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▄▓█████████▓▓█▀ ▀▀▀▓██▓▌
░ ▓█████████▓▓█▀ [ J U S T F U N . P R E S E N T S ] ▐█▄██▓▀
▐███▓██▀▀▓▀░ ██▓▓█▀▀
░ ▓████▓▌ ░ Artist.......: Richard Swift ▐▓▀▀
▓ ▐█████▓█ Album........: The Richard Swift Collection Volume One▀ ░
▀█▄▓████▓▓▄█▀ Genre........: Indie ░▓ ▌
▄▀██▓██▓▓▀ Language.....: English ░▓░▐▓
▓▓▄▀█▓▓▓▀ Label........: Secretly Canadian ░▓░ █▓▌
▐█▓▓ ▀▓ Catnr........: SC111 ░▓▓▓ ▐█▓▓
▓█▓▌ URL..........: http://www.richardswift.us/ ▓░ ███▓▓[z0o]░
▐██░ ░ ░ ▄ ░▄▄▄▄▓▄▄▓████▓▓▄▄▄▄▓▄▄
▀▓█░▄ ▌ ░▓░ [ R E L E A S E . I N F O ] ▓░ ▓▀▓█████████████▓▓▓▀
░ ▀▀▓█▄▐▓ ░▓▓▓░ ░▓▓▓░ ░ ▀▓██████▓██▓▓▀ ░
░ ░ █▓▌▄▄▄ ▄▓ ░▓▓▓░ source......: CDDA ░▓▓▓▓▓▓░ ▀▓█████▓▓▓
░▓▓░ ▐█▓▓ ░ ░▓▓░ playtime....: 49:58 min ░▓▓ ▐███████▓▓▌ ░
░░ ███▓▓ ▓▓░▓░ rip.date....: 17-09-2005 ░▓▓░ ▓███▀ ▀▓█▓▓ ░
▄▄▄▄▄▓▄▄▓████▓▓▄▄▄▄░▄▄ str.date....: 00-00-0000 ▓ ▐█▓▀ ░ ░▀█▓▌
▀▓█████████████▓▓▓▀ ripper......: JustFunCrew ░▓░ █▀ ░░▓▓▓ ▀▓
░ ▀▓██████▓██▓▓▀ ▓░ grabber.....: EAC V0.95 prebeta 4 ▓▓ ▀░ ░ ░ ░▓░ ░▀
▀▓█████▓▓▓ ░░▓ encoder.....: LAME version 3.90.3 ░▓▓░▓▓▓▓ ▓▓▓░
░ ▐███████▓▓▌░▓▓▓░ size........: 72,8 MB ░▓▓▓▓▓ ▓░▓▓░░ ░
▓███▀ ▀▓█▓▓ ▓░░ quality.....: VBRkbps/44,1Hz/Joint-Stereo░ ░▓░ ░
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░ ▄█▒████████▓▓▀ ▀▓██▓███▓▄
▄▓██░██████▓▓█▀ [ T R A C K . L I S T I N G ] ▀▀▀▓██▓▌
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▐███▓██▀▀▓▀░ ██▓▓█▀▀
▓████▓▌ ░ track title time ▐▓▀▀
▓████▓▌ ▀ ░▌
▓████▓▌ 01. Foreward 01:13 ▓▌
▓████▓▌ 02. Lady Day 02:55 ▓▌
▓████▓▌ 03. Lovely Night 04:39 ▓▌
▓████▓▌ 04. Sadsong St. 02:18 ▓▌
▓████▓▌ 05. Blues for Mother 01:05 ▓▌
▓████▓▌ 06. The Novelist 02:54 ▓▌
▓████▓▌ 07. Ballad of Clifford Swift 00:59 ▓▌
▓████▓▌ 08. Looking Back, I Should Have Been Home More 03:44 ▓▌
▓████▓▌ 09. Walking Without Effort Theme 01:51 ▓▌
▓████▓▌ 10. Half Lit 04:20 ▓▌
▓████▓▌ 11. In The Air 03:21 ▓▌
▓████▓▌ 12. As I Go 03:55 ▓▌
▓████▓▌ 13. Above & Beneath 02:54 ▓▌
▓████▓▌ 14. Mexico (1977) 03:19 ▓▌
▓████▓▌ 15. Losing Sleep 04:30 ▓▌
▓████▓▌ 16. Not Wasting Time 02:53 ▓▌
▓████▓▌ 17. Beautifulheart 03:08 ▓▌
▓████▓▌ ▓▌
▓████▓▌ [ A B O U T . T H i S . R E L E A S E ] ▓▌
▓████▓▌ ▓▌
▓████▓▌ Richard Swift is preparing to release a new CD next ▓▌
▓████▓▌ spring, but for those of you who've missed out on ▓▌
▓████▓▌ his earlier work, Secretly Canadian (his new label) ▓▌
▓████▓▌ has repacked two older discs, The Novelist and ▓▌
▓████▓▌ Walking Without Effort, into a two-disc collection ▓▌
▓████▓▌ entitled The Collection Vol. 1 (though stores are ▓▌
▓████▓▌ listing it as The Novelist/Walking Without ▓▌
▓████▓▌ Effort--confused yet?). I can't comment on the ▓▌
▓████▓▌ double-CD packaging, which I assume is quite ▓▌
▓████▓▌ handsome, because my review copy is a one-CD ▓▌
▓████▓▌ promotional version. There are two benefits to my ▓▌
▓████▓▌ version. The first is that the entire package is ▓▌
▓████▓▌ only 50 minutes long and fits nicely on one disc, ▓▌
▓████▓▌ so I don't have to move my lazy ass to the stereo ▓▌
▓████▓▌ to change CDs after The Novelist ends. The second ▓▌
