FCA recommends...DCAT SONGS...

[Claygasm]

And since I don't want to get in trouble or anything...(shut up BW!) here are the two recommendations I have for These Open Arms. Just add them to CG's when she gets hers done. I did them awhile ago so I can't remember why I liked them. Hee.

1. Houston --- SecretlyLovesClay

2. SterlingHeights --- canfly172 from 0:15 to 3:31

*whew* I feel cleansed.

And there may be a teeeny bitty wait..........

(And jamar - I am glad you found which ones you liked cause I think I may have accidently erased your PM telling me which ones they were.....)

[atinal]

My recommendations for Growing Pains and Different Strokes

I think luckiest said this on main but I'm going to agree that it is much more difficult to rate songs in the middle of a medley than to do a full length song. I'm also going to agree with Keepingfaith, that since my 2 songs were right together, usually if one was good so was the other. I too, noticed the consistency with which the songs were sung night after night by all 3 singers. Sometimes my ratings were affected by the orchestra or crowd noise or Clay speaking (trying to get the crowd to guess the names of the shows) but the songs were always sung well. And honestly, the Clack gatherers are getting so good at this, it makes picking "best of's" a lot harder But here are my picks.

One and two are so close, I kept listening back and forth, for placement, they are almost interchangeable, but I did finally decide.

1. 070804 LA TV Medley Scarlett audio

2. 070802 San Diego TV Medley Spotlightlover audio

3. 070811 Ashville TV Medley Invisible 926 MP3

4. 070816 Ft. Myers Scarlett Contest & TV Medley MP3

luckiest, did you say that you could snip the recommended songs? I have no idea how to do that.

[luckiest1]

Yes, I am adding the mp3s as the recommendations come in, and I am clipping each piece of the medley out. I also have added a couple of the most popular full medley mp3s for those that prefer them.

[jamar1700]

I am glad you found which ones you liked cause I think I may have accidently erased your PM telling me which ones they were.....

Well I found them in my PM box, which I only clean out when I absolutly have to.

[ldyjocelyn]

Because You Loved Me

This was interesting to rate. Clay had problems, IMO, both with voice and lyrics, during some of the early shows, although he got more consistent in her performance as the tour went along. Then, the later shows, there was a major crowd noise problem – “gotta get out the glowsticks!” Also, this seemed to be a good song for audience members to sing along – understandable, since many feel it’s a love song to him as much as it can be considered his love song to US. But unfortunately, it also affected the clack!

However, before I even started listening, I pretty much knew what show I was going to pick as number one – Orlando. I’m a sentimentalist, and his banter and performance seemed so heartfelt to me. This is also one show where he played with the phrasing a bit during the song, which I personally liked. My pick for this show (and my top pick) is 070819_Orlando_ThankYou&BYLM_spotlightlover. Pretty good overall sound, and while there is crowd noise during the first verse, it’s tolerable. If you’re like me, someone who loves to hear him talk, I’d leave the banter.

Choice number two is 070810_Cary_BYLM_LauraQ. The sound on this clip is incredibly crisp, and there isn’t much crowd noise either. IMO there is one or two rough notes from Clay, though. If you’re NOT a sentimentalist, I would probably suggest this as my first choice.

Choice number three is 070728_Newark_BYLM_Scarlett. The sound seems a little dull/bassy to me, but NO crowd noise in this one. There’s also no banter to clip, but it’s got the complete song.

One runner-up, because it’s a fun performance without silliness: 070817_Tampa_BYLM-SlowandEasy&Scarlett. Two other honorable mentions for totally silly reasons are 070725_Gilford_BYLM_LonelyNoMore44 (where “the bugs” get as much credit at the end as Q, A, Jesse, Sean and the orchestra), and 070818_WPB_BYLM_jtgranny (where Clay adlibs “except for that one night” after the line “never let me fall.”) The sound quality on these three clips is passable, but it depends on taste whether you want silly or not!

WOOHOO!!!! I got done before couchie!!! No sporking for me!!!

[Couch Tomato]

not only did you beat me..but I lost my post I was working on for my recommendations..grrrrrrrrrr

[Guest Toots]

not only did you beat me..but I lost my post I was working on for my recommendations..grrrrrrrrrr

[Claygasm]

not only did you beat me..but I lost my post I was working on for my recommendations..grrrrrrrrrr

Oooooooo! Good one!!

