Review: Independent Recordings Reviewed

Subject: RE: Review: Independent Recordings Reviewed
From: Fortunato
Date: 25 Apr 03 - 09:28 AM

Mike,

Glad to hear from you're still around. I will undertake to edit and post your CD reviews here on the mudcat for a while, since this is difficult for Susan at this time.

WYSIWYG, if you see this, PM me about the process, and I will get in touch with Mike.

Cheers, Chance

Subject: RE: Review: Independent Recordings Reviewed
From: musicmick
Date: 06 Apr 03 - 01:49 AM

Like a voice from beyond, 'tis I.
I am still reviewing three or four CDs per month and, although I have been heavy on national releases lately, I am more than open to independant productions. That is, after all, what the column was intended for. I did get a request for review from someone who contacted me through the Phila. Folksong Society office. The e-mail was forwarded by the secretary. That is an ok way to contact me or, if you like, you can reach me directly at [e-mail]
It is best to send CDs or tapes to the PFS office.

   Philadelphia Folksong Society
   7113 Emlen St.
   Phila, PA 19119

p.s. I have reviewed CDs from Canada, Ireland, Wales, Israel, England and Montana.

Subject: RE: Review: Independent Recordings Reviewed
From: wysiwyg
Date: 03 Apr 03 - 02:04 PM

From the link to the PFS website above, I found the PFS email-- suggest you inquire there-- [e-mail]. I believe someone named Lynn there was managing his stuff from that end.

~S~

Subject: RE: Review: Independent Recordings Reviewed
From: Fortunato
Date: 03 Apr 03 - 12:02 PM

WYSIWYG I emailed Mike but the email bounced back. I used the one he listed above, do you have another?

Subject: RE: Review: Independent Recordings Revued
From: George Papavgeris
Date: 02 Apr 03 - 05:50 AM

Me too - but would he review material from outside the US (UK in this instance)?

Subject: RE: Review: Independent Recordings Revued
From: Paul G.
Date: 01 Apr 03 - 10:17 PM

I'd sure like to know if Mike is still doing this...have new product to send his way if he does...

p.

Subject: RE: Review: Independent Recordings Revued
From: wysiwyg
Date: 01 Apr 03 - 12:33 PM

A timely question... I was wondering when someone would bring this up.

He is still reviewing as far as I know, but I have not received any for some time, and I can no longer edit and post them due to health, computer troubles, and other commitments, so I have not emailed Mike asking whassup. (And actually I do not remember if I let him know I could not do this anymore.)

Is this something you might take on? All I ask is that you follow the above style as regards subject lines, bold type, etc. If so you might email Mike and volunteer. He thinks I am doing a lot when I edit, but really it's mostly spelling and punctuation, no big deal. Also, we run the reviews only, not the parts of his TuneUp columns that carry commentary on folk topics or Philly scene details.... not because these are not interesting but because what we planned was REVIEWS, to help highlight and market good indie work. If we wanted to post the whole column it would need a different thread title, and IMO that might make the reviews harder to track down.

~Susan

~Susan

Subject: RE: Review: Independent Recordings Revued
From: Fortunato
Date: 01 Apr 03 - 12:27 PM

WYSIWYG et al,
Is Mike still in the business of reviewing CDs?

Subject: RE: Review: Independent Recordings Revued
From: wysiwyg
Date: 18 Apr 02 - 11:49 AM

Well, folks, the idea with the reviews being posted is, now you have a review you can quote to people when you promote the CD, complete with URL for handy reference. So make good use of those!

It will help if you send me info when you send Mike a CD, so I can be sure the promotional info erial is added as needed in the review thread.

~Susan

Subject: RE: Review: Independent Recordings Revued
From: Llanfair
Date: 18 Apr 02 - 09:58 AM

I want to thank Mike for his great review, and Susan for posting it. I'll put a signed copy in the auction soon.

Cheers, Bron.

Subject: RE: Review: Independent Recordings Revued
From: wysiwyg
Date: 18 Apr 02 - 08:35 AM

Mike, you'll see, I empower, not enable! *G*

~S~

Subject: RE: Review: Independent Recordings Revued
From: musicmick
Date: 18 Apr 02 - 03:02 AM

My thanks rain upon Susan. She is what therapists call, an enabler. If I had to post and paste, you would be reading a blank screen.

