○●●●●DO YOU like musicals?
Are you a fan of John Barrowman?
No, I'm not questioning anybody's sexuality, the reason I ask is 'entertainer' John Barrowman's self-titled new album sees the 'personality' covering a selection of songs from the shows.
There are covers of tracks from Copacabana, Cats, Jersey Boys, Mamma Mia! and more - although the only cover I'd like to see here is the final curtain fall.
Because these overproduced, pointless recordings are so cheesy they should come with a warning for the lactose intolerent - you can visualise Barrowman's smug face churning these out in the studio as you listen.
So basically, if you like musical theatre and Barrowman's smug face, this is the album for you.
It would be nice to see an actual review of the album, rather than your pointless bias. You also come across as slightly homophobic.
ReplyDeleteWhat a pity you haven't written a real review. I'm also assuming you haven't actually listened to any of this album, because if you had you wouldn't be making such ridiculous personal comments.
ReplyDeleteYes I do like musical theatre and yes I do like John Barrowman's face (although I can think of more appropriate adjectives, such as "handsome"). I also appreciate a very fine singing voice, so this is definitely the album for me.
Your dislike of John Barrowman has clouded your judgement.Your profile states that you are a multi media journalist I think that you ought to change that to homophobic,talentless, hack.
ReplyDeleteI refer you to my last.fm profile, accessible from the button on the right, as proof of me actrually having listened to the album.
ReplyDeleteI respect your opinions on the music, but making allegations of hommophobia, which are completely unfounded, under anonymous postings is pretty poor.
Homophobic or not? Only you can answer that. But this isn't an album review, it's just a thinly veiled attempt to slam John Barrowman. Don't like his music, fine but don't slam his personality. Do you know him? Have you met him? I do and I have and he's not smug at all. Besides have you ever tried singing and looking smug at the same time?!
ReplyDeleteSo, you don't like musical theatre, and you don't like John Barrowman. So why the heck did you bother to review the album! I mean you don't need to be an Einstein to work out that you'd hate it!
ReplyDeleteI am sorry to say Issac that I cannot class your snide piece as a serious critique. Perhaps you would like to take a look at the write up in this link
ReplyDeletehttp://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/mb6m
Having actually been lucky enough to hear the whole album having had an advance copy for a couple of weeks there is nothing whatsoever cheesy about this album (unlike the previous 2 I admit). The arrangements are fabulous, John carries them off beautifully and shows as with his earlier solo recordings (Swings COle Porter and Reflections from Broadway) what a top notch performer of musical theatre songs he really is. So you don't like John Barrowman or musical theatre fair enough, we can't all like the same things nor should we but at least review the thing properly rather than just bitch..or have you not actually heard it yet? I would suggest not.
ReplyDeleteAs I said previously, you may look at my Last.FM profile to verify that I actually listened to the album.
ReplyDeleteThat point aside, tracks like One Night Only, Memory, Copacabana etc are relentlessly cheesy by their very nature, no matter how glossy the production is.
And the point I make is not that the album is necessarily poor - just that it's a pointless exercise.
"the point I make is not that the album is necessarily poor"
ReplyDeleteSo why say its, by your definition, one of the worst albums you've heard? 1 star = Worst according to your ratings!
I agree with Sue, the album is the best thing he's done since Swings Cole Porter (which by the way was a hit on the US Jazz billboard chart before he became famous).
And your comments about 'smug face' were uncalled for. It was basically a very poor piece of journalism.
"no, I'm not questioning anybody's sexuality"
ReplyDeleteWhat on earth does sexuality have to do with reviewing an album?
As soon as you comment on the performer, making nasty and unnecessary personal remarks, you lose all credibility as a reviewer. Very poor. No stars for this review.
ReplyDeleteYes, I love musical theatre, and yes I love John Barrowman's wonderful voice. Maybe if you'd just stuck to reviewing the album instead of making snide remarks, I might have respected your opinion. I certainly can't when there's that pointless reference to someone's sexuality and the sniffy comments about John being an "entertainer" and a "personality".
ReplyDeleteYou may have played the CD, but I doubt that you've actually listened to it, and no amount of references to your "profile" on Last.FM will change my view on that.
I'm only doing this as anonymous, because I can't get this site to accept my email account details.
Sally
This album is the very definition of cheesy. And the barrowman army would have more credibility if they linked to a review that critiqued him in a negative but what they consider to be an acceptable way, instead of clearly just liking positive reviews and attacking anyone who doesn't like the album.
ReplyDeleteNot everyone likes barrowman. It doesn't matter.
"instead of clearly just liking positive reviews and attacking anyone who doesn't like the album."
ReplyDeleteIf you actually read the comments, most people aren't attacking people who don't like the album per se, but rather the unecessary personal remarks like 'smug face', and the irrelevant reference to sexuality, which underminds the whole review. If the reviewer just wrote, as he now claims what he meant to say, that he was not a fan of musical theatre, and considered such songs by their very nature to be cheesy, that the album was not necesarily poor but was overproduced, and would probably only appeal to lovers of that style of music, then I doubt there would have been this backlash. I personally didn't like everything on Barrowmans last album, and think this one is much better. My partner absolutely loved the last album and a friend hated it. It's whats known as diverse musical tastes. Constructive criticism is OK, personal attacks aren't.
I would like to say that John Barrowman does have a very smug face. Just saying.
ReplyDeleteAlso if you don't like a review but you like the album, fine, just ignore the review and get on with liking the album.
There is no point in attacking someone just because they don't like something you like. That's just bleeding stupid.
This album is the worst kind of talentless, overproduced drivel I've ever heard.
ReplyDeleteOf course Barrowmans face is smug, cashing in on other people's musical flair would anyone smug!!!