Yeah, that's the ticket!

I lost my post too and it may take me a looooooooooong time to reconstruct it!!!!

[Couch Tomato]

Let's try this again.

My song was I WANT TO KNOW WHAT LOVE IS

OMG, this was not easy. Why? Because there is so much goodness to be found each and every night- there were differences in how he sang it almost every single night. You had the duets with Quiana. You had the duets with Angie. You had the serious, the passionate, the silly. You had it sung straight. You had the runs and riffs etc. Once I got it down to ten or so it became extremely difficult. And it turns out that my favorite one of all, vocally, has no good clack so I can't even recommend it. grrrrrrr. Unless Scarlett is sitting on something we don't know about eek. Anyway, I have a feeling, with this song, more than any other my recommendation wil be quite meaningless. heh. Why? Cuz this one depends on what YOU like because the renditions are different yet all all good. Claygasm and I have been going back and forth on who is the best. I love Quiana. She loves Ang. And when I listened to every single version, yep, I leaned more to Quiana. What I noticed listening to all the songs is that when Clay sang with Angela it became more of a contest with vocal gymnastics and lots of riffs and runs. They challenge each other. To me that's fun to watch, not ncessarily to listen to on audio when you don't know what's going on.

Anyway, here are my recommendations:

Houston - Scarlett (audio): w/Quiana:

To me this is a pefect, straight rendition. They both sound great on the song. The audience is properly appreciative in places. I love Quiana's simple yeah yeah yeah yeah and all three of them with the ooooh at the end. I noticed that the orchestra is beautiful to my ears on this version. Simply beautiful

Newark - Scarlett (audio) w/Angie:

My favorite of the Angie duets. Lots of challenging vocals and fun and audience appreciation. It's definitely live. heee Clay has some good riffs. There good time comes through...and he totally got into "you wanna feel." at Angie but got back into the song right on beat. Lots of fun riffs at the end. (after the song Clay said he got the spirit, might have been gas - and he does the riffs sometimes to cover when he messes up...very funny but guess it needs to be clipped)

Orlando - Scarlett (audio) w/Angie and Quiana -- I couldn't resist this one although it has almost everything I can't stand in audio. Lots of laughing because Clay was a riot trying to figure out who was singing with him. Turns out both. When I listened to the audio, before I had seen any video..I just knew he had pointed out Quiana and Angie on Heartache and Pain. Too funny. That wall of sound with the three of them is just undeniable. The ending is chock full of showboating.

Honorable Mention:

Tulsa - spotlightlover (audio) w/Quiana - because when I got all the way to the end this one still standing .... there was a yell out to Clay at the start of the song, but the audience just seems so into it and it's quite passionate IMO.

Gilford - lonelynomore (audio) w/Quiana: This is my favorite vocal rendition. Unfortunately the clack is "muddy" and the only other version of the song comes in full concert audio and it's even worse so I can't really recommend it. But take a listen. They were wailing and singing their asses off. Clay did some stuff on this version he didn't do in any other.

Pala - spotlightlover audio w/Angie Clay's voice is a little rought but rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrroarrrrrrrrrrr I love it anyway. Sounds sexy and he's putting everything into it. some high and deep voiced Clay riffs If you want total vocal perfection - don't bother with this one. he might have even choked on a note heee.

Like I said I enjoyed them all..loved the yodel in Pala..loved Angie in LA...she tore the roof off..just don't think you can go very wrong with this song once you rule out forgotten words, missed cues, bad orchestras, etc.

BWAH..Nice try Claygasm!!

[Bookwhore]

I've been avoiding this thread. I half expected to peek in here and see carnage and bloody footprints, various implements of torture and people hanging in chains.

Thanks, y'all for all your hard work and sleepless nights. I'm confused....have some songs been rated by more than one person, or is there an overlap?

[FearofH2O]

This is pretty sad that it took me so long to listen to BEAT IT. Can I blame the fact that its just before OPPOSITES ATTRACT? I swear I can not just listen.

