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Post by Treecat on Sept 29, 2008 10:30:38 GMT -5
The song does what it's supposed to--it has a catchy melody, a hooky chorus, and an unusual synchopated beat. I'm humming it already. It has good pop song sensibilities.
I like the contrast in the lyrics: the Christmas chorale introduction (what is the song now?) which shows Christmas as we hope it will be, with the constrasting downbeat lyrics about the skelter and jumble of the holiday season, when it all seems too much, when you feel like you're alone in a faceless crowd. I know some people won't like them, but I do.
I do wish: a) there was another full verse, instead of more repetition of verse and chorus several times at the end of the song. Roma and Enya have done this a number of times since TMOT, and I wish they would extend the lyrics instead.
b) the song could be longer. It feels like it ends too soon. There could be an instrumental break in it or, better yet, another full verse, and then a really creative ending ala OMWH.
c) Enya's voice is too far down, too covered by the choruses and instrumentation. I hope this is just because of the crummy internet broadcast. I love the clarity of the Amarantine vocals, and wish her voice had popped out more on this song.
Someone posted what seems to be a single cover on Unity. I don't know where they found it, but it's a beautiful cover. I hope a physical release of the song does happen, along with digital downloads.
Aigle and Warner so far are treating AWC the way I wish they (maybe specifically Warner) had treated Amarantine. The promo video on .com is fantastic.
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Post by Becket on Sept 29, 2008 10:36:53 GMT -5
I heard a bit of song today...just lovely indeed...I am waiting patiently for the release of all the music!
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Post by riene on Sept 29, 2008 10:41:31 GMT -5
Would someone post a link to the Wogan page and an approximate time of the song debut? I'm at work and would love to sneak in a preview if I can...
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Post by ardens on Sept 29, 2008 10:46:11 GMT -5
I like the song. It is very catchy and there is an interesting contrast between music and lyrics. Does anyone else hear the sound at the end of the song? To me it sounds a bit like a running horse. Or I have looked at the album cover too often... c) Enya's voice is too far down, too covered by the choruses and instrumentation. I hope this is just because of the crummy internet broadcast. I love the clarity of the Amarantine vocals, and wish her voice had popped out more on this song. I noticed that, too. It sounds a bit as if the music was coming out of bad loudspeakers. It certainly sounds better from CD.
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Post by ardens on Sept 29, 2008 10:48:09 GMT -5
Would someone post a link to the Wogan page and an approximate time of the song debut? I'm at work and would love to sneak in a preview if I can... www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/shows/wogan/Try "listen again - monday" and start listening at 1 hour, 44minutes!
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Post by Moe on Sept 29, 2008 13:22:56 GMT -5
I do wish: a) there was another full verse, instead of more repetition of verse and chorus several times at the end of the song. Roma and Enya have done this a number of times since TMOT, and I wish they would extend the lyrics instead. b) the song could be longer. It feels like it ends too soon. There could be an instrumental break in it or, better yet, another full verse, and then a really creative ending ala OMWH. c) Enya's voice is too far down, too covered by the choruses and instrumentation. I hope this is just because of the crummy internet broadcast. I love the clarity of the Amarantine vocals, and wish her voice had popped out more on this song. I listened to the Wogan show on my pc with high quality Sony headphones and the sound quality was still poor - I really think I need to hear the single from a real CD disk. I do agree with TC's points above, but on the whole it was a song that could bring Enya a new audience, to join the existing ones like us. I just hope it gets air-time - in Canada it will not, I fear, As for its fitness for being chosen as the first single, kind of hard to judge until we've heard the entire album, and for that we must wait......
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Post by jpanarese on Sept 29, 2008 14:10:10 GMT -5
I have found myself liking the song more and more each time I listen to it. It was kind of sit-coms when I first tried to play it in Real Player. We have contractors here finishing work on the kitchen downstairs and every time I hit the play button, one of them would start hammering or a drill would start up. I paused it about four times before I just grabbed my earphones to listen.
It's hard to make any specific comments from an audio stream. How the vocals will actually sound on the CD will probably be much better. I do agree that it seems "short" to me, though.
John
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Post by Treecat on Sept 29, 2008 14:14:50 GMT -5
I've just snuck in two listens to it on Terry Wogan's page. I'm humming this song, snapping my fingers to the syncopated rhythm of the chorus, trying to remember or make out the lyrics. The song is very catchy. It's not Orinoco Flow, but OTOH, was ever CAN be Orinoco Flow (insert bowing and worshipping motion here). This is a better single release than Amarantine. I hope the album has one or two follow up songs that will be as strong as IITR and SSG. Does anyone else hear a tambourine at the end of each 'clapping' percussion sound in the chorus? Do you think those are handclaps or rhythm sticks? It seems like they're using strings (or synthesized strings) in a very heavy, percussive way on this album. Nice for this song, but I hope some of the other songs involve an actual real life honest-to-goodness DRUM. OTOH, the radio quality is so poor that I'm probably missing a lot of instrumental undertones on the song. For being catchy enough to have me humming it after 3 listens: two big TreeCat thumbs up! ;D
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Post by marie on Sept 29, 2008 16:07:41 GMT -5
I really love the song. I think it was a great choice for a single. I am really anxious to hear the whole album.
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Post by Moe on Sept 29, 2008 17:55:37 GMT -5
I want a real CD in my hands and then on my stereo system - then I can bore you all with my opinions.
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Post by riene on Sept 29, 2008 19:25:03 GMT -5
I'm having difficulty understanding what she's singing. The words are obscured by the backing vocals and heavy beat. Maybe it's just a fuzzy, poor quality broadcast copy, but I wish the vocals were more clear.
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Post by Treecat on Sept 29, 2008 22:20:35 GMT -5
I'm having difficulty understanding what she's singing. The words are obscured by the backing vocals and heavy beat. Maybe it's just a fuzzy, poor quality broadcast copy, but I wish the vocals were more clear. I'd like Amarantine clarity over the backing vocals. It's so hard to tell what's going on with a low quality radio broadcast though. Amarantine sounds much different, much different, from what I first heard on Wogan's show.
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Post by Becket on Sept 29, 2008 22:42:24 GMT -5
I agree with everyone is saying that there is so much more that one will hear when the CD is released...better quality etc...
I am listening to the song with some studio headphones right now and the song sounds great! Very commercial, but I like the upbeat sound and alot of dynamics, vocals, drums...alot of fun!...
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Post by themoonsshepherd on Sept 30, 2008 7:19:50 GMT -5
I gave it a listen last night, and I like it enough that I want to hear the rest of the album. So its intentions worked, eh? So far so good.
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Post by skyscape on Sept 30, 2008 10:39:38 GMT -5
I'm having difficulty understanding what she's singing. The words are obscured by the backing vocals and heavy beat. Maybe it's just a fuzzy, poor quality broadcast copy, but I wish the vocals were more clear. I'd like Amarantine clarity over the backing vocals. It's so hard to tell what's going on with a low quality radio broadcast though. Amarantine sounds much different, much different, from what I first heard on Wogan's show. Absolutely. This is exactly what I feel. I would love the vocal to be lifted up from the instrumentation.
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