The eternal Kate-Tori debate

[Marcel F G Rijs <mfgr@bart.nl>]

Hi,

Larry J. Hernandez <alundra@flash.net> writes:
>Jordan Schuster <jordan57@execpc.com> on the Joni Mitchell
>list wrote: 
>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. 

"An attempt to pass her off as a Kate clone"? Well excuse me, but I think
I've missed something here.It's true that when I read a review of "Little
Earthquakes" in early 1992,  Tori was compared to the likes of a.o. Kate
Bush, but that was also the way I got to listen to Beverley Craven, Sam
Brown and Mylene Farmer, to name but a few.
Upon listening to the album I saw every comparison fade away - except for
the fact that, simply said, they both play the piano and they both are female.

[...]
>> 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. 

Wrong on many counts here. Yes, Tori was compared to Joni numerous times,
but only during the year 1994, when Tori released "Under the pink" and
recorded a (very well-made, BTW) cover of "A case of you".
The fact that the Kate-Tori comparison keeps popping up is probably a case
of bad journalism: in the beginning, it has been written several times and
these articles are always read before another journalist starts doing an
interview. 
I can't speak for other countries, but I've not heard the comparison in the
Dutch press anymore for two to three years now. I won't tell you Dutch
press is better than the press in other countries but...............
Tori does not sound like Kate at all. If you'd listen to her music, and if
you wish, "eat" it, you will notice a vague echo of a more cabaretest Kate
(see "Coffee Homeground")  in Tori's "The wrong band", recorded in 1993.
Otherwise, there is no similarity. Okay, they both have a female voice,
I'll grant you that. But it's ridiculous to call that "sounding like"
someone. 
And finally: Tori's music is nowhere near the quality of Kate's and Joni's?
 I can't speak about Joni, because I don't know much about her music, but
it is true that Tori's music is nowhere near the quality of Kate's. Simply
because Tori is _better_. As much as I hate to say this, but I don't think
Kate would be capable of doing the following:
- Recording a track in one take, and still sounding like an intricate web
of beautiful melodies. ("Thoughts", "Not the red baron")
- Hearing a song one time and doing a cover of it on the spot ("lovesong",
originally by the Cure)
- Taking a song, even one as ghastly as "Smells like teen spirit" and
making it your very own with the aid of just one piano and your voice.

Kate is a good musician in her own right, but through the years I've
discovered that there are better ones, who can perform without all the aid
of knobs and faders she seems to need. I hope you will open your eyes and
ears someday as well.

And to the people who are reading this with disgust: yes, I _am_ a KateFan.
But I do not wish to treat her as  infallible. Nor do I see Tori as such:
her last album contained too much manierism. 
But if you face facts, you'll probably come to the same conclusions. 

Kind regards,




Marcel Rijs
"Conan the librarian"
Den Haag, Netherlands, EUROPE
Email: mfgr@bart.nl
WWW: http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/marcel
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