Thanks to a friend of mine, this month's update features a fairly hefty bunch of mini-reviews. Blake Crawford of Column 5 asked if I might be able to distribute some CDs, and I said I could move lots of 'em. He wasn't kidding when he said he'd send a big box. Anyway, there were well over a hundred CDs. About half of them were used, and the other half were still-wrapped copies of Column 5 and sampler CDs. Blake, if you're reading this, there have been lots of smiles from your CDs. Again, Thank you!Not Yet in the Collection From the Collection
- Kirk Franklin: Gospel meets a mainstream sound --without sacrificing the message. Laid back, yet not soft, friendly rap/gospel, somewhat similar to a melodic T-Bone, then lots of ballady easy-listening stuff got stirred in. [3]
- Ashley Cleveland (Actually, she'll probably be in the collection before this gets published.) I went shopping by way of Eowyn's website. I heard a song of Eowyn's on the radio and I instantly added her to my buy-list. While at Eowyn's dealership, CD Baby.com, I stumbled across Ashley Cleveland and gave her samples a listen. Anyway, Ashley Cleveland is here, and not "From the Collection" because I heard her CDs and wrote here while waiting for my order. I ran right out to my library and got two of her CDs. Combine Jennifer Knapp's "Into You" style, and that of Joy Williams' "By Surprise" and you've got a fair idea of what Ashley Cleveland sounds like --lots like Heart's "Magic Man". My son said she sounds like Melissa Etheridge. I wouldn't know. Anyway, Ashley's got a driving country/swamp/southern/Texas-blues/honky-tonk rock style that almost never lets up through the CDs. Her sandy, strong voice is a perfect match for this style. I heard lots of Carly Simon-like sounds in the vocals, and even some Janis Joplin seeped in. Lots of the songs are relational songs, but there are enough strongly-Christian tracks to remove any doubt as to where she's coming from. This is great stuff! [5]
- Aleixa: Nice spacey mix of traditional and electronic instruments. It's not really hard nor heavy, but Aleixa is intense. The vocals are female, ranging from almost harsh yelling to high ethereal stuff, and some beautiful harmonies. Some songs get slightly white-noisy. [4]
- Prodigal Sons: Techno. The CD got to track 6 before any vocals were used. [3]
- V*enna: Blake sent me a single by V*enna, and it was interesting enough that I got a whole CD from the library. I guess I'm glad I didn't buy. My description necessarily lacks originality --dance pop, with some Abba-like vocal harmonies. Modern disco. [3]
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