Customer Reviews

Ride

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I like her, but wouldn't even consider purchasing a copy-protected CD. If you can't put it on a MP3 player of any sort, I have no use for carrying around a crapload of CD's. FFFFF SONY!

This installs rootkit which is malware that is used to hide and mask its existance. It installs itself in your computer and is almost impossible to remove. Attemps to remove it can damage ones computer. Great Music though!!

Among the onslaught of ingénues flooding the current country music scene, Clinton, Miss. born Shelly Fairchild marks her arrival with a rich, full-bodied debut. Radio has yet to give proper attention to this sassy dynamo. Her first single "You Don't Lie Here Anymore" should have been a No. 1 with its hi-octane vocals and attitude that stretches for miles. The rest of Ride proves that Fairchild is no one-trick-pony. She belts like a blue's mama on "Down into Muddy Water" and rocks like a biker chick on the title track, yet easily switches gears to deliver the gentle-anguish of "Eight Crazy Hours" with delicacy. What sets her apart from her big-voiced contemporaries is the ability to make every emotional resonance ring true. This is best exemplified by the album's closing track, which explores the same kind of tender, mixed-emotion turmoil as Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You." In "Fear of Flying" Fairchild sings, "I love you / I hate you / I miss you like hell / but most of all baby / I wish you well," and remarkably, it works nearly as effectively as Parton's durable classic. Country radio programmers... take note.

I loved this CD. But had so much trouble getting it on my Ipod. I finally figured it out.
Rip the CD to WMA files. Then burn those files on a CD and then you can import them in ITunes.
I almost gave up, but e-mailed my question to Apple's web site and they actually got back to me and solved my problem.

As many people may know by now, Sony was recently caught with egg on their face when a security specialist found out that a recently purchased CD (Van Zant: Get Right With The Man) from Sony music not only installed DRM software (digital rights management, to limit and outright prevent copying music to certain devices), but it did so in such a sneaky way that it hid itself entirely from Windows, and opened the system up to security issues such as viruses.

This CD has the same copyright protection, called XCP. When installed, Sony hijacks your computer and installs custom software which:

1) Hides itself entirely from Windows by installing as a rootkit
2) Hides itself in such a manner that any files begining with $sys$ are also hidden. For example, if you install the XCP copy protection software on your machine, and rename "document.doc" to "$sys$document.doc" it then becomes invivisble to you forever.
3) Installs its own custom CD-Rom drivers to hijack your system. It also sneakily names these drivers "Plug and Play Device Manager" to seem as if it's a part of Windows. Trying to delete these drivers manually will disable your CD-Rom drive entirely.
4) Offers no uninstall option until you manually contact Sony

As of my writing this review, Sony has "apologized" for this incident, and claims they will "re-evaluate" this copyright protection software on their CDs in the future.

In the meantime, a virus is currently running wild, which names itself begining with $sys$ in an attempt to hide from the user and virus scanners.

Several class action lawsuits are also pending against Sony right now.

In summary, as you can tell from above, Sony's actions here are absolutely horrible. This is your music. You purchased it, and they should not have any right to dictate how you can use it, let alone install software which compromises your system security.

This is one of the CDs with Sony's XCP copyright protection software on it, and as a result, you should not buy it to send a message to Sony that this will NOT be tolerated in the future.

Sit back, turn up your cd player and prepare yourself for the ride of your life.

Ride is a bluesy,rock, country masterpiece. Some of the best tracks are You don't lie here anymore, Kiss me, Time machine, Ride,Tiny town and Ready to fall.

If you are a fan of country rock females this is the cd for you.

I heard Shelly spotlighted on SIRIUS a few weeks back and couldn't wait to pick up her new CD. Musically, I was not disappointed. She has a driving, bluesy feel to her music that makes it easy to get in to. "Kiss Me" is a slower rock style song (Kiss me, I just want to be together, no one's gonna love you better, every night and every day) that's just fun to sing along with. "Ride", like the song implies (you make me want to buy a big Harley, deck it out in steel and chrome...ride to the edge of the world..with the wind in my hair) makes me want to get out and experience the open road. It's syncopated beat and on-target lyrics draws you in. "I Want To Love You" is the only love song on the CD - and my favorite. Shelly soulfully belts out the lyrics on the chorus (I want to feel your face in my hands, want to see your eyes take me in, I want to say again and again, I want to love you. I want to let the kiss take it's time, want to go where your soul meets mine...) makes it impossible for you not to think of your significant other.

On the downside, the CD was a nightmare for my computer. It could not be played without me agreeing to download Sony's anti-piracy software and player/burner media player. It is a very strict agreement - only 3 burns/backups, which burn the copy protection on each copy as well. It also disallows many popular media players or portable devices. ITunes and MP3 users BEWARE! You will NOT have access to this music.

Shortly after downloading this CD/software, my computer started crashing. Turns out it was a driver conflict. I can only assume it was the CD's included media player conflicting with the default media player of MY choice. I wonder what was loaded up (and where) so I could un-install whatever Sony included on this CD to anti-piracy protect "their" music.

I was also disappointed there were no lyrics included in the CD jacket. An online search didn't yield many results either.

Musically, I'd rate this CD a 5*****, but because of all the hassle of the antipracy crap included on the CD(which will keep me from buying another CD that has this infringement) I have to give it a 3.

