Be Good Tanyas - Over-rated?

Subject: RE: Be Good Tanyas - Over-rated?
From: George Papavgeris
Date: 18 Dec 03 - 02:53 AM

I hadn't heard them, so having read the messages above I just had to go to their website and have a listen to the soundbites they provide.
On the basis of what I heard there, I have to admit that they did not light my wick. No bad, but I wouldn't fight for a ticket to one of their concerts. Tight harmonies, yes, but they are not unique in that. Nothing special enough for me and my tastes.
Having said that, perhaps they are more engaging as a live act; this is true of many performers. In any case, good luck to them, but I won't be buying any of their CDs. No hard feelings, I expect they wouldn't buy one of mine either.

Subject: RE: Be Good Tanyas - Over-rated?
From: SueB
Date: 18 Dec 03 - 12:23 AM

I like them. My favorite song from Blue Horse is "The Lakes of Pontchartrain, especially the harmony in the third verse on the line
"if it weren't for the alligators I would sleep out in the wood".
My favorite song on Chinatown is "Reuben". I prefer the trad songs they do to their own compositions, for the most part. I like what they do with harmony, and the way on some tunes they don't even sing the melody most of the time, leaving it for you to fill in yourself.


For what it's worth, I don't listen to Ben Folds, the Cocteau twins, or Will Oldham

Subject: RE: Be Good Tanyas - Over-rated?
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 17 Dec 03 - 07:00 AM

Are the people who call any critics the ' folk police ' saying that no one should be alowed to dislike anything. Thats more like ' folk
getapo '
eric

Subject: RE: Be Good Tanyas - Over-rated?
From: postman
Date: 17 Dec 03 - 06:45 AM

If you don't like originality and creativity, you won't like The Be Good Tanyas.

Subject: RE: Be Good Tanyas - Over-rated?
From: Ely
Date: 31 Jul 03 - 09:10 PM

The new album bores me so much I can't even listen to it all the way through. I guess I don't need my de-stress music as much as I did in college.

Subject: RE: Be Good Tanyas - Over-rated?
From: GUEST,Skin-the -goat
Date: 31 Jul 03 - 04:58 AM

Dont care what anyone says I love these ladies to bits

Subject: RE: Be Good Tanyas - Over-rated?
From: michaelr
Date: 29 Mar 03 - 01:18 AM

The Folk Police are gathering evidence...

Subject: RE: Be Good Tanyas - Over-rated?
From: Ely
Date: 28 Mar 03 - 04:13 PM

A friend of mine gave me _Blue Horse_ and I think it's fun but I don't think they're great. I don't even think they're very original, possibly because Texas has such a proliferation of mixed-genre pop/folk/country music that they don't stand out. This might also account for why they aren't better-known here; we just don't need them.

The only people I know who listen to the Tanyas are also into Ben Folds, the Cocteau Twins, Will Oldham, etc, not folk. They mostly sound like the campus bands we had in college that wanted to be in a folk band because it was cool but couldn't really escape the secret desire to be cute pop-chicks. I hope they sound better in real life because they don't sound like much in the way of singers in the recording (it doesn't take much to pull off "Oh, Susannah"--I thought they were using the quirky phrasing to make up for average voices).

Subject: RE: Be Good Tanyas - Over-rated?
From: mooman
Date: 28 Mar 03 - 07:27 AM

Probably because they are outside the familiar "mould" and a bit different and perhaps a little "raw".

I love 'em!

moo

Subject: RE: Be Good Tanyas - Over-rated?
From: black walnut
Date: 28 Mar 03 - 07:02 AM

Wow. This group really brings out the love/hate emotions! Why is that?

~b.w.

Subject: RE: Be Good Tanyas - Over-rated?
From: Greycap
Date: 25 Mar 03 - 04:52 PM

Thank God I'll be at work and away from a radio.

Subject: RE: Be Good Tanyas - Over-rated?
From: black walnut
Date: 25 Mar 03 - 03:03 PM

I heard that the Be Good Tanyas will be on "Richardson's Roundup" (CBC RADIO ONE) tomorrow afternoon, about 3pm. (That would be Wednesday March 26).

~b.w.

