Warning: More Mr. A-Z album discussion

I gave the CD another chance. I put it back in and listened some more. I stand by my opinions of my first 3 songs. Didn't like them.

Track 4-"Did you Get My Message?" was a bit more promising. I liked it!! It's a duet with a female who had a deeper voice than Jason. It was a witty little song about wondering what happens to our text messages/IM's after we send them.

Track 5 - "Mr. Curiosity" This was another song I heard live, in a couple of different forms. I had heard it sung as a really upbeat tempo with his full band and a strong bass line as well just him, slowed way down. I always thought the slow version of the song was more in keeping with the melancholy feel of the words. On the CD I was excited to see that they went with the slower version. It was very simple sounding and his voice really embodied the emotion he was feeling when he wrote it(after a bad break up). I was thinking "this is more like it" that is until the middle. In concert Jason will often break out into a "falsetto" opera voice. He says he does it for his mom who favors the classics. It's a funny bit and something you look forward to...At the concert that is, not in the middle of this, what could of been a gorgeous song.

Track 6 - "Clockwatching". I liked it! More upbeat, interesting play on words, easier to listen too since I had never heard any versions of this song before. Most of the reviews I read considered this one of the better songs on the CD and I agree.

Track 7 - "Bella Luna" what a pretty sounding song. It is a basanova beat and really pretty. Not a fan of the words but they aren't all his, he wrote it with his friend, so I'll forgive him. I agree however with one critic that you shouldn't rhyme Luna with Moon-ah.

Track 8 - "Plane" biggest surprise on the CD. I was not a fan of this song in it's live version. I loved the passion in which it was written, telling a girl that if the plane went down he would still love her and how he couldn't wait to land to share his experiences with her. When he sang it live he did build it up to a really rousing emotional finish. I could admire all that without liking the song. I wondered if they would be able to capture the emotion of the song when he recorded it and I think they did. They took a song I didn't really like before and made me like it, not love it, but like it and it was a big surprise to like it.

Track 9 - "O. Lover" Love it!! Only song on the album I had an immediate like for it. It's catchy and filled with double entrandes. It's very much like Jason and true to him. A little more polished him....

Track 10 - "Please Don't Tell Her" I heard this song only once before, when he performed it live when he opened for Alanis. I liked it then, liked it on the CD. It's the perfect anti-love song and makes me wonder what kind of girl his ex-girlfriend was to inspire this song. I love how it starts out very slow and easy and lulls you into thinking it is a love song but then he gets his point across in the chorus

Track 11 - "Forecast" well, I don't know what to say. The piano in it sounds like something I would hear on say Charlie Brown. Not that it sounds childish, just like a Charlie Brown special or something you would see on Seasme Street when they sing about rain. I liked the words though!!! He was definitely in love when he wrote it. I think the CD could of done without this one and "I'm yours" would of been a much, much better choice, but hey, no one asked me.

Track 12 - "Song for a Friend" I love the addition of the choir, however you lose interest long before they come in. WAY, WAY, to long of a song, could of cut a 1/3 out and still have enough song.

So in a word, it's OK, not great, not horrible, just Ok. I can't even begin to say how horrible I feel for thinking these things. I do appreciate he was trying to branch out and they did a lot of really cool things in the recording and the mixing. I know he is really proud of it and has said several times that he wouldn't change a thing and that this is the record he wanted to make. I also don't want to be one of those fans that put their idols in a box and not allow them to do anything different. Still I am not a fan of this CD. It's too slick, too polished and way over produced. It's also just noisy, not just the instruments but all the other stuff. It's hard to find you way through it all to get to the core of the songs and to the core of Jason. It just doesn't seem like "him".

Maybe it will grow on me.....