| Category | Rating |
|---|---|
| Track Structure | 9 |
| Interest | 7 |
| Melody | 7 |
| Performance | 9 |
| Lyrics | 8 |
| Enjoyment | 8 |
| Recording Quality | 9 |
| Commercial Appeal | 6 |
| Overall | 7.9 |
Up for review is a song from Carol Sue Kirkpatrick's pop song, 'Oh Tired Heart'. She was a name picked out of a hat for something new I was trying called a "Raffle Review". Wasn't too popular but I did get enough participants. The result, of coarse, was Carol Sue K. Wonderful person, I tell you. Gave me support on a few threads when my health got to me. An openhearted woman. I did a bit of researching before this review. Produced and mixed by James McCormick... Now that's a big name on MP3 unsigned. Not HUGE but big enough to know that he makes extremely clear productions and knows how to compose music. To me...I would consider that big. Another good name: Mark Ellis. Fantastic band musician performing the drums. Wouldn't it be cool to have a drummer in your song? An actual hands on recording of real DRUMS! Some of you know what that's like. I'm sure it's amazing to have that. Had a couple listens to his songs (which I will comment on soon!). I highly recommend him. Also there was a seemingly rare appearance from James' Father, Phillip McCormick. When I hear the word father from a musical family, I think of experience and a lot of it. Some very good names, here. Also, Hans Mulders doing the vocals stuuuuuuff. Payed a visit to his site as well. Nice work! I realized how hard that can be and I have to tell ya... Practice is needed. So with all explained here.. Lets get to the song! Hooorah!
We start with some really cool wah effects on the strum of the opening guitar. The BD has a very good entrance as well. Very punchy and full of, well... punch. lol Then comes the vocals. Awesome, sweet, soothing voice. Wonderful sound to it. It sounds so comforting. And that's what this song seems to be about! Comforting! When things get tough (and trust me I've been through some dusies) in life you have to have some way of making it through things you've done wrong. Now if you're the type of person that needs someone to tell you everything will be okay... this song is for you. I love the way the vocals not only sound, but how they have the magic ability to actually help you! Amazing job with that!
The drums are at a pace that matches the vocals perfectly. They're not too hard and not too soft. They definitely sound live. Straight down to the tings of the cymbals to the hats and the snare. Every stick hits each item of sound with wonderful balance. I don't hear anything off by one bit. The punchyness of even the smaller BDs are balanced. When the crashes come in with the heavier guitar, they both make the right combo in displaying how serious and motivated the vocals are in how they get the message across.
The guitar comes in superbly, by the way. Just when you think it's going to be a simple heart song, it gets strong and drives the emotion of the song further into the abyss of a comforting sensation. Awesome job with the guitars. From start to finish. I had to write as I listened but also listened to over and over to notice all the wonderful things in it and how it makes me feel so relaxed and motivated. Now I don't know what views everybody has on the subject of religion but this seems like something Jesus would do and if looked at in a perspective such as this, I could see this as being a good christian song. But only if you look at the person in the song opening up to the tired heart as if to save them from the parral of their mistakes. So as you can see, this song goes deeper than just technical sound and all that good stuff. It's a song that makes you wonder if someone could actually help you through a hard time. I've had people help me. And this song kind of fits there. That's worth more than a simple drum, guitar or bass sound.
In the background I can't help but notice a steady, comforting flow of blissful strings from a couple different angles. They are flowing very well with the backing vocals and the guitar kind of does the same thing. Hans... If you're reading this... Awesome job with matching those backing vocals with all the instruments. They seem to magically match up with every instrument. I think they match the strings most of all and with that said, I think it adds tremendously to the emotion of the song. They aren't very noticeable but they're there more so to add to the song. Wonderful job with the strings. They sound terrific!
