Re: Lets Talk Music (longish)

[Woj <woiccare@clutx.clarkson.edu>]

tynor%prism@GATECH.EDU (Steve Tynor):

> I for one found it refreshing. There is far too much Kate-worship in this
> group. I think she's brilliant (and TD is _still_ my favorite album), but I
> think its important to be critical when listening to Kate. I listen to her
> music because of it's high quality - not because of ther hair style, or
> whether a particular radio station plays it... If the quality isn't there (and
> I agree that TSW is substandard (I'll ditto most of the points made in this
> article), we should feel free to talk about it and not be afraid to be burned
> to the crisp in a flame war.
 
Yeah, I do have to agree that parts of TSW just don't cut it.

I find it incredibly interesting that many magazines (discounting _Time_
and the _Wall_Street_Times_) have praised the album, while the majority
of the Love-Hounds are disatisfied. I would imagine that it *does* have
alot to do with us comparing it to the previous works, but we really
shouldn't condemn or praise the album in comparison to her earlier mat-
erial, rather we should do so upon its own merits.

So what are its merits?

Well, I (for one) consider the best parts of TSW to be (in no particular
order) the Trio Bulgarka, Mick Karn and Kate. I have to agree with the
original poster (whose name I forgot, oops) that the best songs are the
ones that are most similar to the ones of the past ("The Fog", "Never Be
Mine", "This Woman's Work"), but the newer style songs do have some hope
as well. "Heads We're Dancing" continues with the style she began develop-
ing in "Exp IV"; "Deeper Understanding" and "The Sensual World" seems to
me to be extensions of what she has done before and, imho, are actually
quite good; as for "Reaching Out", well, I'll take the fifth ;) (I don't
mind it like Drukman, mostly since it does have some of her best singing 
on the album, but I don't particularly like the anthemic feel to it (that
has been mentiolned before)); "Love and Anger" doesn't appeal to me in 
spite of the fact that it does resemble "The Big Sky" in its construction
and I really don't think that Gilmour adds to the song; "Rocket's Tail"
is kinda the same way --  the song is great up until the rock part -- which
was great until I got tired of it (although the bass line in there still
overwhelms me!) and Gilmour... (I know at least one person who will flame
me -- in person! -- on that one); "Walk Straight..." has its good points
and I think it also shows off some of her singing ability, however, I do
not see the similarity to Gabriel that ewveryone else hears...

Hence, on its own, TSW deserves a bit'o'praise, but I don't think it was
worth the four year wait (although she only worked on it for two, I know).

I really hope that the nest one (whenever it might be) will be incredible.

Lastly, has anyone found a better sequence for the songs when recorded
from CD? I was thinking about that today, to see if I could improve the
flow a little bit, since the present order is a bit disjointed. I only 
organized 'em into some rough groupings similar to the way HoL is arran-
ged, but didn't bother to take it farther since I had to go to class.

Oops, one more thing. Does anyone know anything about the bassist on 
"the Big Sky" named Youth. I think I've heard of him, but can't place
the name... 

woj --- woiccare@clutx.clarkson.edu

     [ Youth used to be in Killing Joke.  -- |>oug ]