Love-Hounds-request.UUCP@mit-eddie.MIT.EDU (11/25/86)
Really-From: IED0DXM%UCLAMVS.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU >So no one seems to be excited about the new version of Wuthering >Heights. I'll admit it, I listen to The Kick Inside as much as I listen >to the sacred Dreaming and the blessed Hounds of Love. Since Kate's >voice has deepened and matured I have been wondering if this was a shift >down in her vocal range or if she could still hit those high >"Heathcliff"'s with ease. I was glad (and amazed) to see (hear) that she >can still do it with ease (except one "Heathcliff" seems a bit >strained). But now she can sing those low "wuthering"'s with ease, too. >I think this latest version is far superior vocally to the TKI version >and shows just how amazing and unique Kate is in the pop (gasp!) music >world. She also showed her satisfaction with her interpretation of the >original version by not changing the phrasing and inflection. > >{decvax, seismo}!mcnc!duke!evs >Ed Simpson, P.O.Box 3140, Duke Univ. Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710 Ed Simpson's remarks have prompted an unexpected flood of heated responses, most of which are riddled with errors of fact and transgressions of good taste, as usual. IED will, again as usual, set the record straight, no doubt heaping upon himself further bitter personal abuse from less disciplined thinkers among the L-Hs ranks. (Witness the mindless and foul-mouthed slurs from Mr. Wicinski, directed with spectacular ineptitude at IED's presumed sexual orientation.) Checking through his L-H files IED was surprised to discover that Ed is right -- scarcely a word had been contributed to the Digest in reference to the new "Wuthering Heights". This, however, does not, let Ed be assured, indicate that little is thought of it. In fact, IED agrees that the new version is extremely fine and, although perhaps less poignantly wistful in tone (the original was a remarkably effective match of a tragic adolescent love story with a uniquely pre-adolescent-seeming vocal style), it shows greater vocal power and more assured performance style. And Ed is absolutely correct that it "shows just how amazing and unique Kate is". Bravo, Ed! Doug's comment that Kate actually "misses" some of the notes is laughably inaccurate. There are two points at which she has CHANGED the notes, but there can be no serious question that her vocal range is as wide as or wider than it ever was, that she has far more control over her voice -- and more power to communicate emotion with it -- than she did in 1977/78, and that her new vocal version of "Wuthering Heights" is both a technical and an artistic advance over the original. The idea that Kate "misses" notes in the new vocal is so patently, obscenely false that it boggles the mind. >I'll admit it, I listen to The Kick Inside as much as I listen >to the sacred Dreaming and the blessed Hounds of Love. Does IED detect a trace of bitter sarcasm in the use of the above adjectives? It is hoped that Ed was simply unaware that such implied disrespect is a sacrelige and a blasphemy... Anyway, just because the most recent music is more completely Kate's doesn't mean that those who prefer it dislike the earlier stuff. IED still reveres and listens to The Kick Inside and Lionheart, and challenges anyone to find fault with such an attitude. >She also showed her satisfaction with her interpretation of the >original version by not changing the phrasing and inflection. Although the basic sound is similar, there are, at the very least, three significant changes in phrasing. As for changes in inflection, virtually every word has been altered in some degree from its parallel in the original version. Incorporated are several new decorative turns in Kate's latest interpretation that reflect her recent resurgence of interest in Celtic musical styles. The best sign that Kate still approves of the earlier version (in a general sense) is that she has retained the same instrumental recording, merely allowing a more epic sound-area to be introduced in the re-mixing stage. Ian Bairnson's beautiful guitar solo is still highlighted and left essentially intact. Nancy Everson is, of course, entitled to her opinion, but it is difficult for IED to see any sense in denigrating Bairnson's solo. It is highly inventive, richly melodic, diverse in texture and tone, expertly performed and solidly rooted to the chord progression of the song's coda. In its new, slightly enhanced mix, and in conjunction with Kate's new final vocal additions, it stands up exceptionally well. IED urges Nancy to listen again. Incidentally, those to whom the song's rhythmic intricacies have always been dear are urged to listen carefully to the remixed drum track in the last minute of the new version. Not only has the coda/fade-out been extended by a full thirty seconds (presumably to allow for Kate's new ad lib vocals), but a three-measure passage from the original coda, wherein the drummer loses his count and misses his snare upbeat, has been corrected through splicing. Seeing as how virtually no-one has ever noticed the original mistake, this careful correction stands as still further proof of the unparalleled level of Kate's perfectionism. >I was glad (and amazed) to see (hear) that she can still do it >{sing the high notes} with ease (except one "Heathcliff" seems a bit >strained). The strained "Heathcliff" is an interpretive touch, and not in any way indicative of a decline in vocal range. Kate has many times said that during the period 1977/1979 she had a "whim" to use her "falsetto", or to sing in her "highest range". The strain you hear is a result of her wish to communicate stronger drama to the music. Prior to the recording of The Kick Inside Kate sang in her natural, more or less mezzo-soprano register. "Maybe" and "Passing Through Air" demonstrate well that her original vocal range was quite the same as the range she uses in, for example, "Experiment IV". There is no indication that her physical vocal make-up has narrowed in any way, only that her taste has changed. Conversely, there are many places in Hounds of Love where she sings notes as high as any in The Kick Inside. >But now she can sing those low "wuthering"'s with ease, too. Unfortunately this observation implies another slight misconception. Of course Ed is right to say that Kate _could_ sing as low as she did in the original version. In point of fact, however, in the new version she _doesn't_. If you compare the two again, you'll notice that in the original version the two syllables 'wu-' and '-ther-' are sung as a rising fifth, whereas in the new version both notes are the same -- _higher_ in pitch than the 'wu-' syllable in the original. The _impression_ produced by the new vocal is, however, certainly that of a deeper vocal range. This is, again, the result of Kate's interpretive decisions, but not actually of lower notes.