Now the ending... I have to say is superb. I hear a lot of music here on MP3U so therefore, I hear a lot of endings. lol I am very articulate when it comes to coming up with several opinions on a song. One area that I feel is right to talk about that I haven't mentioned are endings. I think that a song needs to have (if others haven't noticed already) a good ending. Just like a video game or a movie or a fight. We all expect good endings. Well I expect good endings in songs. Now the ending in this one seems to catch my attention a lot. The reason for this is because the way some of the instruments drop at 'just' the right moment indicates that the end is coming, giving the listener a chance to prepare for it. And when it comes, it ends very well. Not too suddenly and not too slowly. No waisted time. It's a fantastic ending. It leaves you thinking and wondering if that special person (maybe Jesus or someone you worship or count on to protect you) in your life would do what the song describes them doing; Getting rid of all the things you feel guilty for. Whether you cal it sin or guilt or a mistake in general it doesn't matter. Near everybody on this planet feels guilty for something at one time or another. That ending leaves you feeling as if everything that hurts you inside shouldn't be worried about and that everybody has a chance for their tired heart to have a rest and know that everything is going to be okay. So there you have it, folks. My favorite part of the song; The ending!
This makes me want to rate the structure of the song first and save the other stuff for later. From start to finish, this group of people KNEW what they were doing. The beginning introduces the voice extremely appropriately. Not with fireworks and not with a lame hooligan waiting with a piece of cardboard with your name on it at the airport. To me, it introduces the voice in a way that's calm and comforting. Arranging all the elements of the song just from the beginning impressed me a lot. Then the song goes on to build very nicely. It reved me up to an emotional climax having me think, "Wow, everything is really going to be okay!". Then to structure the ending in a way that leaves me thinking I'm going to be okay even after the song is over is amazing. Not to mention during the song, I can hear all the other background instruments and vocals supporting all the main elements of the ensemble. It truly was arranged with careful planning and I can definitely tell that there was a lot that went into making sure the tunes went with the tunes. Great job done here. Easily giving the structure area a 9 for you to polish and shine everyday you read this review.
I think the structure lead me to the enjoyment of the song. Well a lot of things lead me to enjoy the song. My level of enjoyment was an 8. Yeah, I know I'm reviewing a genre that I haven't ever tried to make and probably won't ever attempt to unless someone maybe wanted a good acid line in their song, then... mayyyyyybe. Big maybe. But this isn't about me. This is about why the enjoyment is worth an 8 to me. It's because I liked how the building of the instruments weren't based only on adding instruments but also adding intensity. Intensity that made me think and feel about the things I have in my mind closet at the time of now. Which isn't many but I got some. Not going to lie. The song helped me enjoy trying to figure those things out. Which lead me to enjoy the song. It made me feel comfortable with my wrong doings. It reminded me that I DO have a place to go if my falterings get too heavy. It reminded me that I do have a certain 'someone' to guide me through this world I call life. And I enjoy life. I also enjoy this song!
The song definitely kept my interest as well. Usually when you enjoy a song you kind of have to be interested in it. Right? Well I think so. What really caught my interest was the vocals and the guitar intensifying the song. Even from the beginning, I could tell that it was so calming that there had to be a climax somewhere. Which interested me enough to wait and see if a climax was going to come or not. That kept my interest going as well. The real thing that kept my interest, though, was the calmness of the song. It helped me relax all my aching tensed up muscles and trust me. Having Muscular Dystrophy makes your muscles really tense. And for a song like this to keep my interest long enough for them to cool off and relax also impressed me. Great job in doing so, you guys! I'm giving it a 7. I'll be honest and say this isn't my style of music and so I'm not very strong in it. But I do have the ability to recognize good work when I see it, I'm good at picking out what a song needs to have in order to be a good song. Not boasting or anything. Just being honest. But that's not why I gave it a 7. It's a contributing factor but not the main one. It's just a very good song and I respect it for that.
