Re: Recommendations? (please)

[jeffy@syrinx.umd.edu (Jeffrey C. Burka)]

Damon somebody-or-other asks for suggestions on music:


>If someone here is going to suggest Happy Rhodes, please tell
>me a bit about her... I'm curious.

What's to tell?  Most folks who like all the people you named also like
Happy's music.  Her earlier stuff tends toward the folky and the later
stuff is more electronic.  Many new listeners think the high end of Happy's
range is uncannily similar to KaTe's.  Happy can (and does) sing much lower
than KaTe, and some people say her multi-track work sounds like a duet
between two different people.  Most folks quickly learn to distinguish
Happy's voice from KaTe's and and then wonder how they could have seen them
as so similar in the first place.

A good starting place is the new _Rhodesongs_ which is a compilation of
some the quieter stuff (and a few new acoustic versions) from all 6 albums.
Mind you, _Rhodesongs_ is *not* a best-of; it's a compilation of music that
sounds good together.  If you like what you hear on it, you'll probably
want the other albums.

For more info, check out Ecto's (the Happy Rhodes mailing list) FAQ, which
is available via anonymous FTP from hardees.rutgers.edu in pub/hr


>Thanks for any suggestions.  (The idiot
>[the friend I'm shopping for :-)] went out and bought Loreena McKennitt's "To
>Wish The Cold Winter Away" for himself... it would have made the perfect Xmas
>gift...)

That's _To Drive the Cold Winter Away_, an album I find sublime year-round!

Loreena's other two albums, _Parallel Dreams_ and _Elemental_ are also
great.

>Also in the news, I got the box set... excellent except for the lack of
>lyrics (NFE, TD and HOL are cheap versions in the Canadian set).  Just
>thought I'd mention that it is on sale at A&B Sound in Vancouver for $90 CDN
>(i.e. DON'T pay $120-$160...)

For what it's worth, the guy who's been posting for the CD Bar and giving
prices in the $145CDN range *did* say that this is the UK box, which does
*not* have the cheap versions you're stuck with in the CDN box (well, *my*
UK box doesn't, though it's fairly old).  Personally, I'd rather spend the
extra money and get the non-midline versions of the discs.  While I
understand the appeal of the cheaper box to someone who's just looking for
a way to get all of KaTe's music cheaply, that wouldn't have been
acceptable to me.

Jeff
-- 
|Jeffrey C. Burka     | "Everything is still with a fear of never coming out |
|Suffering Bad Grammar|  Never following through / Never ever finishing      |
|jeffy@syrinx.umd.edu |  What we wanted to do."  -- Melissa Ferrick          |