I was a little thrilled when I saw this thread, b/c it was exactly what the doctor ordered, b/c it hits on the nail what I'm thinkin'.
For the most part, I'm VERY disappointed w/ this album; it's HORRIBLE. Just GOD awful. So bad, that in fact, I don't know where to begin. But I'll begin w/ Vannie's vocals, since I thought that was the biggest flaw of the album. And what I'm about to say is not out of malice at all, but out of concern for V's career and how her music [and material for her discography] has declined since BE NOT NOBODY. But lemme start w/ how her singing, b/c that was the MAIN flaw [and possibly WORSE one yet] that stood out for me on HAT.
I don't know if anyone has noticed, but w/ each album, it seems like Vannie's vocals become [not off-key per se], but more and more monotone. I honestly don't know what she's trying to prove by singing more out of tune w/ each album. The only song she actually SANG on that album was Lolita Fairytale. The rest, I don't know what the hell she thought she was doing, but that wasn't singing-- AT ALL. W/ HARMONIUM, her vocals were more monotone than I liked and more monotone than when she performed the songs from HARMONIUM live, but I still thought it was a great album. The songs that V sounded more [or the most] monotone on the album than live were Who's To Say, Papa, Afterglow, HAWBTW and White Houses. The rest of the songs she actually SANG IN TUNE, and those were the songs I enjoyed singing along to the most. I don't think HAT is even remotely WORTH singing along to... unless you're tone-ass deaf.
When I first listened to HARMONIUM, I only liked half the songs; by the end of the [3] weeks I had the album, I loved practically ALL the songs. BNN was a hit [mainly b/c VC actually SANG her ass off on all the songs], HARMONIUM was getting there, and HAT is DEFINITELY a miss vocally. For starters, the lyrics sound more juvenille than ever, like something a 8-year old would write, even more junvenille than BNN. I was actually expecting something better, but HAT fell short... BIG time. Like Avril Lavigne latest album [which isn't as good as UNDER MY SKIN (which didn't do as good as her debut, but is much better than her latest, THE BEST DAMN THING lyrics and material-wise among other things) and her debut, LET GO], V's latest LP [lyric-wise, among other factors] has regressed, even BEFORE her debut. But at least Avril Lavigne actually SANG the songs on her latest release. V didn't sing in tune AT ALL, except on Lolita Fairytale. Her vocals were pretty much one-note [not to mention very boring and unexciting to me].
I almost cried I was so disappointed w/ the singing. If V only SANG the songs, that album would've been SOOOO much better. I don't know what the hell she was thinking, believing that maybe we wouldn't notice how flat her singing was. Or maybe the people directly involved w/ the production of the album [as well as her label] were afraid to tell her that her monotone singing was ATROCIOUS. Or perhaps she was cutting corners w/ this cut. I don't know what the problem is, but V's had more than 2 1/2 years to come out w/ a kick-ass album, if not 3. And featuring Stevie NICKS on that album of all people. [I'm not even a Fleetwood Mac fan.] I'm not saying the woman [Stevie Nicks] can't sing, b/c she can; her voice [like Macy Gray's] just sounds terrible. Even her ex, Stephen Jenkins sounded better singing background than Stevie. Even w/ HARMONIUM I was willing to overlook Van's more-monotone-than-usual vocals b/c the material on the album was pretty good [partial courtesy of her ex and Ron Fair]. Now I can almost understand why her label gave her the blessed boot.
V may think her album is da bomb-diggity and her best work yet, but I beg [w/ all due respect], b/c it's about as far from that as it can get. It's very sad that V is wasting her vocal talent by singing in a monotone voice, b/c she's MUCH MORE capable than this. [I think 'Home' is from her demo, but I'm not sure.] She has a clear, beautiful voice [not to mention that she kind of sounds like Jewel], but she totally did herself under by doing a hack job on HAT w/ her dull, flat, boring monotone vocals. Yeah, [like some fans] I'm disappointed that songs such as 'Best Behavior' and 'All Is Well' didn't make the cut, but at this point it doesn't really matter anyway, b/c HAT is such a crappy album. On 'The One' [the live version w/ the shitty quality] V sang the song like her life literally DEPENDED on singing it right. She sang the song w/ such emotion that I almost cried; I'd NEVER heard her sing like that [except on some of her demo songs], even on BNN. But on HAT, she did a HORRIBLE job on the song vocally.
