Re: a rational happy review

[larry@csccat.cs.com (Larry Spence)]

In article <9106131208.AA27452@EDDIE.MIT.EDU> REWOICC@ERENJ.BITNET (a squeaking head on a pleasure box) writes:
>
>her voice though struck me as interesting. it is a deep voice that avoids
>being husky like many other female singers. just for comparison purposes,
>it reminded me most of the singer (what is her name?) from skinnerbox.

Joanna Townshend?  Julianna Townshend?  I forget, too... but I wanted to
make a plug for skinnerbox.  I got their (her) CD with the most recent
album _The Playhouse_ and the previous one, _The Imaginary Heart Of_ on
a single disc.  I really like it, particularly _Playhouse_.  There's some
neat instrumentation (she seems to use an autoharp a lot) and an overall
kinda sombre, but dignified sound to it.  The lyrics are stream-of-sub-
consciousness stuff, so it's hard to pin down just what she's talking
about, but the atmosphere is not unlike walking through a ghost town or
something along those lines.  There are places where the production is
a little thin or synth-cliched, but most of it holds up pretty well, IMHO.

BTW, I liked the snippet of Happy vocal I heard, too.  Hearing her deeper 
voice with very high backing vocals made me think of a friend who used to 
think that the Cocteau Twins had _two_ female vocalists. %)

>incidentially, i also picked up _ophelia's shadow_ a few days ago and must
>agree completely with the others with regards to the music: it is *wonder-
>ful*. about toyah's singing though, i think i am a bit more tolerant. there
>are a few tracks when it just doesn't work, but i generally liked it. and i
>certainly do not see her as a KaTe-wannabee as others have decried her.

I haven't seen much mention of _Ophelia's Shadow_ on the net, but I might
have missed it.  This is not the same as the Sunday All Over The World
disc that I think Toyah almost ruins.  I haven't heard OS (after the
SAOTW disc, I wasn't too keen on more Toyah), but I've heard it described
as SAOTW with a different guitarist (no Fripp).  woj, have you heard both
of these -- should I bother to get OS if I dislike the vocals on SAOTW?
How are the lyrics?  If I hear another Toyah lyric about marrying and/or
marriage, I'll puke (and I'm a happily married sort of a guy)! %)

-- 
Larry Spence
larry@csccat.cs.com
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