Shlog Section-f

I preordered mine in January but it has not yet arrived.  Was it still released the last week of January?  I hope someone didn’t steal it from my mailbox.  Anyone know anything?

Hey, welcome to the board!

I think it’s taking a little longer than hoped to get the CDs out.  I haven’t gotten mine yet either but I think they’ll be on their way pretty soon.

Thanks.  Glad to know it’s not just me.

I talked to Brody last Tuesday and he said that Shaun was mailing them out that day.  Hopefully they’ll be arriving soon!

Beth

He’s also had sick kids, been sick himself and is on a stretch of travel now. 

It’s hard to be your own distribution company. Wish we all were near Nashville so we could have a mailing party and help out a little.

n

I got it in the mail and it sounds awesome!!  The best live Christian CD ever!  It totally captures Shaun at his best and the quality is amazing.  I hope everyone gets their copy soon so they can truly enjoy the music and chance to be part of the great event.

Kevin’s Top 10 Live Christian CD’s
1)Shaun Groves - One Night In Knoxville
2)Delirious - Live at Willow Creek
3)Chris Tomlin - Live in Austin, TX
4)Hillsong - Ultimate
5)Passion - The Best (So Far)
6)Kutless - Live in Portland
7)Third Day - Live Wire
8)Jeremy Camp - Live Unplugged
9)Casting Crowns - Live in Atlanta
10)Mark Schultz - Stories & Songs Live

I got my cds a week apart (one for donating to the website was mailed separately from gifts for family and friends).

You won’t be disappointed when you get it, it’s worth the wait!  (I know, I know, I hate it when people say that to me!)

I got both my CD’s too...a week apart too.  One for donating and one I bought for a family member at the Knoxville concert.  It was like being at the concert again!

I got mine two weeks ago; I must have been in an early batch to go out.

I read the Christianity Today “review”.  I put review in quotes because the review is very brief, and more than half of the review of ONIK is more a commentary on Shaun’s musical history and not the live CD.  The comments on the CD are all in one paragraph, with the description “glorified bootleg” sticking out.

Personally, I enjoy the CD.  I understand that Shaun does not have a full band behind him - no prob with me.  I think the quality of the recording is fine, as well.

This review is sad.  It reeks of professional jealously.  Christian AC radio is so much “Wonder bread.” Tastes good, but not very nutritious.  I’m glad I didn’t waste any money renewing my subscription.

Beth

The last batch of around 100 CDs goes out this week.  I have three days this week (off from the road) and I’m mailing discs with them.

Sorry for the delay and for such great excuses you guys have made for me.  I’ll use those.  ; ) Seriously, the CD was completed right in the middle of the busy leg of this tour.  Go figure.  Doing my best.  Thanks for your patience.

As for the review...Surprised me.  The disc is a simple live acoustic record.  Without anything added in a studio.  No vocal tuning.  No tricks.  Unlike every major live release I know of in recent years from Christian artists.  Maybe he’s forgotten what reality sounds like.

The reviewer didn’t have credits - didn’t know who worked on this disc - when he reviewed it either.  If he’d known Jim Dineen was the guy engineering and mixing the thing he may not have dissed the disc by saying it could have been done just as well with an iPod.  Besides, he is a music reviewer, not a mix engineer.

I take the review positively in the end.  What he didn’t like about it is exactly what we set out to create: an honest, bare bones recording of the average show I play.  He just happens to hate that sort of thing apparently.  I like what Seth Godin says: If you set out to make something for everyone you end up making something for no one.  We picked a direction, a certain taste, and went all the way with it.  When out to do that you’re bound to make something folks who like the opposite hate.

Looks like we did just that.

But I like it.

You know what you call a person who sets out to please everyone, don’t you?

A politician.

I finally got to hear the album this past Saturday. My dad had gotten it like at least a week ago hadn’t even OPENED IT!! So I did the job for him. Only problem is my mom thought I had adopted it so she left it here on campus with me. Which is bad news for me because I only have 1 disk to split between 8 other girls with my #1 rule: NO ripping my Shaun Groves cd’s!!

What Shaun mentioned here about the record is what drew me to it (and what I mentioned here).  A live record these days that includes no overdubs, protools magic, or even *gasp* fake audience noise is a rarity.  I greatly enjoy the fact that it is an honest, raw representation of Shaun’s music.  Furthermore, considering the Christian aspect of the content, I would think it makes more sense to represent music in this manner rather than adding a faux glossiness that is supposedly bringing the music closer to a “perfection” when in actuality we are imperfect- even flawed- beings.

Plus acoustik gtrz r kewl. 

This format has been a longtime favorite of mine- such as Chris Whitley’s Dirt Floor record.  Just stripped-down acoustic/dobro and voice.  It’s much nicer to have that format exude praise as well.  Like having cake and actually getting to eat it or something.

I agree that despite the negative overall rating the review is actually a compliment of the CD as the goal was to replicate what it’s like to be at a Shaun Groves’ show, which I think it does brilliantly!

As far as the over-production of some of the other Christian live CD’s, I think that’s an unfair comparison.  For example, the Casting Crowns Live in Atlanta CD/DVD is a very fair representation of what that tour looked and sounded like and I think it not only got good reviews but sold over 1 million copies.  Basically I agree that the reviewer missed the mark in some of the comments as in my opinion the production value is overrated and the music experience is what matters and this CD manages to truly capture that experience.  Keep the faith!

My main problem with the review is that it does not really review the album.  I’ve read several of the reviewers other reviews in the past, and have never found then to be so brief as this one was.  Maybe he was, in his own was, doing a barebones review of a barebones live CD.

And I still agree with others here, that I like the stripped down and honest presentation of the CD.  I said before, elsewhere, that I love demo and stripped down versions of songs, because that is when a good song really shines, getting past the glitz and glamor painted on later.  And this album is so bright, I gotta wear shades.