Re: Kate / Tori

[nbuchwa1@ix.netcom.com (Norman Buchwald)]

odsbodskin@aol.com (ODSbodskin) wrote:

>hello everyone.
>   I'm new to this newsgroup, so I've missed much of the debate; but I
>won't let that stop me from throwing my two cents in...

>   At first I liked Tori, and immediately noticed the Tori / Kate
>parallels; but after seeing Tori's Little Earthquakes video my opinion
>changed.
>   The young Kate gave the impression of being a precocious genius who
>could distill literature and myth into 3 minute pop wonders. One could
>only imagine the experiences of a teenager who could perform such magic.
>She was WAY beyond anything we teenagers could envision.
>   Tori, on the other hand, especially after seeing the video, struck me
>as a sick little puppy writing sordid, self-centered melodramas. To put it
>bluntly, the video made me think Tori might be seriously insane!!!

>   ( If I posted this on alt.music.alternative.female, I think I would
>need to have heavy duty fire-fighting equipment handy....But maybe I'm
>safe here in gaffa.)

>-ODS

Well, some of you did disgust a friend of mine (who is fans of both
Kate and Tori) from coming here again  (He was a newbie lurking here).
Melodramas?  Come on.  You'd rather tolerate Kate's earlier stuff
where she mimes just a bit too dramatically?  (Especially if you see
her videos one after another?)  Argh.  I wish I could remember the
producer's name, but so far Tori does not produce her own videos.  (I
think those videos are better than most that's out there, by the way,
even if none really have told a story (my favorite kinds).  And Kate's
videos did not become really good until she directed, produced her
own.  Think about that.  (Well, she didn't do "Cloudbusting" but right
after that.  And I think she had some control for that one, too).

As for me-- the more I listen to Tori's new album, the more I like it.
And to be fully honest (prepared for flames) I can listen to Boys For
Pele as a whole album, where I can't for The Red Shoes (I can only
hear choice individual tracks).  But I'm getting tired of the
comparisons, any way.  They're two artists that are at times (and not
that often) on the same wavelength.  

So what other female artists are in the same realm with Kate?  Or is
she the only female in your mind?  (I know lots of male artists who
sound like each other and I've never seen them put under so scrutiny
as to "steal from one another.")

And if you name Happy Rhodes, I'm really shaking my head.  I think
she's very good, too, by the way.  But for all of you there who talk
about Tori stealing from Kate and all that.  One of my favorite songs
by Happy Rhodes, "Just Like Tivoli" has tons of echoes of Kate's
music, voice, lines, theme . . . ("look Daddy, here comes the train")
But, I'm not about to call her a thief, myself.  Artists do echo each
other.  Tori has a number of obvious ones ("Built my own Pretty Hate
Machine").  Just because Tori hasn't named Kate an influence (and as I
mentioned to Robb before on rmta that she may have listened to Kate,
but for whatever reason does not see Kate as an influence in spite of
whatever might actually come to her in her melodies, etc.) doesn't
mean that she should be scorned.  


Just to add perspective.  (I'll always be more inclined to fight for
Tori here and for Kate on rmta when I especially disagree.)

The Storm

We all have a dream . . . maybe?