Re: Please don't start picking "Eat the Music" apart... PLEASE!

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

> i normally try to avoid the best/worst discussions, but since alan has
> so eloquently asked for support, i'll pipe up.

Thanks!

> "eat the music"'s repetativeness is often reviled as boring, but i find
> that to be its strength: the music is a wonderfully mesmerizing blend
> of african and caribbean rhythms. as she incorporated the trio bulgarka
> into her music, so too is she bringing in the afrocarribean. while "eat
> the music" may not live up to some of the standards set by afropop
> artists, one has to remember that "eat the music" is neither western
> pop nor afropop.  it is somewhere inbetween.

The music itself is really energetic... I think that's apparent from the 
video - and like somebody said about "The Dreaming" and "The Ninth Wave" 
requiring a lot of energy to appreciate, I think "Eat the Music" (and a 
lot of the other tracks on the last two albums) require a different kind 
of energy to the albums from before "The Sensual World"... EtM certainly 
leaves me exhausted, but I always feel better after listening to it. It 
has a happy, colourful (and sexual) energy that really affects me in a 
way that more traditionally pop and rock songs don't.

> there is also an emotional aspect to this song. the key to unlocking
> this facet is the look on KaTe's face in the video. KaTe is taping into
> the ecstatic aspects of music: the ability of music to alter emotions
> and mental states (incidentially, a characteristic of african and
> carribean music).

The video is certainly great... maybe not in the same vein as 
"Cloudbusting" or "Experiment IV", but it tells a story in a different 
way... the way Kate becomes prgoressively more involved in the song.

"You've gotta sing for your smile"

> in that context, i find "eat the music" to be a great success.

Me too!

Bye for now,

Alan.