The Emperors new clothes

[Paul]

Anyone remember this story? The one where the Emperor is convinced that he is getting a great new suit of clothes in the finest silks only to find that in the great procession he is actually naked but no one will speak out for fear of looking foolish or unsupportive? Then one young child shouts out in the crowd "The King hasn't got any clothes on!"

Lets not kid ourselves any longer. SLG is a C...O...V...E...R. It's not some great re-interpretation, some wonderful vision seen through the eyes of an imaginary girl in the song. It's a nice sounding cover of an old Stranglers song. I'm betting that the rest of the songs will be pretty much the same.

I've read too many threads in here today that are spouting all kinds of pseudo intellectual crap about what a wonderful concept this is, how she "owns" the song, how she is so wonderfully insightful and takes on the "role" of the character blah, blah, blah.... It sounds like a lot of desperate attempts to find something that really is not there but because you've been told that it's there you have to see it. Take the blinkers off and accept that this is going to be an album of nice covers of songs written by men. Enjoy them for what they are and quit trying to superimpose some higher artistic conceptual image over it because, quite frankly, on the evidence of this song it's just not there.

For the record, I like the song, but I prefer the original by far.

[pagefire]

Well, I never heard the original version, so I can't really comment on any differences/similarities between it and Tori's version. But I just heard it, and I like Tori's.
You may very well have a point Paul. I suppose we'll find out when the rest of the songs are available.
BTW, I like your nerve.."old boy".

[thegreenone32]

Paul,

You really are a stuffy old brit!

Just Kiddin.

Lara

But, I do LOVE the song and can see Tori's point in doing this album. Sorry that you don't share in the excitement

[LucyGirl]

Originally posted by Paul
Anyone remember this story? The one where the Emperor is convinced that he is getting a great new suit of clothes in the finest silks only to find that in the great procession he is actually naked but no one will speak out for fear of looking foolish or unsupportive? Then one young child shouts out in the crowd "The King hasn't got any clothes on!"

I see alot of similiarities as well...

~Lucy

[Paul]

thegreenone32: I think you missed the point. I like the song, I'm looking forward to hearing the others too but I don't buy into the artistic concept thing. It's an attempt to make something of nothing. If Britney covers a song it's crap, if Tori covers a song it's got artistic merit.

Earlier this week I posted the Tori quote from the back of the new tribute CD ("If you're going to do a cover, it has to be a complete challenge") and stated that it was this attitude that was exciting about this album. Having heard this track I would question that attitude.

[woj]

all good points, paul. after hearing "strange little girl", i don't really understand how tori has re-interpreted the song with a female perspective either...but i suspect that's more me than anything since i'm not terribly sensitive to that sort of thing (i'm not a very lyrically-focused listener, pay much more attention to the way a song sounds, and am not particularly keyed into gender-oriented stuff -- peoples is peoples in my head).

however, one song does not an album make and singles aren't always indicative of an album when it comes to fringely-popular artists. take peter gabriel's "sledgehammer" -- it's nothing like anything else on the record. i wouldn't be surprised if this might be the case with _strange little girls_ as well.

and for the record, i like tori's version too: she's pumped up a fairly sparse song and it has, to my ear, that tori thing which i can't really explain but know it when i hear it.

[pagefire]

No, I think I got your point. I just meant that I can't really comment on its merit because I haven't heard the original SLG, or any of the other songs that Tori has covered here. The Emporess *may* indeed have a stitch or two on. This may yet prove to be something more than a covers cd..something more than just the sum of its parts.
*edit*
Sorry..thought you were talking to me..Me and my big head!

[DangerJohn]

A thumbs up for the stuffy old Brit.

[trampledmoss]

Thank you.

~maggie~

[hilltoptree]

Originally posted by Paul



I've read too many threads in here today that are spouting all kinds of pseudo intellectual crap about what a wonderful concept this is, how she "owns" the song, how she is so wonderfully insightful and takes on the "role" of the character blah, blah, blah.... It sounds like a lot of desperate attempts to find something that really is not there but because you've been told that it's there you have to see it.

I'm with you on this one. It seems like the music machine is spitting out a lot of PR pap in the name of concept.Tori's not really tori, she's quasi-tori being other character's voices singing in tori's voice! Doesn't this all seem a bit thigh-high red plastic bootish to you?

Want uber pseudo-intellectual crap, let's get ready to rumble..... Ever saw the movie Pi? It's where a guy who may or may not be crazy may or may not have found the answer to life, the name of god, the secret of the stock market, etc through mathamatics. At one point his teacher tells him, if you look for a specific pattern, you *will* find it, even if it isn't there. Like if you pick the the number 17, suddenly it's everywhere. 17 steps up your stairs, 17 minutes to make it to work, 17 shirts you own.

And that what it seems like is happening here. People are looking for these empowered women's voices because that's what was in the press release.

Tori's music always seemed much more empowered when they were her own lyrics.

But it's fun to toss the ideas around, eh?

Lily

[Princess Buttercup]

You know, I have been thinking the same thing; I was a bit disappointed actually. The concept we'd been hearing about sounded so neat and then I listen to this song and all the talk now sounds like a bunch of BS. Many of the actual Tori quotes made it sound like this album was more than just covers. Maybe the rest of the songs will be more developed than SLG; I don't know. But if they aren't, I think it was pretty crappy of Tori and her management to try and pass this album off as something more than it actually was. Someone is probably going to bitch about that last comment, but I don't really care.

Don't get me wrong, I think SLG is pretty good. But I swear I want to gag every time I see someone say "well Tori's is different. The Stranglers just pitied the girl cuz they thought she was too weak to handle things, but Tori has compassion and is concerned for the girl, blah blah blah" That's a load of stinky crap if I ever saw one. Personally, I thought the original was quite understanding of the girl, but I guess some people have this overwhelming urge to turn Tori into the "righteous" one and to turn the Stranglers into a bunch of misogynists (sp?).

[fragile]

yesyesyes. i agree with paul.

[rahl1972]

YAY!!!!! Finally a thread I can agree with! I agree with most everything that was said in the opening thread. Tori said something at one time about her cover of "Famous Blue Raincoat". Something about it being different from the original because she sang it from the woman't point of view. I listened to both..and I'm sorry....no she didn't. It is exactly the same...nothing new about it other then Tori is singing the exact same song.

Because of that....I kinda was already expecting this to be how it was going to be....so I'm not disappointed. I'm ready to listen to the cd and enjoy hearing Tori do some covers. Personally..I have always loved her covers...well...all exept for that "Losing My Religion"...that took a while to grow on me. The first time I heard it I nearly threw up a lung. LOL

Rahl1972

[squirdmnss]

to me, i think this is the best and most indicative quote about the new songs/album.....

"I've always found it fascinating how men say things and how women hear them"

people are unreliable witnesses; their use of their senses, their memories can vary wildly. we all watch an event unfold and interpret and remember it differently.

changing the gender of who is saying something does affect how we hear it (just as much as, say, a white vs. black person using the word "nigger"), like it or not.

it's not about whether tori creates a character or changes the song. it's about whether we HEAR a difference...

if you don't you don't. some of us do though. *shrug* oh well. you have no right to tell us we're being sheep, or that we're ignoring the fact that the emperor is naked. i mean, by your standards, any discussion/interpretation of songs and their lyrics seems to be over-analyzing or intellectualizing.

[Jezebelle]

I will buy the album.

I will see her perform live (more than once hopefully).

But this is not what I expected. Its not original. Sorry.