Batson's Blog

2013 ended too quick! I didn't get the chance to finish up my 'best of 2013' lists. Today I'll tackle the best albums of 2013 and tomorrow it'll be the top movies of 2013. I didn't get the chance to listen to every album that was released in their entirety, but I did get the chance to check out the 13 of them that were listed below. 13. BEYONCÉ by Beyonce Sorry Beyonce fans, but BEYONCÉ didn't do it for me. While many praised the album for being groundbreaking, I struggled to maintain any interest in it. Overall it was boring. The theme of almost every song was about sex. There wasn't much variety when it came to the music either. Beyonce has a nice voice, which was showcased on a handful of songs on BEYONCÉ, but most of the songs consisted of her trying (and failing) her hand at rapping, singing breathily the way Britney Spears would or simply speaking. Maybe that's new ground for Beyonce, but it's hardly groundbreaking. ...

It's not every straight man who will buy a Cher CD, but last week that's what I did. I've been a fan for a long time -- probably because my mom was. I remember her playing Heart of Stone on cassette tape waaaay back when I was four or five years old. My favorite song was "Just Like Jesse James" because it had my name in it. In 1999, I got my mom Cher's Believe CD. Eventually, Cher came to a nearby arena for one of her farewell tours, so I got my mom tickets. After all these years, I admit, I was curious to see if Cher could still sing. A lot of older performers, like Steven Tyler, Stevie Nicks and Cyndi Lauper, don't sound as good as they used to. Cher always seemed like an exception to that rule though. I'm going to pass Closer To The Truth on to my mom, but I took a listen to it first. I read that she'd said it was her best work. It's not bad. It is a nice amalgamation of a lot of musical styles. While I doubt many of th...