myTunes 36 Most Played Songs (12.10.08)

I’ve been thinking about doing this for quite some time – revealing what my top played songs are on iTunes.  By default, the most played playlist is set at 25 or something, but since 36 is my lucky number and 36 just happens to fit perfectly in the height of laptop screen monitor (to where I didn’t have to scroll down to see the whole list), it worked out so so good.

Revealing this list, for me, feels like letting out my public tax return information to the public lol (well, it wouldn’t be big at all, but just imagine that I’m a celebrity and this is now common knowledge).  I’ve got nothing to be ashamed of, though some of my choices and rankings of some songs and artists might surprise/turn off/turn on some people, so it’s your choice on what you’ll decide to think of me from now on hahaha.  Whatever, though.  We all have our guilty pleasures/inner demons :p.

I’ll list it backwards, from #36 to #1.  It’s pretty accurate (well, these are based on plays from when I uploaded the tracks to my laptop’s iTunes in summer 2006, and from iPod plays, so it’s based from then).  You will see my varying tastes, from traditional/pop/alternative/rocking/country,bluegrass, rock, pop, and alternative rock.

These below are my stats, as of this moment, Tuesday night, December 9th. 2008 @ 11:23pm (out of about 39,000 plays):

51st GRAMMY Award Nominations / CMT Giants: Alan Jackson

I know I haven’t posted in a while (been busy and lazy and uninspired lol).  Since I did my afterthought review on the CMAs in November, I figured I’d do one for these two important items (as you can see from my glorious poster-like creation on the right side in this entry lol):

- The 51st Grammy Award Nominations

and

- CMT Giants: Alan Jackson

I decided to combine my thoughts into one post, since I’d rather not make two separate ones (I like them big posts!  Tags’R'Us).  Believe me, there are better ways of organizing these opinions, but I don’t feel like worrying about it lol.  They are placed in different sections.  Scroll down for the CMT Giants review.

The nomination for the 2009 Grammy Awards were announced a few days ago, and I’ve already commented on them already at a few sites, but here’s my more extensive analysis.

First of all, as I first read through the list, I was absolutely thrilled by their choices.  The Grammys has a respectable tendency in its history to appreciate and honor actual good music (well, in the country genre, at least.  I’m not sure about other genres.), and while they do have some questionable choices sometimes, they are definitely a lot more smarter and better judges when it comes to art and music than people are for say… country award shows (yeah, record sells always equal talent, don’t they Nashville?).  The Grammys enormously pleased me with the Dixie Chicks wins last time.  Anyway, like other people online have commented, the nominations for 2009 (or is it for 2008?  Whatever it is, for the upcoming awards) are really exciting and one of the best they’ve ever came up with.  I’m not going to list all the nominations or the categories, but I’ll give my opinion on what songs I want to.

Let’s start in the country genre (here’s an easy list to look at for country related noms from CU and here for the full noms), and let’s look at the nominations for “Best Female Country Vocal Performance”.   I thought they were pretty good, though I wouldn’t necessarily place Martina McBride‘s song in that category (it’s a decent song, but there are better choices).  I’ve never heard LeAnn Rimes‘s song until just right now: wow, very good vocals and not a bad song.  My choice (unsurprisingly) would be Lee Ann Womack‘s “Last Call”.  I wouldn’t mind if Carrie Underwood or Trisha Yearwood‘s songs won, because I love those ones too.  I’m glad Taylor Swift was left off.

Now: “Best Male Country Vocal Performance”… I’m not really blown away by any of those songs, but they’re not horrible horrible choices.  I gotta go with my man, George Strait, though.  I’ve grown quite a liking to “Troubadour”, as I heard it more as a radio single.

“Best Country Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals”.   Hmm… I’m gonna have to go with Lady Antebellum.  But wow, I just listened to The Steel Drivers‘s “Blue Side of the Mountain” and I love it… edgy mountain-sounding vocals with hard-driving bluegrass instruments.  Will definitely check them out!  Looks like Chris Stapleton sings for them… forgot about that.  I’d be fine if Sugarland‘s song or Brooks & Dunn‘s won too, but definitely don’t want Rascal Flatts to win a thing.

I really like the choices with “Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocals”, except for the obvious song that stands apart from the rest: the Kenny Chesney/Strait duet (which is only saved by George, but is still not a good song).  You know I’m dig the Alison Krauss/Robert Plant song (more on them later), and the Strait/Patty Loveless duet (my two most favorite male and female artists singing and honoring Johnny and June Carter Cash?  Excellence-ness.  And I hope they win).  Oh yeah, I’m not too fond of “Life in a Northern Town”, like I mentioned in my song review months ago (I would rather hear Chesney and Strait’s tune, to be quite serious).  I enjoy Trisha Yearwood‘s (with Keith Urban‘s harmony) song, so if she won, I wouldn’t cry.  It’s very nice.

