Re: Kate vs. Tori

[gondola@deltanet.com (Gondola Bob)]

In article <4esr46qav@gutemine.informatik.uni-kiel.d400.de>,
soft028@informatik.uni-kiel.d400.de (Software-Praktikum 028) wrote:

>Tori Amos copped her sound from early KB records and won't even own up to
it. She is a
>poseur and a wannabe. And yes, she does have "a sense of working",
alright, but it's P.R. work.

Ooh, great zinger!!! "P.R.," you bet!

Incidentally, if there's any one thing that keeps me from liking Tori Amos
more than mildly, it's not her samey-sounding music, heavy-handed singing
style or alternately pretentious/meaningless lyrics, but her PERFORMANCES.
To me, when you're listening to this sort of stark, confessional
songwriter, it should be like eavesdropping. The performer is immersed in
her own little world, and the thrill comes from witnessing the performer
retreating deep into herself and yet allowing us to watch.  Sinead
O'Connor may have faded quickly, but she definitely had that quality. 
Lots of others, in all areas of music, have that quality too -- I'm just
too lazy right now to comb my brain for more names. "Intimacy" is the word
I'm looking for, I guess.

BUT...then we have Tori Amos, who constantly "sells" her songs onstage,
adopts this calculatedly sexy playing posture and spends the whole show
looking square into the audience with a smug little smirk on her face as
if to say, "Hey there -- I write really great songs, and you oughta check
THIS one out." I find that attitude a complete turn-off. I was really
excited about Little Earthquakes when it came out (Silent All These Years
still is my favorite TA song), not so much because it was that fantastic
but because she showed POTENTIAL to be fantastic in the future. Then I saw
her live, and I realized, "Nope, ain't gonna happen." For that matter,
Alanis Morrisette gave me the exact same vibe, with her silly Red Hot
Chili Peppers-like leaping around. Her time in the spotlight will come to
an end far before Tori's, even. Of course, KB will endure, because she
doesn't pander to fans like TA and AM and writes songs to please herself,
not others.

EB

PS Incidentally#2, I always hear this and that TA song compared to Kate
Bush, and I never hear mention of "Happy Phantom." That was the one that
instantly set off the bells and whistles for me. How "Gaffa" can you get?