I can’t think of anyone who hits all the characteristics that Allison has

I can’t either. Compared to the huge variety of male rock voices, the female pool of rock voices is really limited, so I suppose you could say it would be easy for someone like Allison to stand out. But I find her voice to be unique even without doing a gender specific comparison — it’s a rare voice that has depth, grit, a robust tone and already a lot of soul (although it’s going to take some time for her to reach Gladys Knight levels of soul, IMO).

I’m surprised no one brings up Bonnie Raitt for comparison purposes. Though Raitt is mainly — and very purposefully — a blues singer, and her voice in tone is *very* different from Allison’s, I hear similarities in that both of them have a tremendous ability to convey emotion in a song. It’s what aggravates me the most about the popification of Allison in FIBOU — all that electronic nonsense dulls the emotion in her voice, and that’s one of the things I love most about it.

That being said, did I buy the single? You bet! And how happy am I that FBIOU is chugging up the iTunes chart? Pretty darn happy. I really want to get a chance to hear all that Allison can do, and I won’t get that unless she sells some records. If this is what sells, so be it. It means I’ll eventually get to hear her voice and all its colors live. : )

JohnM
There are plenty of albums on which I love some songs that happen to be surpassed by one or two that I love even more.

JohnM: I like your choice of words!! ; )

LoveDaRocker: Sounds to me that releasing FIBOU was a strategic decision, and not ‘here is my favorite song of the album.’ 

Releasing singles is always a strategic decision, having more to do with estimated sales potential than artistic merit.

Reminds me of a David Cook interview, I think on the set of his Light On video, in which he was asked what his favorites on the album were. He listed a few, looking very enthusiastic, finished talking, and then, after a few seconds’ pause, said, “Oh, and Light On, of course.” Hilarious, but also sad, as he switched from artistic mode into marketing mode.

Anyway, we know from her twitter bash the other night that FIBOU isn’t her favorite, as she was asked which was her favorite and answered with two others (Holiday and No One Else). But as PRMari said, it doesn’t mean she doesn’t like FIBOU. There are plenty of albums on which I love some songs that happen to be surpassed by one or two that I love even more.

Interesting article on Yahoo Music:

“Rock ‘N’ Roll Might Be Over, Says…U2?”

http://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/musictoob/24973/rock-n-roll-might-be-over-saysu2/

Its says “Bono is disappointed in their latest album’s sales, lamenting that No Line On The Horizon “didn’t pull off the pop songs.”"

Maybe we should be happy that Allison went more pop than expected.

alli lurker
IDK, I think you got the wrong impression.

Maybe. I never said she didn’t like it, just that it wasn’t her favorite.

Alli: I can definitely do harder than this, and I’m gonna. But I thought for a first single, ‘Friday I’ll Be Over U,’  we all agreed would be something that would get people’s attention. You’ve got to get in that door. Know what I mean?

Sounds to me that releasing FIBOU was a strategic decision, and not “here is my favorite song of the album.”

LoveDaRocker
And from her Pop-Eater inverview I got the impression FIBOU wasn’t her favorite.

IDK, I think you got the wrong impression. She called it amazing. And in her Slezak interview she said, “That song, the first time I heard it, I loved it.”

Hmm… maybe she is “Just Like Me”. I love it, too. Can’t wait to hear the rest of the album!

PRMari
When pre-ordered through iTunes, it will come with a bonus track.

It will be cool if it is FIBOU in Spanish. However, it might not be much of a bonus for non-Spanish speaking fans. So, it’ll probably be one of her AI recordings (like Kris is doing with Heartless).

PRMari
She’s miles and miles ahead of Alejandra Guzman, even on her good years but I do get the comparison because they’re both rockers with an edge and a raspy voice

Agreed. Alli’s rendition of “Volverte a Amar” (AG’s biggest hit) in the Quienceanera show (at 15!) demonstrates that, as far as talent goes, AG is not a destination for Alli, but an already-passed station. That said, AG’s fan base is the one Alli should tap into.

We talked about Christina Aguilera, I also heard Melisa Ethridge, Pat Benatar, Joan Jett …

As long as we are in the comparisson business, in Spanish, I think she is the second coming of Alejandra Guzman, but with a hint of Rocio Durcal for added range and sophistication.

… all this fantardness that I find myself in. I was minding my own business channel surfing, knowing how much I don’t believe in the AI concept, but here I am.

Yeah, it’s weird, isn’t it?

LoveDaRocker: Allison definitely has more range and versatility. But, and hopefully I don’t offend anyone, Amanda is more rock, and less pop, than Allison.

No offense here. I know what kind of music I think would work best for Allison’s voice (blues-rock or old-school R&B), but as long as she puts out music I love, I don’t really care about genre labels.

For example, if you try to make Amanda sing FIBOU, she just might run you over with her Harley.

LOL! Yeah, that sounds about right!

ladymadonna: I wonder what kind of in-store displays they’ll have ‘“ too bad it’s a pre-release promo or they maybe could have driven some sales at the register.

Well, given that the announcement says they’ll be selling the CD when it’s released, I imagine they’ll be doing some of what you describe, and probably playing at least FIBOU heavily, at that point.

LoveDaRocker: Also, do they just play the record on repeat the whole day, or do they have certain listening hours?

Answered by PRMari already — but if they loop it all day, I hope the workers don’t get sick of it! But then, how could they, because…

Rub: Does anybody really belong in the same planet with Allison?

Yeah, well, I decided I wouldn’t take the trip all the way to Fantardtown in that post. I can see why Gladys Knight came to your mind. I can’t think of anyone who hits all the characteristics that Allison has — among the ones you mentioned, Benatar had a stunning voice and similar power, but significantly higher and more classical (I think she was opera-trained); Etheridge has some of the bluesy thing going but her voice is quite raspy and doesn’t have the full-bodied-ness; as for Joan Jett, frankly I know almost none of her work, so the most I can say is that I think her singing on I Love R&R was horrifically devoid of character and I have no idea what anyone saw in it.

One voice that I think does fall in the same neighborhood (soulfulness, some of the character but thinner) is Grace Potter at her best (I was at the show at that link). Interestingly, another singer who just popped into my head as being somewhat similar to Allison is Paul Williams from the Temptations.

btw, thanks for the G’n'R link — haven’t had a chance to go off by myself and listen yet, though.