Comments on: Carrie Underwood, Carnival Ride

By: Steve from Boston

Steve from Boston — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 04:49:10 +0000

Despite any real or imagined pitch problems Sara Evans may have, the fact remains she has one of the warmest, most expressive pure Country voices in the business today. She has that elusive commodity known as “character” in her vocals.

That quote about her not being to reproduce “Niagra” in concert is more of an admission, not a boast. I think she deserves the benefit of the doubt here.

I just saw Sara in concert for the eleventh time this summer, and to say she is not a power vocalist is simply not accurate. She may not be quite Martina’s equal in that regard, but she is quite capable of blowing her audience away..her improvised ending of her concert version of I Could Not Ask For More is a perfect example, also A Real Fine Place to Start, and many of her codas at the tail end of quite a few of her songs are loud, clear and mostly dead-on pitch perfect. If anything, Sara overdoes it a little on these endings.

Regarding Carrie, cleary she has abundant vocal skills, but in order to develop some real artistic maturity I think it’s more important for her to connect with her own inner artistic vision, (to the degree that she has one) than it is to find the “right” producer. In addition, of course, to finding some better, more authentically Country material.

(I wish Sara would RE-connect with her artistic vision as well)

By: K

Sun, 20 Sep 2009 23:19:53 +0000

“She can’t emote.” I absolutely disagree with that 100%. That could be said for the begining of her career, but not know. Watch her performance of “Just A Dream” at the 2008 CMA’s to see how much her emotional connections have improved. Watch her Opry performance of “I Know You Won’t”- if that not being emotionally invested I don’t know what is. Her performance of “I Told You So” at the 2008 ACM’s was both breathtaking and connective.

By: Erik

Erik — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 20:59:19 +0000

It’s really irrelevant if she gets better producers and better songs since she can’t emote. Listen to “I Know You Won’t” – powerful vocal, but completely void of any human emotion.

By: Cory DeStein

Cory DeStein — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 20:23:21 +0000

I really place JoDee,Julie,LeAnn, and Chely all average vocalists. Sara has a unique sounds but her pitch is usually off, especially live, and the power isnt there. LeAnn was impressive at the age of 13…but as a adult she is just another singer. Julie,Chely and JoDee, I am just not hearing it, they are good but the control and power isnt there at anywhere near the same level. Martina is powerful, but she dosent have the same knack for conveying emotion the way Trisha Yearwood does. Trisha is a vocalist of few extremes but rather a equal balance of all aspects of a good vocalist.
I really dont think any artist since 1991 has surpassed her, Carrie has come close but isnt quite there. But she has probally come the closest. I just wish there was a better choice in production and song choice in her catalog.

By: Erik

Erik — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 17:57:36 +0000

Leeann: I just might agree with you on Julie – she isn’t as technically gifted as the rest, but she has a much warmer and much more enjoyable voice than Carrie. Jo Dee Messina however, has control and power beyond most singers. I’d put her in the top tier for all vocalists.

By: K

Sun, 20 Sep 2009 00:44:04 +0000

But since this post is about “Carnival Ride,” I will give my two cents. (:

It’s an average country-pop record to me; nothing better than any other watered-down album out of Nashville. That being said though, I did enjoy the album, I just feel like Carrie’s superb vocals don’t match her material.

The Stand-out tracks for me:

1. “Just A Dream- My favorite song from the very first listen of the album. These are probably the best recorded vocals I have heard from Carrie. She actually shows emotion in this vocal, which was not really heard on any “Some Hearts” track. Her live performances have been above and beyond as well; nothing shows her connection, respect and love for the song better than her 2008 CMA’s performace. It took an already excellent song and vocal to a whole new level in my opinion; not to mention the video is by far her best.

I Told You So: I’ll admit, I’ve never heard Travis’s version of the song, and I’m actually not crazy about the single version. However, her 2009 ACM performance took my level of respect for the song and Carrie’s interpitation of it to a whole different level.

I Know You Won’t: A great love-gone-sour song, and Carrie’s vocals are absolutely stunning. I got chills when I heard her knock the wind out of it at the People’s Choice Awards.

