Them'n'Me

[gatech!chinet.chi.il.us!katefans@EDDIE.MIT.EDU (Chris Williams)]

Vickie here.

Literal minded folks should just add "IMHOs" where they think they're
needed 'cause I'm sure not going to sit and type a bunch of 'em. :-)
I know that not everyone will agree with everything I say, and that's
fine, this is just what *I* think, these are *my* opinions, *my* thoughts...

 

               My three favorite female artists are:

                            Kate Bush
                                ^ 
                               / \
                              /   \
                             /     \
                            /       \
                    Jane Siberry   Happy Rhodes


These women have a power over me that make them favorites and will, I
have no doubt in my mind, keep them favorites as long as I live.

Why? I don't know exactly, but I'm going to try and work it out.

It's interesting. People have favorite artists for different reasons.
They were at the right place at the right time and heard the right
song and for some reason what they heard hit them hard enough to
make the artist a favorite. It all has to do with "magic" (which I 
talk about in my other post) and these women's magic have become a
part of my life.

They are individual artists with their own musical points of view,
but they do have these things in common: 

1) They're female artists.

2) They all have exquisitely beautiful voices. Expressive and eclectic.

3) They all write their own music.

4) They all write their own lyrics.

5) They all take personal control of their own music, from start to finish.

   There are slight exceptions every now and then in 3/4/5 above. For
   instance, Kate didn't write "Lord of the Reedy River" and all three
   have had co-producers at various points in their careers.

6) Their music is interesting and innovative and timeless. I'm not a 
   musician and know nothing of musical theory. All I know is what I 
   like and what keeps me interested through multiple, multiple
   listenings. I've been a Kate fan for 10 years and I've never once
   gotten bored listening to her songs, no matter how many times I've
   heard them. I've been a Jane fan for 7 years and I've never gotten
   bored listening to her songs, no matter how many times I've heard 
   them. I've been a Happy fan for 3 years and I've never gotten bored 
   listening to her songs, no matter how many times I've heard them.
   Repeating a sentence 3 times may seem redundent, but I think it's
   important to say that about each artist, because it's so very true.
   There just aren't any other artists who pass my "continuous play
   test" (as Klaus puts it) the way these three do. Music is always
   the most important thing for me. If all of their songs were just
   accompainied by "la-la-las" I'd still love them because the music 
   and arrangements are so wonderful.
   
7) Luckily, their songs aren't just accompainied by "la-la-las" and
   thank heavens for that! After the music, lyrics are very important 
   to me. Each artist's lyrics fascinate and intrigue and interest me. 
   The songs are about more than "ooh baby love me/i love you/you
   don't love me/you hurt me so bad/i ain't got nobody/etc." and even
   when those themes are used, they are written in an interesting
   and different way. Kate's "Hounds of Love" or Happy's "Come Here"
   or Jane's "Goodbye" are great examples of tired themes expressed
   in a fresh, interesting way. 

8) They all started writing music at a young age. It was a very 
   important part of their lives and even if none had ever set foot 
   into a recording studio they'd all still be writing songs. The
   songs they write come from their hearts, minds and souls.
   All three were true originals from the very beginning of their
   musical output. Their originality didn't just evolve with time,
   it was there from the start.

9) They all play instruments (Kate-piano, Happy & Jane-guitar) and
   those instruments, from a young age, were important in their
grab one before being carted off to a desert island,
    I'd pray that my hand would gravitate to The Dreaming! But, I'd 
    still be happy with anything I picked. This is *so* refreshing,
    because too many musicians are uneven. With these artists I never
    have to say "I like this album, but not that one/This album has a 
    few great songs, but the rest are so-so/Started out great but got
    boring/Started out boring but got great/etc." I truly love all their
    albums. I might have very slight problems with a song or two here and
    there, but these would be rare, minor nit-picky things that are
    totally insignificant. An example would be my preferring Kate not
    try to rock & roll. I've never much cared for "James..." or "...Heart-
    break" in general, but I do like watching her perform these songs and 
    I love the lyrics, and I came to appreciate a lot of interesting things
    she does within each song, but they remain my least favorite songs from
    TKI & LH, and my feeling certainly don't affect my true love of those
    albums. Besides, she got better at it in songs such as "Violin" (which 
    I had probelms with at first too) and my favorite of her uh..."rock"
    songs, "Love & Anger". So, even though not everything I heard from these
    women struck me as brilliant right away, I gave those things a chance 
    and they grew on me.


11) I don't know why this is important to me, but it is, very much so:

    As human beings they are all very nice people. Women you'd want to
    be friends with, go and have lunch with, invite over to watch movies.
    Women who are caring and kindly and friendly and interesting and 
    sensitive and down-to-earth and unpretentious and, well, *nice*.

..........................................................................


There are so many female artist's out there and many are very, very
good. Female artists are my specialty and I have hundreds of CDs, LPs
and cassettes. There aren't that many who have all the above attributes.
Some have great voices but don't write their own music. Some have 
great voices and write great music but lousy lyrics. Some have great
voices and write great lyrics but lousy music. Some write great music,
lousy lyrics, and have just OK voices. On & on & on.... Some have no
(or very little) interest in the recording process and are content to 
just let producers call all the shots. Some have never played an instrument
in their lives. Some are bitches and you wouldn't want to know them
personally. Some are just plain uneven and when I talk about them I 
 why 
they're favorites.


Individually they are very different, musically and lyrically. I'm not
going to go into those differences, but they each have these specific
strengths that I cherish:


KATE:

 She's a STORYTELLER. Listening to a Kate song is like reading a great
 book or seeing a fantastic movie. She's 70mm, Technicolor, Cinemascope,
 Omnimax, Imax, and the Library of Congress all rolled into one amazing
 package. Her songs stimulate my imagination and leave my mind wondering
 what just hit it!    She really *IS* and always will be.

 She can be whimsical and she is very emotional, but her greatest
 strength is as a storyteller.

JANE:

 She's WHIMSICAL. She can see the humor in life situations. What's so
 wonderful about her is that her lyrics are deep and wise, even in her
 most humorous songs. She makes me think while I'm laughing out loud.

 She can tell a damn fine story and she also is very emotional, but
 her greatest strength is her sense of humor.

HAPPY:

 She's EMOTIONAL. She's poured out her inner struggles into songs
 with an honesty and intensity that made me cry and shake my head
 in awe even before I knew who she was or anything about her past.
 Emotionally I am closest to Happy's lyrics because I have gone 
 through a lot of the same things she has. Different situations,
 of course, but I've felt many of the same feelings she writes
 about. Her songs may be autobiographical, but human emotions
 are universal and anyone who has ever been depressed or suicidal
I'm glad they were able to record their music and, in
various ways, get that music out into the world where I could find it. 
I feel privileged.


Vickie (one of Vickie'n'Chris)
katefans@chinet.chi.il.us


"Don't think it over, it always takes you over. And sets your spirit
 dancing"
                                      Kate Bush

"I can't stop laughing but I feel somehow that everything is alright"
 
                                      Jane Siberry

"I am transparent, an open book. There's no choice in the matter. But the
breath from my mind is living air. The notes from my heart are what I
share"
                                      Happy Rhodes