Dave's Top Eight

1. Jerry Reed...Revisited by Darrell Toney (reviewed 6/07) (5 Stars)
2. Sounds Like Sunday by Janet Paschal (reviewed 5/07) (5 Stars)
3. True To The Call by Kingdom Heirs (reviewed 3/07) (4 1/2 Stars)
4. Revival by Gold City (reviewed 10/06) (4 1/2 Stars)
5. Get Away Jordan by Ernie Haase & Signature Sound (reviewed 2/07) (4 1/2 Stars)
6. Breakin' Chains by Three Bridges (reviewed 5/07) (4 1/2 Stars)
7. Big Sky by The Isaacs (reviewed 4/07)
8. Skywriting by Mercy's Well (reviewed 7/07)

Click title to purchase at CBD.com...click artist name to read Dave's Review. A CD will automatically fall out of the Top Eight after twelve months if no CD surpasses it before then.

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November 19, 2004

I didn't make the Mercy's Mark ad

Page 106 of the December Singing News features a full page ad for Mercy's Mark, a group whose project I reviewed for www.sogospelnews.com back on October 1. (You can read my review here.)
 
"THE REVIEWS ARE IN," the ad proclaims, but no quotes from my published review were included. Am I whining? No. I'm about to tell your why you aren't likely to see my writing quoted in a piece of press material from a record label. I don't want my writing to be used for publicity and marketing. That shouldn't be the purpose of a CD review. Maybe if I had raved like a crazed teenage fanboy rather than describing the music and being honest about one or two of the CD's relatively minor drawbacks, one of my quotes might have been inserted in the ad. Don't worry, though. I have no plans to change my review style. You're going to continue to get my honest opinion each and every time.
 
Reviewers aren't being paid by the record label to hype the product, so why do many write as if they are? Instead, a review should inform the reader and include both pros and cons that help the reader decide whether or not to buy the CD. Every CD is NOT the greatest recording in the entire history of music, contrary to what you may read.
 
What do you think?
 
Also, can someone direct me to links where I can read the reviews that were referenced in the Mercy's Mark ad? I did find a review of the Mercy's Mark CD written by Scot Evans at www.sgmusicforum.com, but the quote used in the ad isn't in that reveiw. I also found PART of the quote attributed to the "Editor of www.averyfineline.com," but some extra words were added and rearranged in the ad. I couldn't locate the rest. I'd love to be able to read the full comments in context. The looming question is this . . . were these in fact "reviews" or actually comments solicited by the record label for the purpose of the ad?
posted by David Bruce Murray @ 10:55:00 AM


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