Re: Happy Rhodes

[jchokey@leland.Stanford.EDU (James Alexander Chokey)]

In article <D7A03t.89t@dutiws.twi.tudelft.nl>,
S.L.Yuen <S.L.Yuen@twi.tudelft.nl> wrote:
>
>In the past you guys spoke highly about Happy Rhodes. So I'm curious 
>about her music. Could anyone recommend an album for a newbie like me?
>And is there a maillist or newsgroup dedicated to her?

	There is a Happy Rhodes mailing list called Ecto (named after
one of her albums).  I'm afraid I don't know the address.  I used to
subscribe to it, but it received so much traffic--  including much
that had nothing to do with Happy (and a substantial amount that had
had nothing to do with music at all), that I got off it.  There is
a newsgroup called alt.music.ecto that is nominally devoted to Happy,
but it is not very well distributed and receives very light traffic.

	As for what Happy is like and what album to reccomend, hmm,
that's tough to say.  She has a couple of different "phases."  Her
first two albums, _Rhodes I_ and _Rhodes II_ feature very simple
arrangements (usually just vocals and keyboard or vocals and guitar).
The vocals are usually quite lilting (much like early Kate) and the
melodies are quite lush.  The lyrics, by contrast, are usually quite
disturbing.
	On _Ecto_ and _Rearmament_, her arrangements become a little
more elaborate, bringing in other musicians on bass guitar-- and on
some electric guitar as well.  The primary focus (as on all her albums
is still the vocals), but she starts doing some thoughtful and eerie
musical arrangments-- especially on _Ecto_.  
	_Warpaint_ is a bit of a change.  Although she sings in her
lilting "Kate" style quite a bit, many of the songs have much more of
an Annie Lennox feel to them--  both in terms of vocals and arrangements.
A lot of the music on _Warpaint_ sounds a little more poppy than on
previous albums, but many people feel that this is her best album. 
	There are a lot of mixed feelings about _Equipoise_ and
_Building the Colossus_.  I'm not very fond of either of them, and 
I know quite a few people who don't like BtC at all.  On the other hand,
I know some people who really like it.  IMHO, both of these albums 
suffer from being a little too "happy" sounding-- even more poppish,
more songs in major keys, the vocals and lyrics are much less haunting.
Others may disagree, of course.

	My reccomendation for a first album would probably be _Ecto_,
although _Warpaint_ wouldn't be bad either.  If you think the earlier
"simpler" style might be more to your preference, I highly reccomend
_Rhodes II_.  There's also a compilation called _Rhodessongs_ that is
sort of a "best of" that might be worth looking into.

        --  Jim C.
 
P.S.	The conversation about Kate Bush that was taking place on
alt.music.progressive recently has branched into a discussion of
Happy as well-- or at least a few posts on her have appeared, for
those of you who are interested to hear what prog fans might have to
say about HR.
 
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| James A. Chokey                            jchokey@leland.stanford.edu |
|									 |
|     The infinite, expressed finitely, is the essence of beauty	 |
|									 |
|                                            ---  Schelling              |
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