Re: Tori/Alanis

[tre@quake.net (Tre Hellman)]

In article <v01530500aed747008c86@[194.154.98.181]>,
nth-wave@easynet.co.uk (Dave Watkins) wrote:

>A couple of days ago someone posted a response about Tori and her concerts
>- how she would be rude and sarcastic to the audience.  I don't think Tori
>is deliberatley rude - she just loves interacting with her audienecs.  I
>went to see her in April and she would even take suggestions from the
>audience about what songs to sing - I think she has great relationship with
>her fans.
 
Tori's a goddess. KaTe is *the*  goddess, but Tori is *a* goddess. I've
never been to a Tori concert but I can't imagine her being rude - cruel,
sarcastic, yes, rude, no.

>What do you lot feel about Alanis Morissette.  I mean she does bear some
>similarities to Kate.  I personally don't like her voice - I think her
>songs are to clutterd - if that makes sense.

Cluttered, yes. But I don't think that's a weakness, if we mean the same
thing. Alanis, at her best, is cluttered and unclear and difficult - just
like real, human emotions. It's a strength in her music: she's here and
there and all over the road, and when it works, no matter how logically
unnecessary some of her stuff is, it's emotionally necessary. But then it
doesn't always work does it? When it does, it's heaven (and hell).

Kate and Tori are much more controlled, much more focussed: if you can
decode them, their songs have a more narrative structure. They tell
stories, often obscure stories. Their voices give you the emotion behind
the stories. Alanis and Sinnead O'Connor (at her best) give you emotion,
raw emotion, and their lyrics give you the stories behind the emotions (to
some extent).

I think we all get confused and make invidious comparisons because these
women  don't just recite the lyrics. They all use their voices as
instruments - raw, unrestrained instruments that don't just tell you pain
or joy but are themselves pain, joy, anger, hatred, love. It's such a rare
thing... I can think of dozens of singers who sing well, beautifully, but
merely sing the song. These women don't sing any songs: they sing
feelings. And not always comfortable feelings - Fire On Babylon, You
Oughta Know, Me And A Gun, Troy, Night Of The Swallow. 

Emotion. Raw, uncontrolled, cruel, hurtful emotion.  The only difference I
have been able to see is whether their songs are stories fueled by that
emotion or emotions with a narrative behind them.

Tre.