Review including TRS from R.A.D! e-zine

[rhogan@chaph.usc.edu (Ron Hogan)]

The following is a  review by Jesse Garon, review columnist for
the electronic zine R.A.D! (Review and Discussion of Rock Culture),
of several albums, including THE RED SHOES.

The zine is regularly posted to alt.zines and alt.music.alternative.
People interested in subscribing should contact The Reverend Keith
Gordon at gordonka@ctrvax.vanderbilt.edu.

This review is reposted with permission

Ron "shut up, before you prove
what an insensitive clod you are" Hogan

*******
Kate Bush, _the Red Shoes_
(Columbia)
Julee Cruise, _the Voice of Love_
(Warner Bros.)
Jane Siberry, _When I Was a Boy_
(Reprise)


A lot of hardcore Kate Bush fans have been disappointed in _The Red Shoes_,
complaining that this album is a step backword for Kate, that songs like
"Eat the Music", "Rubberband Girl", and "Why Should I Love You?" are a step
backwards for the talented English singer.  This is definitely *not* the
Kate Bush of "Wuthering Heights" -- the "new" Kate Bush sings in a way that
is much more sensual (not only in the sexual sense of the term, but in the
sense of being rooted in the physical or material world) and less unearthly,
continuing a thread from her last album, non-coincidentally titled _The
Sensual World_.  The ethereal qualities that attracted early fans have not
been completely left behind, however.  "Lily", for example, has intriguing
lyrics suggestive of a Gnostic or Masonic ritual, and "The Song of Solomon"
combines the earthy attitude of "don't want your bullshit / just want your
sexuality" (probably the couplet quoted in most reviews of a single album for
1993) with Biblical and Celtic mythology.

She is also well served on this album by her collaborators.  The Trio Bulgarka
lend their haunting voices to several of the songs, and guitar work by Jeff
Beck on "You're the One" and Eric Clapton on "And So is Love" stands out
without taking attention away from Bush.  "Why Should I Love You", her duet
with Prince, is one of the most interesting duets of the year.  It starts
out with faint traces of the Trio Bulgarka in the background as Kate sings
the first verse, then the chorus kicks into a more Princely funk, while the
lyric still maintains Kate Bush's spiritual resonances and imagery.  (Yes,
Prince's lyrics have also had spiritual imagery on a regular basis, but the
specific *feel* of the images in this song are more like Bush, even when it
is Prince who sings them.)  This album shows off Kate Bush's development as
a songwriter, a record producer, and as a musician/singer, and I hope that
she will continue to challenge herself as she has done here.

Julee Cruise's first album came out in 1989, the same year as _The Sensual
World_.  Produced by David Lynch and Angelo Badalamenti, it included "Falling",
the instrumental version of which became the theme to "Twin Peaks".  In many
ways, I got the impression that Cruise's voice was "only" an instrument which
Lynch used to create a specific atmosphere, one that is perhaps evocative of
40s/50s chanteuses like Peggy Lee or Julie London, but with a mysterious
underside that could contain ecstasy or danger (and what if the two are one
and the same?).  The new album, _The Voice of Love_, sounds almost exactly
like the last one.  Same vaguely angelic voice, same eerie instrumentation,
same impenetrable lyrics.  I want to be clear on this point: I *like* the
sound of this record, and Julee Cruise's voice is fantastic.  But nothing
has changed in four years, except that "Kool Kat Walk" sounds a bit more
upbeat and "cool jazzy" than the other tracks.  While Lynch and Badalamenti
should be commended for providing Cruise with the opportunity to record two
albums, I'd be interested now in seeing how she would handle other creative
opportunities.

The first Jane Siberry record I ever bought was _The Speckless Sky_, back
in the summer of 1986.  I listened to it a few times, then put it away until
a year later, when I was laid up in bed with a 103 degree fever.  I played
the tape one afternoon while I was trying to sleep, and ended up having the
most incredible lucid dreams.  Since that day, I've gotten my hands on every
Jane Siberry item I can get my hands on.  Her albums have always had a dream-
like quality to them, ethereal instrumentation behind her vocals, and a
stylistic consistency from one album to the next.  Which is not to say that
she has repeated herself from album to album; each new album has shown
progress as an artist, without making the kind of radical leap that Suzanne
Vega, for example, made between _Days of Open Hand_ and _99 F_.  _When I
Was a Boy_, however, did strike me as having some major differences from
previous albums, some of which might be due to Brian Eno's production work
on a number of tracks.  Basically, it boils down to tracks like "Temple"
being funkier/grittier than Siberry has been in the past, though consistent
with her lyrical style, easily among the most poetic of any singer/songwriter
today.  In fact, "Temple", "All the Candles in the World", and other tracks
have the same mixture of sensuality and unworldliness that makes _The Red
Shoes_ such an interesting record, but Siberry's quirky style is sufficiently
different from Bush's that you can enjoy both albums without feeling
repetitive in any way.