There were a lot of melodies in this song. I really liked how the vocal melody just held you in it's arms and cradled you though the entire song. I liked how the guitar took a hold of you, gripping you into the climax. The strings calmed me as they swayed in the background with a melody that enabled me to suck in the emotion of everything that's going on. The backing vocals enticed me to stay focused on keeping all the other instruments in line with each other. Kind of like a loving mother making sure her kids have an organized day while she keeps them in order. Very instructive melody. The over all melody of the song, even. It seems to have a subliminal melody as well... Almost as if the entire ensemble's separate melodies combined into Voltron to create one ultimate melody. That's what amazed me with the melody portion. I noticed a melody within all of the other melodies. They all worked together. The emotion of the song essentially becomes it's very own melody. And this leads me into a state called Harmony. It's almost as if all the elements of the song formed one melody that is also a harmony. Either the melody I discovered has harmony or the harmony of the song IS a melody. It struck me as very interesting and I think it was brilliant. So I'm giving melody another 7. Maybe it was a little too simple to me. After all. We all have our own opinions. There could have been more melody but why? The song sounds good as it is! All of the melodies do their job and they do them VERY well.
A performance to me is someone showing off their skills to another person. Or displaying a knack for some sort of action their good at. With all the wonderfully awesome talent that this song has, holy smacking cows was this a performance. You have to think of this in a different light, though. This is a collaborated effort. Not everything was done in the same place. It was performed by a group of people who live far from each other. Maybe not FARRRRR but you get the point. Collaboration has become a very popular thing in the music scene. Even in movies. Here, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA, I have a friend that works for a company that does explosion touch-ups for a LOT of major movie companies. Even though the movie was filmed somewhere else... It was sent here to be finished. Same goes with video games. You want an NHL hockey team? Go get the newest NHL title-join up with a couple of palls from other places over the internet and BLAM! You gotcher'self an NHL team! Same goes for MUSIC! Yay! Times have changed, people and you can make music with near anybody you want now that collaboration has erupted. The performance of all the individuals in this song are wonderful. The drums; if you called them bland then you need to switch your negatory brain chemicals off because the drums sounded almost as if I was in the same place. And I WASN'T! You have to be talented to play a slow drum beat. Same thing the with guitar. The guitar had a very good quality sound to it along with the abilities of the person driving those chords. Very electronic and excellently acoustical. Awesome job with the guitars. The vocals... Man... those are some very well controlled lungs. The diaphragm on that lady must be able to do things I can't even imagine possible. It wasn't the blowing out or the calmness. It was the control! Going from being strong to soft to strong and then back to soft again all the while keeping the composure and emotion of the song flowing like a stream is a fantastic task. The performance as far as programing to the people who needed the technical aspects in order to pull off the sounds is, all in it'self, very good work! The way Hans effected the vocals is simply a work of art. Everybody did a heck of a nice job on this. I give performance a 9. Lots of time and hard work pays off big time in this song.
I don't know if everybody believes in the afterlife or in celestial beings or a celestial world in that case. I also don't know if everybody believes in hope. Do any of you feel guilty for something you know is wrong? Imagine this: Your walking out of a door after watching a movie and (even though you're a nice person) you just carelessly let go of the door because you're mind is still stuck in the awesome flick you just watched? What if there was someone right behind you talking to their buddy, not paying attention and the door hits them right in the face as you turn around to witness the collision? Would you feel guilty about that? Or would you just simply think, "Oh that person should have been looking where they were going. Not my frickin' fault. I'm going to let it go." But then later on do you think, "Man, what if that dude broke his nose. Man, I'd sure hate to have my nose broken. I wonder if he's okay." Well for me, I would feel bad and guilty that I didn't at least say sorry. So if you're a holy man, would you have considered this a... sin? Well if you are and you did then this song displays a wonderful way to solve that. Just don't worry about your sin because Jesus can save you from all of that by saying sorry to him instead of the dude who's nose you broke. So then after that, if you feel better about it, your "tired heart" is no longer tired. Is it? I think this song could tell the morality of this. That if you've done something bad in your life that you regret, listening to this song could probably get you in tune with whatever you believe in to try and balance the actions of whatever you did wrong. What I'm getting at is the lyrics. They display a type of notion that if you've done a lot of bad things in your life that you feed guilty for, there is a way to feel better about it. By forgiveness. There's a lot that can happen to you if you're in this type of situation and you just say sorry to get it all out. Whether you didn't keep the door open for that dude, or if you didn't say "I love you" to a loved one before they died or maybe something as simple as messing up at work and feeling bad because everybody blamed you for it. This song made me feel like I don't have to worry about those things because I can let go by forgiving myself of these things. Maybe through repentance, or through speaking to the person, or even just saying sorry to the universe and just admitting to someone that I made a mistake. This can take away your woes. This song made me feel like it's okay to not be perfect. To rest my tired heart. Maybe others shouldn't take things so seriously and just let things go every once in a while... Lyrics get an 8. Great job!
