Kate & Jane & Happy & Me

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

Vickie here. I wish this could just go to rec.music.gaffa because the
digest people have already waded through it. Since that's not possible,
my very humble apoligies in advance to the digest folks. I did edit it
somewhat.

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.

People have favorite artists for different reasons. They were in the
right mood, 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" and these women's magic 
have become a very important 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 solo female artists. 

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

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

   There are slight exceptions every now and then in the above. All 3
   have had co-producers at various points in their careers.

4) They all write their own music.

   With slight exceptions. For instance, Kate didn't write "Reedy River"

   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 listenings. There 
   just aren't very many artists who pass my "continuous play test" 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.
   
5) They all write their own lyrics.

   Again, slight exceptions every now and then.

   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. They all have many examples of songs where tired 
   themes are expressed in fresh, innovative ways. 

6) 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.

7) They all play instruments (Kate-piano, Happy & Jane-guitar) and
   those instruments, from a young age, were important in their
   musical development and beginning style, even if they later took
   up other instruments or changed styles.

8) They are consistently great. This is *SO* important to me!

    If I had to reach blindfolded into a pile of K/J/H albums and
    could only 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. 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.

9) 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 artists 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 
have to qualify what I like and don't like. That's annoying.

There are many female artists I truly love who don't have all of the
numbered attributes, so I don't mean to put anybody down here.
It's just that my favorites have all of them. That's partially why 
they're favorites. The other part has to do with feeling their magic.

-------------------------------

Individually they are *VERY* different from each other, musically and
lyrically. I'm not going to go into those differences, because I'm not
articulate enough to talk about them, 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.

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

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.

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

HAPPY:

 She's EMOTIONAL. Her songs may be autobiographical, but human emotions
 are universal and anyone who has ever been depressed or suicidal
 or confused about life will be able to empithize with her words,
 and be able to draw strength from her "there is hope" songs.

 She can tell stories and she can be whimsical, but her greatest
 strength is emotional honesty, intensity and insight.

"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

-------------------------------

That's just a bare outline of why I love these women and the music
they make. 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