Christgau's reviews

[Peter Byrne Manchester <PMANCHESTER@ccmail.sunysb.edu>]

	Thanks to Ed Suranyi for transcribing the notes in Christgau's  
 Consumer Guide  on Kate's last four albums.  He had the same problem I did 
with a sentence from the review of  The Whole Story :

>       ...  Even the best of the old U.K. hits she strews among the
>tokens of her American breakthrough, 1980's "Army Dreamers,"  lives and
>dies with its lyric.  ...

Ed asks,
>[In what sense could "Army Dreamers" possibly be considered her
>American breakthrough?  Has anybody in America ever heard that
>song played on the radio?  I haven't.  -- Ed]

	As an expert maker of bad sentences, I think I've figured this one out. 
Christgau weaves together two unrelated points:  (i) the assertion that "Army 
Dreamers" is "the best of the old U.K. hits," and (ii) a characterization of  
 The Whole Story  as featuring "tokens of her American breakthrough"--
presumably "Running up that Hill" and the other tracks from "Hounds of Love" 
(RUTH was a top 40 single, HoL a top 40 album).  The clue in the grammar is 
the plural "tokens."

	Another point Ed raises is worth comment, too:
>I THINK he likes her, but I'm not sure.  In each case the grade he
>gives is less than I would have expected from the review.

	My sense is that at the bottom line, he doesn't like her any better 
than the two B's, B+, and A- he assigns suggest--but he WISHES HE COULD.  An 
example (commenting on HoL):

>                ...  But as she learns to manipulate her electronic
>orchestra, which took a while (cf. 1980's "Breathing"), the songs turn
>into compositions, so that if the unfettered emotionalism of "Hounds
>of Love," say, isn't your cup of tea, you're still rooting for her as she
>takes off her shoes and throws them in the lake.

In short, Kate "isn't his cup of tea," but he's "still rooting for her."  I 
agree:  it IS a bit of a strange position.

............................................................................
                                                            Peter Manchester
"C'mon, we all sing!"                               pmanches@sbccmail.bitnet
                                               pmanchester@ccmail.sunysb.edu