Comments on: Shloime Gertner – Say Asay – 2 Reviews!

By: Sarah

Sarah — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 23:37:55 +0000

Just felt I had to comment – Nishmas does not take any time or patience to like (neccessarily). I thought it was beautiful the first moment I heard it. Shloime sings it with such sweetness and emotion. I love all the different things the song does; it takes some time to understand the arrangement and figure out what the chorus is. I love when songs are interesting enough that I’m not expecting the chorus when it comes. Yossi’s vocals are also beautiful in this song, and his harmonies are gorgeous. Love love love it.

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By: yk

yk — Wed, 12 May 2010 20:50:07 +0000

I’m a bit late in this one but I only managed to hear this album now.
Nice reviews, but it seems you both liked the first album more. I disagree! I posted a full review in my blog.
I agree with Rock Sfataim – we should give credit for the risk taking. To me this album is possibly as good as Benny Friedman. To start comparing the two voices is pointless – they are different people, with different voices. However both are good, talented and risk takers.

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By: Shawn Indrerd

Shawn Indrerd — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 19:09:31 +0000

IMHO if you give it a chance this is another GREAT album by Shloime. (not like Nissim that was “love at first sound”.)
2 points that i would like to make. i think neither reviewers gives “Re’eh” enough credit. I feel this song has a shot to end up the most memorable song on the album.
also, they give “baruch sheomar” way too much credit. it might be cute, but songs like this are a dime a dozen! any singer/composer has sung/composed 10′s of songs like this. they fill up an album nicely, but are not the reason you listen to Shloime Gertner.

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By: JM Derech

JM Derech — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 18:56:57 +0000

Whoa, looks like Gertner had a lot of outside influence for these songs! Here’s another. Hashamayim – after the high part, the music can go right into Shwekey’s Mehayra.

As for the Gertner/Freidman argument. They’re both really good and have different voices. Friedman has more of a masculine/sweet voice while Gertner has a very sweet and soft voice. You can’t compare the two and you can’t compare Say Asay to Taamu. One is a debut album and the other is a 2nd album. Wait and see for Benny’s 2nd album and then compare.

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By: DavidOnTheLake

DavidOnTheLake — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 01:33:28 +0000

BTW Besimcha to me is clearly inspired by a song by A R Rahman called Azeem O Shaan Shahenshah

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By: i thought

i thought — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 21:36:31 +0000

just wondering doesn’t shloime gertner nismas start a bit like yehudah green with pepole scrming in the back ground

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By: Kol Isha

Kol Isha — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 01:40:18 +0000

I thought the intro to Say Asay sounded like the intro to Jackson Browne’s Running on Empty!!

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By: lb

lb — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 15:59:49 +0000

does anybody recognize the end of the song hashomaim where it comes from?

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By: Michi

Michi — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 14:23:09 +0000

I don’t agree with mm. Benny sounds on a different madraiga than shloime.

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By: Sima

Sima — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 12:55:19 +0000

Is it just me or didn’t anyone else notice the opening music to Say Asay is excatly the same as Waterloo by ABBA?

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By: music man

music man — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 05:27:03 +0000

Tzvei, im not sure if your related to benny f or not. But the bottom line is that Hamerachem yes good song and i happen to love betuach also in fact, i love the whole cd. But they are not in the same league as Hashmayim or nishmas or re’eh, for that matter even the shabbos song by barouch levine is a typical but great song, which very singable and just a great song. Not to mention the choir and child soloist that adds a great dimension. Not only that, but the originality of nishmas and besimacha and say asay and happy birthday are unmatched on anything from BF. Over the next 6 months pay attention to every simcha that you go to and see what they play, Gertner has the chasunah elemant on his cd as well which BF also has but there is no comapison to Gertner. In fact Taamu and letova are the only really original songs on BF.

Now on to the vocals, BF does have an amazing voice for a beginer on the jewish music scene and he did do some great things like you mentioned, and he does have great potential. However, Gertner’s voice hasa certain taam and sweetness that BF is missing and just the sound of Gertner is in a different league then BF. Give BF few years then we could dicuss that. Its not even an argument.

you mentioned that mi von, min hametzar and re’eh and nishmas are similar, you just lost your whole chezkas kashrus on jewish music. You really just showed that you have no clue about rythem and pitch of a song. They have completely dif styles. They have no shaichis to each other. Its laughable that you could even say that

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By: TzveiDreiFir

TzveiDreiFir — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 02:53:22 +0000

Music Man – you must have hit your head on something. Benny Friedman’s vocals are untouchable. To compare them to Shloime’s is like comparing a burger to a 50 dollar piece of steak. and that’s coming from someone who LOVES gertner’s voice. But let’s face it, Benny is in a class of very few Jewish artists in terms of vocals. Say Asay is a good CD, but Nisim it aint. Sorry.