Recommendation XXXV: Anita Cochran w/ the Voice of Conway Twitty

Lately, I’ve been watching some documentaries through my NetFlix because I ran out of movies I was immediately interesting in seeing, and I’ve learned that they’re really compelling to watch. The last one I saw (well, we saw… since my family watched it with me because I wanted them to) was Sicko, the latest documentary by Michael Moore. I know, I know. I think he’s kinda annoying too, and I know there’s got to be some exaggeration in the claims, but I got the general truth from it, and I thought the film was put together real well. It was about how insurance companies take extreme advantage of the American people and man, it is horrible. Didn’t know they were so evil. Recommended for anybody to watch. I’ll definitely have to research more on that. Anyway, onto my next selection… (and ooh, #36 is coming up pretty soon, my lucky number…)

My thirty-fifth recommendation is: Anita Cochran’s (with The Voice of Conway Twitty) “(I Wanna Hear) A Cheatin’ Song” from her 2004 (I Wanna Hear) A Cheatin’ Song – Single album.  I have no idea the first time I heard Anita’s music…but I know she hasn’t had too much success on the country charts.  I know she had that hit #1 duet with Steve Wariner (“What If I Said”), which I gotta admit, I never really cared for, even though I like both of them.  I think it’s too adult-contemporary-sounding and way too lovey-dovey for me lol.  Otherwise, I don’t think there’s any other hits from Ms. Cochran, which is a shame because she’s really talented.  Her vocals are somewhat like Wynonna Judd‘s (I don’t like to refer to Wynonna by just her first name alone lol because her last name is part of who she is), but otherwise, IMO, Anita Cochran‘s got a voice distinct from other females.  I thought I should mention this quickly (but it certainly isn’t needed lol): Anita’s first and last name spoken together have got a James Bond/Austin Powers girl-like thing sorta goin’ on with it, if you say them together (…I know, too R-rated, but I thought it would be kinda funny to bring it up real quick.  Forgive me.).

Recommendation XXXIV: Sheryl Crow

All I can say to this site’s audience: thanks so much for waiting.  It means a lot to me that people still check out this site regularly even when I don’t post too often.  With my time off from school, I’ve got my good times and bad: it’s nice not having to stress over work and papers (my film class woulda been so fun though), but it is killing me not being able to hang out with my many buddies and others back there.  I feel like I’m missing out and will miss out on lots of stuff, and I’m thinking I might not be able to return in 2009.  But I came up with a plan to visit my friends early than planned before 2008 is over, so I’m excited about that (will be kinda expensive though…lol).  Anyway, I can guess what most of you are thinking when you saw the picture on the side: what’s she doing on the site?  She’s not country! I know she may not be considered “country”, but she’s done several works within the genre and she has integrated it somewhat in her style throughout her whole career.  She’s worked with Willie Nelson, Dwight Yoakam, Johnny Cash, the Dixie Chicks, Jack Ingram, Brooks & Dunn, Vince Gill, and others, and even her duet with Kid Rock (“Picture”) sounded more country than most songs on country radio, so I think she’s earned at least a recommendation (She even had another single on the country charts with the poppier single, “The First Cut is the Deepest”, if you can remember that.)

My thirty-fourth recommendation is: Sheryl Crow’s “Anything But Down” from her 1998 The Globe Sessions album.  Sheryl is one of my favorite rock/pop artists and I like a fair amount of her work.  I’d have to say that “All I Wanna Do” (the much much better of the songs with that name.  Yeah, I said it, and I do mean it, Sugarland.) is my favorite song of her’s because it’s so catchy and reminds me of the ’90s.  It’s got a slight country feel to it with the steel guitar that’s used prominently in the track, and her voice is always easy to notice.  Even when she turned pop with “Soak Up the Sun”, she was still as good as ever (though, her rockier, edgier stuff is preferred).  I remember when I was young, I confused her with Martina McBride when I saw her lol, especially with her music video for the James Bond movie, “Tomorrow Never Dies” (now I don’t really see any similarities, except that they had real short hair in the past).  My only complaint about Ms. Sheryl Crow is that she seems to kinda mumble when she performs live and while it it part of her style and isn’t done on purpose, it gets somewhat distracting.  But whatever, she’s still a great music icon.

iCF Single Reviews #2 (Week of June 22, 2008)

Looking at my blog, I decided that what I really need to do if I want to ensure its survival and interest, I need to post a lot more (obviously lol), and I think it is necessary to expand into other things/ideas because just doing recommendations is not enough (even though it is this blog’s specialty, I am quite aware that my monthly blog posts isn’t adequate enough to keep my readers staying around, because as a fellow blog reader, I am the same way – I need constant and consistent postings!).  So, I’m going to try to do other things on this site, but the recommendations will still, be first and foremost, the most important feature of the site and I’ll try to do them more frequently!

