Message #325

[Saxman]

Even Lamm now buys into "the concert crowd wants only the hits, we only program the hits, why make new band music unless it's another Xmas album which will be a hit?"

No it won't.  Even Kenny G finally stopped making Xmas albums after the third one totally bombed. A band has maybe one big Xmas hit album in it and that's it.  WIGBS didn't sell beans compared to XXV, because it was merely XXV with a few more tracks and yet ANOTHER holiday album. Loreena McKennitt did the same thing and expanded her second Xmas recording and that tanked, too.  I doubt this new Xmas album will sell at all.

SOS: a few nice moments, mostly more of the same 80s production with the horns a bit more to the fore.  Even that "back to basics" release is weighed down with the sappy ballads "Bigger Than Elvis," "Let's Take a Lifetime" and "Here With Me."  So much for hard rocking.  A laughable attempt at rap by Lamm ("Sleeping in the Middle of the Bed"), a couple of decent Champlin tunes and yeah, again, as Foster said, for the most part, the songs aren't any good.