… and slow songs on BF’s CD are just as good if not better, Gertner doesn’t have anything like Hameracheim or Batuach Ani. And getting back to vocals, while I’m not a huge fan of Ukesheim, the vocals on that song are out of this world. Some of the best vocals in over a decade.

Fact is BF only has like 4 real slow songs on a CD with 12 songs, but many good fast songs and “funky” songs, as opposed to Gertner who has 7 slow songs out of 14 – with way too similar slow songs (Mi Von Siach, Min Hameitzar, Re’eh and Nishmas ….) Not enough ROCKY and fast songs on Say Asay (Bsimcha/Ashrei/Msameach, all mid tempo electronic, not like Kulam Ahuvim or Omar Rabbi Akiva … which are faster electronic songs.

I’m don’t know if Taamu is better than Nisim, but Nisim is for sure better than Say Asay.

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By: music man

music man — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 20:01:30 +0000

Joel while i love benny friedmans cd, its not even close the Gertner cd is miles ahead. The slow songs on bf dont compare to the gertner slow songs and just over all the gerner cd so miles ahead. Not to mention that gertner voice is better then bf. And you are both right about Re’eh it is a great song. i loved it from the start.

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By: ShmuliPhoto

ShmuliPhoto — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 14:46:38 +0000

Good point about the download, indeed a great value for the same thing (i for one, listen to all my music in MP3)
The song Re’eh needs some more listening to to write something about it, just writing that a song is nice would be repetitive, and the beauty and sweetness of Gertners voice, there is no arguing about that, it’s the sweetest around.

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By: Joel

Joel — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 07:27:49 +0000

One thing that should should be mentioned is that this album is available for download on mostlymusic.com for 11.99 which is a tremendous value for 14 tracks. While this album is not Benny Friedman, it is very solid. Both reviewers didnt care much for the sing Re’eh. I couldn’t disagree with them more. This song has a beautiful melody, and it really shows the depth and maturation of Gertner’s vocals. Overall the album is well worth it.

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By: JM Derech

JM Derech — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 03:20:44 +0000

I apologize to those who loved the guitar in Min Hameitzar. Obviously, it was my opinion that it didn’t belong. I just don’t see the point of having an electric guitar solo at the end of a slow song. A piano solo or a violin solo, I can understand I appreciate instrumental music just as much as the next person (I write about it, don’t I?). But an electric guitar solo? One of the loudest instruments? Not so fond of that.

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By: Yehuda

Yehuda — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 01:35:43 +0000

“Ein K’elokainu – … I don’t even know how to classify this song”

How ’bout: “Natasha Bedingfield without the screaming?”

I find the “fast” songs on this album are extremely disappointing. They are basically a Jewish version of bubblegum pop. Most of the slow stuff is decent enough, but only Shabbos Hayom really stands out.

All in all, not a great follow up to what was a phenomenal debut album. I guess you can’t win ‘em all.

Oh, and IMHO the guitar on Min Hameitzar is probably the song’s saving grace :-)

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By: Rock Sfatayim

Rock Sfatayim — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 00:12:33 +0000

“The extra minute of electric guitar at then end is kind of random and isn’t needed.”

I think that a problem that we have in Jewish Music is that everybody (almost everybody) is asking the singers, producers, composers and musicians to update and to get fresher, etc. And then when somebody does something that we are not used to, like, for an example, let the music jam for no reason other than the fact that this is a musical piece, so why not let the music do a little jamming, we get a comment like “The extra minute of electric guitar at then end is kind of random and isn’t needed.”

I think that if we want Jewish Music to move on, we all need to free our minds a little, and start listening to music with one thing in mind: I wanna enjoy this music. I am not listening to Shloime Gertner to get my daily dosage of Daf Yomi, or any other kind of religious lecture. Music is artistic expression, and it should be treated as such, and judged by that yardstick.

So, I do declare, let the guitarist jam! Let the music talk to your heart with your brain mixing out. And let us finally have peace in our villages!

R. S.

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By: Ber

Ber — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 23:41:20 +0000

Just because you weren’t expecting something, does that make it good?

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