Subject: RE: Be Good Tanyas - Over-rated?
From: pxp
Date: 09 Mar 03 - 10:07 PM

I caught them doing Rain and Snow on TV. Looked them up on the Net. Listened to The Coo Coo Bird a few times. I think I was over-whelmed. Ordered their CDs. I don't know nothin' from good but I knows what I like.

Subject: RE: Be Good Tanyas - Over-rated?
From: Folkiedave
Date: 09 Mar 03 - 04:13 PM

There was a publicity shot of theirs that said words to the effect of....."I challenge you not to enjoy their harmonies". My friend wrote in her review "I claim my prize".

Over-rated I am afraid...........

Dave

Subject: RE: Be Good Tanyas - Over-rated?
From: GUEST
Date: 09 Mar 03 - 01:34 PM

I heard them briefly on the radio the other day. I was struck by the way their voices blended in an interesting way - even when they were speaking. In fact they seemed to talk together in the same way that they sing together

Subject: RE: Be Good Tanyas - Over-rated?
From: black walnut
Date: 09 Mar 03 - 07:39 AM

Well, I think they're very, very good. And so does Emmy-Lou.

~b.w.

Subject: RE: Be Good Tanyas - Over-rated?
From: Harry Basnett
Date: 11 Feb 03 - 05:19 PM

Mmm......but they are very, very tedious!

Subject: RE: Be Good Tanyas - Over-rated?
From: Willie-O
Date: 11 Feb 03 - 02:12 PM

O-K, Noddy, you want to keep out good taste and bad taste but leave the rest? (Maybe you should proofread/copyedit more.)

I stand by my remarks with the following addendum: a lot of people with _some_ talent end up making really bad music with it, by the time they have been through some of the processes you describe.

But I think that promoters taking people with _no_ talent and making them musical stars doesn't really happen often. It would be too much work and eventually it gets noticed that it's fake. Remember Milli Vanilli?

Fact is there are lots of people with some talent, good looks, no taste, and the ambition to make it big, and that's who promoters sort through (probably looking at the glossy photos in the promo packages before listening to the music).

However I certainly don't think The B-G-T's fall into that category, and they don't merit cheap shots just because they are doing well. Even if they are overplayed.

W-O

Subject: RE: Be Good Tanyas - Over-rated?
From: mike the knife
Date: 11 Feb 03 - 01:19 PM

I was lent the CD recently. While the jury is out on a definitive verdict, my initial reaction is that they're OK. Not the best I've ever heard, but it doesn't offend either. I haven't had the time to really put an ear to it, it's just been running as background as I did laundry, dishes, etc. Their version or "Rain & Snow" is good.

Subject: RE: Be Good Tanyas - Over-rated?
From: GUEST,noddy
Date: 07 Feb 03 - 05:16 AM

Hey Willie O I am getting at the "System " that proliferates and not the Tanyas themselves.
You say promotes dont pick up No Talent acts, well what about the Spice Girls and all the other constructed bands in the pop or should I say PAP scene. So dont give me that. Geri singing "happy birthday" sums up their talent. None.
Of course there is always the matter of taste. There is good taste bad taste and no taste and my taste and your taste. Just keep out the first two and things should work out right.

Subject: RE: Be Good Tanyas - Over-rated?
From: fsharpdim7
Date: 06 Feb 03 - 05:45 PM

See http://www.puremusic.com/tanyas1.html for an interview with the girls. There is also an interview on "All Songs Considered" on the NPR.org site.
Plus wasn't there a Sing Out article too. Sounds like the next big thing.
Chris

Subject: RE: Be Good Tanyas - Over-rated?
From: Bullfrog Jones
Date: 06 Feb 03 - 09:28 AM

Hmmmm.... I've got that pleasure to come too -- I listen online at work.

BJ

Subject: RE: Be Good Tanyas - Over-rated?
From: Hamish
Date: 06 Feb 03 - 09:21 AM

yar-ow! thanks for the warning: I have the Harding show on tape in the car and will "look forward" to hearing this awesome/awful rendition in, er, about three hours.

