Comparison Battles

[dcwalter@tomservo.b23b.ingr.com (Christian Walters)]

Hi!

Good Lord, but this is all so silly.

"Tori sounds like Kate."
"No she doesn't."
"Yes she does."
"Are you calling me stupid?"
"No.  Are you calling ME stupid?"
"Well, maybe you are..."

:)

Aren't comparisons drawn by people sort of automatically?  Doesn't
it sort of depend on who you're familiar with and who you were
exposed to first and things like that?

I first heard Kate back in high school, when a friend loaned me
"The Whole Story" and said "this woman is amazing."  He was right!
In fact, Kate was about the only female singer that I actually liked
a lot.

NOTE:  I live in Alabama, and we miss out on a lot of good culture.
I had always thought myself comparitively well-versed because I knew
all the old Yes and Jethro Tull music, which is a hell of a lot better
than the dreck on the radio.  (Vickie, how powerful is your station? :) )

When people would ask me what Kate was "like,"  I didn't know what to
tell them.  I simply had no similar musicians in my limited musical
vocabulary.  I would have to loan them a disc or make a tape or something.

Then, a few weeks ago, my sister says "listen to this girl -- since you
like Kate Bush, you'd probably like her" and hands me a Tori Amos disc.
With that kind of introduction to the music, how can I NOT draw
comparisons between them?  I *do* find some of Tori's work similar
to some of Kate's, which is easy to understand, because Kate has a
diverse group of songs by now.  You can probably find a Kate song that
sounds like M.C. Hammer.  (That was not a challenge :) )

If I had heard Tori first, then got introduced to Kate, I'd think "she
reminds me of Tori."

Also, I don't know much about Kate's history, and virtually NOTHING
about Tori's, so I couldn't tell if they were influenced by each other
or not.

I don't think it's sexist.  I can't tell someone that Tori reminds me of
old Journey if I don't think she does.  (She doesn't :) )  Listening
to Tori,I'm REMINDED of Kate, because I don't know know that many 
female singers with good vocal, keyboard, and songwriting ability. (i'm
not trying to irritate any Debbie Gibson fans...)

Since I found Tori, I've also discovered Happy Rhodes, Sarah McLachlan
and Loreena McKennitt, and I'm always looking for other recommendations.
(What's a good Jane Siberry disc?)  All of these ladies are terrific,
and I can see things in each of them that remind me of all the others, 
even if it's something like the intelligent lyrics or a similar range
or even similar instrumentation.

I hope I'm getting a point across here.  If someone had said "you like
Jon Anderson?  Here, try Loreena McKennitt" I would probably draw
comparisons.  At least at first.  (Any similarities fail me at the
moment.)

Well, my coherence is going down the toilet.  I am outta here.

-- 
Christian Walters                *  "I think that the first time Flo
dcwalter@tomservo.b23b.ingr.com  *    said `Kiss my grits,' something
Intergraph Corporation           *    inside all of us withered and
Electronics Division             *    died."
Huntsville, AL                   *             -Tom Servo
--