Published on Aug 2, 1998
Oh my God oh my God oh my God! I just had the kiefest idea. What
if we got Vanessa-Mae to be Geri’s replacement for the Spice
Girls??? She’s a Brit herself, she can air-sing like them, she
dresses like them (of COURSE I’ve noticed all that glitter in her
cleavage), and just look at the silly one-liners in her album liner
notes: “Storm. Powerful natural. Frightened? Then hide from it. If
not, enjoy it.” Add in the background for “Spice Up Your Life” and
we have… voila!… Catgut Spice. Stradivarius Power!
What was EMI thinking when they released “I Feel Love” as a
video? Most of it has her breathlessly singing the words “I feel
love” over and over again over an electronica background (almost no
violin). While the ethereal vocalizing in the intro of “I’m A Doun”
(a Celtic melody fused with African voices and drums) certainly
shows above average talent in Enya-like control, she pushes the
envelope in songs like “Embrasse Moi (You Fly Me Up)” and “I Feel
Love”. Both songs are lyric-based, but it’s obvious that
Vanessa-Mae is no extraordinary vocal talent. “Who Do You Think You
Are?”
But few would question her extraordinary fiddling talent.
Whether it’s a hyperspeed dance arrangement like “(I) Can, Can
(You?)” or easy listening bordering on the New Age in “A Poet’s
Quest (for a Distant Paradise)”, her enthusiasm is foot-stamping in
the former, bleeding into the air in the latter. “Retro” and
“Leyenda” are a step-up from the underdone atmospheric qualities of
her last pop album, but it’s still no Sarah Brightman or symphonic
Led Zeppelin.
Although a lot less obvious now, there are still some
experiments with samples and effects going on in machine-inspired
“Aurora” and the oversampled, overloaded arrangement of “Bach
Street Prelude” (breaking the mold is fine, as long as it’s not
done out of necessity). In “The Blessed Spirits”, she even steps
aside to let less appetizing synthesizers take over the focus. But
I’ve always loved it when she played her electric violin like an
electric guitar; “Hocus Pocus” is amazing, conjuring images of the
multi-armed Hindu God Shivva.
“I’m A Doun” sounded a lot better when it came after a suite of
Scottish folk songs for violin in
The Classical Album 1, though it’s still the best track on
the entire album (who’d have thought the two ethnic cultures would
fuse together so beautifully?). Speaking of a sense of belonging,
“Happy Valley” (a Chinese choir number overlaid with violin,
performed during the Hong Kong handover ceremony) is misplaced by
the artist’s own admission. To have it appear on the same album as
“I Feel Love” is like having Madonna singing Chinese opera.
To be honest, the music in
The Violin Player was experimental at best and none too
deep. The sheer freshness of having a violin making that kind of
music (throw in some sexy tank-top videos) was its selling point.
Depth is still not an issue; “Storm” is more of a celebration of
British-style honest-to-goodness airplay-pop. Less thought
provoking but definitely more entertaining than
China Girl – The Classical Album 2. Keep it next to your
copy of
Spiceworld.