Love the Rumours comparison with GH- I had thought the same thing...that makes Star-Crossed her Tusk- I think I’ll play this a lot more than I have Tusk...
I played the CD for the first time Sunday morning prior to football. I loved it. What cracks me up is that Kacey is ostensibly a `country' artist. This isn't even remotely country. What it is is gorgeous pop ear-candy. Only track I wasn't crazy about is the closing Spanish-language song.....
I loved Golden Hour on the first spin. I also really enjoyed her previous efforts...but GH...simply WOW. Based upon GH I really wanted to see her in concert...which I did...and that left me pretty underwhelmed. I've played this one four times now, and it is doing absolutely nothing for me. IMHO nothing stands out. I will agree that the "sound" is very nice...nothing really objectionable...but also nothing much more than elevator music. My hope is that in the future she drops some of the diva attitude and plasticy glamour and goes back to ruminating from the front porch and coming up with something worthwhile both lyrically and musically.
I’ve flip flopped on this one. I can’t decide if I really enjoy it, or I’m left completely uninvigorated by it, outside of a few moments.
So do you think Kacey Musgraves was nude doing her first song 'Justified' on SNL last night? Or just hype for the new album! Kacey Musgraves Bares All In Powerful 'Justified' Performance on 'SNL' https://twitter.com/KaceyMusgraves/...ied-performance-on-saturday-night-live-173190
She has evolved away from country, but most of the new album definitely has country roots, much more so than Golden Hour. Stripped down to the bones it could've been a shift back to country. Still enjoying it.
Now if the camera would have shown a 36o view of Kacey during that Justified performance, that would have been something interesting and bold. Seemed like she really did it half arsed (no pun intended). ♥ your avatar, is that from the Black and Blue era?
Some interesting thoughts about her opening night concert: Kacey Musgraves’ Star-Crossed Tour: Best Moments From Opening Night – Billboard
I’d like to see Kacey live but at age 60 ( this Sunday) I’m done with arena tours... Looking forward to my next 2 small venue shows at Seattle’s Neptune Theatre: Makaya McCraven and Sarah Jarosz.
I bought the CD yesterday - my wife and I then went for a drive listening to it. I’m very happy with my investment, though it is different to Golden Hour, which may end up being one of my favourite albums ever, due to the lyrics and overall ‘sound-world’. It is entertainment for me - I’m happy with the songwriting and production. She is trying new things and I’m glad about that - an artist should draw on whatever tools they need to as part of their expression.
I have to say this album has grown on me a lot. My HMV Red vinyl pressing sounds great, and I spin it quite often when I want a more laidback listen. Golden Hour is still my favourite, but I glad I gave this more of a chance.
I'm ready for her to do something new. I like Star-Crossed. It's not a great album. It's honest, though, and very well produced. The nice production stretches it's listenability. This is a rainy day album. It's been storming on and off all day here. The songs are perfect soundtrack material.
Our first (and so far only) time seeing Kacey (my spouse is KC) was in St. Paul! It was after she cancelled Chicago during the Polar Vortex back in 2019. We had tix to that show and even went out to dinner that night as planned. Vortex be damned! It was while at dinner that I said we should go see her that weekend in St. Paul as our son was at UofMinn. So, double duty! We got tix on the spot. She was amazing. This was right before the grammy nomination and she was the most personable performer I'd ever seen. It was clear that seeing her in St. Paul was very different than a show in Chicago would have been. The audience was so involved and way more country than city. That article totally took me back. (I probably already told this story in another thread so sorry for the repeat!)
I enjoyed Star-Crossed, but I don’t think it came anywhere near the brilliance of Golden Hour. I had never really been a fan, but bought Golden Hour solely on the strength of her two SNL performances....Something I NEVER do! As stated above, her SC performances were just....meh.
A bit of hyperbole there. Do music listeners of classic country really think she is the equivalent or better than the likes of, say, Bobbie Gentry? I have seen so many references to her being considered the savior of female country and I find most of that has to do with the group of people in the studio that appear to do most of the heavy lifting. Aside from that, lyrically, what I've read comes off as fairly generic recycled material indistinguishable from early Shania Twain or, say, the Civil Wars. Which is to say fine and enjoyable, but a revelation? I mean no disrespect, but I genuinely feel people nowadays (in these times of unabashed hyperbole with lavished praise in excess) may just have low standards for what makes a genre-defining generational talent. Surely we have fallen from such great heights to label newer artists as already being towering figures on the level of the giants of storytelling of yesteryear. I listened to Star-Crossed and my ears were left bleeding from the terrible compressed production. While I know it wasn't a fair representation of her capabilities, perhaps I just don't hear the revelatory once-in-a-generation talent all these magazine labels have dubbed her but rather just a moderately talented singer-songwriter who seems to be as often praised for her photogenic looks as her actual songwriting. The creativity you hear on Bobbie Gentry's albums is so diverse and spellbinding and I just don't hear that on modern country pop albums that are almost all limited to three-minute tunes following a basic verse-chorus-verse song structure. Enjoyable, yes. Mind-blowing, no.
Interesting that this thread fizzled out after 8 pages. Reflects my enthusiasm for the album compared to her other work