JoCo Live/With Band
You know, the whole "with a band" project kind of took me by surprise. The intricacy of the lyrics in Jonathan's songwriting
and the quality of his voice just seemed to demand the more gentle and subtle quality that a solo/acoustic performance
can offer. But, still I thought hey, why not? Art is creative. It's good for artists to try creative stuff. Why not try it? It might
be fun and different to hear some songs presented in that format. I'm sorry to say that I never made it to any of the band
shows, but I finally got to check out the live/band thing today and I have to say, it just didn't set well with me. Jonathan's
voice felt forced...he couldn't sing but kind of had to yell out to be heard over the band. And, while the musical component
was more energetic and lively, I found the subtlety of the lyrics to kind of be drowned out over the sound. This is not to say
that Jonathan shouldn't play with a band....maybe a band comprised of different sorts of instruments or a different kind of
format. Overall, I just could not handle the results of the whole project. It was just too loud, too much. If JoCo tries future
creative projects involving other musicians, I really hope they are of some sort of folk/acoustic rather than rock variety.
Of course, the solo/acoustic stuff seems a natural fit, is what we are accustomed to and for me works well, too.
Anyway, just throwing it out there as food for discussion.
and the quality of his voice just seemed to demand the more gentle and subtle quality that a solo/acoustic performance
can offer. But, still I thought hey, why not? Art is creative. It's good for artists to try creative stuff. Why not try it? It might
be fun and different to hear some songs presented in that format. I'm sorry to say that I never made it to any of the band
shows, but I finally got to check out the live/band thing today and I have to say, it just didn't set well with me. Jonathan's
voice felt forced...he couldn't sing but kind of had to yell out to be heard over the band. And, while the musical component
was more energetic and lively, I found the subtlety of the lyrics to kind of be drowned out over the sound. This is not to say
that Jonathan shouldn't play with a band....maybe a band comprised of different sorts of instruments or a different kind of
format. Overall, I just could not handle the results of the whole project. It was just too loud, too much. If JoCo tries future
creative projects involving other musicians, I really hope they are of some sort of folk/acoustic rather than rock variety.
Of course, the solo/acoustic stuff seems a natural fit, is what we are accustomed to and for me works well, too.
Anyway, just throwing it out there as food for discussion.
Comments
Overall I think the band mix works good for most songs. Still not of fan of Je Sui Rick Springfield tho.
Though I have to complain about the Zombie-ist tone Jonathan takes frequently. Zombies can sing too!
I enjoy his acoustic shows with Paul and Storm, and was glad to still be able to see acoustic shows over here when people in the US only got band shows, but I enjoy the band shows as well and am glad I've had the opportunity to see them on the cruise. It was pretty crazy for me the first time, seeing so many new people making new noises and voices that weren't JoCo's or Paul and Storm's. Band shows are not so easy to film though, and a lot of the early videos of the band had maxed out sound which made them pretty difficult to listen to, so I'm glad there's now a clean, professionally edited recording of the live band show.
Incidentally, my CD arrived yesterday.