▓████▓▌ is that Secretly Canadian includes, printed on the ▓▌
▓████▓▌ CD, a clever method of deterring sales to used ▓▌
▓████▓▌ record stores: "You're an asshole if you pay more ▓▌
▓████▓▌ than $1 for this record. You're a bigger asshole if ▓▌
▓████▓▌ you try to sell it for more than $1." TouchΘ. ▓▌
▓████▓▌ ▓▌
▓████▓▌ The first disc is a pop cabaret record. Think Rufus ▓▌
▓████▓▌ Wainwright if his songs were shorter and featured ▓▌
▓████▓▌ fewer instruments and overdubs. The second disc is ▓▌
▓████▓▌ closer to the folky guitar pop of Ron Sexsmith or ▓▌
▓████▓▌ piano balladry of popular '70s singer-songwriters. ▓▌
▓████▓▌ Each album begins with an instrumental. "Foreward" ▓▌
▓████▓▌ (It's curiously misspelled, but get it, as in the ▓▌
▓████▓▌ foreword of the novel written by The Novelist.) ▓▌
▓████▓▌ sounds equal parts Mardi Gras parade, Disney ▓▌
▓████▓▌ musical, and nature documentary. Believe it, ▓▌
▓████▓▌ sister! It's one of the few times I wished that an ▓▌
▓████▓▌ instrumental opening track were much longer. The ▓▌
▓████▓▌ subsequent songs continue to match the obscure feel ▓▌
▓████▓▌ of the opener. Swift's voice is filtered to sound ▓▌
▓████▓▌ scratchy and old. But then again, everything sounds ▓▌
▓████▓▌ old. The piano was recorded in a smoky saloon. The ▓▌
▓████▓▌ organ was bought second hand and is probably ▓▌
▓████▓▌ damaged by flood water. The guitar was likely miked ▓▌
▓████▓▌ by a person without a degree in recording ▓▌
▓████▓▌ engineering. The Novelist comes across as a ▓▌
▓████▓▌ discovered artifact rather than a contemporary ▓▌
▓████▓▌ release. Either Swift put a lot of time and effort ▓▌
▓████▓▌ into creating such a vibe, or he just doesn't know ▓▌
▓████▓▌ what the hell he's doing in a recording studio. ▓▌
▓████▓▌ ▓▌
▓████▓▌ "Lovely Night" is a winner no matter the sound. ▓▌
▓████▓▌ It's both catchy and mysterious, and at four and a ▓▌
▓████▓▌ half minutes, it's positively epic for Swift. "The ▓▌
▓████▓▌ Novelist" is nothing but piano and accordion. ▓▌
▓████▓▌ "Looking Back, I Should Have Been Home More" is not ▓▌
▓████▓▌ only the best song title in the collection, but it ▓▌
▓████▓▌ also resembles Bacharach and Randy Newman ballads. ▓▌
▓████▓▌ Swift closes the album by repeating, "Remember when ▓▌
▓████▓▌ you loved me, babe". Overall it's a diverse disc ▓▌
▓████▓▌ and demands repeated listens. ▓▌
▓████▓▌ ▓▌
▓████▓▌ Walking Without Effort begins with a more ▓▌
▓████▓▌ conservative instrumental. It manages to evoke Jon ▓▌
▓████▓▌ Brion's soundtrack work, implementing acoustic ▓▌
▓████▓▌ guitar, vibraphone, and keys. The instrumental once ▓▌
▓████▓▌ again sets the tone for the album. The songs here ▓▌
▓████▓▌ sound more current (by way of the '70s), and ▓▌
▓████▓▌ Swift's voice sounds natural. The accompanying ▓▌
▓████▓▌ instruments are more likely to be horns and drums ▓▌
▓████▓▌ than the banjos and accordions of the first record. ▓▌
▓████▓▌ The pleasures of hearing this record are nearly ▓▌
▓████▓▌ equal to The Novelist. Who can resist a delicious ▓▌