My advice is to save yourself the computer trouble and download this CD from one of the more friendly (and legal) internet sites that allow you to truly own music once purchased. Shelly's music is good and worth listening to.

I use a Turtle Beach Audiotron. This disk came with anti-pricacy software on the CD. Basically, I cannot use it with my player.

Since buying Audiotron, I have moved all my music to my computer. And, no, I will not share the 6000+ songs with you. I archive the original to the safety of my basement and play the digital copy of most music on my PC or the Audiotron.

THIS CD is the EXCEPTION. I really wanted to add Shelly Fairchild to the collection. The STUPID Sony copy protection software will not work with Audiotron. ALSO, PER SONY WEB SITE, IT WILL NOT WORK WITH iPOD.

The courts have ruled that copying for personal use (not sharing) is fair use, yet this is sold with technology preventing my use.

The AMAZON description does not indicate that this is copy protected. SONY has only release 10 or so of these so far. They need to know that I will not buy another of their CDs with this limitation. More importantly, they have KILLED my demand for their music. I went from buying a few CDs a year to buying 50 or so, only because Audiotron and digital music is so cool. Take that away and I stop buying again.

Here we go, yet another newcomer! We've had a lot of them recently.Well, I insert the disc, listen to it twice and think : what a powerful voice! That is the album's main quality : Shelley `s powerful, melodious and warm voice. The first five or six songs are even very good. Above all "Kiss me" and "Ready to fall". And then the originality gradually fades away. Some ballads like "Fear of Flying" would have benefited from something richer in its composition. To be noted also is a lack of solo players. Hardly no solos at all. Every now and then we watch for a flight of guitar riffs from , say , Keith Urban, (at random...), but no real take-off.... Weak on composition then, but Shelly probably has one of the most beautiful voices I have heard in a long time. Every fan of Trick Pony or Sugarland should listen to her... What's more she has written the music of several songs, among which the excellent "You Don't Lie Here Anymore". Plenty of talent then and a real pleasure to come across her. With Keith Urban still single, here's a unique opportunity to put together a splendid voice and an outstanding guitarist (whose voice is no less exceptional for that matter), and you `d get a hell of a band.
FACM ( French Association of Country Music - http://facm.free.fr)

Prime Cuts: Fear of Flying, 8 Hours of Crazy (In the Story of Love), Down into Muddy Waters

Riding on the post-Gretchen Wilson tsunami, Shelly Fairchild's debut CD "Ride" is sure to make a splash among those who are coteries of Wilson's assertive in-your-face faux. Loud, sassy, rowdy and militant, "Ride" is conversant with the hucksterism that has made many of today female country artists such as Miranda Lambert and the aforementioned Wilson such radio darlings. However, unlike Lambert and Wilson, Fairchild only dips her pen into co-writing 4 cuts, with the remainder coming from Nashville's more interesting and left-of center scribes such as Dennis Linde, Darrell Scott, Leslie Satcher and Sonny LeMaire.

Thus far two singles have been released: the first of which is the percolating "You Don't Lie Here Anymore" with the acrimonious Fairchild giving her promiscuous lover the ultimatum, "you don't lie here anymore" (pun intended). Despite being packaged for radio airplay with its belligerent guitar licks, booming percussions and Fairchild's animated delivery, "You Don't Lie Here Anymore" doesn't spell "hit." There's nothing that really sets it apart from those peppy numbers you hear on country radio. Hence, it's not surprising to find "You Don't Lie Here Anymore" stalling at a modest 35 on the Billboard country singles chart. Much better though is the sophomore single "Tiny Town." Some deft piano touches lead "Tiny Town" (not the Tracy Byrd song of the same title) into an upbeat promise by Fairchild to always stick to her roots. Though "Tiny Town" has nothing very much new to say, it has a charm that is hard to resist. Similarly affecting is Stephony Smith and Shelly Fairchild's "Kiss Me," a bluesy pop number with a forthright protagonist refusing to take a backseat when it comes to romance.

Nevertheless, the keeping power of this album resides in the moments Fairchild lets her vulnerability show. Leslie Satcher and Darrell Scott's "8 Crazy Hours (in the Story of Love)" is one of those heart-on-the-sleeve ballads that bare the soul to the flame of heartbreak. Accentuated by her bruised delivery with raw austerity, Fairchild's performance is par excellence on this intriguing story of love gone wrong. Not quite as perfect as "8 Crazy Hours," is "Fear of Flying." Also a heart wrenching ballad, "Fear of Flying" finds a broken hearted Fairchild finally parting ways with her paramour. The quirky but always enthralling Dennis Linde (who wrote Alan Jackson's "The Talking Repair Blues Song") has delivered another magnum opus "Down into Muddy Waters." First cut by the now dysfunctional Brother Phelps, "Muddy Waters" has a swampy blues feel earmarked by Linde's intriguing chord changes giving this track its indelible stamp.

Produced by Kenny Greenberg and Buddy Cannon, "Ride," in many ways, bears all the marks of a modern country album. It's aggressive, energetic and mostly uptempo. However, Fairchild's willingness to color outside Music Row's narrow bounds with the choice of more interesting tracks such as "Muddy Waters" and "8 Hours of Crazy," has carved herself a niche among the morass of today's country mush.