Afternoon Baseball

Ah, Fuel. They had such a bright future with their first album -- chock-full of radio hits, ballads and some stuff that is really really heavy when you go back to it. Then their first single of their second album, "Hemorhagge (In My Hands)" is still the best song they've ever done. Way above their ability level with that one.
But "Shimmer" came on my shuffle just now. And it's a nice song with a good chorus and almost-sincere sounding vocals. But it's got some ridiculous violins in there. They don't add much and just scream, "There's nothing else happening here!" Interestingly enough, there's an acoustic version of that song floating around, and it survives just fine with just that guitar line opening.

Luckily, the next song on my shuffle, Ben Folds' "Air," shows an artist who's comfortable just with his own voice and one instrument. Granted, he doesn't really sell albums, but when Hilary Duff is the week's bestseller, that distinction has lost all meaning.