by James R.
Member since:
February 11, 2007

First Tracks Round 2 - So What do you Like?

March 26, 2008 08:43 PM UTC (Updated: March 26, 2008 08:46 PM UTC)
views: 0 | comments: 21

We're a couple of days into Round 2 of First Tracks.   I've sampled a few songs and found the quality level to be pretty high.    Ideally, the winners in this round will be at least somewhat based criteria such as how good the song is, how well does the performance work and is there that something special in the lyrics, singing or instruments that really grabs you.   

 What do I like so far?  

 Well, other than my song Without You:  http://www.gather.com/viewVideo.jsp?id=11821949021862119

 Here are some of my listening notes: 

 Melinda C.  - What If - this song has everything - fine guitar work, solid vocals and a very polished sound

http://www.gather.com/viewVideo.jsp?id=11821949021862189

Jake McClain - Pandora's Box - catchy melody, nice progression in the buildup of the instruments, distinctive lead vocal and guitar doubling the vocal between verses

http://www.gather.com/viewVideo.jsp?id=11821949021862370

Room in Your Heart - Tommy Wallach (and friends) - great song, very cute video and nice vocal tradeoffs between Tommy and a woman vocalist named Ema.  

http://www.gather.com/viewVideo.jsp?id=11821949021862458

 So, what do you like so far? 

Comments: 21

Ryan Nicholas Mar 26, 2008, 9:06pm UTC
This one!

"Holding On To Me" - Ryan Nicholas

http://www.gather.com/viewVideo.jsp?id=11821949021862131
Lyn Owen Mar 26, 2008, 9:31pm UTC
I checked out your choices. Good ones.
Beth H. Mar 26, 2008, 9:35pm UTC
Thanks for the recommendations, James. I hope I get a chance to check them out.
Melinda C. Mar 26, 2008, 10:02pm UTC
Hey James, thanks for posting the great comments about "What If"!!!! Good luck to you in the competition. -Melinda
James R. Mar 26, 2008, 10:12pm UTC
Ryan, good tune. I left my comments on the track. But, what else do you like? :-)
Jamie C. Mar 26, 2008, 11:10pm UTC
All good choices, James. I haven't made it through all the songs yet, but in addition to those you mentioned I liked:

Hangman
It's the singer's voice here. Soothing song.

and I was surprised by how much I liked:

It Keeps Me Going
Not a big fan of southern rock, typically, but really liked this one.

There are lots of good songs in this contest!
June B. Mar 27, 2008, 6:05am UTC
I have quite a few favorites: Give It To Me (Gospel), He's Back (Gospel), Bulletproof (alternative), Baby Don't Need Me (Blues), What If (Blues), Paralyzed (country), Wherever You Are (country), Today (Folk), Believe (folk), Turning Point (pop), Make It (Pop), Embers of Eden (pop), It Keeps Me Going, Room in Your Heart.

Sorry, it would take me forever to link all of these but they're easy enough to find.
ECHO GREY Mar 27, 2008, 9:35am UTC
"You" by Jacob Steele is a fine song with two voices that really shine. If a song grabs you that much with just two vocals and a guitar, you know it will be spectacular with full instrumentation.
I'm behind Jake McClain's "Pandora's Box". It's a fantastic song.
Jake McCain Mar 27, 2008, 12:02pm UTC
Thanks for the plug James! Oh, hey Frick, thanks to you and Susan too. A lot of my favs are already mentioned above. Room in Your Heart is a fav - sounds a little Lennon-Mccartney-ish ala Beatles... very cool. I checked out Tommy W.'s other stuff, definitely very creative, very 'indie' style artist. I think he's doing well independently and will continue to do so, whether or not he wins this. I think the same of Melinda C., State Line Mob (I really like - a band I'd like to see live), I like JakTripa's funk/jazz style. So much of what I like depends on the mood I'm in. Example, "Until You Bleed" by Ian Fitzgerald I like, but I passed over on first listen bc so many ballads out there. a lot of good artist in this. I haven't had a chance to listen to them all though.
Din of zerobridge Mar 27, 2008, 2:49pm UTC
We're zerobridge and you can check us out here if you're into melodic/alternative rock and roll...(always hard to describe yourself!)

