Who Listens to This?

As I was browsing music at Barnes and Noble the other day I ran across some weird stuff. The one artist, in particular, that struck me was Israel Kamakawiwo'ole. This singer from Hawaii who died a few years ago (from obesity related health problems) has one of the most beautiful voices of any guy I have ever heard (I have told Michal that she cannot use the word “beautiful” to describe a male characteristic, but a man’s voice can be beautiful only if he weighs over 300 pounds). This guy got me thinking though, how incredible it is that one person can have such diversity in his enjoyment of musical styles. I am looking at the music that I have added to my library in the past 30 days (and you’ll have to forgive me for some of these), but I have Santana, Indigo Girls, Spandau Ballet, Weird Al, Green Day, Israel Kamakawiwo'ole, The Strangers, Karl Jenkins and many more (this is actually those I have added in the past two days).

Last night I got into a discussion of why christian music isn’t appealing to me. There are some groups like Jars of Clay and old Newsboys and Third Day that I will listen to, but for the most part I can’t bear to listen to contemporary christian music. I think one of the factors is the production quality. It seems as if these christian labels only get the worst record producers, or, as Michal suggested, they may be trying to hit too many genres with the same producer and so he ends up making everything sound the same. That’s really the beef that I have with christian music, it all sounds the same…and I didn’t like it the first time. What I want is variety, that’s why my library has Nick Drake and Bach, Green Day and Norah Jones, Israel Kamakawiwo'ole and JET. I want to hear the variety. Someone once said “variety is the spice of life” (actually when I googled it I found that many people have once said that). It’s true though. I know there are people who can put a CD into there car stereo and simply have it on repeat for weeks (or if the CD gets stuck they may have it on repeat indefinitely). I just can’t do that… I need my mix (so should I get an iPod shuffle?)

My Rating: Israel Kamakawiwo'ole – 6.5/10 – Get’s a little repetitive, but Somewhere Over the Rainbow is amazing.