The Adventurers Club

Reba and Kelly

So I went to see Reba and Kelly Friday night. I have to admit when I first saw the ad for the show I was skeptical. It just sounded ... odd.

Reba and Kelly - 2 Voices

But, I have to admit I was very pleasantly surprised. Not only does it work, but it's one of the most entertaining concerts I've seen in a while. I should also mention that it should be Reba-Kelly-Melissa, because Melissa Peterman is a huge part of the show, and she's very funny. For those that don't know, Melissa played Reba's daughter on Reba, the sitcom that ran for six years.

Let's clear up the first misconception, it's not a show where Kelly sings and Reba comes on later. It's a concert where they both sing together, the entire time. Yes, virtually every song is a duet, and on the very few when it's not a duet, Kelly or Reba stands slightly to the side providing the background vocals. That's pretty rare though.

As for Melissa, she opens with stand up comedy and then comes back later to harass Reba and Kelly onstage. I've never seen this in my 30+ years of attending concerts and it worked really well.

My favorite line was when Melissa hands Reba a Budweiser and steps back: "Well look at that," she says. "The queen of country, with the king of beers."

The show was very uptempo, and heavily rock oriented, which may have annoyed some longtime Reba fans, but from my viewpoint Reba was having a great time, and enjoying the chance to stretch her repertoire.

I also heard some grumbling that it wasn't a typical Reba show, which means no costume changes and no big production. Instead, this was a stripped down rock tour, and a really good one.

'til more artists realize to get my money, I want to be entertained

Keep the Adventure Alive,

Adventuretom

Kelly Clarkson, One Last Time - Tunes From the TV Part IV

Okay, before someone thinks I'm obsessed here's one last Kelly post.

Ken Barnes wrote a pretty negative review of Kelly's album and I mentioned it in my earlier Kelly Clarkson post. A number of folks have looked for the review and can't find it, so I thought I'd point it out.

For the record, I have a lot of respect for Ken Barnes and he and I typically agree, so before you trash him for his opinion you might consider what he's written.

Sympathy for the Mogul: The Kelly Clarkson Review

'til Clive gets his (Milk) 

Keep the Adventure Alive,

AT

More Kelly Clarkson - Tunes From the TV Part III

I've been too swamped in the last week to write much, but I found this article on Kelly Clarkson a great read. It goes more into depth about the My December saga than anything that's been written so far. Remember when Rolling Stone did that?

Sadly Rolling Stone (the good version) went the way of radio and you have to look elsewhere for good music writing.

The new issue of Blender has done just that. If you're a Kelly Clarkson fan, or just interested in the business of modern music click here to read.

'til Music is about art (ask Tom Scholz about that one)

Keep the Adventure Alive,

Adventuretom

 

Kelly Clarkson - Tunes From the TV Part II

This is Part II of my look at current music with strong ties to television. If you missed it, Part I was Aly and AJ. This time I look at Kelly Clarkson's new record.

After Ken Barne's writeup in USA Today, where he called My December hookless and sided with Clive Davis, I thought maybe Kelly Clarkson really had missed the mark.

After all I usually agree with Ken, and neither of us seem to be big fans of the pop music mogul.

Clive and I also have a little bit of history. Back in the early eighties a group of us were trying to get Arista to reissue the original Monkees albums. Arista had inherited the Monkees catalog when they absorbed Colgems records and at the time Clive was the head of Arista. I wrote Clive a letter outlining the plan for the reissue of the records. It contained statistics of the continuing popularity of the Monkees, and pointed out how well the Arista Monkees Greatest Hits had sold.

A couple of weeks later Clive sent me a letter saying that they really weren't interested in doing anything with the Monkees since he saw no future in them as a band. I still have the letter tucked into a copy of Clive's book Inside the Record Business. That letter is folded in with an article from Rolling Stone. You see Clive was wrong. Shortly after he dismissed me, we convinced Rhino Records to take over where Arista would not. Shortly thereafter The Monkees embarked on a 2oth Anniversary tour which became the number one tour of 1986. They also charted seven albums simultaneously (a Billboard record) and had a top twenty single (on Arista). Arista quickly reissued another greatest hits LP which also sold over a million copies.

The point of all this is of course, sometimes Clive is wrong.

With Kelly's album he is wrong, but he is right.

