Tanita Tikaram

[Jeff Dalton <jeff%aiai.edinburgh.ac.uk@NSS.Cs.Ucl.AC.UK>]

> How come I haven't seen any comment about Tanita Tikaram here?  I can only
> presume that she hasn't made it in the States as yet.  She surfaced over
> here a month or so ago with a successful single "Good Tradition" with
> "serious" lyrics and a very jaunty Irish jig type arrangement.  The
> parallels with Kate's beginnings are interesting - reclusive London
> schoolgirl discovered by established "progressive" rock artist (Rod Argent
> in TT's case).  Being very keen on the single, I bought the album, only
> to be very disappointed.  Without exception, all the other tracks were
> what I think of as "Suzanne Vega" style - self-centred, negative, with
> very "downbeat" musical backing.  I gave the album away, but the chap I
> gave it to likes it, so you might too!

I too thought TT might be interesting and so I saw her concert in the
Edinburgh (Festival) Fringe.  And, weel, I too was disappointed: but
not because she's too much like Suzanne Vega.  She is like Vega in
that she sings her won songs and plays guitar and seems aimed at a
similar market, but where Vega's songs are are of the "what my
neighbor does" and "what I saw on the street today" variety, TT's
are more a semi-coherent collection of images.  They don't always
hang together very well.  And she says "babe" and "baby" too much.
It became rather annoying.  Apart from that, the songs are OK.

-- Jeff