ddl683@csc.albany.EDU (Cinderella Man) (05/05/91)
This review is reproduced without permission from the free Capital
District region publication, METROLAND, No. 602, week of 2-8 May.
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HAPPY RHODES
_Warpaint_
Aural Gratification
Deftly balancing the often mutually exclusive elements of
razor-sharp, high-tech electronics and honest, fearless emotion,
Happy Rhodes' richly textured music drifts into the listener's psyche
like urgently whispered messages from the spirit world. _Warpaint_
is Rhodes' fifth full-length release, but her first since 1987's
_Ecto_, and it's evident from these dozen original songs that her
music has matured immeasurably.
Immaculately recorded at Cathedral Sound Studios by Rhodes
and co-producer Kevin Bartlett, this CD is awash with a warm aural
lushness that nurtures her compositions. The sound is as diaphanous
as silk, but with a surprisingly reslilient inner strength, like the
songs themselves. Undeniably contemporary, yet timeless.
Lyrically, Rhodes remains hopeful, but it's not a naive
optimism. She examines the dark side in the diptych of "Murder" and
the bone-chilling "To Live in Your World." Her musical persona is
most often that of the outsider looking in, caught in the wrong place
("Phobos"), the wrong time ("Wrong Century"), the wrong the [sic]
dimension ("Terra Incognita") and even the wrong form ("I dreamed I
was an animal in a human world," she confides in "All Things").
From those skewed vantage points, she dissects the universal fears and
foibles of humankind.
Rhodes does indeed wear her heart on her sleeve, but she does
it with a penetrating honesty, explaining, "Words weren't meant for
cowards. There's not much to hide behind." Later in the CD, she
says, "Music hides me so well, and reveals me, oh well." _Warpaint_ is
a bold and beautiful revelation.
"My ears are lucky to hear these glorious songs of
inspiration," she proclaims on "Feed the Fire," and although she's
singing of a private world wrapped in mystery and wonder, I know just
what she means. I feel the same way about this album.
(Box 8658, Academy Station, Albany, NY 12208.)
-Sarge
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Derek L.
--
+ + "When nothing else remains, one must scream. Silence is the ultimate + +
+ crime against humanity." -- Nadezhda Mandelstam +
+ _________________________ [Affix disclaimer here] ________________________ +
+ + + + Each one's life a novel no one else has read -- Peart + + + +