Anyway Clay was pretty consistent on this song. So I used the video with the best sound as well as the best orchestral sounds.

#1 Tulsa Laura Q. This had the best mix of Clay's voice and the orchestra.

#2 Frisco Solo and Scarlett. Good sound and growly Clay.

#3 Asheville ClayIzzaQT Very clear sound.

#4 Pala spotlightlover.

[muskifest]

Just because I said I would, I'll leave the basics but will be adding comments and more particulars later.

MOAM

I'm going to give my uncontested recommendation for the MOAM that includes some interesting changeups---ones that, in my opinion, enhance the song. It's KNOXVILLE. Now I need to tell you that for all the venues I listened to Scarlett's clack first...I'm not sure who else out there has MOAM clack for Knoxville, but I didn't listen to it. I'm looking at my notes I scribbled while listening and although they make sense to me, I doubt I can make them meaningful to you. But he changed emphasis on syllables or shifted notes on different words in such a wonderful way in this version. I LOVE it.

But the clincher was at the end..."Is that, Is that, Is that." Then there seemed to be a moment of total silence into which flowed---seemingly all alone and beautiful---THE VOX..."how you measure a man"...

Beautiful.

For the 'traditional' delivery of the song---without many or any changeups---I'm still whittling them down. I CAN say that I'll be choosing between the CA and FLA ones...because:

Houston: audience laughter and some chick screaming out "I still love you"...then he did the ending too soon and there was more laughing.

Tusla: lovely beginning 'oooooh'...a little coughing somewhere, rich low notes but seemed a bit hoarse at the end.

Philly: haven't listened to the WHOLE song...my download cuts off just a few seconds into the song. need to try again.

Syracuse: need to listen to some more...my notes say he was late coming in to the 'oooo' at the beginning..

Canandaigua---listened to jojoct's...good sound quality although there was audience talking at the beginning. This was the first time he did the 'round and around' addition...very sweet ending...but a strange (to me) reach for a a change up in 'worth" that didn't work.

Columbus: lots of background noise/audience talking in xxx's clip and katt's only came through in my right speaker!

CA Four Fer---I'll comment on those later.

Asheville: interesting version, actually...the audience had to 'oooooh' at his low notes, though and that interrupts stuff. His low notes ARE to die for in this one, though. I do believe I detected some grunts from the man, as well, that are yummy.

Knoxville: see above--- I LOVE this version.

Atlanta: I thought his voice sounded sorta nasally here.

Sterling Heights: I need to find a good download because djh's clip crashed on me halfway through! Gotta try again.

Gilford--my notes say 'sound is wavy, goes in and out'

FLA Four Fer---I'll comment on these later...

zzzzzzzz I'm off to bed. 'night! :F_05BL17blowkiss:

Edited October 1, 2007 by muskifest

[jmh123]

Lover All Alone

What a musical gem this song is! The orchestration is simple, quiet, and elegant, with so many beautiful small touches throughout. The melody is simple, but freaking hard to sing. I've never noticed so many flat notes from Clay before! The other surprise is how many fantastic recordings I had to ditch because of someone chatting or coughing throughout the song. The hush wasn't as hushed as I expected. Still, every performance is amazing, there was no version with good sound quality that wasn't special, and the sound quality of all of these recordings is fantastic.

These two are virtually interchangeable:

1. 070720_Chautauqua_LAA_jojoct

This version is marred by only one thing, but for some it will be a deal-breaker. There's a moment of mike feedback right at the beginning that's jarring. Still, Clay hits all those high notes (which he doesn't always do), the orchestra so clear and vivid, you can clearly hear all the different instruments, the high violin "descant" (don't know if that's an orchestra word or just a choir word) is gorgeous, and the cello has an incredible tone and richness.

2. 070805_Indio_LAA_spotlightlover

There's some talking at the beginning, even after he starts singing, and at a later quiet spot, some shushing. The cello is fantastic. Clay hits all the notes, his voice is a little gruff on the first "can be," which isn't a bad thing. There's an effortless sound to most of the high notes, and this version feels particularly emotional.

#3 and #4 are pretty much interchangeable as well:

3. 070816_FortMyers_LAA_Scarlett

Clay sounds good on the high notes. There's a bit more of a pop sound to his voice on this version that's unique. The orchestration isn't as clear as it is in the top 2, but the cello sounds really good.

