The only time I was fortunate enough to catch Tanita in concert was exactly 10 years ago in Zurich during her 1995 Lovers tour. My anticipation was raging at finally getting to see her live after enjoying her music and her style for all these years. To up the torture, I intentionally put off listening to the CD so that I would hear all the new songs for the first time live. (Crazy, huh?) The Volkshaus is a small venue, and I was near the front, so great view of the stage and fantastic sound. The rather simple musical arrangements and that voice... well, I was transported during the entire concert. I instantly connected with the material on Lovers, and she even won me over for the songs on Eleven Kinds of Loneliness, an album which until that time I had found rather inaccessible. I didn't get to meet Tanita backstage or anything, but highlights for me were "Women who cheat on the world" which gave me huge goosebumps, and "I'm into something good" and "You sexy thing" during the encores which were just soooo much fun. Yes, she did make funny noises for "Elephant", and her yodelling was pretty cool.
When I finally got around to listening to the Lovers CD, I was actually disappointed at first, since I recalled fondly the simpler arrangements from the concert. Well, it took me some time to warm up to the Lovers CD, but I grew to love it greatly, particularly with earphones. I have been on a quest to get a good recording from her 1995 tour, so that I can savor those songs as I had first heard them. York is a good quality recording, but it's not complete, and Milano is complete, but it's not a good recording. I hope to get Brussels from Diana in a trade shortly, and I hope it can complete the mission. =)
