Re: Lifehouse

["Brian Cady" <cadyb@home.com>]

> it's quite conceivable to me that people could prefer
> Pete's "Music Must Change" and "Sister Disco" demos to
> The Who's versions.  Normally I'd presume that the
> involvement of JAE and Moon would easily tip the
> scales in favor of full band treatments--and of
> course, when a song can benefit from powerful vocals,
> as is so often the case, Roger is unmatched.

Listening to those and some of the other demos, one of the things that
struck me was that it isn't that some songs are too personal that makes it
better when Pete sings them.  "I Don't Even Know Myself" is very personal
but it's much better when Roger sings it than Pete.  What I think makes the
difference is that Roger doesn't do "irony" or "tongue-in-cheek".  He does
straight-forward emotion and does it incredibly well.  But when it's a song
that has an ambiguous emotional meaning, Pete usually does a better job than
Roger.  When I hear Pete's "Sister Disco" it's hard to tell if he's joking
or not.  Roger leaves no doubt he isn't joking and that strips the song of
some of its meaning.

> so far I consider
> the 1999 version of Lifehouse to be a disappointment.
> It could grow on me, however (though I'll always want
> more music, and wish The Who's versions could've been
> included)...