070816_FtMyers_LAA_bearcat has excellent sound as well.

4. 070812_Knoxville_Banter-LAA_stacia

This is a quiet version, quiet crowd. His voice is wonderful, a little gruff on "can be" but on key. The cello has one particularly loud note that jars a bit about mid-way through the song.

sentimental favorites:

5. 070719_Canandaigua_LAA_jojoct - You can hear the torrential rain throughout, amazing concert moment.

6. 070706_Houston_LAA_Solo&Scarlet - Clay's performance isn't up to par yet, but this is one of the early and oh so vulnerable performances. The orchestra is magnificent. With a quiet crowd like this song creates and a professional orchestra like this one, it become so obvious what amazing things our clack gatherers can do.

Honorable mention: 070717_Philadelphia_LAA_Invisible926, 070728_Newark_LAA_Scarlett, 070811_Asheville_LAA_Invisible926, 070810_Cary_27_LAA_4192spooky

[Claygasm]

And since I don't want to get in trouble or anything...(shut up BW!) here are the two recommendations I have for These Open Arms. Just add them to CG's when she gets hers done. I did them awhile ago so I can't remember why I liked them. Hee.

1. Houston --- SecretlyLovesClay

2. SterlingHeights --- canfly172 from 0:15 to 3:31

*whew* I feel cleansed.

Ok, so I missed midnight here on the east coast, but I am now ready to add my two choices for TOA to the much more punctual jamar's!

Cary - TLS - This is video. so luckiest1, can you or someone else rip the audio??? This was just recently added to the vault si there is one good thing about procrastinating! I really like this one.

Tampa - Scarlett - despite the snicker in the begininng. It might be nice to cut off the little bit he has doing with Angela in the first 10 seconds or so.

No profound reason for choosing these except I thought his voice sounded the best and the sound quality was good. I wanted to choose spot's from Pala because the sound quality was superb, but unfortunately, Clay sounded quite strained and raspy. I almost chose dlh7777's from Indio over Tampa, but I thought his overall vocal quality was better in Tampa.

There was no clack of TOA from Atlanta (in fact very little clack overall from Atlanta) and in Asheville he broke up and didn't even sing the first verse - the audience had to. In Ft. Myers there was lots of cracking up by Clay in the beginning and the audience at various points throughout and he was again cracking up too much in the beginning in Knoxville and Orlando. West Palm was also very close, but the clack was pretty echoey.

So there you have it. I have been saved from sporking!!!!

And even after listening to TOA over and over and over and over, I still LOVE that song!

[jamar1700]

1. Houston --- SecretlyLovesClay

2. SterlingHeights --- canfly172 from 0:15 to 3:31

Cary - TLS - This is video. so luckiest1, can you or someone else rip the audio??? This was just recently added to the vault si there is one good thing about procrastinating! I really like this one.

Tampa - Scarlett - despite the snicker in the begininng. It might be nice to cut off the little bit he has doing with Angela in the first 10 seconds or so.

Ummm forgot to mention that CG and I split the concert list in two. I took the first half and CG reviewed the second half and we each picked our top two. So amongst the four there are just two number ones and two runners up.

jmh & I had nothing like that worked out for ETYGA. We both listened to any and all choices. I'm psyched that 3 of our top 4 were the same.

Nice working with you ladies :F_05BL17blowkiss:

the much more punctual jamar's!

Daddy always said...If your 5 minutes early your 10 minutes too late.

*gag*

Really. The only reason I wasn't skating in under the wire (which is my usual style) was that I knew I had 2 others to do. Truth be told it took me the first 2 weeks to get the TOA's done, another week to get the PS done and I didn't even start the ETYGA until Saturday. Hee. All in all I thought this was a fun project and like CG I still love the songs! Can't wait to get started downloading and listening to everyone's number ones. I should be done by Christmas! *g*

Edited October 1, 2007 by jamar1700

[luckiest1]

Cool, more recommendations. I have added them to the FCA Media page but I'll have to work on getting the mp3s up and linked later on tonight. If you want to go check things out and let me know if I have yours right (because sometimes I find it hard to decipher what order things are supposed to go in) please have a look here and let me know of any changes.

