Kicks & Earthquakes: The Kate--Tori Comparison

[Magnus Stromgren <masstn95@Student.UmU.SE>]

Tori Amos has often been compared to Kate Bush. I've 
learned that this comparison is not that popular among 
the Tori-community. Why? Classifications are really not 
anything strange or suspicious, but just a way of trying 
to make sense out of reality. And comparing doesn't 
necessarily mean ending up listing points of similarity; 
differences can be spotted as well. But are there any 
similarities? Yes, actually there are, ranging from the 
trivial (like the fact that both artists has four letters 
in their first name as well as their surname) to the more 
significant (regarding, for example, aspects of career 
development, music and lyrics). However, there are differ-
ences as well. 

                           *

Kate's "The Kick Inside" was an early debut. Tori's "Little 
Earthquakes", on the other hand, can be considered quite the 
opposite -- given, of course, that it's correct to label it 
her debut album; I'm not sure what the practice is. Anyway, 
even if one wanted to count "Y Kant Tori Read" as the first 
album, by Kate's standard that as well would be a late start. 
(Note, however, that Tori is kind of making up for lost time 
by her "manial" behaviour with regard to touring and other 
activities in the same vein.)

Notwithstanding "Y Kant Tori Read", "Under the Pink" is 
thus Tori's second album. Like Kate's follow-up to "The 
Kick Inside" -- "Lionheart" --, it was delivered quite fast 
-- although Kate, who later on has been extremely slow in 
producing albums, actually was a lot quicker. It was also 
-- and here is another striking resemblance -- very much 
in the same vein as the predecessor: just as "Lionheart" 
was only slightly different in style compared to "The Kick 
Inside", "Under the Pink" was no major departure for Amos. 
I have the impression, although I'm by no means sure, that 
it's more common to put Bush's debut ahead of her follow-up 
than the opposite. What the majority opinion is when it 
comes to comparing the Tori catalogue I actually don't know. 
I'd love to find out.

With her third album, "Never For Ever", Kate's managed 
to put out an album that at once represented renewal 
as well as coherence. Then followed a remarkable creative 
outburst which resulted in her two most accomplished work 
to date, "The Dreaming" and "Hounds of Love", both unique 
and still very much in the Bush tradition, followed by the 
more mediocre -- but still splendid -- "The Sensual World" 
and "The Red Shoes". It will certainly be interesting to 
see if Tori is about to follow the same path...

                           *

Musically, there is one striking similarity between 
Tori and at least the early Kate: the extensive use 
of the piano (and related instruments). It seems, 
however, that even compared to Kate's early output 
-- except for those lovely home demo's -- Tori centres 
her songs more firmly on piano arrangements. Consider, 
for example, Tori when touring: her piano (together, 
of course, with her vocals) is really the main and 
often only focus -- at least that was the case when 
I attended her Stockholm concert last spring. Also, 
the styles of playing are quite dissimilar. While Kate 
has kind of a basic approach, Tori's is definitely more 
fluent, which perhaps to a certain degree can be 
explained by her -- I imagine -- more genuine formal 
education on the subject. Anyway, over time Kate devel-
oped a "fuller" sound with more instruments, where the 
piano played less a central part. Is that possible -- 
or even desireable -- in Tori's case?

                          *

Without really making any thorough study, it's apparent
that Tori's lyrics differ a lot from those on at least 
Kate's first albums. While Kate's early songs are mostly 
either romantic in the more basic sense, as in "Feel It", 
"Oh To Be In Love" and "In the Warm Room", or romantic in 
the more extended, literary sense, as showcased by the 
escapism in "Kite" and "James and the Cold Gun" and the
national pride in "Oh England My Lionheart", Amos' work 
to date mainly focuses on -- or at least takes departure 
in -- reality, and not infrequently the more gloomy sides 
of the human existence -- although I may have misunderstood; 
interpreting Amos' lyrics is like solving a riddle, if 
not harder ;).   

Interestingly, Kate has moved in that direction -- without 
any loss in clarity! -- over the years. First the basic 
romantic strands started to fade away in favour of a 
dominance of a quite sophisticated extended romanticism. 
Then the lyrics became more "down-to-earth". "Hounds of Love" 
was really the turning point. Side B, the conceptual "The 
Ninth Wave", contained the most explicit literary romantic 
songs she had (and has) written. Side A, on the other hand, 
was more based on reality, and focused to a large extent on 
various problematic aspects of relationships. 

This may seem strange, but there's a logic to it: Kate was 
young when she released her first albums. At that age her 
lyrics had certain characteristics. Now she's older, and 
therefore her lyrics has changed. Lyrical style seem in 
other words in some ways to be related to age. Therefore, 
it's really not that surprising that Tori's material more 
resembles Kate's later work lyrically, since Kate was so 
much younger than Tori when she issued her first records. 

                          *

Even though the comparison between Kate Bush and Tori 
Amos -- revealing some points of similarity, but also 
differences -- is interesting, perhaps there is a risk 
that one, by comparing these two particular artists with 
one another, obscures other reasonable comparisons that 
can be made between Tori (or Kate) and other artists. That 
is not desireable. But neither is there, at least as I'm 
concerned, any wrong with comparing Kate and Tori. As a 
way of trying to make some sense of reality, it's in fact 
quite a useful tool.

-- Magnus Stromgren