Word: ballades
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...perfect soundtrack to awkward encounters in enclosed spaces. The music sounds like it should back The Weather Channel’s 4:08 weather update from Hell. The song-writing has none of the same vigor that made the band’s pre-millennial work so bracing. The ballad-esque “Street of Dreams” begins like the lush “November Rain” from “Use Your Illusion I”—a few lines of piano and quiet guitar—but winds up mired in a boring...
...Journey: "Don't Stop Believing," 1981 "You can tell something about a person's relationship to popular music as a whole by how they feel about this song. Generally, people fall into two camps. If they have at one time considered it a "guilty pleasure," a dim-witted power ballad made by guys with bad haircuts to be enjoyed despite its inherent cheesiness, they probably identify most with indie music of some stripe. If they just plain like it and always have, then they've probably spent their lives enjoying whatever was on the radio. You'll notice no consideration...
...band’s most important B-sides and album tracks. The inclusion of diverse and affecting songs like the politicized “The Queen is Dead,” the tongue-in-cheek “Sweet and Tender Hooligan,” and the devastating ballad “Asleep” only further confirm the genius of The Smiths. The album is particularly effective in showing off the diversity of Marr’s instrumental arrangements. He can put together a jangling pop song (“This Charming Man”), minor-key masterpiece...
Throughout, Rose sounds as strong as ever and maybe even more flexible. On the "November Rain"-ish ballad "Street of Dreams," he emotes with a previously unheard Elton John - like pop softness, and "There Was a Time" has him scampering flawlessly up the vocal ladder from low growls to meticulous high notes. Most of the tracks clock in at about five minutes, with solid melodies and abundant pace and instrument changes. Choirs show up sometimes, as do a mellotron and a Spanish guitar. It's almost enough to keep things interesting. Almost...
...book depository that day. This may be a dumb idea, an example of Sondheim’s narrow-minded insistence on seeing almost everything as the product of personal trauma, but Travierso, his torso quaking beneath his t-shirt, made the whole thing real.Travierso can also sing. As the Balladeer, he played a central role in executing Sondheim’s gorgeous score. “Assassins” is riddled with bits of American musical history, from the broad, open harmonies of folk to gospel’s ecstatic fervor. Even Sousa marches get their moments. In songs like...