Tune Up doesn't publish in the summer (everybody is tied up with the festival), so I'll try to get to as many submitions as I can, this month. We will be back in the fall with those CDs that I missed and those that I haven't received yet but I am looking forward to. I am pleased to report that I have liked most of the CDs I've gotten from Mudcatters, which is nice, as I dont review recordings I dont like. If you have a product that, you feel, would be appropriate for the column, by all means, lay it on me. I am most grateful to those talented artists who have given me something to write home about.

Mike Miller

Subject: RE: Review: Independent Recordings Revued
From: Stephen L. Rich
Date: 17 Apr 02 - 04:34 PM

Mike, What athoughtful offer. As soon as mine is done (in about a month or so)I'll send it along.

One small observation, however, if I may.

Given the volume of response (the length of this thread?), can you say "avalanche"? I knew you could.

Subject: RE: Review: Independent Recordings Revued
From: Alice
Date: 17 Apr 02 - 01:52 PM

Susan, please note, I live in Bozeman, Montana (there is no Boyleman). I'll auction a CD when I get a chance.

alice

Subject: RE: Review: Independent Recordings Revued
From: wysiwyg
Date: 17 Apr 02 - 12:16 PM

The PFS Review Thread are HERE.

~Susan

Subject: RE: Review: Independent Recordings Revued
From: wysiwyg
Date: 17 Apr 02 - 11:52 AM

Here is how I plan to handle posting Mike's reviews (as he learns how to do copy-pastes for himself, at which point he will take over posting them).

I'll run them in a thread of PHILLY FOLKSONG SOCIETY REVIEWS. Whoever has done the CD should post, in there, any other links that give additional information about the CD, such as from a release-anouncement thread they may have run, or from the Mudcatter CD thread, and so forth.

I'll list the artist and/or CD title in the subject line so they will be easily searched later. I have a backlog of reviews to post from recent issues, and be aware that not all CDs reviewed are Mudcatter projects! *G*

Artists: Please consider entering at least one signed copy of the CD to the Mudcat Auction a few weeks after your CD review appears.

~Susan

Subject: RE: Review: Independent Recordings Revued
From: Jeep man
Date: 13 Mar 02 - 02:09 PM

Sir.I am helping Doc Watson and David holt promote their 3 cd set,LEGACY. This is almost a history of Doc, with him and david doing the old time music.

You can get more info here. DocWatsonDavidHolt.com

I don't know how to do a blue clicky. Jeep Man

Subject: RE: Review: Independent Recordings Revued
From: wysiwyg
Date: 07 Feb 02 - 07:20 PM

Discussion continued in PM-- I'll get back to this next week.

~S~

Subject: RE: Review: Independent Recordings Revued
From: Joe Offer
Date: 07 Feb 02 - 06:32 PM

Hi, Susan - I think I'd like to see reviews grouped together whenever possible, or in a thread already started to announce the release the CD. I'm afraid if we had a separate review thread for each CD, the review would stay up for a day and then disappear. A thread for reviews for the month or the quarter would be another idea. Be sure to put Review: in the title of the message posting a review.

-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Review: Independent Recordings Revued
From: wysiwyg
Date: 29 Jan 02 - 04:57 PM

*G*

Promotion, promotion, promotion.... when you have a great product, it ought to be shouted from the roof and made visible everywhere-- any way I can help that go better, I'm in!

~S~

Subject: RE: Review: Independent Recordings Revued
From: Barbara Shaw
Date: 29 Jan 02 - 04:22 PM

Susan, your review format looks really good. I sent some info and photos to Jeff for a member's profile. Thanks for all the work. I look forward to reading other reviews.

Subject: RE: Review: Independent Recordings Revued
From: wysiwyg
Date: 29 Jan 02 - 03:46 PM

*G*

I'll tell our spouses you said so then.

