Comments on: Single Review: Pistol Annies, “Takin’ Pills”

By: Tom

Tom — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 15:09:31 +0000

…these “annies” are a terrific project. not flawless, but highly original and with a vibrant attitude. yet best of all, they are shamelessly country. if it takes “takin’ pills” to get there, bless ‘em.

of course, it is also a fine instrument for miranda lambert to widen her audience well into the target group of the more traditional (older) country listeners, while her own albums keep offering a broader range of styles. smart marketing – great music.

By: White Cleats

White Cleats — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 23:33:39 +0000

Bob:
I’d hate for you to take my word for it. I’m always being given the eye roll by my friends and family for picking a singer’s every note apart but I can’t help it — I’m a professional (opera) singer and I hear everything. So when I post on CU I tend to comment on the singing, it’s who I am.

In any case, I agree with you and your wife; I can’t stand listening to consistently out of tune performances. But please don’t skip buying a ticket on my account.

Devin,
I agree with you, they do sound pretty good there (though Monroe and Pressley are still under the note more than I would like to hear from professionals) and that’s the best performance I’ve heard of Hell on Heels. However, Takin’ Pills is a harder song to sing so it underscores their weaknesses more. Additionally, I’ve watched quite a lot of YouTube versions of both songs and they are consistently out of tune.

Jonathan,
True story! Sound dynamics are a serious problem at award shows with singers almost always fighting with the band to be heard. But I think I’m pretty good at detecting the difference between out of tune, off key singing and a poor mix.

I like your example of Yearwood and Krauss but to be fair to the current women, the former sang in front of far less instrumentation and thus didn’t have to resort to ungainly tricks to be heard, which tricks often result in ugly notes.

By: Jonathan Keefe

Jonathan Keefe — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 22:58:30 +0000

Presley’s voice is the weak link in the trio– though she absolutely sells “Lemon Drop,” still my favorite cut on the album– but I would hesitate to judge anyone’s live performance skills based upon the sound mixing at an awards show.

The specs for the country music industry shows, in particular, are notoriously poor and can make pretty well anyone other than Alison Krauss and Trisha Yearwood sound like a hack. That’s not to say that a good percentage of today’s country stars are anything other than hacks who wouldn’t sound awful anywhere, just that I don’t think the stage of the CMT awards is the most fair venue for judging whether or not that’s true of any given act.

By: Susan K.

Susan K. — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 18:54:41 +0000

Great review – just dead on. I love this song and hate most everything on Miranda’s new album. “Pistol Annies” is Miranda at her best.

By: Leeann Ward

Leeann Ward — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 18:08:45 +0000

Great song.

I’m not wild about Presley’s voice but I think Lambert and Monroe sound very good live.

By: Devin

Devin — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 15:25:38 +0000

I may not know much (anything) about music, but I think they sound pretty dang good here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8kRnYXP4sU

You can be the judge of that though.

Anyways, I love the Pistol Annies. That album has gotten more plays than probably any other from me in the last year.

By: bob

bob — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 13:23:17 +0000

Thanks for the warning white cleats. I always try to hear an act sing live on some tv show before buying tickets to see them perform live. I can’t take off-key singers and neither can my wife. We were lucky to be sitting in the last row once when an opening act at Westbury was so bad that we were able to escape to the lobby without disturbing anyone. I understand why reviewers are not likely to tell their readers how bad an act is live. I did that once and got a few vicious comments so I haven’t done that since. I have a few PA songs downloaded but I’ll avoid their shows.

By: Ben Foster

Ben Foster — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 12:52:40 +0000

A fantastic review of a fantastic song, Jonathan. Definitely one of the best songs of a very fine album. It’s a shame, though, that there’s been such a drastic quality difference between the Pistol Annies’ material and Lambert’s solo material. This song makes “Fastest Girl In Town” seem all the more embarrassing.

By: White Cleats

White Cleats — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 10:25:29 +0000

I’m really conflicted about Pistol Annies — I just can’t decide which side I come down on. On the one hand they’re novel and fun with great country instrumentation and clever lyrics. On the other they’re way too try-hard and gimmicky. I mean, this whole “Hippie Annie/Holler Annie/Lone Star Annie” reeks of a bad country version of the Spice Girls complete with faux 1800′s “git yer picture takin’ dressed up like the old west!” fashions. It all feels so disingenuous.

Okay, maybe I am sure which side I come down on. Maybe my conflict comes because I want to like them but they keep giving me reasons to not — like terrible live vocals. What was that award show they sang this song on recently? It was a disaster. A near tone deaf mess that would make Simon Cowell cry. Various live versions of Hell on Heels didn’t fare much better.

Miranda is an excellent singer and I almost always love listening to her but Ashley Monroe, for all her studio talents, is a very shaky live performer. And this Angaleena person? A total embarrassment. She has no business singing for a living.

Okay, I guess I don’t like Pistol Annies. I talked myself into it. But, I still love the lyrics!

By: Jonathan Pappalardo

Jonathan Pappalardo — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 02:11:12 +0000

*like this