Don wrote: "To my ear and lyrical sensibility, and in my singular and uniquely heterosexural, white, male viewpoint; Jonatha Brooke is just another mid-90's 'Vague Suzannah' -- as Morrissey once put it. Every CD of her's I've ever purchased now graces the shelves of my local used record shop. Sorry folks -- I'm just missin' the religion here." You sure are, Don, you SURE are. First of all, Morrissey, though a talented man in many respects, is one of the most miserable, pessimistic and dismissive queens to have evolved into the public eye, and quoting him sells you short. When I was 16, I saw the Smiths in NYC, and it was a pinnacle-of-youth sort of experience. As I grow older, my tolerance for his whining and bad attitude has waned, and that's just the point...it works when you're 16. As I've been trying to plug "Steady Pull" to the naysayers this past week, it has dawned on me that Jonatha Brooke's music is an acquired taste. The complexities of her writing, both lyrically and musically, only reveal themselves and begin to make sense after repeated listens. Better to earn the vague suzannah title is someone like Jewel, whose presentation is fairly much out on the table from the get go - it requires very little from the listener and is good for napping. Jonatha transcends. -Chris
