The Red Shoes: First Impressions!

[nrc@bsbbs.columbus.oh.us (N. Richard Caldwell)]

We've heard it.  Yep, the whole darned thing.  The Red Shoes. 
What do we think?  Well read on if you don't mind spoilers...

But first let's talk about this single, "Eat the Music."  At first glance 
this thing looks like something by Carcass.  It's not particularly
attractive.  If this is Kate's idea of fruit cocktail I think I'll
pass.

"Eat the Music" is pretty much what I expected from some of the comments
here, "mostly harmless."  The latin beat doesn't bother me, it's just
not particularly interesting.  The lyrics don't do much for me either
but I think we'll give this one a bit more time to simmer before giving
it a thumbs up or down.  If nothing else, it's great to hear some
actual brass instruments in there instead of cheesy synth sounds.

Whoever decided to put the 12" mix of "Eat the Music" right after
the original cut should be removed immediately.  It's like those mock
Monty Python endings, "and now for your listening pleasure, 9 *more*
minutes of "Eat the Music."  The difference is that the extra Monty
Python bits where always interesting.  So at this point I was starting
to get concerned.  I desperately want to like this new album and this
single wasn't pushing any buttons either way.

Then "Big Stripey Lie" comes crunching and grinding in.  Yow!  Kate
referees a grunge match between Neil Young and Nigel Kennedy?  Huh?
I have no idea what this is about yet but I love it.  I just have
to be sure to hit stop before "Candle in the Wind" starts which is
a shame because you really need some time to recover from "Big Stripey
Lie."  

Now I feel a bit better.  My faith in Kate's ability to do something
new and exciting, I'm ready to give "The Red Shoes" a fair listen.

Here are some very preliminary thoughts on the new album based on
a first listening (and before you ask, no, we can't make copies).  
My impressions are still pretty sketchy, opinions are still under
construction.

First up is "Rubberband Girl."  This one is good fun.  I don't understand
why on earth they didn't go with this for a single in the US.  Someone
at Columbia needs to go back to the mail room.  Besides, the "HIkeeba!" 
picture in the "Rubberband Girl" ad is much more pleasant to look
at than traumatically bisected produce. 

"Moments of Pleasure," as seen on TV.  It's growing on me.  Very nice.  

"Song of Solomon"  Hmmmmmmmm hmmmmm.  Don't want your bullshit, just want 
your sexuality? Is this the male or female speaking?  I don't know, but 
it's an interesting song.  This song includes some harmonies that are 
either the Trio Bulgarka or Kate doing a very good imitation.  The good 
news is that it's much more subtle than on "The Sensual World."  (Not 
that I don't love some of the unsubtle parts they did on TSW, but I 
really didn't need any more of the The Sensual World sound on this 
album, thanks. On this track Kate even seems to recall that you don't 
have to use all 48 tracks all the way through the song.

"Lily" starts with an old woman talking cosmic religiony stuff and
the song goes on about protecting oneself in life with a ring of fire.  
Gabriel in before, Rapheal behind, Micheal to the right, someone else 
(Eurial?) to the the left.  Hmmm, somehow I doubt that Kate is singing 
about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles...

"The Red Shoes" tells the story of the red shoes, probably the movie
version.   At the start this sounds a lot like one of Caterwaul's
mandolin songs or Heart's "Sylvan Song."  

"Top of the City" sounds like a fairly standard "person looks out
across the city, longing for their lost love" track.  No opinion,
yet.

"Constellation of the Heart" Turn the telescopes inside out and point
them away from the Big Sky?  Kinda nice, very poppy, dancey track.

"Why Should I Love You?" drips purple Prince ooze from every chorus.
And no, I don't mean that in a derogatory way.  It's a pretty good
track, actually.

"You're The One."  One word: wow.  Kate rocks her blues to a lighter
shade of pale, sits in with the Trio and jams with one of the guitar
gods.  Awesome track!  I only wish it had an ending.   I generally
hate it when songs fade out and this is even worse because this song
cries out for some kind of ending.

Our overall impression?  Very positive.  Nobody is likely to compare
this album to Kate's best work but we think it's a step forward from
TSW.  Lyrically we'll have to wait and see but musically I think Kate
makes better use of her voice and has done some more interesting 
arrangements.  I really couldn't judge much about the engineering
in that first listen but perhaps that's a good sign.

Did anyone notice that Love Hounds are mentioned in the promotional
flyer that Columbia has circulated to retailers?  More on that tomorrow.



"Don't drive too slowly."         Richard Caldwell
                                  The Big Sky BBS (+1 614 864 1198)
                                  nrc@bsbbs.Columbus.OH.US