~Susan

Subject: RE: Review: Independent Recordings Revued
From: musicmick
Date: 29 Jan 02 - 02:53 PM

We will do as you think best as long as it is within my technical ability to obey. In other words, dont get your hopes up. Yes, I'm afraid the wedding is off and we cant live in sin for three very good reasons; location, location, location.

Subject: RE: Review: Independent Recordings Revued
From: wysiwyg
Date: 29 Jan 02 - 10:07 AM

I think you will get the biggest bang for your MudBuck if you send them to me before you send them to Lynn, and thus let me make one run at tightening them up, then let her have a shot, and send me another copy when it's the final copy and I'll post from that. You might want to have a form letter stored in your e-mail, too, with the list of all the information you need (or I do) to make a full review. You might not use all of it, but I would, here. Hell, I'd love a text scan of the whole CD jacket, all the credits and recording information.

Unless I hear differently from Joe Offer, who has a great project going organizing Mudcatter CD info, I think a thread for each CD is in order-- ideally the opening, review post would be followed by the kind of detail Barbara added above, and additional Mudcatter comments.

One reason for the separate threads is that you will, of course, be reviewing non-Mudcatter CDs. And others here write reviews. If the reviews all landed in Joe's Mudcatter CDs thread, we'd be mixed up in no time, and if we ran them separately, we'd have an unequal situation I think would be unfortunate.

I also don't think it's right just to run your whole column all in one thread because that would be too much of a rip-off of the publication (meant for members.)

I'd like to know what others think and ask Joe to add his thoughts before I run too many more of these for you, Mike. I only jumped the gun on this review so that Barbara could have some copy posted in time for the auction of their CD.

So the wedding is off then?

~Susan

Subject: RE: Review: Independent Recordings Revued
From: musicmick
Date: 29 Jan 02 - 12:10 AM

You got what I got, unless I'm mistaken, which it wouldn't be the first time. How should I send you this month's reviews? Would you rather get the finished, pasted product from Lynne? My present plan is to cover Kendall, Jody and a group who do kids songs. I also have a lot to say about the folk-biz and I have been known to add a little light verse just to test the tolerance of my long-suffering readers. Mike

Subject: RE: Review: Independent Recordings Revued
From: wysiwyg
Date: 28 Jan 02 - 08:49 PM

Well, Mike, it's like this. Only if my husband agrees. As he's a minister and we JUST got our nest all nicely emptied... prolly not. *G*

But was there a later draft of that review that I got and lost?

~Susan

Subject: RE: Review: Independent Recordings Revued
From: musicmick
Date: 28 Jan 02 - 08:39 PM

Nice job, Susan. I dont remember it looking that good when I sent it to the PFS office for cleansing and correction. If I can get my wife to agree, will you marry me? Mike

Subject: RE: Review: Independent Recordings Revued
From: wysiwyg
Date: 28 Jan 02 - 05:01 PM

Barbara, would you consider also putting that bio in the member resources section as a profile? That was awfully well-written.

~Susan

Subject: RE: Independant Recordings Revued
From: Barbara Shaw
Date: 28 Jan 02 - 02:45 PM

Here's what I told Max in a Jan 5 letter:

Enclosed are 2 copies of our band's new (first) CD: ShoreGrass In Connecticut. I did all the graphics and in fact burned and packaged all the CDs myself, thus no shrink-wrap. Use all proceeds however you want, and good luck!

If any Mudcatter wants a copy beyond these 2, I'll sell them for $15 each through Mudcat or directly by emailing [e-mail] (as it says on the CD) or [e-mail] and I'll donate $5 of each sale to the Mudcat. If you'd like to put this on your website somewhere, go ahead. I'm not sure how successful my donation may be to you, since we're pretty new and very unknown and probably not all that wonderful, but it's an attempt to help.

Here's the ShoreGrass "official biography":

Barbara plays guitar and is the primary songwriter of the group. She is a retired telephone company information technology project manager. Her husband Frank plays banjo, and is a manufacturing engineer and branch manager. He was bass player and lead vocalist in the 70's Folk / Rock band Clean Living, which recorded two albums on the Vanguard label. Paul Pozzi plays mandolin and is an architect. Larry Rothermel is director of the strings program at the local intermediate school, and also plays violin with the New Haven Civic Orchestra and trumpet with the high school pit orchestra. Louis Audette, bassist, is currently a remote control aerial photographer, having retired from previous careers as instructor, lecturer, entrepreneur and bass player with the Greenbriar Boys and the Gray Sky Boys.