http://www.gather.com/viewVideo.jsp?id=11821949021862312
Damien M. Mar 27, 2008, 9:39pm UTC
My Baby Don't Need Me (Sarah Fullen) -- she commands a powerful voice w/ substance to boot. w/ label backing, this shawty could really go places, i see her w/ a Lauryn Hill blend of empowering and provocative.

also fly is the instrumental break in the middle...def a surprise and i'd like to see her be able to have an album produced like that
Jill Lynn A. Mar 27, 2008, 10:22pm UTC
There is some incredible talent in this contest, but I like this one so much I listened to it twice tonight: Not Enough

Others I like are: Bulletproof, Embers of Eden, Hangman, and Today. Sorry, I didn't copy the links, but I left comment on them, so you can find them by clicking on my name.
Anya S. Mar 28, 2008, 12:06am UTC
Hangman is such a super song. The vocals are superb and the music is great. The lyrics show a great writing talent. I sure hope this artist wins--he deserves it. Many others are greatly talented also. Wow, what a line up. By the way, the voting button for Hangman has disappeared--can you find out what happened and see about getting it back. I know he must have lost and is losing lots of votes, as it seems he has a large following. I believe he is actually in first place. I hope Gather will make it up to him.
James R. Mar 28, 2008, 1:28pm UTC
Anne, I just checked and his voting button (for Hangman) is back. I suspect he did an update (in theory not permitted per the rules), since his song is now published to this group, which did not exist until a couple of days after Round 2 started.

By contrast to prior contests such as First Chapters Romance, Gather seems to be playing loose and easy with the rules this time around.

Hangman is good, but with 4000 plus votes, no need to add my vote.
ECHO GREY Mar 28, 2008, 2:28pm UTC
Yeah that rule has been specifically mentioned several times now in all their emails they send too. It kind of sucks because our song has been pushed back 2 pages to the very last page of entrants because of the bands getting reinserted into the contest. As one of the first bands to upload our content, that seems a little unfair, but we're doing just fine so no need to complain. I just hope they don't bend on a larger issue later, when it's more important.
Tommy Wallach Mar 30, 2008, 1:15am UTC
Hey James,

Just wanted to thank you for mentioning me here. I only found it today (I'm an idiot). I'm really excited about how I'm doing in the contest, and can only hope the judges dig me. I think Adam's song is pretty great, too.

Also, as grateful to Gather as I am for putting this together, I think that the rules are super unclear, and that it would be very possible for someone to take advantage of that. Oh well. As Echo Grey said, I can't really complain!

Tommy
James R. Mar 30, 2008, 2:47pm UTC
Tommy, thanks for checking in. Your entry is one of the cases where the votes and quality definitely line up in my book. I think it's good for contestants to network and get to know each other during these contests. There was a lot of mutual benefit from doing so in the First Chapters and Court TV novel contests. The result has really improved my writing.

I wish I'd kicked off this group earlier, but I was somewhat under the weather during Round 1. Good luck to all in these last 2 days of Round 2.
Anya S. Apr 2, 2008, 8:13am UTC
James, in reply to your response on the song Hangman, by Adam ILami, I don't think he did an update. I happen to know for a fact, that his button just disappeared and he contacted Gather by phone and emails, to try to find out what had happened. It took a day for his button to be replaced, so he lost lots of votes. He has many, thanks to loyal fans and LOTS of hard work to expand his fan base, but he really did have a hard time trying to get his voting button back on his video site. Thanks for responding to my post. :)
ECHO GREY Apr 2, 2008, 2:23pm UTC
I know that our voting button was removed in the first days of round one because we posted it to an extra group after the video had already been admitted. I think the same thing happened to State Line Mob as happened to Adam but I can't say for sure what the cause was. Either way, it doesn't appear to have hurt his votes in any way.
James R. Apr 3, 2008, 1:15pm UTC
Congrats to the top 25 who were voted in. It will be very interesting to see which groups / individuals are chosen by the expert panel.

The other contestants should also be proud of their music and willingness to put it out there for folks to hear. I really liked a lot of what I heard and tried to let people know when their music worked for me. It was also good to get the feedback from many other people here on Gather on what they liked.

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