RED vs ATLASRecently a friend of mine came up to me and said, "Barry, you should really review some mainstream bands for Better B#." I've never been against reviewing mainstream bands, but they just don't pop up very often on my regular playlists. Anyway, I told him that I'd be more than happy to get right on that, but he'd have to help me by purchasing me a few albums he'd like to see me talk about. My stipulation, because I had to make things interesting, was that he must choose one band from the Top 40 Billboard chart, while the other had to be a well-known band from a completely different category -- in this case, metalcore. Christmas came early, and I've been listening to my heavyweight contenders -- Taylor Swift's new album, RED, and Parkway Drive's recent, ATLAS. I haven't had much experience with either of these two, being aware of them only by occasionally hearing Swift on the radio, or overhearing a song or two from my friend, in the case of Parkway. To make things more interesting for me, I thought that instead of doing two reviews, which would mean putting one album in front of the other to focus on it, that I'd do a joint album comparison and listen to them concurrently. Each day I've alternated which album occupies my time, trying to get a good idea of both. As we speak, I'm listening to a playlist that alternates song-by-song between the two. Every track is a vast change in attitude, subject, and instrumentation from the one before. It's something I've never really tried until now, but it's a welcome new experience. I began my joint journey with Swift, who quickly enveloped me in waves of modern country and heavily pop-induced songs. I did take a brief listen to her debut album, in order to better understand the change in songwriting over the course of her career. While songs like "Breathe Again" approach her original country-oriented start, she's moved away from that in favor of an overall poppier theme. While the song I just mentioned sounds like a small-town girl whose song was given the benefit of a big city budget, other tunes like "I Knew You Were Trouble", "22", and "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" sound like a producer turned to the engineer in charge and said, "Dump that pop sound on her!" This isn't a statement that these songs are less genuine than the others, but it does feel like someone's attempt to make them more easily accessible and addictive. They're immediately noticeable by digital effects on the drums, instruments that are cut apart and pasted, thickly layered vocals, and a singing style that starkly contrasts Swift's usual southern twang. Taylor's voice becomes so different from how she sings on other songs that it is difficult to tell that it's even her. They are, however, quite addictive. And in case they go a little overboard, they're balanced out by songs such as "Stay Stay Stay", which features instruments that sound like they're actually played and a bass line that's irresistible. Can you tell who wrote which?* |
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