Love-Hounds-request@EDDIE.MIT.EDU (01/04/87)
Really-From: munnari!murdu.oz!u3369429@seismo.CSS.GOV (Michael Bednarek) Hi! I've been following this newsgroup for about four months now. I found it very lively reading and it enhanced my vocabulary in areas I never thought of before. And, I discussed numerous issues raised here with The-One-That-Has-To-Bear-Me. So what do you think I found under the tree? Right, KB's 'The Whole Story'. I've listened to it a lot since, and I'm impressed. Thank you all on this newsgroup for drawing my attention to KB. (My normal preferences in music are quite different: Renaissance to Classic (or 1450 - 1830) with some outliers, like Carl Orff or Charles Ives.) About 'The Whole Story': I understand the reservations some of you aired about such a sampler. E.g. that one gets used to the sequence of titles on an album. But for somebody in my situation this is good induction to KB's art. There is of course a different danger now: it is unlikely that I buy any previous albums (alba?) because of duplicate titles, given limited funds. But I will certainly watch out for new releases. A few things that struck me when I listened to the record for the first time: All titles seem exceptionally well 'engineered', by which I mean things like orchestral performance, arrangement, transparancy, the sort of tangible (really: audible) quality marks; and this throughout, regardless of the original year of recording. (Aside: there is a typographical error on the label of the record: it reads 'EXPERIMENT TV'. Strange one, that.) Some titles, e.g. 'Sat In Your Lap', deserve a larger format on their musical merits. I don't know what format that should be, but I felt disappointed at the (too sudden) end. There was more in it than could be expressed in a three minute title. For somebody whose native tongue is not English, some of lyrics are very difficult, ranging to impossible, to understand. And recalling some of the contributions in this group this seems to be true even for native English/ American speakers. Frankly, I can't understand why EMI has chosen not to include the printed lyrics. KB in Oz: 'The Whole Story' rated 21 in the last week of 1986, and rising. During the Christmas break, I watched a lot of late night TV following the dismal performance of the Australian cricket team. Fortunately, some channels broadcast video shows and I had the opportunity to see 'Cloudbusting' and 'Running Up That Hill'. Judging from the general drift of those programs, I would guess they play KB videos regularly. One morning a few weeks ago, I heard 'Wuthering Heights' being played on the rather progressive FM radio station PBS and the DJ said something like: "Every show should include a KB title". Unfortunately, it's a bit difficult to receive this station throughout Melbourne, so I can't tune in as I would like; but I guess not many DJs volunteer such remarks. So are we in Oz better off than the US of A as far as KB coverage (somebodey please suggest a better word!) goes? [I would imagine so! In fact, I was reading an Austrialian music magazine a while back -- I can't remember the name off-hand -- and they had printed the results of a survey of the readers' favourite songs. "Wuthering Heights" won the award for Best Song of All Time. This would certainly be extremely unlikely to find in any US magazine! -- Doug] Question: My first memory of KB goes back to around 1980 when a German TV show called "Bio's Bahnhof" presented by Alfred Biolek introduced KB to a German audience for the first time. (Incidentally, this show also introduced Nina Hagen when she came to West Germany.) Does anybody know the exact date of that show? What did Kate sing? And, what is the current rating of KB in Germany? [Well, I have the show on video tape somewhere... but I can't remember what she sang. Probably "Wuthering Heights". All I remember is the guy asking Kate if she knew any German and Kate giggling and saying "Nien." Kate is still fairly popular in Germany, I believe. She's not nearly as popular there as in England, though. -- Doug] u3369429@murdu.au (Michael Bednarek) Disclaimer: "My Amiga thinks it is an AI machine and coughed up this stuff spontaneously, so don't blame me!"