Is it ok to not gush over Vanessa Fernadez?...one listener's perspective.

wether it is VF or her backing musicians on the disc, a reference recording for sure!

Happy Listening!

Very well stated, bdp24.  We love our ear candy and sometimes forget that ANY considerations or concerns re sound quality (barring the absurd, of course) either on the part of the artist, engineer or listener always take second place to musical considerations.  The power of the music, if it is there, will always shine through, and the idea that less than perfect sound quality destroys the music is silly, imo.  None of this is to say that a great goal should not always be great music with great sound, but it's easy to see what a tall order that is, everything considered.  So, what is the audiophile/music lover to do?  Ignore all the fantastic music out there that doesn't have audiophile sonic pedigree?  Seems to me that trying to stay in a frame of mind that doesn't shut down the appreciation of the music because we are preoccupied with its sound is much more positive.  

I had never heard of Vanessa Ferna(n)dez.  I listened to "When The Levee Breaks" and, like the OP and others, I don't get it.  Well, I do get it; and, it doesn't surprise me in the least.  This kind of music product is pretty common.  Pretty talented young singer who probably has some real potential, but is not there yet; and who (and the producer), imo, is not lacking confidence to think that she can do justice to songs that, in many ways, set standards for music of that period and genre.  Pretty ballsy if you ask me.  Unfortunately, she and the producers brought nothing new to the table and it all falls flat.  Great sound can never make up for a ho-hum performance.  I'm not prepared to say that profit is the motivator here; I just don't know.  I do know that sometimes producers and record labels truly believe in an artist; but,  like anything else, there are great producers and then there are the not so great or musically insightful.

These two recordings popped up on YouTube and are pretty indicative of all this.  The producer's heavy and uninspired hand is all over Fernandez' cover of this Curtis Mayfield classic.  Not bad, but check out how the classic Mayfield's time feel is so much better and in the pocket than the cover's.  Killer drummer on the original; pretty average on the cover.  The cover doesn't have any of the dark atmospheric vibe that is so appropriate for the content of the lyrics.  They even copied the EXACT tempo of the original; that doesn't happen by accident.  Wouldn't surprise me if the rhythm section was playing to a sampled click track.  This sort of thing is done with projects like this pretty frequently and are just some of things that contribute to uninspired performances on record.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GjLlZRWhPNA

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8vZzFwR4rVE

If the quality of a recording is excellent, that’s a bonus, but the quality of the music has to be there first for it to matter to me.

What dbp24 said.....

I went out and listened to a lot of stuff from VF on youTube. It sucked IMHO. The sound quality might be great (I don't know, I listened through my computer speakers), however the performances were less than inspiring. I didn't feel any emotion at all. 

Feel free to not gush over Vanessa Fernandez. Maybe you're more of a music fan and less of an audiophile.  

dbp24? bdp24, please! The bdp is for black diamond pearl---my favorite vintage drum covering, the 24 for my favorite bass drum size, 24 inch.