Re: Musical tastes and tasteless arguments

[harvard!unix.sri.com!fernwood!well!rickt@EDDIE.MIT.EDU (Rick Thompson)]

In article 9106190910.AA02366@greylady.uoregon.edu Steve VanDevender writes:

>Richard also wrote:
>>Interestingly enough, one lurking reviewer dropped me a line 
>>declaring my remark about synths to be "dead on".

>I'd love to see this lurking reviewer post his opinion, because I
>appreciate honest opinions.  However, I consider citing one's

OK. Here he is. Richard asked me if I thought Happy relied heavily
on synthesizers and was otherwise sparsely instrumented. I replied
that I thought that was "dead on the money." You seem to think so,
too, since you also write:

>_Rearmament_ right now and I have to admit that it, like all her
>other albums I've heard, has synthesizer sounds that have come to
>be considered primitive, even cheesy.  However, I am really quite
 [Stuff deleted]
>instruments herself.  It is no surprise that Happy must settle
>for sparse instrumentation and simple melodies when she cannot

I mailed that commentary privately to Richard because 1) I hated
to contribute to the deluge of Happy/unHappy messages here; 2) It was 
in the context of offering to give away my copy of the _Warpaint_ CD,
and I thought it was impolite to make such a private offer in
public; and 3) The e-mail on that service is free to me, which
r.m.g is not.

In any case, my saying that Happy's music seems largely synth-based
and sparsely instrumented isn't much of a review. Nor does Richard
need to call on "private supporters," since _you yourself_ concede
this. If he was trying to trash Happy, he probably would have 
excerpted the portion of my message that called _Warpaint_
"unobjectionable enough, but basically boring," instead.

One last point, since I seem to dropped out of my preferred lurk
mode: harsh though it may sound, neither Happy's lamentable finances,
nor her past personal problems make her music sound any better to
me. If it bores me, it does. If other people find beauty there, then
I'm glad for them, but even knowing that the artist is working under 
the most limited conditions can't make me enjoy music I don't enjoy.
Insular as it may sound, I think I'd prefer Kate with only a piano
to Happy with an unlimited budget for instrumentation.

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