ShoreGrass is pleased to present their first CD "In Connecticut." It was recorded at American Melody Studio in Guilford, CT with nationally renowned bluegrass musician Phil Rosenthal (former guitarist and lead singer of Seldom Scene) doing the engineering and mixing. The songs reflect their strong roots in traditional acoustic music as well as their affection for New England, especially the debut of the new "Connecticut Waltz," and "I Can't Go Home," which comments on changes in hometown Branford, CT.

I'll need to add $2 onto each one for postage and a mailer, or else donate $3 for each one to Mudcat. And I'd better start making more copies, if anyone is interested! (Who says retirees have nothing to do . . .)

Funny side-note: Paul, our mandolin player, wanted to know how much I paid Mike Miller to leave him off the review!

Subject: RE: Independant Recordings Revued
From: wysiwyg
Date: 28 Jan 02 - 12:00 PM

Barbara, is there any information you want to add to this for featuring it in the Auction (as we discussed)?

~Siusan

Subject: RE: Independant Recordings Revued
From: wysiwyg
Date: 28 Jan 02 - 09:56 AM

Here is a draft of how I plan to run these-- comments wanted.

In future, each review will get its own thread by artist name & (if there is room) CD title. They will always include a link back to Joe's thread "Mudcatter CDs," where he can always update any purchasing information if your link changes. So be sure you post about your CD in that thread.

========================================================

Mudcatter musicmic writes for Tune-up, a membership publication of the Philadelphia Folksong Society. Here are his February, 2002 reviews.

~Susan

=======================================================

The true and everlasting tradition of folksinging is the joy of do-it-yourself artistic expression. Concerts and clubs and CDs and radio shows are great, but real folk music is made for love and sung with friends and families. It is in the home and in those parking lot jam sessions that real folk music is made. Sometimes those informal institutions get recorded and sometimes I get to recommend them to you.

Alice Flynn lives in Boyleman, MT. She loves Irish songs, the old songs that Irish women have sung in their kitchens for centuries. She sings them with the voice of a fairy, with a passion and understanding. Her singing is unaccompanied so an audience might find her music bare, even empty, but such an audience would be missing the charm and purity of real Irish music, as real as I knew when I lived in County Wicklow. Alice's taste runs to the wistful and the woeful and the wonderful. (www.aliceflynn.com)

Celtic Crossroad is a Philadelphia band whose music is forged from talent, roots and spirit. Their first CD is a joyride through the best of Irish music. They sing with gusto and they play with abandon. Their music is irresistable. Their song selection couldn't have pleased me more. (Their only non-trad number is Cyril Tawney's "Grey Funnel Line", which may be the best composed "folk" song ever written). I love this recording, I really do. So will you. (I don't know where it can be got but I will find out. I love this recording)

ShoreGrass is an old timey/bluegrassy/contra-dancey band from the Connecticut seaport town of Branford. They play at the Branford Festival, the Branford Folk Music Society's Trinity Coffeehouse and, I have no doubt, at every venue in their fair community. Their guitarist is a retired projects manager, their fiddler teaches strings at the local intermediate school, the banjo player is a manufacturing engineer who once sang lead for a folk/rock group and their bassist is a photographer who used to play with the Greenbriar Boys. They sound like every group I ever heard in the parking lot at Sunset Park, which is to say they sound terrific. Their enthusiasm is infectious, their blend is sweet, and their repertoire is varied easy listening. I gave this CD the old dishwashing test and it lasted all the way through the dinnerware, even surviving the wok, which gets done last.

=========================================================

For more information on Mudcatter CDs, CLICK HERE.

For more information about the Philadelphia Folksong Society, CLICK HERE.

