Messageboard

About Billy from Greece: I don't know, and neither do you.

Philharmonic and Mariah (38,663) by Billy from Greece That was an orgasm for the ears. That intro for "#Beautiful", oh my. (Sunday 14 July 2013; 12:03)

"Hero" at Macy's Fourth of July (38,662) by Billy from Greece Did anyone else notice in the bridge of "Hero" the staccato phrasing in the sections "and hold on, and hold on, and hold o-o-on" and then "and there will be tomorro-ow" in the last syllables of each? Amazing. Once more, an aspect of her voice I had not heard before. (Sunday 14 July 2013; 12:01)

"Looking In" live (38,661) by Billy from Greece In tears. (Sunday 14 July 2013; 11:55)

[...] (38,457) by Billy from Greece I really wonder sometimes how easily audiences and fan cultures are manipulated by the media and by the intentions of the entertainment industries. The comments of the recent days really verify this, often disturbing, relation between a "consumer"/fan of an artist and the "functional" presence of the artist in their life. Yes, most of you are not haters, debate over the meaning of lamb versus fan, giving Mariah tough love and so on. Bottom line, and what I see, is no one really cares about Mariah. You care about her marketability. Yes, quality of output determines the level of adoration but to see people getting "off the bandwagon" after a so-called "insulting" remix is beyond juvenile. Not to mention the sickening at this point comparisons between Mariah's suppossedly perfect Mottola days and her failed solo endeavors post-dicorce, not realizing the disgustingly sexist undertones of these comments or failing to acknowledge the economic-cultural-corporation context within which each project was produced. Poor Mariah is unable to do anything by herself. Only master Mottola knew what to do with her. Poor her, only TEOM was the only success she did without him. The level of interpreting circumstances and valuing art and artist versus stock market, commercialization and chart "success" is really embarassing at this point. (Saturday 29 June 2013; 0:01)

Charmbracelet (38,373) by Billy from Greece I've been listening to "Glitter" and "Charmbracelet" lately. The former is really a blockbuster production: the sound is crispy, Mariah's vocal performances are startling, the grooves are banging and the songs are "immediate", namely, they capture your attention right away. On the other hand, "Charmbracelet" may be her most complex work and least accessible album upon first listen. The Rolling Stone review is quite on point saying that overlapping phrases and countermelodies complicate the listening experience, and (immediate) hooks are absent for the most part. While this is a reason why the listening experience feels "muffled", I always thought that it was also because the sound was not properly mixed. "Rainbow" and "Glitter" are pristine 'clear' in terms of sound, whereas "CB" is just too cluttered at times (f.i. "Yours", which really did not translate live), something that, apart from the "walls" of background vocals, has to do with the way the cd was mixed. On the other hand, songs with more basic skeletons, like "Clown", sounded great live. I still have a soft spot for this album, and I just adore "Lullaby" and "Subtle Invitation". (Tuesday 25 June 2013; 21:16)

Re: enwar00 (38,311) by Billy from Greece I was also listening to "Heartbreaker / If You Should Ever Be Lonely" a couple of weeks ago. Awesome interpolation. All of the remixes during the "Rainbow" are a testament to Mariah's remixing brilliance. (Thursday 20 June 2013; 11:07)

Re: nikki (38,261) by Billy from Greece Thanks for the info. (Monday 17 June 2013; 12:47)

"Twister" (38,247) by Billy from Greece I just wanted to say that I love this song so much. Has anyone else noticed that the movie version has slightly different lyrics? (Friday 14 June 2013; 21:30)

TRL 2001 (38,244) by Billy from Greece Does anyone remember when it was made known that Carson Daly after all did know that Mariah would appear "unannounced" on the show? (Thursday 13 June 2013; 23:07)

#Beautiful - making of (38,243) by Billy from Greece "I couldn't take the techno craze." You just gotta love her. (Thursday 13 June 2013; 16:22)

Ballads (38,130) by Billy from Greece Too many exceptional recordings in this field to even start mentioning, but I have to say that "Butterfly" is just too unique, too special. (Sunday 2 June 2013; 11:13)

Re: nikki (38,129) by Billy from Greece I second that. And yes, she did sound gorgeous on the snippets of "Underneath the Stars" and "The Roof" and, generally, on any undubbed "amateur" recording. (Sunday 2 June 2013; 11:12)

