Post by b@@b on May 15, 2013 20:17:12 GMT -8
I've really taken the time to indulge in the Hounds album more and more the last week or so, after a long hiatus prior.
It's neat realizing how good it actually is, and how underrated it was treated -particularly in the media, radio, and industry.
Oh no, it's no Home, ,but it's still special.
I think way back I abandoned the album, not because I didn't enjoy it or got bored of it, but because I think I convinced myself ~somehow~ I was supposed to not give it too much credit, since meanwhile hoping for a return to the Chicks.
It wasn't deliberate; it was more so happenstance.
Yet in retrospect, and even in the now, I somewhat feel what is happening is ... .. quite perfect. I became ignorant to what was my core fascination with the trio all along.
There's no denying how great was what the Chicks did before and what they could still do. But the segregated journey they are on has gold of its own. I really like the Hounds and what they could do. They aRe quite unique.
That "core fascination" of mine of the Dixie Chicks ...is Martie and Emily as the heart of what phenom they are. Nothing against Natalie. She adds the spitfire of success too. But even owning and hearing what they were doing beFORE they got Natalie, I am also a fan of. More and more 'hits' to be found.
It's quite unfair in Country what it takes for true talents to break through. I think I hate the genre in my own way. That's at least my retrospective of their rise to fame.
Hearing Martie and Emily as this 'side project' peruse alternative Country and folk sounds is a gem. Four or five of the songs on there are/were hitworthy. It's no fluke of a recording.
In addition to that, I wonder how this album would have been received, even Natalie's, if there were no controversy(ies). (Of course this not including the perception that Taking The Long Way may have never happened how it did without the hoopla beforehand.) I wonder if this Hounds album would have received a great deal more boost otherwise. Certainly was deserved from a musical standpoint.
At risk of me sounding like I hope they don't get back together, so be it. But this could become one of the best things the Chicks have done, ironically -so to speak.
We "want our Chicks back" and all that, but they aRe back. They haven't disappeared. They're just on this new wave, maybe for good, and I'll surf' it.