Ok, so I'm a couple weeks behind on this - just catching up on the backlog of NY Times Sunday Entertainment sections I don't always get to read on Sunday and put aside for 'later' - but apparently, Shania Twain's new album has 3 completely different versions, only 2 of which are available in any one part of the world - officially, anyway. I've read there's a straight ahead 'pop' version, a 'country' version (ha)...and...get this...a Bollywood-style version, recorded in Bombay with a full Indian orchestra(!) (I'm especially interested in hearing what resident world music expert nicodemus has to say about this). It may sound stupid, especially in light of how anodyne Shania is, but I actually think it's one of the most strangely interesting things I've heard in a while, and one of the few gimmicks that could actually persuade me to hunt down a Shania Twain album. The Bollywood version isn't being sold stateside, but has anyone actually heard this thing?
I saw this too a few weeks ago. I have to say, I'm sort of more annoyed at it than intriqued to hear it. I admit this is just knee-jerk bias, but the idea that you can just take an album's worth of vocal tracks and back it with various cultural musical backdrops reeks of something -- cultural vulturism, global homogeny, the banality of evil... I dunno. Again, I admit a bias here -- if it was Bjork, I'd probably say "hmmm, interesting." Since it's Shania Twain, I say "ugh, shameless." So I'd be interested to hear reports. Maybe it's great. I'd be happy to be wrong.
There was an article in Rolling Stone about her 2 weeks ago that also talked about the varying album releases. And apparently it works.
I can understand the bias thing - I'd have different reactions to different artists doing such a thing too, come to think of it. My impression was that they re-arranged the songs a bit, vocals and all, instead of just layering the same vocal tracks over different music. I could be wrong. For what it's worth, the Times reviewer said it's a 'fun party album', if you can get your hands on it.
wow. i can't believe such a thing exists. it will be absolutely craptastic i'm sure. i can actually probably get a copy of this. my wife is indian and still has lots of family in the old country and i can email one of them to hunt it down for me. i can't imagine that this will have much success in india. i could be wrong, but knowing what i know of bollywood and the pop music scene in india there doesn't seem to be much steam to lift an idea like this off the ground. just like the rest of us, most indians prefer to listen to most of their pop music in their native tongue. not only that, but bollywood stuff in english just sounds preposterous. the link below says you can listen to some of it on her website. also in the article I love where it says: "International buyers get the pop-rock disc and another, recorded in India, that's a combination of world and dance music. Twain thought of the Gipsy Kings when making that disc. She invites North American listeners to check out those versions for free on her Web site." what the crap is that supposed to mean? world music? oh you mean anything that doesn't originate out of the english speaking world? for the record "world music" is a bogus title but the best we have to work with i guess. most of the "world music" i listen to is the traditional music, with the exception of a lot of african pop music (which is really solid stuff.) most of the pop garbage that gets tagged as world music is worthless and turns people off of the good stuff because it all gets lumped in together. saying a certain music is like "world music" is like saying something tastes like food...just a wee bit vague. http://www.siouxcityjournal.com/art...ng/local/5b63a67309549dcb86256c9d001a5306.txt
check out this great review of the album from the village voice: http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0251/mcleod.php a few years ago she had a video where she had a bindi on and my wife and i were thinking "she looks like an effing moron." (same goes for madonna and gwen stefani too in their respective 'india phases') another funny village voice review: http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0251/dark.php
What's ironic is that her and The Reclusive Mutt Lange live about as far from the trailer park as one can - a huge mansion on the shores of Lake Geneva, I read somewhere.
I read that too, but as they say, "You can take the girl out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the girl."