=========================================================

ARTISTS PLEASE NOTE: If you want me to post future Mike's reviews, please help me out by making sure that I have all the same information you send Mike:
Your Mudcat name and your name as it appears on the CD,
URL to a website if available, artist profile or link to it if it is here at Mudcat,
Location of MP3's if any,
Purchasing information (and plase let me know if it is a through a link that benefits Mudcat).
If you plan on giving Mudcat a cut of any Mudcat purchases please let me know how you would like that worded.
If you are featuring the item in the auction please let me know so that, if possible, the review post and the auction post can be linked to one another.

THANKS! Oh and if you e-mail me, put the word MUDCAT in the subject line or the spam filter will decline your message!

~S~

[e-mail]

Subject line: Mudcat CD Reviews

Subject: RE: Independant Recordings Revued
From: wysiwyg
Date: 28 Jan 02 - 09:02 AM

Barbara, please bear with us. We needed to resolve how to proceed before starting to post these. The Society's newsletter is a members-only benefit, and I wanted to be sure that we had permission to run it here. I'll have it up this week.

~Susan

Subject: RE: Independant Recordings Revued
From: Barbara Shaw
Date: 28 Jan 02 - 08:42 AM

Will someone please either post the review or send me a copy??? I got a couple of fragments by e-mail which I forwarded to Susan, and Mike says he sent the final copy somewhere, but I have yet to see it. Have you seen it, Alice? If the review is actually in the latest issue or some future issue of the PFS newsletter, I would appreciate a copy of what was actually printed.

Subject: RE: Independant Recordings Revued
From: wysiwyg
Date: 25 Jan 02 - 12:31 PM

Mike, if you really mean that I'm gonna have to cut you loose. *G*

~Susan

Subject: RE: Independant Recordings Revued
From: musicmick
Date: 25 Jan 02 - 12:58 AM

Right you are, Jody. I heard it as "I see centipedes and snakes/ and I'm full of pains and aches/ so I think I'll take a lookout over yonder" I'm planning on including your CD in this month's column. Susan, I promise to always agree with everything you say from here on. (Did that sound sincere?)

Subject: RE: Independant Recordings Revued
From: wysiwyg
Date: 24 Jan 02 - 08:53 AM

Oh Mike, I only pray it won't be the last! *G*

~Susan

Subject: RE: Independant Recordings Revued
From: CRANKY YANKEE
Date: 24 Jan 02 - 05:03 AM

That's the same last verse to All For Me Grog, except mine is "I see centipedes and snakes and I'm full of pains and aches so I think I'll take a trip out over yonder".

Love and Kisses, Jody

Subject: RE: Independant Recordings Revued
From: musicmick
Date: 24 Jan 02 - 01:31 AM

Susan has suggested that I acknowledge CDs as I receive them, just to let the artists know that the mails have, indeed, gone through. I see a tiny flaw in this, apparently, harmless idea. I hear many recordings and I cannot include them all in my column. For reasons of taste and suitability, some submissions are not reviewed. In some, rare instances, I may review just one CD in an issue. When the material and the performance are unusually impressive or if I am on a rampage and a recording illustrates my position, I may devote my whole column to it. Nice for that artist, not so nice for the other submitters. Ergo, for one reason or another, some of you will be unwritten about, and, if I publicly post the names of everyone who sends me a CD, those who are not reviewed will be known to all. It might be easier if, when you send me a CD, you also send an Email ([e-mail]). Then, when I get your package, I'll reply. This may be the first time I have disagreed with Susan about anything.

Subject: RE: Independant Recordings Revued
From: wysiwyg
Date: 19 Jan 02 - 12:22 PM

Mike, I have heard what you describe called "listener fatigue." The insidious, sometimes just-below-awareness, nagging effect on the brain waves, from sound that isn't clean enough. When you want to hear a song over and over to learn it but... the recording quality makes you nuts and you aren;t even necessarily sure why.

I have a Carter Fam piece stuck in my head now that way with all the pops from the 78 woven in. Hope I don't play it that way!

*G*

Or worse, SING it that way!

~Susan

Subject: RE: Independant Recordings Revued
From: AllisonA(Animaterra)
Date: 19 Jan 02 - 07:22 AM

And that's why I won't be sending you my latest concert cd!! It was a fabulous concert, with wonderful energy and joy. But the cd has maybe 3 cuts I'm really proud of. As my chorus approaches its 5th anniversary, we're raising money for a "best of Animaterra" cd- that's when I'll pass it around to all who will listen!

