I was dusting some old CDs to transfer to the Ipod and found Faith's It Matters To Me. I love every song on it. I bought and hated Cry. I haven't even listened to all the songs, I was so turned off by the couple of songs I listened to.

Which one do you like better? I'm a Country nut so Old Faith all the way for me.

I like the old Faith No More better than either.

I don't have much country in my collection. The only album I have by Faith Hill is Cry, which only very faintly resembles country music - I can see how country fans wouldn't care for it. I thought it was a pretty good pop album.

See. It's about her image so much now that people can't even talk about the music of Faith Hill. They just want to see pics.

I don't care much for either, but if I had to chose- the old Faith by far. The "new" Faith is trying too much to be the Next Celine Dion.

I also prefer the "old" Sara Evans, Lee Ann Womack, Chely Wright and Jo Dee Messina. All of which had excellent Country albums before releasing schmaltzy-pop albums in an attempt to become the Next Faith Hill.

And anyone wants someone who's beautiful in country with very powerful albums and staying power and who's not trying to be the next pop-princess-- look no further than Allison Moorer. She can blow all the above away with both her looks and her singing/songwritting.

Tscott, those are all wonderful artists. I really like:
Womack: The Fool, I'll Think of a Reason Later, I Hope You Dance
Messina: I'm Alright
Wright: Single White Female
Evans: I Could Not Ask For More

Those are the songs that come to mind right away.

I'm not an old country fan by any means. I don't like Merle Haggard or Loretta Lynn. I like popsy country - but with the country still in there. Songs like Garth's "Fever" and the original Shania Twain - by gosh whatever happened to her, she was absolutely perfect. I love every track on "Come on Over." I like the first two tracks only on "Up" (and I hate the country version, ironically enough - I'm not big on banjos).

Too many great artists are leaving country behind I don't like much of the crossover music. I don't like just country - I listen a lot to Pink and Eminem, I love Missy Elliot's "Work It," and other pop. So it's not that I don't like pop. I just don't like the pop the crossovers are putting out. I want the old Shania and Faith back
Look at Garth. Besides the whole Chris Gaines thing (what the heck was that?!), he stayed country. What's wrong with that? No need to go crossover.

Me neither. Except for considering Suzy Boggus a guilty pleasure of mine in the early 90s, it wasn't until Johnny Cash had a couple albums out on the American Recordings lable and I had bought Lucinda Williams' 'Car Wheels On a Gravel Road' that I allowed myself to treat country as a genre of music I might enjoy.

I didn't mean to say that everything those four artists have done lately is worthless (although I may have implied that in my first post). It's just when I hear Sara Evan's 'Three Cords and the Truth' or Lee Ann Womack's self titled debut album, I feel they are MUCH stronger albums than what they are putting out now. Excepting the title track on Sara Evan's 'Born to Fly' and 'I Could Not Ask For More' the rest of that album is totally forgetfull to me. Even worse is Womack's song "Something Worth Leaving Behind" which makes me want to gag everytime I hear it. I do like several tracks from her 'I Hope You Dance' album, but nothing is as powerful as "Never Again Again" or "The Fool" from her first album.

That's all I'm saying too. I like much of the early works of these artist, including Faith, but lately I'm more dissapointed with their current output than not.

Luckily for me there's more to country than what's being shoved down our throats in the mainstream. Neko Case, Lucinda Williams, Kasey Chambers, Tiff Merritt, Shelby Lynn (Allison Moorer's sister) and even current Emmylou Harris and Dolly Parton albums to name a few. (If you haven't guessed by now, I much prefer the female voice in country. There are very few men I can listen to sing with a twang and enjoy- but that's just me.)

I prefer country artists to stay country because I like all types of music. Sometimes I'm in a country mood so I pop in Lee Ann Womack's first cd or Faith's Take Me As I Am. I really think they sound better country as I was a big fan of both but I did not care to much for Faith's Cry or Lee Ann's Something Worth Leaving Behind CD.
Same goes for Lonestar. I loved their first 2 CDs but when their 3rd one came out with the song Amazed I think they went downhill. I think Gretchen Wilson's new cd has a taste of what country should sound like, I loved every song on it.

Because there's more money in pop music, so artists -- and not just contry artists -- will attempt to crossover in order score a big payday. As long as Faith Hill is playing straight-ahead country, she's going to be just a country singer. But when she crosses over, she gets magazine covers and layouts, songs on movie soundtracks, airplay on MTV and VH1 in addition to the country channels, and a larger pop fanbase while retaining most of her original country fanbase.

Listen to Metallica fans like myself bitch about Bob Rock sometime. It's something that all genres of music are subject to.

Old Faith Hill or new Faith Hill, it doesn't matter. Faith Hill is not country. Ever. Nobody that good looking can sing country, or even possibly comprehend what it's about. Anna Fermin's Trigger Gospel, Drive-By Truckers, Caitlin Cary.... that is country. I am hardly a music snob, but as bad as things are in pop, they are twice as bad in the current country radio scene. If 90% of radio pop is garbage then 99% of radio country is. And Lyle Lovett is probably that remaining 1%.

It's the "new" country....

to name a few.

I'm sorry but that statement sounds just as bad as the MTV executives who keep pushing Brintney Spears clones on us just because they look great in videos- only you're doing it in reverse. Now, I'm not saying you have to like the artists I just posted above, but if the only reason you don't is because they look good and thus "can't sing country", you're letting image be your guide and totally ignoring the music.

I couldn't care what Allison Moorer or Caitlin Cary or whoever looked liked. It's all about the voice, the lyrics and the music.

Well, you have a valid point about Moorer, Case, etc. I'd argue that none of the above women have anything on Faith Hill in the looks department, but that's semantical. Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Eric Clapton, were pretty good looking dudes in their youth and I don't think anyone is going to argue that they aren't giants in their respective fields. The same holds true for a young Aretha Franklin. I still find Bonnie Raitt to be pretty sexy, if for no other reason than her attitude and the fact that she could probably take me in a bar fight. Same for Chrissie Hyde.

So bombast about pretty people not making good music aside, I guess my point is that county is probably even worse than pop for pushing image over substance in the past few years. And Faith Hill, old or new, has never had a thing to do with real authentic, soulful, pain-soaked country music.

Every Metallica fan I know literally froths at the mouth in anger about Bob Rock. Me personally, I think he produced one of the best rock albums of the 90's in Veruca Salt's Eight Arms To Hold You

I've said this before, but Emmylou is one sexy older woman. Sexy. Hot. Was drawn in by the voice (on "Wrecking Ball") then saw pictures, and thought, "Wow!" I'd say hottest "older" woman around. Unless Madonna now fits in that category, but my definition of older has now stretched to fifty or more.

Love her music above all, but also love her aesthetically. Mmm.

Mmm.... Emmylou.