45 REVELATIONS
It always fascinates me how songs start sounding, over a few months� airplay, drastically better or worse than they did at first hearing. Unfortunately, of course, most singles aren�t big enough hits to warrant that sort of airplay, which limits them to just half a proper evaluation, the dangerously fallible first impression.
45 REVELATIONS
DEPARTMENTS
by
Ken Barnes
It always fascinates me how songs start sounding, over a few months� airplay, drastically better or worse than they did at first hearing. Unfortunately, of course, most singles aren�t big enough hits to warrant that sort of airplay, which limits them to just half a proper evaluation, the dangerously fallible first impression. It�s just as important to judge how a record ends up sounding in context with other hits of the day, and how it holds up under repeated listenings.
The changes work both ways. It was sobering to hear Simple Minds� �Don�t You (Forget About Me),� which I think I called an �instant classic� in an earlier column, evolve into a mere Billy Idol soundalike as its CHR, traditional AOR, modern AOR, and even Urban Contemporary airplay made it the mostplayed record on my FM dial. Then there are the songs I get sick of through overplay, like �Nightshift,� which will probably sound great a year from now when my synapses are clear again.