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Subject: A few not so great reviews
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Username: bcollan
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02/02/2007 10:15 AM Alert 
I'm posting these to be 'fair and balanced'.
Not every reviewer can have good taste, after all.

Well, actually the first one, while not glowing, is pretty positive. The same can't be said for Kat's hometown LA Daily News though.

Associated Press/TheState.com

Review | Katharine McPhee

“Katharine McPhee”

2 ½ stars

Katharine McPhee is over the rainbow — way over it. In fact, she even has a song on her debut CD titled “Over It.”

Fans of last year’s “American Idol” runner-up might be surprised at Kat ’07: a sexed-up, urbanized siren programmed to do battle with Ciara, Christina and Beyonce. That might disappoint fans who liked the good-girl image she displayed on “Idol.”

Sometimes it works, like on the opening track, “Love Story.” And sometimes it doesn’t, like on “Open Toes,” a hip-hop ode to shoe shopping where she sounds quite out of her element.

But it’s on the power ballads “Home” and “Ordinary World” that McPhee shows she really can sing and reminds listeners why they voted for her.

—Wayne Parry, The Associated Press


The LA Daily News


KATHARINE MCPHEE: "Katharine McPhee"
Article Last Updated: 02/02/2007 01:09:20 AM PST

(RCA)

By allowing herself to be packaged to look like an escapee from the Victoria's Secret catalog first and a singer second, McPhee could be naively setting herself up for a career of sitcom and county-fair cameos. This instantly dated set of cooing pop-r&b clich s, computer-edited to within an inch of its life, badly lacks the goofball charm that made Kat a household favorite last season on "American Idol."

The problem here is McPhee doesn't yet know what sort of music she does best. So, a committee's cynical idea of what "the kids" want to hear leaves the Sherman Oaks-raised beauty sounding like a guest wandering through her own album. Some tracks, though, like the standard-issue "Love Story" and "Over It" are passable confections, but most others are just heaping spoonfuls of frozen treacle.

Time to clean house, Kat.

- Fred Shuster
"She sings so magnificantly, it's just amazing" David Foster
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02/02/2007 11:45 AM Alert 
the good reviews far outweigh the bad ones thus far.these reviewers are just not into the rb/pop era, there still looking for over the rainbow.they'll come around sooner than later
Some people come into our lives and quickly go.Others stay for a while and leave footprints on our hearts and we are never the same. That my friends is Katharine McPhee
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02/02/2007 11:51 AM Alert 

Good heavens!! You would think LA Daily News could show a little love for their home town girl! What an irritant! If the reviewer had "issues" with the album, at least list the strengths and weaknesses to give Kat the credit she deserves.

What bothers me most is how they said "allowed herself to be packaged like Victoria Secret" - Hello! She is under contract and certainly doesn't have control over everything. Of course they are going to play up her looks!! Kat has made it clear she didn't choose the cover. "SHE DIDN'T PICK IT!" LOL

Wake up LA and show some love!!!





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02/02/2007 12:34 PM Alert 
Posted By Katcrazy2006 on 02/02/2007 11:51 AM

Good heavens!! You would think LA Daily News could show a little love for their home town girl! What an irritant! If the reviewer had "issues" with the album, at least list the strengths and weaknesses to give Kat the credit she deserves.

What bothers me most is how they said "allowed herself to be packaged like Victoria Secret" - Hello! She is under contract and certainly doesn't have control over everything. Of course they are going to play up her looks!! Kat has made it clear she didn't choose the cover. "SHE DIDN'T PICK IT!" LOL

Wake up LA and show some love!!!

 

 

 

 

San Francisco Bay Area loves her. 

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/01/28/PKG7VLMKO81.DTL&type=music
We are definitely working together -- working on a record together. She sings so magnificently, it's just amazing -David Foster-
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02/02/2007 1:40 PM Alert 
Thanks for posting even the negative stuff Collin.
I'm always afraid we are reading only the sugar coated stuff, but that fact that this is the only bad reviews we can find so far, I think that is a good sign
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02/02/2007 3:25 PM Alert 

Don't worry, she has enough fans here in LA. LA Daily News is a local newspaper, I think, and less sophisticated . I'm still waiting for review from LA Times.
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02/02/2007 4:45 PM Alert 
Thanks for going for "fair and balanced." It is important that Kat fans are aware of all reviews, positive and non-positive ones (I use that term as some are less negative than others). What follows are some quick thoughts I have on these non-positive reviews. These thought aren't really anything new as many people have expressed them, but thought I would as well:

On some of the non-positive ones, not all but some,  it seems that the underlying theme thus far is that the Kat we fell in love with on Idol (the SOTR Kat) went a new direction and those that wanted the Idol Kat will not find a way to look at the CD very objectively. It is very difficult for people to get past "expectations" and be objective. In their disappointment that they are not hearing what they had hoped for, the look for ways to validate their disappointment by finding things they do not like about the record. It is difficult to get over that "shift" hurdle if you will and listen to the album with a critical ear.

