Guilty Pleasures

[bhodges]

I remember when it first came out, it was reviewed in the pages of Gramophone, where the reviewer was somewhat a loss for words!

I heard this again recently and thought it was pretty good!  (I like it better than most of the "pop" recordings done by classical singers.)  I'm very mixed about Streisand: when she's good she's incredible, but when she's not so good it's usually because the songs are not so great and/or the arrangements are bloated beyond belief.  But as time has passed since this recording was released (and I recall all the negative comments) it actually might be one of her better efforts.  (Not to be confused with thinking that hers are the best versions of these pieces. ) 

--Bruce

[Bogey]

I'm very mixed about Streisand: when she's good she's incredible, but when she's not so good it's usually because the songs are not so great and/or the arrangements are bloated beyond belief.  

--Bruce

Especially when people drop the later on your doorstep.

[bhodges]

 

--Bruce

[Joe Barron]

I have the Classical Barbra album. I always liked it, but I thought the selections rather too much the same. Ms. Streisand has a sense of humor, and I would have loved to hear her do some Ives. I can imagine the good time she's have with the two "Memories."

We're sitting in the opera hourse, the opera house, the opera house ...

She'd be perfect.

[bhodges]

What an inspired idea, Joe!  You should drop her publicist a line, suggesting it.  I would never have thought of Ives and Streisand in the same breath, but that could really work quite well. 

--Bruce

[Joe Barron]

She's also be fun in "The Circus Band March," "The Greatest Man" and "The Se'er," and she'd probably do a lovely job with softer lyrics like "Children's Hour" and "The Light That Is Felt." But who among her fans would pay to hear Ives? I'm afraid the project wouldn't be commercial enough to suit her. 

But if you want to contact her people, I'd back you up. 

[snyprrr]

PEOPLE!!!

Barry Manilow singing XMass is a guilty pleasure, not Cheap Trick.

Florence Foster Jenkins is a guilty pleasure, not Mario Lanza.

William Shatner is NOT a guilty pleasure, Pat Boone singing metal IS.

If you can recite "The Safety Dance", then you're just guilty.

But did you notice NO ONE picked anything like the stuff we indulge ourselves in everyday. Pettersson, Langgaard...the kinds of things Robert Layton would look down on you for (no attack, just trying to make a point).

I guess I realized what my guilty pleasure is:

GERALD FINZI

His music makes me feel like a little gurl (say it with a German accent...please!). When I was drunk and weeping over lost love I would put on Finzi and cry. It's just...so...pretty,... I f-feel embarassed b-by it's emotions,....ah...ahhhhhh.....

ok, I feel better now. So,... where was I? Oh, yes...someone said "why should you feel guilty?" Well, that just goes to show where we're at today, when good old fashioned shame has been turned on its heel into some kind of glory. But then, did anyone reallly find anything embarassing about what the previous posters offered?

How can you NOT like "Surrender" by Cheap Trick, one of the greatest anthems...of all time (cue Ali)? If you had said "You're the Inspiration" by 1980s Chicago...ok, that I understand.  THAT's embarassing.

I always said Vanilla Fudge and Iron Butterfly were guilty pleasures, but no,...THEY were guilty pleasures, but me liking them was simply me acknowledging that there was no other more over the top (next to Zappa) example of the decadence of the times.

For the same reason I LOVE really really cheezy 70s exploitation flicks like DOLEMITE!...not because of the movie, but because of the COLLARS!!! Who here is guilty? (me ) cause you was all some stupid lookin folks back then, sucka!

Is PLAN NINE FROM OUTER SPACE a guilty pleasure? NO...it is a document of the times, and one came gleam great amounts of sociological insight into different recent eras by their cheapy cheap cheaps.

However, any grown man with a crush on Kelly Clarkson should feel guilty....oh,... did I say that out loud?

If I said my favorite song was "You Spin Me Right Round" (uh, the ORIGINAL)...THAT would be a guilty pleasure (apparently it's been redone as a "tough" song that all the "tough" kids like, ah if they only knew...but then..."I HAVE your children").

No, I like all the right stuff. I did my research, threw out the trash...I have nothing to feel guilty for (musically...as far as this thread is concerned...whew, I'm getting defensive).

COME ON PEOPLE. LET'S FIND SOME REAL GUILT OUT THERE!!!

Porno Quartets count.

[The new erato]

I always said Vanilla Fudge and Iron Butterfly were guilty pleasures, but no,...THEY were guilty pleasures,

I still love the Fudge!

[not edward]

When I think of musical guilty pleasures, I think of something like Saint-Saens' 3rd symphony: yeah, at times it's about as subtle as a thermonuclear explosion but when I hear a performance like the BSO/Munch, who cares?

[Guido]

Very glad that you like Finzi... He's my favourite of the 20th century English minor masters. Something very honest and good about his music as well as it being about as 'pretty' and beautiful as English music got.

[imperfection]

I love the 1812 overture.

[Diletante]

I love the 1812 overture.

Me too, but I don't count that as a guilty pleasure.

My guilty pleasure is West Side Story's "I feel pretty".

[snyprrr]

I think of guilty pleasures as the music you turn off when the phone rings.

That's funny !

Oops!...someone left the cake out in the rain...

[david johnson]

i'm guilty of finding great pleasure in madonna singing 'hanky panky'.

dj

[starrynight]

I don't have any guilty pleasures, I'm proud of everything I like.  Why should I feel guilty?  Because it doesn't match up to what someone else says is good, and I have to please them?  Why should I care?

[mahler10th]

I have a guilty pleasure in trashing silly country western music, and jazz.  And I am definitely guilty, for I cannot stand either and avoid them in every sense, and I trash them at any opportunity  When I hear them being played, I take great pleasure in running the listener down for listening to such nonsense, ESPECIALLY country western.   

[Mirror Image]

I have a guilty pleasure in trashing silly country western music, and jazz.  And I am definitely guilty, for I cannot stand either and avoid them in every sense, and I trash them at any opportunity  When I hear them being played, I take great pleasure in running the listener down for listening to such nonsense, ESPECIALLY country western.   

I did not read this....I did not read this....I did not read this....if I keep telling myself this, I won't leave a comment that will not only upset the moderators, but you and all of mankind in the process. 

[greg]

I did not read this....I did not read this....I did not read this....if I keep telling myself this, I won't leave a comment that will not only upset the moderators, but you and all of mankind in the process. 

The "country" (assuming it's popular country played on the radio) part is understandable, but Jazz...? 

[mahler10th]

Yes Jazz too.
I am very sorry about it, but I even wrestle with listening to classical music which has been 'influenced' by Jazz, which in the most part are good, but I believe Jazz should be Jazz for Jazzers.  I am not (by far) a jazzer.  Classical Music should influence Jazz, not the other way round.
I would shake hands profoundly with Bruno Walter if I could.  He felt the same.

[offbeat]

I feel guilty listening to Scriabin - most of his music is all ecstasy and feel i should not enjoy this but i do