Re: Review of TRS

["Ronald W. Garrison" <rwgarr@intrex.net>]

Renee Rosen wrote:

> I've got to agree with him on "Song of Solomon"--the profanity really
> seems forced and unnatural to me (though I'm sure that Kate can tell
> people to fuck off with the best of them *grin*). Profanity doesn't
> offend me in music, but when it seems fake,  it's grating. At any
> rate, I was really disappointed in this track, since Song of Solomon
> is my favorite book of the Bible, and Kate is such an expert in
> erotic tracks (like the title track of "The Sensual World") that I
> was really disappointed in how unerotic this track is.
>
> ...I can't refrain from just throwing out this, just as a thought:

When I first heard "Song of Solomon", the thought went through my mind
that maybe Kate had gotten to an age where she no longer felt the need
to be a "good little girl", even in her own unusual way. I've seen cases
where women have reached middle age, gotten burned in the romance game,
and adopted a cynical attitude, resulting in their going out and
becoming promiscuous and yet very cold and unfeeling at the same time.
Perhaps this happens to men too, but with most men it seems to usually
go the other way--they start out being a**holes and later on mellow out.
But anyway, it seemed that maybe Kate had had some experiences that
pushed her in this direction. Probably it wasn't love-gone-wrong. It may
have had a lot to do with her mother's death, along with her own age
creeping along. I think there's a vague reference on the album to a
friend being ill with AIDS, or some other dread disease. These things
have a big effect over time, of course.

In any case, "Song of Solomon" came across as, I agree, a very un-erotic
song. ("Be Kind to my Mistakes", on the other hand, while also
acknowledging those deep, dark secret feelings, is another matter--it
still makes chills go up and down my spine!)

> Agreed. If it had been a debut album by a new artist, I bet it would
> have been treated much differently, especially on this group. It's
> one of those albums that you have to listen to like it's by a group
> you know nothing about, instead of being the latest release by one of
> your favorites. It's hard to do--I still don't do it with this
> album--and it's still the Kate album I listen to the least, even
> after Lionheart (which would have been a much better album had she
> had more time to make it in and perhaps used some of the demo songs
> on it instead of the ones she chose).
>

...I couldn't help getting the feeling that Kate's most obscure lyrics
seem to be on her first and her most recent (I don't want to say "last")
albums. And yes, it almost seems as though, were TKI and TRS released in
the reverse order, they might have gotten similar reactions. (Except
that there is nothing in TRS that probably has anywhere near the magical
appeal that "Wuthering Heights" had for so many listeners.)

--Ron

http://www.intrex.net/rwgarr/