So by now maybe you guys are thinking, "Man this guy writes wayyyyy too much, man. He needs to chill with the keyboard". Or maybe you're thinking, "Wow, I never thought about it that way." Well there's more to read about. Such as the recording quality. Now this is hard to determine here. The reason for that is because it's a collaboration. All the recordings (except for maybe Jr. and Senior McCormick) were done in separate places. Then things were compiled together into a final mix and then rendered out to be prepared for the engineering and mastering. When you master the song, you can take out all the impurities of the recordings and pretty much anything you don't like about the sound... to an extend of coarse but you catch the drift? So that makes it hard to tell if the recording was a good one or not. Alas, I have a way to tell, though! Haha, surprise! It's called my ears! I can hear stuff, yay me! Because this song sounds so good, I can tell that the recordings were above the level of favorable. You simply wouldn't have been able to get this clear of a sound if the recordings weren't as good as I think they were. I'm sitting on top of a 9 here. The production sound has a very clean and bright yet 'full' sound. Nothing sounds bland or distorted or under (over) compressed. No pumping or clipping or sudden volume changes either. All of the elements can be heard very well together. You have to (some people do it differently) separate all of those sounds and get them to sound good individually before you can just throw them into the song. And you have to do it in a way that makes everything fit! That means separate recordings to work with. I think all the recordings were done very well and I don't think James had too terrible of a time getting this to sound good. And based off of all the other artists' pages, I can hear the qualities of their personal song's recordings. This leads me to think that the recordings were more then substantial. Awesome work, everybody, with the recordings!
This was a great song. All in all everybody did their part with this song. Carol Sue K. did a fantastic job with this and I think that if it was on a CD of a band, I would listen to it. If this song was for sale on iTunes or e-music or some other kind of d/l site. Yes. I would buy it. But this is a collaboration. I've seen professional collaborators do their thing but they all have private jets n' stuff or they live pretty close together. I've also seen professional 'sounding' collaborators become pretty successful with just working in their separate musical laboratories. A lot of techno artist's have made the big time collaborating in separate recording studio's, too! But when I look at commercial appeal, I think of BMG, contracts, tours, t-shirts-hats-belts-buttons-, music award shows, bookings, agents and most importantly... MONEY! Is this a profitable collaboration band? I don't think so. Could Carol Sue or any one person involved in this get a position in a cover band that needs a heck of a member? Absolutely. Yes. I think that the song in it'self could sell if a big enough label heard it and the people lived together as a band. I think they could do it all! Now my score will be based on the likelyhood of this all happening. Shoot, it could even get James' foot in the door, too! I think he's good enough to do pretty much what other major artists are doing. If he had the $$$$$ and production room that everybody dreams of, the dude could make some bank! Every time I hear one of his songs, it's clear as a crystal glass. I'm going to say the probability of this making it big time is a 6. But only because everybody isn't together. It's a little disappointing, yes but it's just a number. Numbers don't mean much when it comes to this kind of subject. It's talent and luck of the draw plus a LOT of hard, hard, hard work. If you DO get lucky... you still have to back up your talk with your experience. If this song got lucky... I think everyone involved could talk the talk and walk the walk. They got it down pat! Truly an awesome song. Have a wonderful day, everybody!
Andy S.
To listen to the track Click Here