Tuesday, May 14, 2013
At one time I was a Roches completist-- I guess up through the time that they started releasing sides as solo artists. I still have it all-- I held onto that Willie Nile album precisely because they sang back-up on one of the tracks, and I even ordered a signed copy of Seductive Reasoning when that was re-issued a year or so ago. It makes me sad that they weren't able to make a living at it, because they are intelligent people who made music that I liked a great deal. The best of it seems to have Robert Fripp's fingerprints on it. As far as songwriting goes I'd have to say that at some point they stopped being melancholy and became flat-out depressed. Another World seems to be mostly about career disappointment, and although I'd rank Speak as one of their best recordings, that's what the title song is about too. It is a grim subject. At least with failed romance there is always the prospect of a new relationship. When your label says that it is cutting you lose there's not a lot more to say, and although Suzy continued to contribute songs about being happy-go-lucky for a while sides like A Dove or Can We Go Home Now, for all their charms, lack the buoyant optimism of their best work. I don't think you can say that they weren't marketed properly-- they really did just have a limited audience
// posted by Bill @ 2:04 PM 
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