Subject: RE: Be Good Tanyas - Over-rated?
From: banjomad (inactive)
Date: 06 Feb 03 - 08:46 AM

Last night on BBC radio 2 Mike Harding played the Be Good Tanyas version of ' House Of The Rising Sun ', without doubt the worst version ever. I am totally underwhelmed by this group, but Mike will play anything by good looking young ladies and drool over it.
Dave

Subject: RE: Be Good Tanyas - Over-rated?
From: HuwG
Date: 06 Feb 03 - 08:38 AM

I saw them at Cambridge last year. My verdict; not bad, but no way would they compare to others of similar genre on the bill before and after them; Iris DeMent (sp), the Indigo Girls etc.

I doubt if I would have bought their CD, even if I had not succumbed to GAS and then drunk the loose change...

Subject: RE: Be Good Tanyas - Over-rated?
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 05 Feb 03 - 07:36 PM

My only experience of the band is seeing them on the video of the 2002 Cambridge Folk Festival.

I have to say that on the basis of that performance there is no way I would be inclined either to go to see them live, or to buy a CD.

Chacun a son gout ....

Muray

Subject: RE: Be Good Tanyas - Over-rated?
From: GUEST,Ed
Date: 05 Feb 03 - 03:11 PM

For anyone who doesn't know them, there are some MP3s on thier site: Click Here.

My view, not terrible but not great either. I wouldn't buy a CD, but that's just personal taste.

Ed

Subject: Be Good Tanyas - Over-rated?
From: fsharpdim7
Date: 05 Feb 03 - 03:11 PM

I enjoy listening to their better stuff - like "All the Dogs" or "Oh Susanna" - it's like putting on Cajun music, but you can understand a few more words. But the real test to me is whether I would take one of their songs to a jam for a group to do - has anybody tried that? with any success?
Chris

Subject: RE: Be Good Tanyas - Over-rated?
From: Cas
Date: 05 Feb 03 - 02:56 PM

we likw em here but victoria williams is the owner of one of the most sublime voices this side of the ice age

Subject: RE: Be Good Tanyas - Over-rated?
From: Willie-O
Date: 05 Feb 03 - 02:37 PM

Same way everyone gets a contract: the right people heard them. I think they spent a year or two busking in Vancouver and got picked up by the West Coast star-making machinery.

Yup, noddy, some promoters are good at what they do. So? You want that, go find yourself one.   

One thing promoters don't usually do is pick people with no talent and make them stars. More often they find attractive people with certain abilities--some unchanging, such as decent vocal pitch, and charisma; some that are in vogue, which old-timey music currently is--and flatter them and try to ruin their taste so they will sell more CD's and tickets to a broader audience. But as with the BGT's, the first couple of releases are usually good.

W-O

Subject: RE: Be Good Tanyas - Over-rated?
From: Hester
Date: 05 Feb 03 - 02:36 PM

Perhaps the Brit-catters find the Tanyas over-rated because they've only heard the studio recording. I like the Blue Horse CD, but when I saw the Tanyas open for Sarah Harmer at Convocation Hall in Toronto last winter, their harmonies absolutely blew me away: far richer than what was captured on the CD!

Do go see them play live if you get a chance. Especially if they're playing a venue with good acoustics.

Cheers, Hester ... who has absolutely no musical training or talent, and so responds to the music she hears purely on an emotional rather than a technical level.

Subject: RE: Be Good Tanyas - Over-rated?
From: pavane
Date: 05 Feb 03 - 02:02 PM

I never did understand how they actually got a recording contract (but then some people think the same about the Young Tradition for example)

Subject: RE: Be Good Tanyas - Over-rated?
From: GUEST,noddy
Date: 05 Feb 03 - 11:36 AM

over rated and over here.
the same old thing get some wizz of a promoter and the world dances at your feet while those with talent and no promoter get no air play.
I here that some mags do not review your album unless you are a national/international act . It is catch 22 how do you get heard if you dont get coverage,even space for a review of a CD in a mag???
It stinks of comecrcialism

Subject: RE: Be Good Tanyas - Over-rated?
From: Hamish
Date: 05 Feb 03 - 10:58 AM

Sorry, Willie-O I wasn't dumping on them: just trying to guage the average 'catter's views, and maybe find out why they're creating such a stir. Good luck to 'em. I get the impression from hearing interviews that they're in it for the fun and they love what they're doing, and aren't over packaged. So in that regard they get top marks. They're probably just as surprised at their succes as I am - but it's not something you can refuse is it? Yo just have to take your chances and ride with it.

