Patty Loveless Album: “Dreamin' My Dreams [Bonus Tracks]”

WOW!!! Patty Loveless' "Dreamin' My Dreams" cd is AMAZING!!!!

Proves why Patty is the Queen of Traditional Country Music. Once again, she never dissapoints with her albums. Just when you thought she could not possibly get any better, after "Mountain Soul" and "On Your Way Home" she does an exquisite job with the songs on this album. There is not a single bad or filler song... Here is how I rate all the 12 songs from a 1-5 scale, 5 being best:

1) Keep Your Distance- great first single, love her humming and pure mountain vocals on this one. She does it 50 times better than Richard Thompson's original. (5 stars)

2) Old Soul- nice ballad. (5 stars)

3) When Being Who You Are Is Not Enough- I LOVE this song!!! Probably one of the album's best... Emmylou Harris on background vocals is pure ear candy.. her voice blends really well with Patty's and the song's message is great!!! (6/5 stars)

4) Nobody Here By That Name- great song about where to place the blame. (5 stars)

5) Same Kind of Crazy- this song shows the rocked out Patty, but it's a really fun song and she is the only artist that can pull it off. (4 stars)

6) Everything But the Words- great, slow ballad...written by Jim Lauderdale and Leslie Satcher!!! Need I say more. (5 stars)

7)Dreaming My Dreams- remake of a Waylon Jennings song and the title track of the cd... Once again, Patty outdoes the original. Yay! (5 stars)

8) On the Verge of Tears- I love this song!!!! A very emotional song and I love its rawness. (6 stars/5 stars)

9) Never Ending Song of Love- duet with Dwight Yoakam... really great song, just as good if not better than the Loretta Lynn/Conway Twitty version. (5 stars)

10) Big Chance- My favorite song on the album!!!! It's Up-tempo, fun and co-written by Patty. A pure bluegrass tune with banjo. Reminds me a lot of "Pretty Little Miss" from Mountain Soul. (6 stars/5 stars)

11)My Old Friend the Blues- another nice ballad. (5 stars)

12) When I Reach the Place I'm going- a great finale to the album. After this song, there are two bonues tracks which are a nice treat as well.(5 stars)

Overall, Patty Loveless' album is excellent. One of the best albums of 2005 and probably the most underrated. Definitely deserves a nomination for CMA Album of the Year in 2006. Keep the great music coming Patty.

Put this CD in your Windows machine? This CD may install what hackers call a rootkit, the same kind of file that is used to make your machine a zombie that serves junk mail or porn to other computers. CDs were not designed to have copy protection. Sony employed what you call "black-hat" hackers to install an invisible file to make sure you can't copy it. Forget that iTunes and MusicMatch already ensure that you can't make too many copies. Forget that you OWN the CD. Forget that, if you're smart enough to find the rootkit and try to remove it, it crashes your computer, meaning a new installation of Windows and lost data. This can't go on. I urge everyone to boycott all Sony products -- all of them -- until they treat their customers with respect.

An owner, and huge fan, of all of Patty's albums, I was excited to finally listen to her new line of work. To put it simply, Patty always connects. Her latest work does just that. I have enjoyed hearing Patty test her vocals with different sounds over the years. It never ceases to amaze me: with all she does, she hits it right everytime.

"Dreaming My Dreams" is perhaps her best work to date. I say this because with each new album Patty's vocals get stronger and more soulful. Patty is the only country woman who can sing a song of heartache ("Nobody Here By That Name")and then turn around and rock it out ("Same Kind Of Crazy") with the same soulful and poignant voice. Her work is an amalgamation of her talents. Anyone who has had the pleasure to see this Kentucky woman in concert is truly privileged.

When I see people write reviews about how great the music on this CD is (and it is great) and then give it one star because of the software/copy protection problems it makes me want to ask which is more important to you, the music or the software? Sure, complaints about the software problems are legitimate but does the music and the software carry an equal weight? If so, then you should give this three stars (five for the music, one for the software = three stars overall). Otherwise, with your one star reviews you are saying that the software is more important and carries a greater weight than the music. Why did you buy this in the first place, for the music or for the software?

I guess I'm just old fashioned. When I buy a CD I listen to it by playing it on my CD player. My computer only plays music occasionally and I, for one, have had no problems playing this on my iTunes and have not had to agree to download any software or spyware to do so. I even imported a song into my iTunes. Granted I have an older version of iTunes since I don't upgrade my computer every other week but it can be done. The "enhanced" features of this CD would not work on my iMac which is certainly frustrating, but since I would have bought this disc enhanced features or no it really makes little difference.

As for the music, well it is sensational. This is more wonderful country music that will go completely ignored by corporate country radio more concerned with demographics than with authenticity and art. From the superb cover of Richard Thompson's "Keep Your Distance" which opens the disc to "When I reach That Place I'm Going" which closes it (although there is a pair of "hidden" songs after that) this is marvelous stuff, beautifully sung and sumptuously played. Patty's days as country radio's darling may be over, but she is making some of the best music of her career with this and her previous two albums ("Mountain Soul," and "On Your way Home").

Anyone who buys this CD should be aware that if you play it on your computer, you will have to install the Sony BMG XCP content protection software which has been labeled by Computer Associates as spyware. It is very, very difficult to remove from your system once it is installed. It sends information back to Sony and opens your computer up to viruses and worms. Yes, Sony has said they have just stopped manufacturing CD's with this software on it. The old ones are what's available through Amazon as of right now.

I love Patty Loveless and I love this CD. However, she should smarten up and go with a different label that doesn't use sneaky tactics to find out their consumer's buying/listening habits, and that exposes their computers to risk. Oh, and I deeply resent paying for a CD and not being able to load it on my iPod. I don't haul CD's around with me during business travel, and I travel a lot. Once I buy it, I should be able to use whatever medium I want to listen to it. Shame on you, Patty.