▓████▓▌ pop song, especially when the arrangements are ▓▌
▓████▓▌ heavy on the horns and vibes? One thing I didn't ▓▌
▓████▓▌ miss at all, probably because I was already so ▓▌
▓████▓▌ interested in the music, is the lack of a ▓▌
▓████▓▌ traditional drum kit. Some songs seem to have a ▓▌
▓████▓▌ snare buried in the mix, and others do include a ▓▌
▓████▓▌ bass drum and cymbals, but most survive wonderfully ▓▌
▓████▓▌ without the percussion by relying on the acoustic ▓▌
▓████▓▌ guitar as the beat-keeper. ▓▌
▓████▓▌ ▓▌
▓████▓▌ The somber pace of the songs grates on the ▓▌
▓████▓▌ attention span during Walking Without Effort. I ▓▌
▓████▓▌ longed for Swift to pick up the pace at least once ▓▌
▓████▓▌ or twice. To the listener with attention deficit ▓▌
▓████▓▌ disorder, I would highly advise not listening to ▓▌
▓████▓▌ the two discs back to back. Kudos to Secretly ▓▌
▓████▓▌ Canadian for packaging them on separate CDs. ▓▌
▓████▓▌ ▓▌
▓████▓▌ Swift certainly is an interesting find, and he ▓▌
▓████▓▌ certainly creates music imagistic and imaginative ▓▌
▓████▓▌ enough to warrant titles such as The Novelist. This ▓▌
▓████▓▌ collection is a brief but rewarding introduction to ▓▌
▓████▓▌ a songwriter willing to take a few risks, even ▓▌
▓████▓▌ though he's basically just playing the same songs ▓▌
▓████▓▌ we've already heard before. ▓▌
▓████▓▌ ▓▌
▓████▓▌ ▓▌
░ ▓████▓▌ ▓▌
▓ ▐█████▓█ [ A B O U T . U S ] ▓▌
▀█▄▓████▓▓▄█▀ ▓▌
▀██▓██▓▓▀ Our group consists of many rippers who are music enthu- ▓▌
▀█▓▓▓▀ siasts. Justfun is releasing different kind of music like ▓▌
▀▓ indie rock, trip-hop, ethnic, jazz, french, brazilian ▓▌
░ electro and many more ... We will bring you the music ▓▌
░ we like and share it with the rest of the under- ▓▌
░ ground scene. If you have, like us, a passion for ▄ ▓▌
░ music, don't hesitate to contact us ! ▄▄█▌ ▓▌
░ ▄████▓▌ ▓▌
░ GREETinGs : Nuhs . Hit2000 . DGN . KSi . RAC . CHR █████▀▀▀▀ ▓▌
░ Om . rH . Fuffens . Remix . CMG . SB . AMOK ░███ ▓▌
░ Kw . aPC . iTS . i . RNS . aAF . diss . ESC ██▌ ▓▌
pyt . SEVcD ... ▓██ ▓▌
░ and all ppl who share music with us ! ▄▄▄██▌ ▓▌
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▄█▒████████▓▓▀ ▀▀▀▀▀ ▀▓██▓███▓▄
▄▓██▓██████▓▓█▀ [ C O N T A C T ] ▀▀▀▓██▓▌
▓█████████▓▓█▀ ▐█▄██▓▀
▐███▓██▀▀▓▀░ We're currently looking for : ██▓▓█▀▀
▓████▓▌ ░ - music enthusiast ppl buying cds on a regular basis. ▐▓▀▀
▓████▓▌ - ppl who can get promos or advanced rls. ▀ ░▌
░ ▓████▓▌ - Siteop who can provide at least 10mbits and ▓▌
▓ ▐█████▓█ 50gb++ for our archive. ▄ ▓▌
▀█▄▓████▓▓▄█▀ - People with skill and experience ▄▄█▌ ▓▌
▀██▓██▓▓▀ ... and everyone who wants to help in a ▄████▓▌ ▓▌
▀█▓▓▓▀ pleasant atmosphere our Just family. █████▀▀▀▀ ▓▌
▀▓ ░███ ▓▌
░ Share your forces with us ! ██▌ ▓▌
▌ IRC : You know ▓██ ▌ ▓▌
░ ▐▓ Email : jfun@hushmail.com ▄▄▄██▌ ▐▓ ▓▌
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▀▓█████▓▓▓ by z0oy0rk ▀▓█████▓▓▓
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▓███▀ ▀▓█▓▓ [ J U S T F U N born in Apr. 2 0 0 0 ] ▓███▀ ▀▓█▓▓
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