Kt Tunstall - over produced ?

[Pinkeyes]

A while ago I heard this interview on the radio of this cheery girl. Never really paid too much attention - she was explaining about her effects pedal on her guitar allowing her to sing a line, and then that line is repeated as her backing vocal (when the pedal is pressed) as she sings her new line.
She then went on to do a fantastic Jacksons cover. Really good singer, and really quite blown away.

I later found out it was Kt Tunstall. I since thought I must have been hearing things as I thought all her singles were awful, drab and dull.

Just seen her live performance on the Brits (it started with her using the same pedal mentioned above). She was really good, even though I've hated that song - I thought she put in a really likeable, and muscial performance.

Is that possible ? I titled this thread as "over produced" - did they just mess with her album so much as to ruin it ? - She seems to have some real "raw" talent which doesnt come across in her singles at all.

Or am I just hearing things again. I know she has been very successful - but at this rate I might wait for a live album and see what that is like.

 

[Pinkeyes]

Its quite nice to over-produce a song on album - gives you somewhere to "go" live that could sound shoddy on record due to peoples expectations.

BTW the fx pedal stuff is cool - so far as I can see, on Black Horse and the Cherry Tree she sets some percussion going by bashing the guitar, then adds two vocal harmonies, then some muted string hits on the guitar again - causing the beat and the "woo hoo" to go right through the song - there's even a bit of chopped up repeat stuff near the end of the song that must take some concentration to set up. Very cool

Yeah, kind of agree with you - and I'm sure the formula works just fine for all concerned too. Everyone makes a huge amount of money.
Just for me, having somewhere to "go" - means the album isn't as good as it could have been. (i repeat - for me - I'm not moaning about a successful album here) - I was more suprised by how I found her performance than anything.

Another example is David Gray - first 2 albums, A Century Ends and Flesh - absolute sheer class - after that, he just got very mainstream and bland. Yet live, he still very much shines.