Yes those good old days, I miss them more and more

Reminiscing is sweet but thinking ahead is far sweeter!

Does she do that, great !!!

I think I don't like the CD either and need some explanation .

I'm curious as to how this would change peoples opinion though? I love the album and if the Baebes did come out and say "we sold out, we don't actually like album, hated making it, hate the way it sounds and actually hate eachother but we know it will appeal to more people and make more money" it wouldn't change the way it sounds. The album sounds gorgeous to me, and it sounds awful for others. If the girls did justify this change in direction how can this possibly change your own personal tastes? That's like saying Chinese Democracy is gonna be the best album ever as Axl Rose spent 400 years making it.....he's gonna think it sounds awesome.....everyone else may think it sounds smicht!

I understand that sometimes a song sounds so much better when you know what the artist is going on about ,Tori Amos - Cornflake Girl springs to mind here, when I first heard that I thought it was a wondeful piece of music and when I found out what it was about I thought it was a masterpiece. The fact is though if I didn't like it to begin with then it could have stopped world hunger but I still wouldn't have liked it. Live aid is also a good example.

This album is gonna get people up and dancing in the house of God I hope and the band seem to really enjoy performing it. They have made something which I think they should be immensly proud of.

I'm just interested in why the more modern style is more accessible/commercially valuable than the more traditional style? Just somebody tell me this and I will never mention ILLUMINATION ever again.
I like the sheep photo's by the way. Pats really looks like him.

I like the fact that the Beabes have evolved through the years and each album is different. I would have got very bored with them if they produced album after album that was identical. I think that the majority of the Baebes fans would agree with me. I'm really looking forward to seeing them live at Gloucester next month. I will be buying their first single when its released.

Baaaa!!!!!

Blind Praise?? I genuinely like the album!

Maybe the majority of us are all blind or rather deaf and the album is actually one of the worst additions to music ever. Or maybe the girls have put all us sheep under a spell using ancient (or is it modern) magic (sheep are weaker than anyone else.....we are also more susceptible to hypnosis).

Hears hoping this spell continues to spread.....the way these girlies are going I can't see them losing their power.

The listening public want more not more-of-the-same & that is what we have been presented with, like it or not. It is no more accessible nor commercially valuable than the traditional style instead it is different.

I am so very glad that you liked the sheep photo's.

Simon, of course you have a perfect right not to like the album, and to say so. I don't think you have a right to assume that those who do like it, have somehow been fooled into doing so or are shallower or less comitted fans than you, and that is how your comments come across. Its not "blind praise" we just love the sound, I doubt anyone is lying about their response, what sort of a nut would you have to be to do that?
Also you have no right to talk about the band in general or Katherine in particular "selling their soul". Personally I dont know if this album is more likely to be commercially successful than the others, I think it depends primarily on how much time and money is spent on promoting it, besides Worlds Blysse went to number 1 in the classical charts, does that mean the band were selling out even then, or does it only count if you dont like it? It seems to me the band are genuinely (and rightly) proud of Illumination, to accuse them of selling their collective soul implies firstly that they are being deceitful and secondly that you can know what is going on in their souls, which I think is best left to themselves and to God.
Finally, to moan that the album is different from previous ones overlooks the very obvious point that its a different band. Only Kat and Emily remain from Mirabilis and the others particularly Bev I think have all made strong contributions to this one, indeed one of its great glories is that is a truly collaborative effort.
I dont mean to have a go, but sometimes frankly you do bring it on yourself. Keep listening with an open mind and I'm sure you'll come to love it.

Dear Lady of pleasure,

I didn't mean this seriously but just a way for a meet and greet with Katharine.
For your information and to make it clear, I do like the new CD more then 1 older one, so I haven't changed my opinion on this and also will not in the future.
You do like the music or you don't and that's it.
There are CD's which you have to listen a couple of times to like them but with Illumination that was not the case.

However I disagree with your opinion, that if the band does not stand behind the music they make, you will not hear that because you do.
Specially at live shows you can see if they like the music they made or not, if they like it the music sparkles more, if they don't like it it's flat and dull, like a dead beer.
With their last CD, it sparkles like beer with extra carbonic acid, with other words I guess they enjoyed making this CD.
Of course also the cooperation with Faun is a big change and I think even more as most people suspect.
Maybe this is also the thing our dearest Simon has problems with and he just does not like Faun, these things happen you know?
Well, anyway I am glad they did and to my opinion it gives their music a strong boost or balls as the interviewer said and what can be wrong with that?
This music will never be commercial because most people just will not like it and it probably also will not be broadcasted on the radio, but who cares.
Most good music will never be broadcasted, that's a fact.
As long as most fans like it (sorry Simon!) they are going in the right direction.

I have spoken !

Thank you for your time, I hope it wasn't a complete waste .

Here, here. However, my first impression when I heard Desert Rose was that this could be something from MSG, so imagine my surprise when I find it's credited to Emily and not Kat.

ok lets look at it this way. or at least my opinion.
How many people, groups etc. sing Scarborough faire (sp)
Simone and Garfunkel.. the Beabes etc.
I like the way the Baebes sing it best.. why; not because I am sheepishly
subduded by the Baebes but the way it appeals to me, makes my skin and senses come alive..
The song Summer Wine...
Is sung by Nancy Sinatra and some other guy.
Even though I like that song, I like it sung better by Vinnie Valo and Natalia Avelon.
When I was younger my father tried to get me to listen to Big Band Music ie:Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman etc. urrggghhh I just could not do it.
Now I can listen to them in some degree, why I do not know. It just starts to appeal to you.

I think Simon is just DISAPPPONTED that he does not like Illumination, you know? If you've been waiting for an album from your Favourite Band Ever for years and years, you expect that you are going to like it, right? So if you don't, there is a feeling of being let down. Nobody's fault. It's just that the expectations were different than the reality. I'm going through similar emotions myself....

That's a really fair point.. That happened with me and Marillion's "Somewhere Else" CD from a couple of years ago.. At first, I dug it, but the more I listened to it, the more I found it did not stand up to my standard expectations from a Marillion CD.. And yes, I felt incredibly let down..

Some fans loved it, others continued on down the road of bitching about how they don't sound like Genesis anymore.

As for me, it just didn't hit me.. Luckily, I'm a stalwart fan and bought their latest, Happiness is the Road, sight unseen, and so far, it's one of their best ever....

Bands will put out music that pleases them and that they feel will please the fans - in that order...

Some will choose to like it and some will not.. That is the nature of things. But what I think has the hot water going here is that Si, while I respect his opinion on the music, does not seem to accept the fact that most of the rest of us really like, if not love the CD... My apologies if i'm speaking out of turn here, but it's just my perception...