I think it's unlikely to enjoy if you're not into the lyrics. I wouldn't listen to Swift for any instrumental achievements - at all, to be brutal She has a few more upbeat songs in her past - one was used on The Bear - but at no point does she do a Bjork and whip out a rhythmic monster like Violently Happy. Someone correct me if I've missed some equivalent She's a cult of personality artist 100%
I'm not going to reiterate things I already clarified in other posts not quoted by you. Still, maybe if you were a fan of Swift you'd have seen me in other threads about her and her music (that is right there). I admire her a lot as an artist, I own practically all her records and even went to the Eras Tour. But then again, if I criticize anything at all about her marketing practice, even a noted non-fan of Swift comes to her defense. She might as well walk on water.
Still working through my initial listen, and was listening in my HT to a song or two. I was using Atmos at the time, and noticed that the center channel was not always being used, and frequently not at all (e.g. I started at around Who’s Afraid, and moved forward from there). Vocals were in stereo, which doesn’t mean that it’s not Atmos, but thought it was unusual to see the center with so little activity (I have meters on the front three channels, so it’s easy to see from the listening position). I was using the Anthology version, which is still listed as Atmos, that has 31 songs.
Now that this, the “Obligatory Comeuppance Album” is out of the way, I wouldn’t dream of speculating in which direction the next effort will take.
I missed this the other day, thanks for posting. He’s one of my favorite music writers and I’ve been waiting to see what he thinks
Good I didn't ask and want laser accuracy on the concept of discussing art not being the same as criticising the artist as human being. I will be valiant in dismissing any attempts to budge from this. Your trivia changes nothing Music is okay to lay into. Speculating on an artists mental health is NOT. it's either talk the music or talk not at all Music only, see? I'm not interested in your fandom, your purchases, your speculations, your rumours, your selfies, your crushes Music. The sound that comes forth. That's it. The one and only subject. You have summarily failed again to post exclusively about music. I see no evidence you read my prior post. You want attention. I thus conclude you are something less than a genuine poster. Goodbye
You’re correct that it doesn’t use the center much. I’ve heard a lot of other Atmos mixes that do that, and usually it’s because I think the mixer is wary of the fact that many people’s center speaker is significantly worse that their left and right, but in this case, I think the mixer was specifically looking to envelope the listener in Taylor’s vocals rather then having them come from a point source. For me, that’s the right call for this material. I made a post breaking down the Atmos mix here.
Taylor’s albums vary quite a bit. This one is more introspective. For you, I’d suggest checking out 1989.
Your premise that criticism isn’t accepted is faulty. There’s a ton of well-received criticism in this thread. You’re getting pushback—from fans and non-fans alike—because your specific notion that her not posting negative reviews is somehow personally disingenuous is ludicrous. The alternative would be idiotic for any artist, and catastrophic for Taylor. She’s not reposting negative reviews because she’s not stupid. My premise—that the pushback against your idea is not because she’s Taylor Swift—is very testable. Just go into a thread about any artist who has a social media presence and tell them that that artist not reposting negative reviews is “disingenuous,” and see how it plays out.
This is often the case, at least on Apple Music. My hunch is that most examples are stereo mixes that are "up-rezzed" to Atmos. In my experience, the center channel is usually only used in true, dedicated Atmos mixes, like by Steve Wilson or someone else.
Ok the album is starting to really gel with me. I’ve just been listening to the LP and not the anthology tracks and a lot of the vocal melodies and lyrics are starting to haunt me. Still a couple I can’t get excited about but enjoying it at a much dealer level than I had on the first few listens. @George Co-Stanza was right. This one is a grower!
Well before I heard that, at 2 am, that it’s a double I had bought 4 copies of the CD for the extras. Well I’m exchanging my two copies from Target for a refund since I bought flacs of the 31 track version. What I’d really like to see is a Cd version of the 31 track version.
Hell, I bought 4 different versions of “Midnights” for the various different tracks. The next version of “The Tortured Poets Departments” will be the entire 31 tracks on CD and then that’s it!
Give it some time... perhaps after the Taylor's Version albums are completed, she'll revisit these albums and release TVs of them that collect all of the bonus stuff along with more stray stuff. Didn't she release a TV of the Eras Tour movie already?
Beg to differ. I bought a copy of “Midnights” with all the extra tracks that was purchased at the US Stadium shows. Also purchased another copy of “Midnights” on CD Japan with “You’re Losing Me”.
That is what happened for me. I was in Vegas all last week, and was stuck with streaming the album until I finally got home and was able to spin the vinyl. Streaming it, it had some samey-ness aspects to it that I didn't really get into. Spinning the vinyl broke it into nice sections that were distinct from each other and caused me to appreciate that tunes a lot more.