My December is not a bad album as the press would have you believe, and I found it very reminiscent of Pat Benatar. It's a mixture of solid rockers and ballads showcasing Kelly's best instrument, her voice. Beginning to end the album flows well and as I played it at maximum volume in the backyard yesterday while I washed the car, it made a great summertime soundtrack. Some of my favorite tracks are One Minute, Don't Waste Your Time, How I Feel and Can I Have a Kiss. All four of those songs would have gotten airplay in the glory days of FM radio.

That said, Clive is right about one thing. There is no obvious single. As much as I love Never Again, the rock vibe and Kelly's lyrics put a lot of people off. The second single, Sober, would have been a top ten single if it had followed an airplay smash. Unfortunately that didn't happen and Sober is currently dying at radio. Having given up on the first track, and apparently listening to all the bad press, the radio programmers aren't giving the album much of a chance.

The other problem is, unlike Chris Daughtry, Kelly Clarkson is getting no support from the rock community. Despite the fact  that she  is making better rock than most of her female peers, no one is stepping up to recognize her. This is too bad. That's how artists grow and no one is helping her out.

Ken Barnes made another comment in his writeup of My December. He called it a very depressing album. Much of the CD focuses on relationships gone bad, but is this unusual? Isn't lost love one of the most common themes in music?

Still, the damage is done and without a big single, Kelly's record is headed for a quick fade from the charts.

With two songs in the discard bin, what's the next potential track?

I don't think any of the other ballads are going to carry this record, that leaves the uptempo rock tracks.

Of these, How I Feel, is the most commercial. It has a little bit of a techno feel and bounces along in a hard pop style. If RCA and Clive would get behind this song it could be a hit.

That brings up my last point. Clearly, Clive is NOT behind this record. RCA may be claiming to support the CD, but I'm not seeing it. Clive Davis seems content to let his top artist die on the vine to teach her a lesson. This is pretty stupid because I don't think Kelly cares. I think Kelly Clarkson would leave RCA and go indie before she'd give in to Clive.

This is too bad. As I've said before, and I'll say it again, we need more women in rock. The void is there, someone needs to fill it.

'til Clive listens to the lyrics of Barracuda (I'm sure Clive doesn't like Heart either)

Keep the Adventure Alive,

@Adventuretom

It's Called ROCK

Even though I avoid American Idol like the plague, it can be interesting to hear the conversations the day after the show airs.

After the recent finals I was amused to hear the commentary on Kelly Clarkson's performance of Never Again.

"All she does is scream."

I pulled up YouTube and searched for Kelly's American Idol performance of Never Again.  Interestingly enough, not only was Kelly not screaming, but she seemed to be channeling many of the classic rock vocalists of the last thirty years.

Is this what Idol has done to us?

Have we come to regard godawful performances of pathetic power ballads as the new standard for popular music?

I hope not.

Whether you like Kelly Clarkson or not, you have to admit at least she's trying.

Kelly would be the first to admit Pat Benatar has been a major influence. Here's Pat in a performance from 2005, with that same gravel voice style Kelly is channeling, singing Hell is for Children. No candy ass power ballad there.

I recently blogged about the first true all-female rock band, The Runaways. Thankfully, the Runaways weren't the last. The current torch bearers are The Donnas. A dash of Kiss with a swirl of the Ramones, The Donnas will never be massively popular, not in today's music environment, but they can rock.

The Donnas

Here's a live clip of On The Rocks from a recent Donnas performance.

'til we never have to listen to another American Idol "winner's" Power Ballad

Keep the Adventure Alive,

AT

Kelly Clarkson Gives 'em Hell

Kelly Clarkson, American Idol's standard bearer for true success in the music industry, has apparently ruffled the feathers of the powers-that-be at RCA Records.

Apparently RCA was less than thrilled with the new album Kelly turned in, declaring the songs and the leadoff single "too Pat Benatar".

Kelly's response, "I like Pat Benatar."

I think I like this girl.

They didn't like her answer though, and apparently replied with an ultimatum. "If the first single isn't a smash, you will come back in and re-record part of the album to meet our criteria."

As of this date there is no official release date for "My December" but the first single, Never Again, is out and off to a good start.

I admire Kelly Clarkson for what she has done. She took over her career, fired the Idol management, and made a great second album. Apparently she has a good one cued up for album number three. The leadoff single rocks and it DOES sound like classic Pat Benatar. Since Pat, along with Joan Jett, is part of rock's female royalty, this is a very good thing.

