TubeNet

Here's the Link:
http://www.classicstoday.com/review.asp?ReviewNum=10333

Judging by other reviews of this album this seems a bit harsh, don't you think?

Another Review:
http://www.musicweb-international.com/c ... 557754.htm

WOW,
that was pretty harsh.
To be honest, sometimes it's nice to hear a bad review (wow, that sounds crazy and I don't think that this CD is as bad as the reviewer said it was, in fact I thought it was ok, not my cup of tea, but hey, whatever) whenever I pick up the journal, every single review (except for the most recent reviews by Tim Olt) says that "this piece is worthy of great study and will become a new standard in our literature blah blah blah" and if you ask any tuba player about said piece in a small group, they will tell you that it's crap. Same goes with every new tuba album, "this album will be a great addition to any sertious tuba players library..." and well, not every one of them is.

THAT BEING SAID, I understand that our peers are the ones reviewing these materials. And I know that if I gave a bad review to someone, then I release an album, I'm going to be pretty nervous about his review of my work. And I'm not a big fan of those people who think that everything just sucks, "unless is player XXX and tuba brand XXX it sucks no one can ever be as good as XXX because it just won't happen". But, I think we as a comminuty can be a little more critical of what actually out there.

What the solution? you tell me. If the reviews were anon. could it really be trusted? If the reviews were done by musicians that weren't tuba players (or even non-musicians) would we trust them or would they be like the fat sportscaster, who if he ever swung a bat in his life would have a heart attack? I think we can find a middle ground here and hopefully progress more as a musical communtiy through honest, constructive critisism.

Oh well, here come the flames,
Bill Pritchard

Ouch! I'd call it scathing.

Who is Joseph Stevenson? Besides writing reviews, what does he do?

MY POST WAS NOT DIRECTED AT JAMES GOURLAY

I'm not saying that James Gourlay sucks, (in fact I said that it wasn't that bad, it just wasn't my cup of tea). I think I take issue with the fact that everything that comes out is the second coming if you believe what most of our own reviews are. Maybe it should have been a second post, by itself. I'm not saying that he deserved such a bad review, in fact I feel bad for him. It takes tons of work and money to put out a cd and then for him to get slammed like he did, just sucks.

Even Pavarotti has bad nights (in fact one was bad enough to warrant an apology) I think we as a community are strong enough to make honest assesments and I just get tired of hearing how great EVERYTHING is. I know we should be supportive of each others works. ehhh forget it!
Bill

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