleased versions of popular songs will probably sound exactly the same to the casual fan, but to the rabid fan, they’re fantastic bits of musical trivia. The highlight for me was the unfaded version of Zanzibar, where you get to hear a whole lot more of that fantastic trumpet solo at the end. The reggae version of Only The Good Die Young is fun as well, although I’ve heard it before elsewhere.
The rest of the tracks (seven in all) are demos. These were never released and, in many cases, not even finished (he hums his way through verses he hasn’t written yet.) The best of these tracks are songs that were eventually released under different titles or with different lyrics. For example, Piano Man is there with an extended harmonica part, an extremely annoying echo effect on Joel’s voice, slightly different lyrics, and a different melody for the bridge (the “La Da Dah” part). There’s also These Rhinestone Days, which became I’ve Loved These Days, New Mexico, which became Worse Comes to Worst, and a version of Miami 2017 that remains a ballad all the way through. I thoroughly enjoyed these tracks for two reasons: first, the sparse arrangements show off Joel’s piano playing more than the final cuts, and second, because they give a fantastic insight into his writing process – how the music gets set first, and the words come gradually, often getting rejected and rewritten (sometimes scrapped entirely, sometimes tweaked only slightly). The other demos on the disc are songs that were never released under any title, including Only a Man, Oyster Bay and Cross To Bear. The rabid fan would be interested in these because they are, to most people, new Billy Joel songs, which is something we haven’t been treated to in a very, very long time. The casual fan will likely think of them as bad Billy Joel songs, lending no weight to the fact that the artist went on to do much more interesting things.
So, overall, I’m very pleased with Disc 1. Your mileage, as they say, may vary.
My other reviews:
Disc 1
Disc 2
Disc 3
Disc 4
Categories: ISBS Reviews, Words about Music | 1 Comment »
Upgrading to the Video iPod – A Dilemma
Thursday, February 23rd, 2006
Categories: Tech Talk, Words about Music | 9 Comments »
Concert Review: Billy Joel at Madison Square Garden
Tuesday, January 24th, 2006I’m train-blogging on my way home from the show. As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I bought the tickets mostly out of nostalgia, since one of my first real dates with my wife was a Billy Joel concert in Philadelphia (December 18th, 1989, she reminded me tonight). Just over 15 years later, my expectations for the now 58-year old Joel were quite low. Then I saw a few setlists & realized that this was an oportunity to hear live performances of songs I’d never heard live before.
On that score, the show did not disapppoint. He sang Everybody Loves You Now, Stiletto, Zanzibar (with a truly kick-ass flugelhorn solo, followed immediately by an even more kick-ass trumpet solo – both by the same guy), Great Wall of China (dedicated to his ex-manager – if you don’t know why, go check out the lyrics), All for Leyna, and She’s Always a Woman in addition to the standard fare of Greatest Hits material.
As to the quality of the show, there’s just no getting over the fact that the man is getting older. Some of the harder rock tunes fell a little flat (like Pressure, Big Man on Mulberry Street, which slowed down dramtically as it went on, and All For Leyna, which was a nice concert rarity, but required so much concentration from Joel that he never once looked up from the lyrics tele-prompter or even ventured a smile). Other songs, though, he pulled off quite nicely, including Big Shot, You May Be Right, It’s Still Rock & Roll To Me, Angry Young Man and I Go to Extremes. He also sang all the high notes on Innocent Man himself, something he hasn’t done in years (my wife pointed out that his new-found sobriety might have been the enabler there).
UPDATE: A listen to Billy Joel – 12 Gardens Live reveals another reason – see this blog post for more.
Being a piano player myself, my favorite part of the concert is watching Joel’s hands on the keyboard, which I consider almost as educational as it is entertaining. Tonight’s seats, third row just behind & to the left of the stage provided a great view (nice job, Jason!). I was surprised to see that he’s changed his style of play significantly. He no longer bangs the living hell out of the piano like he used to. Now, it looks much more like the old cliche – “tickling the ivories.”. There were far fewer piano riffs/solos than there had been in years past, but what he did play sounded great, even if it wasn’t as dramatic as it used to be.
Also on a musical note (groan…), the band itself was a nice reunion. Rich Cannata and Tommy Byrne were back, so we got to hear all the original sax & guitar solos from the Turnstiles and Glass Houses days, not to mention some great horn section work by Cannata, Crystal Taliefero, and Mark Rivera on songs such as Keeping the Faith, Movin’ Out, and Only the Good Die Young. A surprise to me was the absence of Liberty DeVitto who, according to someone sitting in our section, had a falling out with Joel over a book Liberty’s writing that apparently goes into a little too much detail about Billy’s days of drinking and drugs. My section-mate claims that Liberty wasn’t even invited to Billy’s latest wedding. As the man says, “melodrama’s so much fun…”
Finally, there were those special concert moments that make the price of a ticket worthwhile. We had modern day commentary in the lyrics of Zanzibar:
Rose he knows he’ll never make the Hall of Fame;
And the Yankees grab the headlines every time.
…and a nod to his recent dalliances in Scenes from an Italian Restaurant:
A bottle of white;
A bottle of red;
Perhaps a bottle of Ginger Ale instead.
…and even some political commentary from the crowd during the Piano Man finale:
Now Paul is a real estate novelist;
Who never had time for a wife.
And he’s talking with Davy, who’s still in the navy;
(crowd screams much louder than the rest of the verse:)AND PROBABLY WILL BE FOR LIFE
All in all, the show did not disappoint. It was as nostalgic as I hoped it would be, but not in that awkward, “wow, things have really gone downhill” way that I had feared. With a few exceptions, Billy Joel and his band sounded fantastic and put on a high energy, entertaining show. Yes, he shuffles around the stage instead of running, and stops for a swig of water between every song (and occasionally during someone else’s solo). But no one else in the world can make that music sound that good, and on the whole, I’m glad he’s still doing it. Bravo, Billy, and thanks for the memories.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Came looking for info on Billy Joel and only got a concert review? Check out the I Should Be Sleeping Billy Joel FAQ! Inspired by Googlers like you!)
UPDATE: I see from my server logs that over 500 of you have read this review. God Bless Google! In any case, welcome to my blog. If you like what you read, please feel free to leave a comment and/or look around a bit.
UPDATE #2: Readership on this post is approaching 2,000 users. Glad you stopped by! If you liked what you read, please feel free to look around. Billy Joel enthusiasts might appreciate my reviews of the My Lives box set (Disc 1, Disc 2, Disc 3, Disc 4) in particular. Or, just check out the main page and go from there. Enjoy, all!
UPDATE #3: Well over 3,500 7,500 pageviews now. Good lord, this thing’s getting some mileage. Seriously, though – look around. Stay awhile. What’s your hurry? You just got here…
Categories: ISBS Reviews, Words about Music | 66 Comments »