liz_marcs | Music from the Cube: What Am I Listening To Today?

Some of you might remember my post on the Borders Books & Music Penny CD from the other day.

Well, here's another example of the Penny CD and what corporations consider a "good" music mix, this time courtesy of Borders and BMG, thus proving why individual consumers are much, much better at this sort of thing.

Of course, since individual consumers aren't actually using the mixes as a marketing tool beyond, "Check this cool artist I've included...think you could throw some love their way," it's probably no big shock.

Please comment if you download.

Borders, Music = Life Rating=$$
[Support the Artists]

Like with Blue2002, the other day, I'm going to offer this whole CD for download. The reason is simple: It's out of print, it was meant to be passed around (or thrown away), and it is supposed to be a big ol' marketing thing.

Anyway, a lot of this is soft pop, and judging by the choice artists on this CD, it seems to be geared to the older Gen Xers and the younger Baby Boomers. If that's the case, then why does this CD bore the tits off me? What's really mystifying is that I like most of these tracks as individual tunes, but listening them to back-to-back really rubs my ears the wrong way. Looking at the track listing, it should be a good mix, and yet...it's just not.

I know a good mix when I hear it and this...is not a good mix. I wish I could be more specific about where it misses the boat, but I can't. No matter how hard I try.

In either case, it's terrific background music if you're plugging away at work, but if you're looking to get the heart pumping and the body moving, this one is a snoozer.

Here's the track listing for the Zip files:

Answer (Live) — Sarah McLachlan
Oh — Dave Matthews
Sunday Morning — Maroon 5
Love Throws a Line — Patty Griffin
Wake Up — Alicia Keys
Don't Leave Home — Dido
The Reason Why — Rachael Yamagata
I'd Rather (Live) — Luther Vandross
Little Mysteries (Live) — Ricki Lee Jones
Chariot — Gavin DeGraw
Movin' Me On - Elaine Elias

To download Tracks 1–6 from Music = Life, go here.
To download Tracks 6–11 from Music = Life, go here.

The page to download both zip files CD can be found here.

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To find previous thumbnail reviews, go to the Review Index.

After the download links expire, you can listen to streaming MP3 files linked with reviews at my Vox shadow blog for media.

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Rating system:
None = Avoid at all cost. Worth cutting your ears off to avoid if someone threatens to play it for you. When faced with even the threat of its cellophane-wrapped presence, your best option is to RUN AWAY! RUN AWAY!

$= If you stumble across it for cheap in a used bin, it might, maybe, perhaps could be worth the buy, but only if you need a cheap coaster for your cold drinks or a cool-looking Frisbee.

$$= You might want to give this CD/artist a try, but only if the sample track tickles your fancy. Don't bother buying this one new because the good tunes you'd get out of this one ain't worth that kind of money.

$$$ = Worth looking for on a casual basis and maybe even buying new, but no big rush.

$$$$ = Definitely worth having in the ol' CD collection and definitely worth buying new, but don't re-arrange your personal "must have" list to get your hands on it.

$$$$$ = Why haven't you bought this CD yet? Go. This is a "Want. Take. Have." situation because you so want this.