recent CD purchases

I still buy CD's because I think the entire body of work conveys the artist's message. Here are some of my more recent purchases and my thoughts on them.

Daughtry - Chris Daughtry - The American Idol hopeful who should have won. It's a great CD, full of the passionate vocals Chris displayed on TV. Definitely one of my favorites. I have the final track, What About Now in my favorite playlist.

Awake - Josh Groban - The voice is still amazing, but this one lacks substance to me. Way more artsy than previous releases, with some interesting collaborations with Ladysmith Black Mambazo, but overall it just doesn't work for me. I find the pieces in Italian on this CD to be annoying, where I found the ones on previous releases to be intriguing.

The Open Door - Evanescence - Amy Lee's voice is still luscious and the lyrics are great, but every track is overproduced. Amy has an incredible vocal range; unfortunately she went Mariah Carey with it. Just because you can hit 5 or more octaves doesn't mean you should do it in every song. The current radio release, You Never Call Me When You're Sober is so different from the rest of the CD it sounds like it's another group entirely.

Coming up next: An Other Cup, the first pop release by Cat Stevens since he changed his name to Yusuf Islam 28 years ago; and Siempre, the latest from the opera group Il Divo.