One feature I started some months ago was reviewing current “country” radio singles.  I noticed that I usually only review songs I like or artists I like and don’t really review ones I don’t.  I’m all for optimism but reality is, they are a lot of songs that are pure crap and need to be justifiably criticized for it lol (Rascal Flatts come to mind?).  Anyway, I’m going to review the Top 17 songs of the week based on the Radio & Records‘ website chart.  My opinions will vary and I will definitely be as honest as possible.  I will not post links to the review singles because chances are you most likely have already heard the songs and plus, I’m lazy to look them all up lol.  FYI: you should know I don’t listen to mainstream country radio a lot (well, now I am a lil bit more because I have my stereo in my room and didn’t have an iPod for a while. Otherwise, I listen to XM Radio in the car or iTunes when I’m at school), so I may not be as sick of these overplayed songs as you are, so we shall see. Here we go… (this will be a longggg post!)

01.  “Better As a Memory” – Kenny Chesney

- Surprise, surprise.  Look who’s #1 again.  The song is OK, but not worthy of #1,  The lyrics are mediocre and the vocals just the same.  I admit it’s nice that it’s not overproduced, but all in all, I don’t see what people see in him these days.  2 out of 5 stars.

02.  “Last Name” – Carrie Underwood

- Usually I don’t care for Miss Underwood’s singles because radio KILLS them with overplay (even though they’re good, country or not), but with this song, I just can’t get enough of it.  It’s catchy and fun to sing along with (I sing “I don’t know even know her last name” instead lol but it doesn’t quite make as much sense but whatever).  Musically, it reminds me of Shania’s “Honey I’m Home” with the rocking guitar, drums, and the fiddle.  This was a great choice for a summer song.  I think she is really talented and I’m liking her more, though I still think she is way overplayed.  5 out of 5 stars. Buy here!

03.  “Home” – Blake Shelton

- Blake has lately been hit-and-miss with me over the last few years.  I’m just not into him as much.  I really don’t like this song even though his vocals are nice.  Sometimes doing remakes/covers is annoying because you keep comparing it with the original or another version.  I just don’t like it.  1 out of 5 stars.

04.  “I’m Still a Guy” – Brad Paisley

- Here’s a guy who’s music I must recommend sometime in the future.  I love that he helps make traditional/real country popular with his songs and that he does it while being so cool.  This single, one of his other gimmicky haha songs is really clever, once again displaying his immense talent as a songwriter, and his ode to traditional country.  His novelty songs do get annoying though sometimes.  I should love this song, but I don’t.  I like it but for some reason, the extremely unnecessary, but short, whole baby/cradle-music thing that’s goes on the song is like chalkboard-scratching to my ears.  I think it kinda messes up the song to be honest lol (just like when children sing in songs, for example: like in  “Ain’t Nothin’ Like” on his Mud on the Tires album.  Good song until the kids get involved).  I just don’t like that.  4 out of 5 stars. Buy here!

05.  “Every Day” – Rascal Flatts

- Crap.  Annoying crap like always.  Seriously, though.  The music, though it isn’t country at all, is not too bad and the vocals are OK (but get pretty whiny several times, as expected from Gary LeVox).  This boy band continues their Murder Row Massacre once again with this song, so of course, radio can’t get enough of it.  One somewhat positive thing about it: MUCH better than their next single, “Bob That Head” (yes, I said bob that head… a title which makes you think, and considering the double entendre and who’s singing it to you, makes you just want to barf).  1.5 out of 5 stars.

Recommendation XV: Dixie Chicks

I hope the “iCF Singles Review” addition was interesting, because I enjoyed doing it and hope to do another sometime soon. I have a little free time this Sunday afternoon (well, I should be getting my readings done for class, go exercise, eat, and do my laundry, but I’ll put that off for the time being lol). For my next recommendation, I’ve had this particular song in mind for many months – it was just tough picking one from the group and from the album! – and I knew this was the best time to do it. They’re currently doing a few dates with The Eagles here in L.A. @ the brand-new Nokia Theatre (I wanted to attend so bad, but tickets are expensive and I’m pretty busy these days!).

My fifteenth recommendation is: the Dixie Chicks’ “Voice Inside My Head” from their 2006 Taking the Long Way album. There’s really no way to talk about this album and not smile about how mind-blowing it is…I mean, just WOW. I’m not going to bring up the whole “incident” stuff, for my own sake, since that’d take too much writing for me to do! When I first heard “Not Ready to Make Nice”, I totally loved it and I thought it was really catchy and a great song to “come-back” with, but I admit, when I first listened to clips of the new album, I was not 100% impressed for some reason (that goes to show how I can be wrong about things at first listen, sometimes!). I remember I kept streaming the album on MSN.com’s website over and over, and would listen to it while playing video games (real mature, I know ha) and man, I really got into it: I could really see how the music is still country IMO but quite different at the same time. I love how the Chicks didn’t let go of their roots and kept the fiddles, steel guitar, banjo, mandolin, and country-vocals in their music and blended it with a California-rock type of sound. I think that, even though, the Chicks don’t know what to classify the album and allegedly “turned their backs on country music”, the album is still, overall, a country album. I was so thrilled and excited for the Chicks, and everybody involved with creating this album (you rock Rick Rubin!), when the GRAMMYs came around – though, I do wish the award show played clips of other songs on Taking the Long Way as well other than just “Not Ready…”, which I thought was kinda overused during the wins, IMO – because that was a chance to show these women are more than the song and it’d showcase all the music.