The question is, if Kat were not known at all and came out with this CD, what would these non-positive reviewers be saying? I think many would be more objective and be talking about the diversity of the CD, the power in her voice, the emotion she DOES bring to the songs, etc. Some of their current assessments just do not make sense. To say she is out of her element on Open Toes is just not objective. They see the Idol Kat and can't get passed that. If they were to hear Open Toes without knowing Kat, they wouldn't be discussing "out of her element." I think she nails that tune if you really listen, and then to sing the ballads, wow, what diversity.

I also think that people liked Kat because she was a breath of fresh air on Idol. We have not had a good balladeer for quite some time while we have many current artists doing the rhythm pop stuff. So they see Kat going from this breath of fresh air to doing what everyone else is doing. But it isn't that she does it poorly, as some critics try to point out, but it is the fact that she isn't doing what she was known for, and  they have trouble getting past that. Now music is in the "ears of the beholder," so everyone has their own opinion as to what is good or not. And there are some legitimate and good critics who just won't like Kat's talent, and not feel she has much to offer, which is totally cool. What makes the Universe go around so beautifully is the fact that it is so multifarious. Lord knows it would be a boring place to live if we all liked the same stuff.

I also think some critics believe that Kat has sold out who she "really is" to sell albums, and that no matter how good the album might be, they are not going to let that slide, nor are they going to be apart of "playing into the system" by giving the CD a good review. Another tainted perspective IMHO.

To sum up what is already too long-winded - There are respectable "non-positive" reviews of Kat and then there are those that simply can't see the forest through the trees. I think there are more of the later when it comes to the non-positive reviews. So the lesson for all of us here is to make sure that we can always step back in everything that we do before we pass judgment, and make sure that we "get out of our own way" and see things clearly, recognizing the beauty in how genuine some things can be - like the talent of Katharine Hope McPhee.
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02/02/2007 7:56 PM Alert 
Well like I said in another post, they're not completely bad reviews, and they say that Kat is talented, just finding her way. Which she is.
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02/02/2007 11:29 PM Alert 

Ok , I sent an email to Fred Shuster of LA Daily News. I basically said that Kat has no control over the album cover etc etc, and that he needs to do his homework. Well ... I got his reply:

hey kell -- the cover shot is the least of it. the record company
sent out to the press a dozen near-underwear shots of her to go along
with the album. and in the review i did say what was wrong with it.
it says nothing about her. it's just another dull pop-r&b album. and
you'll be sick of it in a week.

fs

So RCA sent out a dozen near-underwear shots to the press ??? 

by the way, incase you want to email him: fred.shuster@dailynews.com

And my name is not Kell ... duh!

 
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02/03/2007 5:04 AM Alert 
Posted By Kat_Fan_001 on 02/02/2007 11:29 PM

Ok , I sent an email to Fred Shuster of LA Daily News. I basically said that Kat has no control over the album cover etc etc, and that he needs to do his homework. Well ... I got his reply:

hey kell -- the cover shot is the least of it. the record company
sent out to the press a dozen near-underwear shots of her to go along
with the album. and in the review i did say what was wrong with it.
it says nothing about her. it's just another dull pop-r&b album. and
you'll be sick of it in a week.

fs

So RCA sent out a dozen near-underwear shots to the press ??? 

by the way, incase you want to email him: fred.shuster@dailynews.com

And my name is not Kell ... duh!

 

We saw what RCA sent out to the press.  Ken Barnes showed everyone on USAToday.com.  They weren't "near underwear shots".  Anyway...there's a different between reviewers and album buyers.  These reviewers are tough to crack in some cases because they hear every album that comes down the pike.  So maybe for him...it's another dull pop/R&B album.  But most music buyers don't listen to everything like a review does.

