Re: Wait for Kate

[Robb McCaffree <nsrjm@nursepo.medctr.ucla.edu>]

btd@carina.cray.com (Bryan Dongray) wrote:
>
> Just a small piece of advise:
> 	Wait for Kate
> Do not buy the latest Tori Amos album (Boys for Pele)!
> What a disaster! OK maybe if you're a harden real Tori fan and like
> Tori music "just because", although this is not much like the others.
> I really quite like LE and UtP, but nothing on BfP sound like any will
> get in the top 100, perhaps "Doughnut song". If you *have* heard it
> what is "Professional Widow"? Grunge metal on a harpsichord?

	Well...I've got to give her credit for trying something so
experimental, and except for the "famileeEEEeeeee" howling, I kind of
like the groove of "Professional Widow." However, I agree that most
of the experimenting on this album failed. Vocally, Tori's become so
breathy, it actually detracts from the song. Musically, there are a
lot more over-long piano ballads than there are "enfant terribles"
like "Professional Widow," which is at least very different. And
lyrically she's become far too obscure. Whereas Kate's lyrics lend
themselves to many interpretations, Tori's (at least on BfP) are very
specifically about things about which the listener can't possibly know,
which is irritating to say the least. The chickens want your meat,
girl? Whatever.

	This said, I must admit that I LOVE "Hey Jupiter." It's simply
beautiful lyrically, vocally and musically. "Horses" is also very nice
except for the length. There CAN be too much of a good thing. And I
found myself humming "Father Lucifer" all day today, and thought that
"Zebra Head" was moderately neato.

	It ain't "The Dreaming." It may be Tori's "The Dreaming" in
that it expands on her original piano-based songs in an experimental
format, but these songs are all still rock/pop songs. The treatment
they've been given is definitely weird...and as hard to get into as
"The Dreaming" first was (for me at least), but many of them fail to
grab your interest enough to make you 're-investigate.'

 
> You *might* wish to see the piglet! I'm sure the RSPCA (animal welfare)
> need to pay her a visit! or is it art? I hope the snake wasn't caught
> under the rocking chair. I hope the dead hanging chicken was eaten, and
> not just there for the photo. I also wonder what the cows were thinking,
> is Tori vomiting on that mattress?

	After having to sit through 1 minute 45 seconds of "Beauty
Queen," I wanted to join her. ("BQ" is 'attached to the beginning of
"Horses" on track one of the CD. There's no avoiding it.) The chicken
and the snake were a bit much. Just like on the rest of the album, I
wondered, "What are you trying to say, and can't you figure out a
better way of saying it?" Piglet, however, didn't bother me. It
would've bothered me more had it been Christopher Robin.   ;-)

> 
> IMO rating: -1 out of 10 (without track 4, it'd be 0/10).

	I'd give it a five for the aforementioned tracks. I would have
given it a higher score if it weren't so interminably long -- I
would've cut some of the far-too-similar and far-too-lengthy tracks.

> 
> I seriously recommend you hear it firstly via a friend, and decide
> that way if you really like her new style! Please skip track 4.

	Agreed. But I also agree with Norman (for a limited time, and
not in conjunction with any other offer) that you should give it more
than one listen. Perhaps a small dose at a time would be best, so as
not to O.D. on her vocals, which are pretty consistently too breathy.

	The incidence of 'Kateliness' on this album is actually less
than on previous albums. The single, "Caught A Lite Sneeze" has some
very Dreaming-ish African rhythms driving it, and some background
vocals that are reminiscent of "Mother Stands for Comfort."  At one
point, in the lead vocals, Tori sings 'Dreamed' much like Kate exhaled
"Houdini."

	Other "Kateisms' on the album are also incidental. Any
comparisons of "Boys for Pele" to "The Dreaming" have more to do with
inaccessibility than with actual style.

Robb