Subject: RE: Independant Recordings Revued
From: musicmick
Date: 13 Jan 02 - 01:05 AM

It's not just the sound of a room with an audience that differenciates a live show from a recording. Even in "live" recording, the absence of intimacy and immediacy are striking. It is not unlike the difference between live theater and movies or television. It is why we are willing to pay more for a concert ticket than we are for the, more technically perfect, recording of the concert. Another reason for precision and sound quality in recoring is that repitition is the severest of examiners. The CD will be played over and over and, if there are flaws, they will pop out like pimples at a sock hop.

Subject: RE: Independant Recordings Revued
From: Barbara Shaw
Date: 12 Jan 02 - 11:12 AM

I agree with Mike that recordings by their nature lack the immediacy and intimacy of a live performance. After ShoreGrass finished recording our CD, we talked about how it sounded different from our live performances, and Mike has put words to the issue exactly. We surely had the sound clarity, compared to the smoothing of the edges in a live room. But the recording process in a "dead room" by necessity changes the synergy and energy derived from a live audience.

Subject: RE: Independant Recordings Revued
From: Alice
Date: 12 Jan 02 - 11:04 AM

Thank you, Mike.

Alice

Subject: RE: Independant Recordings Revued
From: Bert
Date: 12 Jan 02 - 02:52 AM

...A recording, by its very nature, lacks the immidiacy and intimacy of a live performance...

I'm glad you said that. I went to Brittingham's just before Christmas to hear Oliver McElhone. He asked me to sing a couple of songs and I gave him a copy of my CD.

They played it at the bar and he said "That sounds like you". So I think maybe I did catch a little of the intimacy on the recording.

Subject: RE: Independant Recordings Revued
From: musicmick
Date: 11 Jan 02 - 05:37 PM

I seen to remember the column in which I criticized poorly recorded projects. It was during a period when I was offering suggestions to aspiring independent producers. My point was that a disc jockey, a festival program chairman or a club booker will respond more favorably to a well produced CD than he will to a shoddy one. I know that most independently made CDs are sold at live performances where the buyers have heard the performer and like what they;ve heard. But even to this market there are expectations that go beyond the souvineer stage. A recording, by its very nature, lacks the immidiacy and intimacy of a live performance. The only advantages of a recording are sound and technical cleanliness. If the CD lacks these, it has little to capture the ear and even the most delightful performances require an audience with patience and forgiveness. We'll talk. Mike

Subject: RE: Independant Recordings Revued
From: Bert
Date: 11 Jan 02 - 03:07 PM

Hi again Mike,

No It's not a lack of faith in my own abilities. I'm a singer and I think I'm a pretty good one. But my CD is home made and I recall an article of yours in which you came down pretty hard on home made recordings. It was a general staement and you didn't mention any specific recording, just that you wished folks would take the trouble to be more professional.

In light of your above comments I'll send you a CD and you can have some fun listening to it.

Bert.

Subject: RE: Independant Recordings Revued
From: wysiwyg
Date: 11 Jan 02 - 01:15 PM

Got it!

~S~

Subject: RE: Independant Recordings Revued
From: wysiwyg
Date: 11 Jan 02 - 10:02 AM

Barbara, you can forward them to me at:

[e-mail]

Be sure to put the word MUDCAT in the subject line to get past the spam filters.

Cool!

~Susan

Subject: RE: Independant Recordings Revued
From: Barbara Shaw
Date: 11 Jan 02 - 09:37 AM

Mike, thanks so much for your review and recommendation! We are a group of friends (and husband) that loves making music together, and it's nice to know others enjoy it. We really appreciate your offer to review these recordings.

Susan, I got your column fragments. If it isn't already straightened out, let me know and I'll forward them.

Subject: RE: Independant Recordings Revued
From: wysiwyg
Date: 10 Jan 02 - 11:04 AM

No, Mike, they didn't arrive. If they came from someone other than you-- my mailbox has a lot of spam protection on it and mail from unknown addresses can get rejected. I'll send you another address to use for this.

~Susan