tori bad?!?

["Larry J. Hernandez" <alundra@flash.net>]

Jordan Schuster <jordan57@execpc.com> on the Joni Mitchell
list wrote: 

> Date: Thu, 08 May 1997 20:29:21 -0500
> Subject: tori bad?!?
> 
> Tori is a musical genious.

I don't know about that, but I do admire her tenacious touring
schedule and her appreciation of her fans.  But her music in 
general is too whiney and pretentious for me.  At the same time
that I write that, I have to add that I admire her attention to
detail.  I both loathe her and respect her, if that can be said.
But her albums leave me sort of cold.  I feel like I've been 
punished as a male when I listen to her whine about her 
troubles.

> At first i refused to listen to her because 
> she was poplular, but then i realized that's stupid...she's popular 
> because she's an amazing songwriter and singer.

As most Kate Bush fanatics (read: me) would assert, Tori (not 
counting her Y Kant Tori Read phase) first come out as a direct 
rip-off of Kate.  Her _Little Earthquakes_ album not only was 
an attempt to pass her off as a Kate clone, but even down to 
the album design, it was a horrible way to market Tori, and it 
was that that turned me immediately off to her after I bought the
album in anticipation of hearing someone who supposedly approached
the "true genious" of Kate Bush.  I had hoped at the time that I 
would discover another true musical "katelike" artist such as 
Happy Rhodes, who I had been thankful to discover (thanks Vickie!)  
It was not to be, for me. 

>[...]i think if joni emerged in the 90's their music would be 
> almost identical.

Eh, now that's kind of a stretch, even though it might actually 
have happened considering that Joni at that time was the Kate 
Bush of her era (in terms of quality singer-songwriting). 

Now I don't mean that as any slight toward Joni, as she continues
to be a superb, quality singer-songwriter!  And of course Kate, 
well, Kate is God.  :-) 

> I know Joni is one of Tori's favorite artists, but 
> does anyone know how joni feels about tori??  A lot of entertainment 
> magazines have made comments like tori is joni on crack, i wonder if 
> joni agrees!?
> :)
> jordan

I've never heard or read of Tori being compared to Joni, but over and
over again the comparisons are made between Tori and Kate.  And that 
is a bogus comparison: Tori only "sounds" like Kate: her music is 
nowhere near the quality of Kate's or Joni's, but at the same time, I
must reiterate that I respect Tori nonetheless for her hard work. 

Larry (alundra@flash.net)