Reviewers get jaded easily.  I experienced some of this doing reviews in college.  I almost felt like I wasn't doing my job if I wasn't negative about something.
"I saw Katharine McPhee when there were about 12 contestants left on American Idol. She blew me away. I loved her grace, her style, her poise, her voice and her hair! I wanted her to be the face of Sexy Hair because she represented everything that I had in my head for the brand: youth, beauty, talent, class, a young sophistication, and sexiness." -- Jim Morrison, CEO of Sexy Hair Products.
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02/03/2007 5:05 AM Alert 
That's what they sent to the media (per Ken Barnes, USAToday.com).  Hardly dozen nearly underwear shots.





"I saw Katharine McPhee when there were about 12 contestants left on American Idol. She blew me away. I loved her grace, her style, her poise, her voice and her hair! I wanted her to be the face of Sexy Hair because she represented everything that I had in my head for the brand: youth, beauty, talent, class, a young sophistication, and sexiness." -- Jim Morrison, CEO of Sexy Hair Products.
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02/03/2007 5:08 AM Alert 
Posted By dbroom on 02/02/2007 4:45 PM


On some of the non-positive ones, not all but some,  it seems that the underlying theme thus far is that the Kat we fell in love with on Idol (the SOTR Kat) went a new direction and those that wanted the Idol Kat will not find a way to look at the CD very objectively. It is very difficult for people to get past "expectations" and be objective. In their disappointment that they are not hearing what they had hoped for, the look for ways to validate their disappointment by finding things they do not like about the record. It is difficult to get over that "shift" hurdle if you will and listen to the album with a critical ear.

The question is, if Kat were not known at all and came out with this CD, what would these non-positive reviewers be saying? I think many would be more objective and be talking about the diversity of the CD, the power in her voice, the emotion she DOES bring to the songs, etc. Some of their current assessments just do not make sense. To say she is out of her element on Open Toes is just not objective. They see the Idol Kat and can't get passed that. If they were to hear Open Toes without knowing Kat, they wouldn't be discussing "out of her element." I think she nails that tune if you really listen, and then to sing the ballads, wow, what diversity.



I'm thinking the same thing.  If Katharine was just a "new" artist would they say these things?  Wouldn't she be celebrating for her diversity instead of "not knowing her direction" or doing something drastically different from Idol.  So what?  Katharine's said it herself...Idol doesn't matter.  She treated this like she's a brand-new artist making the album she wanted to make.
Anyway...the AP review was fair.  The LA Daily News was ridiculous.  Sounds like a jaded old music critic to me.  Time to go find something else to do.
"I saw Katharine McPhee when there were about 12 contestants left on American Idol. She blew me away. I loved her grace, her style, her poise, her voice and her hair! I wanted her to be the face of Sexy Hair because she represented everything that I had in my head for the brand: youth, beauty, talent, class, a young sophistication, and sexiness." -- Jim Morrison, CEO of Sexy Hair Products.
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02/03/2007 11:15 AM Alert 

My dad friday spent his day scouring the internet for as many Katharine reviews he could find. After checking out 113 press reviews on Katharine's new album

 

75.............................super reviews

27..............................good reviews

2..................................borderline ok

9..................................NEGATIVE

 

I think Katharine would be happy with those odds
Some people come into our lives and quickly go.Others stay for a while and leave footprints on our hearts and we are never the same. That my friends is Katharine McPhee
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02/03/2007 11:17 AM Alert 

Thanks.

Well ... I just want him to hear my rebuttal. I believe once a while reviewers need to hear that, in my opinion.
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02/03/2007 11:25 AM Alert 
Hey Amanda you and your dad are super, thanks for the info
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02/04/2007 4:34 AM Alert 
Posted By dbroom on 02/02/2007 4:45 PM
I also think that people liked Kat because she was a breath of fresh air on Idol. We have not had a good balladeer for quite some time while we have many current artists doing the rhythm pop stuff. So they see Kat going from this breath of fresh air to doing what everyone else is doing.

Very well put. I fall into this category, although for me it's more crooner than balladeer. Kat performs the material on the album well, but I think that *some of the* material is uninspired.
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02/04/2007 1:25 PM Alert 
Posted By dbroom on 02/02/2007 4:45 PM
I also think that people liked Kat because she was a breath of fresh air on Idol. We have not had a good balladeer for quite some time while we have many current artists doing the rhythm pop stuff. So they see Kat going from this breath of fresh air to doing what everyone else is doing. But it isn't that she does it poorly, as some critics try to point out, but it is the fact that she isn't doing what she was known for, and  they have trouble getting past that. Now music is in the "ears of the beholder," so everyone has their own opinion as to what is good or not. And there are some legitimate and good critics who just won't like Kat's talent, and not feel she has much to offer, which is totally cool. What makes the Universe go around so beautifully is the fact that it is so multifarious. Lord knows it would be a boring place to live if we all liked the same stuff.