[Ansamcw]

OMG we are almost done!!!!

great job everybody...I will be downloading later and creating my ultimate CD. It will be interesting to see what people ended up choosing and adding to their final list.

WOW...Kandre ..the sporking threat worked pretty well I should say.

looking forward to the next tour!!!

[atinal]

Cool, more recommendations. I have added them to the FCA Media page but I'll have to work on getting the mp3s up and linked later on tonight. If you want to go check things out and let me know if I have yours right (because sometimes I find it hard to decipher what order things are supposed to go in) please have a look here and let me know of any changes.

Luckiest, that looks really great. I love the way you set it up. It's nice too that people have some choice for picking their favorite versions and customizing their own "ultimate" CD. Thanks for all the work you've put into this. I'm looking forward to putting mine together. I guess I should thank KAndre too for cracking the whip, or should I say spork, to keep us all focused.

[Couch Tomato]

Hey Lucky, what about adding the link to this page somewhere in case people are interested in knowing why these songs were chosen. I'm enjoying reading the details. What do you think.

[luckiest1]

Sure, I can do that tonight as well.

I'm listening to all the "best of"s that I loaded to my iPod over the weekend and I'm hoping to whittle it down to one or two per song, based on the recommendations here. It will be so awesome to have a kick-ass "best of" verison of the whole show! But it's not complete yet.....we are still missing a few songs.

[muskifest]

Hey, the pay looks great! I just want to remind you that I'm not finished with my MOAM rankings. AT ALL! I just haven't been able to do them. Basically, all I can say at this point is:

1. For a MOAM that's different from the traditional delivery---that has changeups and different approaches to the melody, nothing can beat KNOXVILLE.

2. For the best traditionally delivered MOAM---that is, the melody is true to the original with minimal changeups---that has strong vocals, good sound quality and minimal audience noise, I'll be choosing from the California and Florida shows. Especially the Florida ones. He was ON in those last concert appearances and his voice was the star. It's really going to be hard to rank them!

[luckiest1]

That's ok, muski. I will just leave Knoxville by Scarlett up as your top pick for now, and once you have finalized more I can add them.

[jmh123]

jmh & I had nothing like that worked out for ETYGA. We both listened to any and all choices. I'm psyched that 3 of our top 4 were the same.

It was cool. Since this song was dumped before the tour was 1/2 way over, it was easier to get through. I kept thinking I'd PM her, and one night I just listened to them all and made a preliminary list, so when she posted hers I thought, heck, I want to compare, so I made my list without looking at hers. I especially like that our reccy's were close, because I've kept a running list of recommendations I've seen elsewhere, and I find I just don't agree with them, which might cause me to doubt myself, except ours were virtually the same.

Cool, more recommendations. I have added them to the FCA Media page but I'll have to work on getting the mp3s up and linked later on tonight. If you want to go check things out and let me know if I have yours right (because sometimes I find it hard to decipher what order things are supposed to go in) please have a look here and let me know of any changes.

Speaking of which, luckiest, for ETYGA, could you replace LA spotlightlover with 070719_Canandaigua_ETYGA_canfly172? LA wasn't one of my choices, but I confused things by commenting on it anyway. Thanks.

And thank you for doing such a fantastic job with the Media pages.

[luckiest1]

Speaking of which, luckiest, for ETYGA, could you replace LA spotlightlover with 070719_Canandaigua_ETYGA_canfly172? LA wasn't one of my choices, but I confused things by commenting on it anyway. Thanks.

Sure, I can make that change tonight as well. It's funny you should mention it because I had ETYGA blaring through my headphones as I read your post! I was trying to limit myself to two versions per song (cuz my old iPod only has 4 gb) and every single one that you guys recommended is spectacular! Hee, I started out rating one 8 (out of 10) for my own purposes, the next one 9.5, then 9.51 and then I had to go to 9.75. Amazing clack.

[KAndre]

KAndre puts her spork down to hug luckiest...

Chick, you are the GREATEST! The media page totally rocks and is wonderfully organized...

I am going to replace the first post with a summary, listing the selection and a summary (if available) by the end of this week...