Subject: RE: Be Good Tanyas - Over-rated?
From: TIA
Date: 05 Feb 03 - 10:22 AM

oops, that was me above--lost my cookie

Subject: RE: Be Good Tanyas - Over-rated?
From: GUEST
Date: 05 Feb 03 - 10:18 AM

I like 'em. I don't try to analyze why, but like chez Willie-O, they get played all the time by the kids (three girls under 12). Lyrics are usually mumbley, but what the heck.

Subject: RE: Be Good Tanyas - Over-rated?
From: Willie-O
Date: 05 Feb 03 - 10:02 AM

Sounds like they're a lot bigger in the UK than in North America. One of those odd things...but I sense that it's overplay and overhype that is bringing out the cranky old folkie side of you guys.

They are a good listen. I can understand why you wouldn't want to hear them all day and night on every radio show you hear. But why dump on the artists cause you don't like the packaging? It's not the music that's slick.

W-O

Subject: RE: Be Good Tanyas - Over-rated?
From: Greycap
Date: 05 Feb 03 - 09:53 AM

Hamish, Bullfrog,
I'm with you guys - it's an example of trying to fool all the people all the time. There is simply less to them than the meedja guys think.
They are mediocre at best.

Subject: RE: Be Good Tanyas - Over-rated?
From: Ralphie
Date: 05 Feb 03 - 09:47 AM

Will be recording them again for Mr Kershaw in a couple of weeks..
Yes, a certain naive charm...and very nice people..
I'll let you know how it goes.
Maybe the appeal is in the-un produced freshness of their sound?
Looking forward to it anyway.
Regards Ralphie

Subject: RE: Be Good Tanyas - Over-rated?
From: Willie-O
Date: 05 Feb 03 - 09:27 AM

I like em a lot too. And they score well with my household's official arbiter of musical taste: my daughter.

They sound like treeplanters who can sing (really well, together) more than they sound like, umm, the Dixie Chicks. I had certain formative musical experiences in a treeplanting camp, so this resonates with me. They're not hot instrumentalists, which doesn't bother me. And I like their songwriting and their fresh, enthusiastic and tuneful sound on trad songs.

The only thing that makes me wary is that Frazey Ford (the lead singer who is frequently linked with the words "star quality") sometimes sings in a way that I find kind of contrived. Sort of "modern girl does old-timey with proper sense of irony" feel. Once again, a matter of taste.

I'm hoping they will keep their sound natural and upbeat, and not go the way of Spirit of the West. It's hard to keep that freshness when you've been put into orbit by music biz hype. So I'm wishing them success, but not stratospheric success. Just good times and happy touring and staying friends. I sense that last part is essential to their musical chemistry.   

W-O

Subject: RE: Be Good Tanyas - Over-rated?
From: mooman
Date: 05 Feb 03 - 08:42 AM

I like them a lot. I find their vocal harmonies, instrumentation and arrangements very fresh-sounding. Blue Horse is a frequently-played CD in our house. But then The Good Lady and I are not really "traditionalists" although I can certainly appreciate and enjoy some music in that vein as well.

Matter of personal preferences in our music I suppose.

Best regards,

moo

Subject: RE: Be Good Tanyas - Over-rated?
From: Bullfrog Jones
Date: 05 Feb 03 - 08:10 AM

I have to admit that when I read about them I thought that they'd be just the kind of thing that I like -- a new take on old time country, great harmonies, interesting instrumentation etc, etc, but everything I've heard has been pretty mundane.

BJ

Subject: Be Good Tanyas - Over-rated?
From: Hamish
Date: 05 Feb 03 - 07:45 AM

Sorry, but I don't get it. The "Be-Goods" are mega in the UK. Bob Harris, Andy Kershaw, Mike Harding, Nick Barraclough and Verity Sharp on Late Junction (BBC Radios 2 and 3) all play them to death. I mean, I can hear a certain naive charm, but, really, they're not that good, surely?

I might just be being controversial, but then again...