Note to RCA: Shut up.

Note to Kelly Clarkson: Give 'em hell girl.

Help the cause. Buy Kelly's new single from iTunes and tell RCA where they can put it.

'til ROCK musicians are allowed to ROCK make music

Keep the Adventure Alive,

AT

Idle Music

I'm not a fan of American Idol. I've stated that before and my opinion hasn't changed.

In the early episodes my kids love the freaks, so they occasionally drag me in to see the latest loser on the idol train.

You couldn't pay me to watch this glorified tribute to Karaoke in the latter weeks.

If you want a serious music contest, dump all the cheesy covers, theme weeks, and pathetic guest hosts. Give the contestants guitars, make them write songs, and then you have a show.

Top ten single number seven for Kelly Clarkson.

Still, I love music and I am a Billboard junkie. I follow bands on the record charts like others follow sports teams.

American Idol has generated some interesting chart trivia.

Despite the hype, winning is no guarantee for real success in the industry.

Ruben Studdard, Fantasia and Taylor Hicks are all winners that are big time chart losers.

Ruben and Fantasia used their wins to boost their first albums to respectable sales, but their follow ups are way below the gold certification level, have generated no significant airplay, and are genuine flops.

But that doesn't explain Taylor Hicks. Taylor didn't even get that "first album" boost. His album dissapeared almost immediately and the single generated barely a blip on the mediabase airplay monitor. Though it "sold gold" most of that was first week sales and it's rapid decline doesn't speak well for future success on the charts. Of course this may not matter to Taylor, I suspect he would be happy playing the club circuit for the next twenty years, but what it does show is in Idol World, winning means nothing.

Case in point:

Finishers number 2, 3, 4, 6 and 8 of season five have all charted albums in the top ten. The sixth place contestant (Kellie Pickler) has generated two top twenty hits and is ready to pass Taylor in sales, with more on the horizon.

Numbers  2,3 and 8 have all gone top five in Billboard and though none have passsed Taylor in sales (yet), both Katherine and Bucky have top twenty singles to their credit.

Number 4? Well Chris Daughtry has pretty much blown the entire concept out of the water. His album has been camped in the top ten since release, and will easily pass three million in sales with (at least) two major hit singles.

Of course Kelly Clarkson (7 top ten singles) and Carrie Underwood (3 number one singles) both are carrying the winner's banner proudly, but both are pretty mainstream. Kelly is straight up rock-pop, and Carrie is as clean-cut country as you can get. Neither of them is an oddball artist, a fact which will continue to plague Ruben, Fantasia and Taylor. Which radio format plays Taylor's style of music today? Not a knock against Mr. Hicks, but there is none.

Let's talk airplay.

All winners get a boost with single number one. This is a guaranteed top 5, even with no airplay. So what if we take away the first singles for all the winners. How many hits do they have?

For all of you chart rookies, the "Hot 100" is the Big Chart. The Hot 100 is all airplay and sales added together. Other charts are genre charts for a particular format.

Real Idol Hits:

Kelly - Six Hot 100 top ten's.
Ruben - One Hot 100 top ten. Two top ten airplay singles on the R&B charts.
Fantasia - Zero Hot 100 top ten's. Two top ten airplay singles on the R&B charts.
Carrie - Two Hot 100 top ten's. Four top five country airplay singles (three number one's)
Taylor - Zero Hot 100 top ten's. One top twenty airplay on the Mainstream AC genre chart.

Even worse is the marketability of former winners. Kelly Clarkson has had two major concert tours, selling out arenas around the country, but Ruben and Fantasia are already delegated to opening bars and shopping malls. Can you say washed up, already?

What does this mean?

In terms of the ratings, nothing. But it does expose a serious flaw in the concept. If winning means nothing, what's the point in having a contest?

The point is of course the record execs are drooling at the prospect of the gold they can mine with the also-rans. When the show started they were guaranteed a kick start for one artist. Now it's up to five or six, and that beats one every time.

I'll continue to watch the charts and avoid the show, but I will keep my eyes (and ears) open to watch for the real stars and the pretenders.

After all you ain't number one, 'til you're number one on the Billboard Hot 100.

And if you make it to the top of the charts only once, you are guaranteed a spot in the one-hit-wonder Hall of Fame.

'til  America loses it's fascination with Star Search: The Next Generation

Keep the Adventure Alive,

AT