One or two GOOD songs is enough to do that. There are artists I have loved
on record but I found weak in live performance. There are artists I have
loved in live performance whose records have been uninspiring.
Record reviews are usually of no help to me since so few of them tell me
anything useful. "Great Lyrics. Sings from the heart" tells me nothing. A
sampler, on the other hand gives me a chance to preview multiple artists at
once. Considering someone's very best song is what usually ends up on the
samplers, if I find an artist on a sampler not to my taste, I know that
it's unlikely that anything else on a record of theirs would appeal to me.
Then again, just because one song appeals to me doesn't mean the rest of
that arists songs will. But they might. It is a bit of a gamble, but that's
life.
Edie Gale Hays
edghays@umr.edu