STOP IT! After all, it's a sensual world, so enjoy it...

[Alan Stonebridge <Alan.Stonebridge@durham.ac.uk>]

On 29 Jul 1996, Derek Langsford wrote:

> I think you could make one great album from the songs off TSW and TRS.  
> Instead both are deminished by the lesser tracks.  I must admit my 
> excitement for Kate has wained since TSW.  It will take a return to form 
> for me to get every CD single she puts out in the future.  They were 
> notably weak for the TRS singles.  

I just don't get how so many of you don't like TSW and TRS... they're 
wonderful... Apart from maybe "Between a Man and a Woman" I love these 
too albums, and I still like that track anyway... there's nothing bad 
really bad about it. What do you guys want? It seems like most of you are 
obsessed with the innovation she put across on TD and HOL, but can you 
really expect her to keep doing music like that? It would become cliqued 
if all her albums had the same effect as those... as it stands, the 
emotions they get across are made all the more special because Kate has 
written other music which contrasts against it... not in a good/bad way, 
but in a way that simply expresses her emotions in a different way. But 
what's so bad about tracks like "The Fog"... it expresses fear so well, 
but at the same time it shows her love. And some of you have criticised 
"Big Stripey Lie" before, that the noise is dreadful because all the 
instruments and vocals sound like they're conflicting, but that's the 
beauty of it - Kate says in the TRS magazine that the KBC put out: 
"...the song took on the shape of wandering into someone's emotional 
world which is jungle-like and 'wild'" and I've always thought that she 
meant it was like being in the mind of somebody who is confused, that 
can't figure out how to express their feelings or something along those 
lines... maybe I'm just drawing my own interpretation too much, but I 
can't say I hate any of the tracks on either of these albums. Sure, the 
B-side content of the singles wasn't amazing, at least for the TRS 
singles, but then before HOL the B-sides were pretty few... maybe it was 
just that the ones for the HOL singles were exceptionally good, and they 
make the later ones look bad when really they are quite good - "You Want 
Alchemy" is a dreamy song, and maybe it's just that some of you see that 
Kate is moving away from the style of TD and HOL and you don't want to 
believe it... no matter how much her fans have supported her over the 
years, surely it's better that she takes her own path rather than 
pandering to what the fans want... it's her life, her career, and if some 
of us don't like it, it's tough. I feel pretty much the same way about 
Tori Amos' last album - it's not as captivating as the first two, but 
it's her decision to take that direction with her music, and I respect 
her for it as much as I dislike much of the album...

> All this is IMHO of course.

... and the same goes for this message :)

Alan.