So Small: The song is chilched and somewhat cheesy, but Carrie makes it beleivable with her vocals; she really shows off her range here. Her performance of So Small at the 2007 CMA’s is in my top five of live performances from her as well.

The Rest: “Flat On The Floor” is a great country-rocker. It’s not a great song, but Carrie shows a lot of personality in the vocals, and it’s an enjoyable listen.

“All American Girl- I really like this song and I think it is a great ode to father\daughter relationships simply because of chorus, which shows how a lot of fathers feel about their daughters. The song is pretty chilched though, from the plug about cheerleaders and football players to the pink and blue blankets.

“Get Out Of This Town: Again, Underwood shows personality here and the song is a great one for a girls night on the town, but from a artistic standpoint it’s average.

“Crazy Dreams”: The song obvious relates to Carrie perfectly, but I think it’s the worst upbeat song on the album.

Last Name: I like the recorded version, but it doesn’t quite have the same spunk, spark, and growl that “Before He Cheats” does. I hate to revert back to live performances here, but I think Carrie does resonate with it very wel live, and she shows plenty of personality. Watch her 2008 American Idol performance of the song and it’s easy to understand. (:

“You Won’t Find This-” The vocals make for a pleasant listen, and this is one of my favorite Underwood songs, but the lyrics are lacking somewhat.

“The More Boys I Meet-” This is a fun song, and it fits Carrie perfectly, but for some reason the song does nothing for me.

“Twisted-” Again, this is an enjoyable listen with great vocals, but it’s nothing special and certaintly won’t be a song to rememeber years from now.

“Wheel Of The World: A good song to end the album, and Carrie shows restraint here while showing personality. I think she really connects with her audience on this one.

By: Bob

Bob — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 21:52:18 +0000

My favorite is still Suzy Bogguss. I don’t think she’s ever missed a note. I thought her music was consistently good however most country music fans didn’t agree leading to her switch to light jazz. Live performances to me are the true test of a singer since pro tools can make a mediocre singer sound good. The other female country artists I’ve seen in concert who combined a strong voice and the ability to sing on key include Trisha, Kathy Mattea, Terri Clark, Patty Loveless, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Jamie O’Neal, Lisa Brokop, Aussie Melinda Schneider, Tricia Walker, Rissi Palmer and, last weekend, Lari White. Although I like their sound better than Carrie, I would like to see Carrie some day, as well as Martina, Jo Dee, Pam T, Wynonna, Kellie Coffey (if she ever tours again) and Emily West.

By: Leeann Ward

Leeann Ward — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 19:09:25 +0000

Eric, I can’t exactly agree with you on Julie Roberts or Jo Dee. To me, both of them are only a little above average singers, especially Roberts. I do tend to prefer LeAnn’s, Martina’s, Trisha’s, Wynonna’s and Sara’s voices to Carrie’s though. Trisha is the only one of this list with consistently good music, however.

By: K

Sat, 19 Sep 2009 16:25:45 +0000

Carrie Underwood is in the same leauge as Martna, as far as I’m concerned. Rimes is very talented, but Carrie is probably about equal to her. Sara, Julie, and Jo Dee? I don’t think so. Sara can be good live sometimes, and also horrid. I heard she bragged once about using autotune on a song she could “never” recreate live. Bragging about fixed vocals is not something a true singer who cares about the art of their music does. Chely Wright is nothing special, and she is nowhere near the likes of powerhouses Carrie, Martina, Leann and Trisha. Jo Dee is also average- good, but not great. I don’t know why she deserves to mentioned in the same breathe as any powerhouse vocalist?!

I own Julie’s first album, but every time I heard her live she was pretty bad.

Wynona is more worthy to be mentioned with Carrie, Martina and co.

By: Erik

Erik — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 11:17:15 +0000

There have been way more talented singers than Underwood to come along since Trisha Yearwood; among them Martina McBride, LeAnn Rimes, Sara Evans, Chely Wright, Jo Dee Messina, Julie Roberts, and solo-Wynonna.