Who would have thought? (37,887) by Billy from Greece I mean, literally, did you ever imagine that Mariah would be in the audience and doing an (admittedly reluctant) "standing o" for one of the celebrity performers (let's not name any names) on the American Idol finale? To quote MC, I guess it was one of those awkward moments. (Friday 17 May 2013; 10:21)

Mariah - UK (37,767) by Billy from Greece Why have I always had the feeling that the UK just doesn't "get" Mariah? Like, at all? I was going through some UK reviews regarding "#Beautiful" and one of them characterized the song as a "sensual ballad". Uhm... right, whatever. Not that this is the most representative example, but through the years, the UK press, UK fans or non-fans that I have discussed with, have made - in my opinion - remarks that show how misconceived Mariah is there, both as an artist and personality. (Wednesday 8 May 2013; 23:05)

#Beautiful (37,709) by Billy from Greece Oh my goddess. (Monday 6 May 2013; 15:23)

"Vision of Love" at NARM (37,590) by Billy from Greece Wow. (Friday 19 April 2013; 10:44)

"I Still Believe (The Eve of Soul Remix)" (37,479) by Billy from Greece Does anyone else love the aforementioned remix as much as I do? "I Still Believe" could be such an epic EP. So many remixes, resung, reinterpreted, and completely different from one another. (Monday 25 March 2013; 12:15)

Eloquence (37,190) by Billy from Greece Has anyone seen any interviews by Mariah, especially from the late 1990s? Mariah is one hell of an eloquent person. Her flow of speech, vocabulary and communicative skills are more than impressive. I'll admit that the past few years she appears to have changed her approach in terms of the way she expresses herself, being more reticent, but it is undoubted that Mariah can do some serious talking if she chooses to. (Friday 15 February 2013; 10:08)

Re: Will (37,099) by Billy from Greece If you pay close attention, the "Emotions" album cover also features her right side. It's just flipped horizontally. (Thursday 17 January 2013; 0:10)

Love it (37,059) by Billy from Greece I love that at this point any tv, radio or printed reference to Mariah starts with the following: "With a career spanning more than two decades..." Hell yeah. (Tuesday 8 January 2013; 18:16)

"I'll Be There" (live) (37,016) by Billy from Greece Oh my. Oh my. Oh my. That left me speechless. I've said it before, I'll say it again: Mariah always comes up with new techniques. There is always something I haven't heard from her voice in every new (top) performance. A sidenote (not a negative one, by any means): Trey was awesome as always, but it was the first time I thought his voice sounded "different" (a little deeper) than usual. Awesome, just awesome. (Wednesday 2 January 2013; 10:54)

CTTA (Remix) (live) (37,015) by Billy from Greece Hell yeah. Oh yeah. Now that was something I never expected to hear live and oh my, she did it. Oh yes. (Wednesday 2 January 2013; 10:47)

Mariah and Whitney on Oprah, 1998 (36,697) by Billy from Greece A quick question: the part where all three start laughing about the "diva" issue: does Mariah say "They might not be divas 'o' the day" (a la "Sign O' the Times") or "all the day"? Oh, and yes, "Bring it On Home" boasts some fantastic vocals indeed. (Wednesday 7 November 2012; 22:05)

"Music genres and corporate cultures" (Keith Negus) (36,300) by Billy from Greece "Sony Music Entertainment was, for those in other companies and for ex-staff members who wished to distance themselves from their previous employer, a record company that maintains 'a culture of control' and 'order' and a highly bureaucratic corporation - 'even press releases have to be signed by about seven people'. Sony was described as 'inflexible', a company in which 'people know their place'. It was frequently asserted that staff were motivated to work through 'fear' and 'paranoia'. For a number of observers this was perceived as an environment that had been deliberately fostered by President Tommy Mottola who, in the words of one person, 'instituted a reign of terror and really bootstrapped that company. It worked.' In a profile of how Mottola had 'rebuilt' the corporation, the Los Angeles Times preferred the adjectives 'aggressive', 'abrasive' and 'brash', an approach reflected by Mottola himself." (page 66) (Friday 7 September 2012; 8:05)