re/ TSW

[Chris Smith at Indiana University <smithcj@indiana.edu>]

Dunno. I still think that TSW is one of the most extraordinary song 
cycles I've ever heard; it is by far my favorite Kate album; I think the 
songwriting (with, granted, arguable exceptions) is superb; the 
production is incredibly evocative; the use of "non-Western" resources is 
sensitive and un-touristy.

I find it thematically _extremely_ consistent: it is about transcendence. 
Of the body (Deeper Understanding), of the earth (Rocket's Tail), of 
"rational mind" (Love & Anger), of carbon-based life (Deeper 
Understanding), of death (This Woman's Work; dying to give birth), of
two-dimensional "fictional life" (The Sensual World), of the media by 
which it is possible to achieve transcendence --dance (Heads We're 
Dancing, the video of Love and Anger), poetry (L&A), electronics (DU), 
gunpowder and "wild mind" (RT)--; it's about recognizing and respecting 
the great traditions which have targetted transcendence as a basic 
spiritual aspiration (the disc includes explicit and implicit references 
to the Tarot, Wicca, Catholicism, Sufi, and "women's ways of knowing"); 
it's about the Dark Side of transcendence  --that its power can be 
twisted and scary DU)--.

i think it's brilliant, and continue to think so.

FWIW

cjs

Chris Smith - Lecturer in World Music, Indiana. "One World" WFIU 103.7 
  Altramar medieval music ensemble; Amandla (African jazz); 
  The B.O.M.B. Ensemble (Baroque music). Martial Artist: Shaolin Kung Fu. 
  http://www.indiana.edu/~smithcj. (p) 812/855-2664; (f) 812/855-0729
"THINK! (BOOM!) THINK! (BOOM!) It ain't illegal yet!" -- George Clinton