[mod.music.gaffa] another eKsperimenT in sound

Love-Hounds-request.UUCP@mit-eddie.MIT.EDU (11/22/86)

Really-From: IED0DXM%UCLAMVS.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU

Welcome Neil Calton! A voice from the motherland, and
a swift reporter of crucial events, as well. Thanks for
the update. IED would like to ask if you could post a
description of the new promotional film for "Experiment
IV". It is assumed that this is being shown on English
television now, possibly in edited form. Review, please?

Thanks.

P.S.: Isn't that just typical? The Whole Story -- a
greatest hits LP -- is a hit, and "Experiment IV"--
the universe -- sinks like a stone. We're about ready
for the bomb, wouldn't you agree?

>I'm sure that most people here who have chosen to refer to themselves in the
>third person (especially recently), eat up this 'New Age' trash simply because
>it is apparently listened to by Kate Bush.  It's hard for me to visualize
>
>John

IED has little confidence that the following information will
induce John to stop making assumptions about other people without
sufficient knowledge, but he imparts it anyway, for the record:

IED does not particularly like ambient music, and he has never
purchased any Windham Hill (or equivalent labels/genres) releases.

Also for the record, however, the merits (or faults) of "New Age"
should stand on their own. Nothing is sillier than condemning a whole
genre of music simply because it is associated with a certain group
of listeners! As for the music itself -- generally speaking, what's
to hate? The stuff is so unremarkable and inoffensive that it induces
scarcely any reaction in IED at all. To be fair, however, one or two
New Age pieces that IED has heard sounded very musical and well made,
although somewhat underwhelming.

One more thing: to the best of IED's knowledge, Kate Bush's interest
in New Age music as a whole is completely unconfirmed. She has expressed
a liking for a couple of specific records. In fact, until a certain
midwestern couple sent her a bunch of Windham Hill records a couple of
years ago, she seemed to be pretty much unaware of its existence.
Anyway, the only conceivable influence the stuff could possibly be
said to have had on her to date is in the area of cover artwork.
The placement of the photo in the center of an otherwise blank
white cover (Hounds of Love, The Whole Story) may possibly have
been derived from the New Age cover styles.

>Again, these comments are mine.  I do not consider myself
>a great art critic such as IED.
>
> John

Both of these points are abundantly evident.