Newsgroup: it.arti.musica.rock
Titolo: The Walking

Jane Siberry  1987
pare un discone !
mi sembra ne avesse parlato sanctio in passato.
When I got my copy signed at a show in Brussels all I could say to Jane was 
"Thanks for playing "The lobby", this is one of my favourite albums". 
Although Jane did say "Oh, thank you" I don't think she believed me. It had 
been an amazing show and I was just as impressed as Shawn Colvin was when 
she saw The walking show and wrote "Kill the messenger" about it afterwards. 
Another fan was so kind to take pictures of me and Jane and email them to me 
afterwards. As I was the last one in the audience to leave (I was in no 
hurry as my hotel was less than a 5 minute walk away) we even got chatting 
afterwards. She turned out to be just as shy as me but really friendly and 
she even pronounced my name right, the only English speaking person who has 
ever done that.
It's always hard to write a review for one of your favourite albums because 
you know you're never going to write one that does the album justice. I wish 
I had a lot to say about this album and that I could convince you all that 
it's brilliant and that you should all get it. But I'm afraid I have just as 
much to say about this album now as I had that night in Brussels. So let me 
just take the album track by track and tell you what kind of beautiful 
things we get to hear when listening to this album.
"The white tent the raft" blew me away when I first heard it. It featured 
lovely pop melodies but it also contained some of the weirdest song 
structures I had ever heard. And then there was this girl singing in a way I 
had never heard anybody sing before; I had heard Jane singing on Joe 
Jackson's "The bridge" and fell in love with that voice right away, but this 
time I was even more impressed. The song goes through many changes, but 
comes back every time to that lovely catchy chorus which could have been 
taken from a pop song. Originally it was 30 minutes long, but it was edited 
down to what it is now because Jane felt that including such a long song on 
your major label debut wouldn't be a smart move. She was probably right 
about that, but it would be interesting to hear the original unedited 
version one day.
"Red high heels" is a bit easier, but still pretty complex with its odd time 
signature changes and weird (or according to the sleeve notes drunken) 
guitar solo at the end. The melodies always remain lovely though. The organ 
part of the song might have been something Peter Gabriel had in mind while 
recording "Sky blue".
"Goodbye" starts off quietly but turns into something theatrical halfway 
through, before returning to its opening theme at the end. It perfectly 
shows what a great singer Jane really is. "Ingrid and the footman" is a 7 
minute song and the album's only true pop song. But with 7 minutes it was 
still too long to be a single, so Jane edited it down to 4 minutes for a 
single release (also included on the original Reprise CD), but the 7 minute 
version is the best by far and can be found on the Duke Street CD, the 
version that's currently available.
"Lena is a white table" sounds like Godley & Creme and has some of the 
weirdest lyrics ever written, even weirder than the song's title would 
suggest. In the meantime Jane gives us one of her best melodies ever. The 
live version performed during the tour that followed the album is even 
better, with Jane sharing lead vocals with Rebecca Jenkins and Rebecca 
Campbell.
The album's title track is another absolute highlight, basically a piano 
ballad extended with some interesting instrumental passages. Listen to the 
hypnotic repeating piano part at the end with Jane's voice slowly fading 
out, excellent stuff. The Reprise CD features an edited version on which the 
song loses some of its charms.
"The lobby" was the last song on the album I got into. I used to have a 
problem with the synths and some of the vocal harmonies on this song, but 
the song has its moments of brilliance. The brass band interlude is one of 
my favourite bits on the album and when Jane sings all by herself it remains 
impressive. Still the album's weakest song in my opinion though.
"The bird in the gravel" brings the album to an amazing conclusion. It was 
the centerpiece of Jane's live show during the tour that followed the album, 
the song's opening bit opening the show and the ending closing the show with 
the weird middle section somewhere halfway through the show. The song's 
closing section is probably my favourite bit on the album, the harmonies of 
Jane and Rebecca Jenkins on the live version of the song make it even more 
brilliant than it already is.
You might say this sounds like Kate Bush. Maybe it does, but Jane's a much 
better songwriter. These experiments here are far more interesting than Kate 
Bush has ever done. Jane's a better singer, she's supported by musicians who 
can actually play. In other words, Jane Siberry and this album in particular 
are the reason I've never cared that much for Kate Bush's music. If only all 
those millions in the world who love Hounds of love would know that this 
album is out there. It's so much better. 

 pare un discone !
e lo è pure!
mik (e non è manco il suo migliore!)

 mik (e non è manco il suo migliore!)
quale sarebbe il migliore?
w
np : Lhasa - The Living Road
(anche questo pare un discone) 

 quale sarebbe il migliore?
no borders here, uscito nel '83.
ma spulciando tra la sua discografia si trovano quasi sempre cose egregie.
mik