Sony's "New Faces of Music"

Date: 23 Jul 2003 19:54:42 GMT
Newsgroups: rec.music.classical.recordings
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Last time I visited Tower Records here in San Diego (La Jolla Village
Square), they were passing out freeby promotional CDs from Sony, titled
"New Faces of Music." At first, I refused the offer, but then realized
that I can always use an undamaged CD case. The CD had 9 tracks, and
seemed designed to appeal to the "classics" fan by featuring an act
called "Operababes," plus the highly acclaimed "Strad Stripper," Lara
St. John.
An excerpt, titled "Goldberg 2," from Lara's new "re: Bach" album is
included. The breathless promo copy tells us that Ms St. John "has
chosen to take the music of Bach in a new direction." (Nude erection?)
"... she realizes a fresh, contemporary interpretation of Bach's
music, through soundscapes that draw on the influences of world music,
jazz, and pop."
This excerpt turns out to be 3:48 of total crap (the promo album should
have been titled "New Feces of Music"!), in which I had difficulty even
detecting a violin. The rest of the noise is some kind of synthesized
drum (which sounds like something falling into a toilet from a height),
plus some Jamaican (?) babbling, and other assorted instruments and
sounds. If there were any themes by Bach, it was beyond my powers
of analysis to detect them.
This "Gospel According to [Lara] St. John" is a complete waste of time.
She even wears clothing for the photos. :-(
I hope that she held out for plenty of money to do this humiliating
sell-out!
As for the "Operababes": "Let us draw the curtain of charity over the rest of this scene." - Mark Twain, "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer"
--Ward Hardman "The older I get, the more I admire and crave competence, just simple competence, in any field from adultery to zoology." - H.L. Mencken