I lost myself in a familiar song....I closed my eyes and I slipped away

At lunch today, I went to one of my all time favorite stores -- one that I haven't been to in far too long: Newbury Comics.

I love everything about that place....the smell in there....finding eclectic artists that aren't the normal mainstream favorites.....the thought of being able to actually buy vinyl records again -- that is exciting. Though not what I was there for, I must confess.

Shopping for an eclectic mix for the store was my goal for today; and I think I succeeded. The collection I wanted to get was not instock, so I may have to start playing mixmaster at home and create my own selections. It's just finding the time to do so....

For myself, I did pick up two new samplings to add to my daily commute when I'm not listening to Sports radio or Sirius: Kelly Clarkson's new cd "All I ever wanted", and Rocco DeLuca & The Burden's "Mercy". I briefly scanned each of them, and came to the following conclusions:

Rocco DeLuca sounds like a watered down Coldplay meets Damien Rice meets U2. It's got a few songs that are intriguing me right now, but nothing that's hooked me into listening deeply -- certainly no notably strong lyrics. I'm not in a huge rush to listen to it on the way home today. This one may have to grow on me.

Kelly Clarkson is clearly going back to that commercial hit route that I think she's been so criticized for working away from. My favorite song on the cd thus far is the last one because it showcases her beautiful voice without over doubling it, as is done in many of the other tracks. One of the reasons why I love her music is because she has an outstanding voice; her earlier cd's really demonstrated that. This collection of songs seems to overproduce her voice at times, and I think the true talent of the instrument she has, gets lost within the production itself.

Sometimes it feels that the music is like a person who tries too hard to fit in with the crowd. I don't like that -- I prefer genuity, purity and originality. But hey, that's just me.

Interestingly enough, the hype of this cd is that she worked with Katy Perry & Kara Dioguardi -- yet the songs I like best, are the ones that Kelly has written herself. Those seem to be the strongest lyrically, and with the exception of one of them -- they're less commercially driven in that typical "Avril Lavigne/Katy Perry/next hot young thing" kind of way. They're just good, and will be on the charts despite the lack of that desperate commercial sound that everyone seems to crave lately.

So if you're a Kelly Clarkson fan, the bottom line is this: the cd isn't as addictive as the first one was; it won't be the smash that the second one was....but it should definitely be better than the last one. Preliminarily speaking -- it's a one and a half thumbs up on the first listen.