I've gone on rants about The Spectrum (which I can't find now), but it's been a while; so here's my latest. I've been trying to listen a bit, with the pertinent word being "trying". They make it damn near impossible. Here's exhibit A:
What this shows is that a bunch of their most popular songs are played over 5 times a day (almost 7 times for the top one). And while it may not seem terrible to put the hot new hit on repeat, the way they take a block of several songs and repeat them the same godawful amount of times, means that you hear an entire sequence of songs over and over. For me, this totally kills the luster of the new Beatles song, or the latest Stones album. And keep in mind that like most channels, Spectrum has blocks of time where they do special segments - live broadcasts, guest hosts, themed blocks - so if you correct the math for those, the actual repeats-per-day figure goes up.
And the talk-up for each song is always the same. Every time they play the new U2 song, they mention their residency at the Sphere in Vegas, with the same chuckling commentary. Every time.
Speaking of the Stones, the Spectrum has started playing the latest single from Hackney Diamonds; an old-time gospel blues song with Lady Gaga wailing away for 7 minutes, plus Stevie Wonder on keyboards. It's a good example of what a backing band can add to a song. I have mixed feelings about the track. If I'm in the right mood, it's a cool song. It's also very derivative. But the biggest problem is that Mick doesn't have a pleasant voice. I'm not saying he doesn't have one now, I mean ever. He just doesn't have the right voice for a song like this. He's got more of a "I Can't Get No Satisfaction" kind of voice.
However, there's a live version of this on the YouTubes, where Gaga comes out (no big band instruments though), and they both give it a hell of an effort. I actually find it painful to watch, because it looks like Mick is about to pop an artery, and the whole band looks like the un-dead. So instead, here's the studio version, with the big band instrumentation
The Rolling Stones — Sweet Sounds of Heaven Feat. Lady Gaga & Stevie Wonder