Re: Happy Rhodes' CD "Warpaint" - buy it!!

[jburka@silver.ucs.indiana.edu]

(whups!  I meant to send this last night (and was wondering why it hadn't
show up yet in r.m.g).  Apparently I forgot to change Lee's address to 
"love-hounds")


Lee gushes (with my complete agreement) about Happy's _Warpaint_:


>4.  To Live in Your World - 3:30 (my personal favorite)
   also my favorite!

>7.  Lay Me Down
   incredible.


>11. Warpaint - 6:13
   my second favorite

>...and I'm astounded by her
>music.  I can't believe that a major record label hasn't jumped on
>this woman yet!!  With her talent, she's sure to be a major artist.

It's really sad that she's released 5 albums of such beauty, grace, and
intellect, and yet has no contract.  Someday.

>I don't have the price of her tapes handy.. perhaps someone else
>can post that.  For those of you who have both the tapes and the
>CD, how to they compare??  Are the tapes near as good as the disk?
>Which is your favorite?

Here we start getting into weird judgement calls.

If anything, I like the disc less than some of the tapes; her music has
become a bit different; the only way I can think of to describe this is
that I think of two particularly distinct styles on the early albums.  One
tended toward simple arrangements based around (or consisting solely of)
acoustic guitar; the other was lush synth-based arrangements.  I don't
really hear either of these on _Warpaint_.  Instead, there tends to be
a lot more percussion (not that I don't like her percussion!), and very
little of the folky-acoustic guitar.  Her vocals have shifted a bit, again
from dense, lush arrangements/multi-tracking to a simpler style.  Nothing
wrong with this either; her voice is as beautiful as ever.  I'm just greedy.

Currently, my favorite Happy Rhodes album is _Rearmament_.  So many of the
songs on here, including "'Til the Dawn Breaks", "Crystal Orbs," "The Perfect
Irony," "I Have a Heart," "Baby Don't Go," are just painfully beautiful.
They give me chills and sometimes make me physically hurt.  Lying down,
listening on headphones in the dark, is a sublime experience.

Other favorite songs are :

Volume I:  Oh the Drears; Given In; Possessed; I'll Let You Go; Moonbeam
Friends; I'm Not Awake, I'm Not Asleep; Step Inside; The Wretches Gone Awry

Volume II:  Come Here; Under and Over the Brink; and the whole second side

Ecto:  Would That I Could (it's sublime!); Off From Out From Under Me; Project
499; Ode; Don't Want to Hear It; To Be E. Mortal

As you can see, picking a favorite tape is kind of hard, when so many 
incredible songs are on each one; it's much the same problem one has with
KaTe.


Oh, goodness.  "'Til the Dawn Breaks" just came on the stereo.

"I'm here to warn you/children it's your turn"


<shakes himself out of a reverie>

Anyway.

The four tapes are $9.95 each, plus $1.50 for shipping/handling.  I
ordered all four at once, and the total shipping was about $3.  

For the billionth time, the address is:

Aural Gratification
PO Box 8658 Academy Station
Albany, NY  12206


"We're waking up, yes it's good"

(Apparently the lyrics that Mike and I transcribed have now been sent 
to Happy for corrections and to have the blanks filled in.  In the mean
time, anyone wanting the [incomplete/incorrect] transcriptions, drop me
some mail)

Jeff


-- 
|Jeffrey C. Burka                |"I've lost my way through this world of |
|jburka@silver.ucs.indiana.edu   | profanities/I thrive on the wind and   |
|jburka@amber.ucs.indiana.edu    | the rain and the cold."  --Happy Rhodes|