REWOICC@ERENJ.BITNET (a squeaking head on a pleasure box) (06/13/91)
well, at least a semi-rational one. after speaking to vickie a few nights ago, she offered to lend me her extra copies of _rhodes vol.1_ and _war- paint_ (on the condition that i write about what i thought of them of course) so ... i am. first: i don't know what i was expecting, but it certainly wasn't what is on those tapes. from all the posts that people had been making, somehow it had gotten into my head that what happy rhodes was doing was something phenomenally different or completely innovative. as larry spence pointed out, nobody ever really pinned down a style or description - merely just words about her songwriting and lyrical abilities. so, when i popped in _rhodes vol.1_ and heard some rather simple, if effective, and melancholy synthesizer-based tunes, i was a bit taken a back. so, musically, i was not terribly impressed. her voice though struck me as interesting. it is a deep voice that avoids being husky like many other female singers. just for comparison purposes, it reminded me most of the singer (what is her name?) from skinnerbox. and as vickie noted, her high register does share a striking resemblance to KaTe's (this becomes very apparant on _warpaint_ where her background vox are often sung in a high pitch - i know that my head snapped about the first time that i heard one of those vocal snippets - much in the same way that my head snapped when i first heard roy harper's "once" without knowing that KaTe sang backup on it). after listening to _vol.1_, i took a nap. :) when i woke up, i popped _warpaint_ in. as one might expect, with three albums in between them, there are some stylistic differences, but the main thrust of her sound is still basically the same: melancholy, quiet and darkish synthisizer-based pop. however, there is something about _warpaint_ that the earlier work seems to lack, for i've gone back to it about three times in the past twenty four hours. (not counting the kukl/sugarcubes spree somewhere in there last night :) _warpaint_ is much more mature, and much more listenable and much more lasting i think. chances are, i'll be ordering this cd sometime soon. summary: happy rhodes' work is decent. better than most stuff that we see the major labels stuffing in our faces. i don't agree with the claims that she is fantastic and incredible - ceratinly enjoyable and after i listen to the lyrics more, i'll probably get more in tune with her music, but i don't feel that she is doing anything musically innovative (but then, that might just be sour grapes after *thinking* that she was innovative based on posts from the happy-go-lucky crowd on the list). the jury is still out with regards to the lyrics, though i half-suspect they'll win me over. incidentially, i also picked up _ophelia's shadow_ a few days ago and must agree completely with the others with regards to the music: it is *wonder- ful*. about toyah's singing though, i think i am a bit more tolerant. there are a few tracks when it just doesn't work, but i generally liked it. and i certainly do not see her as a KaTe-wannabee as others have decried her. -- woj zengineer/dj for hire/goofball "one of the band told me last work: rewoicc@erenj.bitnet night that music was all that play: woiccare@pebbles.sct.clarkson.edu he's got in his life" -KT - society of dark birds: fegmaniax-request@pebbles.sct.clarkson.edu -
larry@csccat.cs.COM (Larry Spence) (06/14/91)
In article <9106131208.AA27452@EDDIE.MIT.EDU> REWOICC@ERENJ.BITNET (a squeaking head on a pleasure box) writes: > >her voice though struck me as interesting. it is a deep voice that avoids >being husky like many other female singers. just for comparison purposes, >it reminded me most of the singer (what is her name?) from skinnerbox. Joanna Townshend? Julianna Townshend? I forget, too... but I wanted to make a plug for skinnerbox. I got their (her) CD with the most recent album _The Playhouse_ and the previous one, _The Imaginary Heart Of_ on a single disc. I really like it, particularly _Playhouse_. There's some neat instrumentation (she seems to use an autoharp a lot) and an overall kinda sombre, but dignified sound to it. The lyrics are stream-of-sub- consciousness stuff, so it's hard to pin down just what she's talking about, but the atmosphere is not unlike walking through a ghost town or something along those lines. There are places where the production is a little thin or synth-cliched, but most of it holds up pretty well, IMHO. BTW, I liked the snippet of Happy vocal I heard, too. Hearing her deeper voice with very high backing vocals made me think of a friend who used to think that the Cocteau Twins had _two_ female vocalists. %) >incidentially, i also picked up _ophelia's shadow_ a few days ago and must >agree completely with the others with regards to the music: it is *wonder- >ful*. about toyah's singing though, i think i am a bit more tolerant. there >are a few tracks when it just doesn't work, but i generally liked it. and i >certainly do not see her as a KaTe-wannabee as others have decried her. I haven't seen much mention of _Ophelia's Shadow_ on the net, but I might have missed it. This is not the same as the Sunday All Over The World disc that I think Toyah almost ruins. I haven't heard OS (after the SAOTW disc, I wasn't too keen on more Toyah), but I've heard it described as SAOTW with a different guitarist (no Fripp). woj, have you heard both of these -- should I bother to get OS if I dislike the vocals on SAOTW? How are the lyrics? If I hear another Toyah lyric about marrying and/or marriage, I'll puke (and I'm a happily married sort of a guy)! %) -- Larry Spence larry@csccat.cs.com ..{uunet,texsun,cs.utexas.edu,decwrl}!csccat!larry