I also think some critics believe that Kat has sold out who she "really is" to sell albums, and that no matter how good the album might be, they are not going to let that slide, nor are they going to be apart of "playing into the system" by giving the CD a good review. Another tainted perspective IMHO.
Kat may have been a 'breath of fresh air' on Idol, but that wasn't truely her. This is, regardless of what some critics think. Week after week the judges tried to 'force' her into that balladeer mold with their comments, but Kat fought back tooth and nail. The girl loves the kind of music she's doing here...it's what she grew up with, and we all have a soft spot for our adolescent tunes. Yes. she is unbelievably good at torch song ballads. I honestly don't think she realizes just how good, because she always seemed slightly puzzled when the judges tried to tell her. For now she's going to be a gigantic pop star. She brings a trained, polished voice, discipline, taste and style to a genre sorely lacking in those. And when she gets a bit older it wouldn't surprise me to see her move back to the more intimate material she does so magicly well.
"She sings so magnificantly, it's just amazing" David Foster
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02/04/2007 1:34 PM Alert 
Posted By Amanda on 02/03/2007 11:15 AM

My dad friday spent his day scouring the internet for as many Katharine reviews he could find. After checking out 113 press reviews on Katharine's new album

 

75.............................super reviews

27..............................good reviews

2..................................borderline ok

9..................................NEGATIVE

 

I think Katharine would be happy with those odds

Sweet.  I think so, too. 

 

 
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02/04/2007 2:34 PM Alert 
Posted By bcollan on 02/04/2007 1:25 PM
Posted By dbroom on 02/02/2007 4:45 PM
I also think that people liked Kat because she was a breath of fresh air on Idol. We have not had a good balladeer for quite some time while we have many current artists doing the rhythm pop stuff. So they see Kat going from this breath of fresh air to doing what everyone else is doing. But it isn't that she does it poorly, as some critics try to point out, but it is the fact that she isn't doing what she was known for, and  they have trouble getting past that. Now music is in the "ears of the beholder," so everyone has their own opinion as to what is good or not. And there are some legitimate and good critics who just won't like Kat's talent, and not feel she has much to offer, which is totally cool. What makes the Universe go around so beautifully is the fact that it is so multifarious. Lord knows it would be a boring place to live if we all liked the same stuff.

I also think some critics believe that Kat has sold out who she "really is" to sell albums, and that no matter how good the album might be, they are not going to let that slide, nor are they going to be apart of "playing into the system" by giving the CD a good review. Another tainted perspective IMHO.
Kat may have been a 'breath of fresh air' on Idol, but that wasn't truely her. This is, regardless of what some critics think. Week after week the judges tried to 'force' her into that balladeer mold with their comments, but Kat fought back tooth and nail. The girl loves the kind of music she's doing here...it's what she grew up with, and we all have a soft spot for our adolescent tunes. Yes. she is unbelievably good at torch song ballads. I honestly don't think she realizes just how good, because she always seemed slightly puzzled when the judges tried to tell her. For now she's going to be a gigantic pop star. She brings a trained, polished voice, discipline, taste and style to a genre sorely lacking in those. And when she gets a bit older it wouldn't surprise me to see her move back to the more intimate material she does so magicly well.

I really do think, kat is gaining confidence, she is still insecure in some ways,only time will bring her to super stardom!
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02/04/2007 2:36 PM Alert 
Posted By Amanda on 02/03/2007 11:15 AM

My dad friday spent his day scouring the internet for as many Katharine reviews he could find. After checking out 113 press reviews on Katharine's new album

 

75.............................super reviews

27..............................good reviews

2..................................borderline ok

9..................................NEGATIVE

 

I think Katharine would be happy with those odds

Amanda, your dad sounds like an AMAZING Kat fan. Can't you get him to sign up and post?  Tell him there's no need to be shy, there's plenty of company here in his age group!
"She sings so magnificantly, it's just amazing" David Foster
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02/04/2007 6:47 PM Alert 
he is a member(olebob)i'll tell em
Some people come into our lives and quickly go.Others stay for a while and leave footprints on our hearts and we are never the same. That my friends is Katharine McPhee
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02/06/2007 4:12 AM Alert 
Posted By Amanda on 02/03/2007 11:15 AM

My dad friday spent his day scouring the internet for as many Katharine reviews he could find. After checking out 113 press reviews on Katharine's new album

 

75.............................super reviews