ALDSTF10@OUACCVMB.BITNET (04/07/91)
Date: 6 April 1991, 13:44:12 EST From: ALDSTF10 at OUACCVMB To: LOVE-HOUNDS@EDDIE.MIT.EDU at EDU OK, this is clearly gonna draw some fire, but anyway, here goes: Does anyone think that Ms. Bush sometimes overdoes it a bit? By that I mean a)Overorchestrates the Backgrounds b)Uses vocal "tricks" which get annoying in quantity Most people on this list seem to love the dreaming, but whatever I have heard f rom the album doesn't strike me as much as Side one of HoL. It sounds a bit clu ttered and unfocused. There are other songs on her assorted albums which strike me the same way, in that all the "extra" stuff going on (although interesting enough) ends up detracting from the thrust of the song,from the total effect it potentially could have. I can hear the cries of "closeminded traditionalist" and "musical conservative" already; but seriously, do other people have any songs which have particularly struck them as annoying or such. (And I don't mean Lionheart, people!!!). P.S. A few days ago, some dude quoted Bruce Dickinson in his sig. Good deal! I didn't figure those types to be on this list.
graham@UG.CS.DAL.CA (Michael Graham) (04/07/91)
In article <9104061854.AA04565@EDDIE.MIT.EDU> ALDSTF10@OUACCVMB.BITNET writes: > >OK, this is clearly gonna draw some fire, but anyway, here goes: >Does anyone think that Ms. Bush sometimes overdoes it a bit? By that I mean >a)Overorchestrates the Backgrounds >b)Uses vocal "tricks" which get annoying in quantity >Most people on this list seem to love the dreaming, but whatever I have heard f >rom the album doesn't strike me as much as Side one of HoL. It sounds a bit clu >ttered and unfocused. There are other songs on her assorted albums which strike > me the same way, in that all the "extra" stuff going on (although interesting >enough) ends up detracting from the thrust of the song,from the total effect it > potentially could have. >I can hear the cries of "closeminded traditionalist" and "musical conservative" > already; but seriously, do other people have any songs which have particularly > struck them as annoying or such. (And I don't mean Lionheart, people!!!). >P.S. A few days ago, some dude quoted Bruce Dickinson in his sig. Good deal! I >didn't figure those types to be on this list. Yeah that was me. I IS possible to like Iron Maiden and (love) Kate! hmmm... some of the songs on Lionheart seem to be over-produced, but I love the "simple" songs on the album (her and piano). I don't think she overdoes anything. I don't know what "vocal tricks" you mean. Hounds of Love was her most commercially accepted work. It was quite different from anything she'd done before. The songs are great. The Dreaming is a completely different beast, but the songs are just as good (if not better IMHO). "Cluttered and unfocused"? Just like dreams? I wish I knew the meaning behind many of the songs on the album. I don't see much of a "The Shining" conection...unless the book was completely different from the movie. GOoMH - if it was based on the shining it should have been called "Let Me Out of This House"! :) This album may arguably be unfocused as a whole, but not as the sum of its parts. mike -- Michael Graham | "The only thing I know about backmasking is that graham@ug.cs.dal.ca | when you play your records backwards it f*cks mgraham@ac.dal.ca | your stylus" - Bruce Dickenson
stevev@greylady.uoregon.EDU (Steve VanDevender) (04/08/91)
This article is Closed-Captioned for the Humor Impaired. ALDSTF10@OUACCVMB.BITNET (no pronounceable name given) expresses the dangerous opinion (SARCASM) that he considers some of Kate's music overorchestrated and some of her vocals annoying. Perhaps once I might have found individual items of Kate's music annoying, but since then I have seen the light and purged my soul of doubts (PSEUDO-RELIGIOUS HYPERBOLE). What you think of as overdoing is what attracts me to Kate's music in the first place. My chief criterion for long-lasting favorites in music is incomprehensibility. If I can figure out a song, it gets boring. Thus, much of my favorite stuff comes from Kate Bush, Laurie Anderson, and Jane Siberry; other secondary favorites include Thomas Dolby, Peter Gabriel, They Might Be Giants, the B-52's, etc. To me, "Suspended in Gaffa" is the epitome of incomprehensible songs--it speaks directly to my heart without saying anything coherent to my conscious mind. Kate Bush does things with her voice that other artists either cannot do or wouldn't dare do, which is what makes her my favorite of favorites. You might consider the vocals in "Violin" annoying, but they are an example of how Kate will use every last bit of her vocal range to convey the feeling of her songs. Besides, all those shrieks make me think of how she might shriek during . . . a certain situation. (THIS GUY IS NOT ONLY LEWD, HE'S GONE AROUND THE KATE-WORSHIPPING BEND.) As I say to my friends, "Kate Bush can sing like a siren, scream like a madwoman, bark like a dog, and bray like a mule. What more could you want?" (HIS FRIENDS SAY: "PSYCHIATRIC TREATMENT FOR YOU.") Similarly, the complex orchestration Kate uses makes repeated listening an ever-enlightening experience. I still find new things in the music for her songs, and bringing different attitudes to my listening makes the music sound different. Simple music may have its virtues, but I'd rather listen to a Bach fugue than a Phillip Glass piece. Perhaps you haven't been reading this list for very long; there are definitely a lot of people with eclectic musical tastes here. A couple weeks ago I went to a performance by Nomeansno (a truly amazing Canadian punk band) and can hardly wait for an upcoming performance by Laurie Anderson (woo-ha! I can make up for missing her Portland concert last year!). It's not at all surprising to me that someone here would know who Bruce Dickenson is, although I certainly didn't until I read a subsequent posting. Some of us may be monomaniacal, but few here are closed-minded. -- Steve VanDevender stevev@greylady.uoregon.edu "Bipedalism--an unrecognized disease affecting over 99% of the population. Symptoms include lack of traffic sense, slow rate of travel, and the classic, easily recognized behavior known as walking."
graham@IRIS1.UCIS.Dal.Ca (Michael Graham) (04/08/91)
In article <STEVEV.91Apr7135720@greylady.uoregon.edu> stevev@greylady.uoregon.EDU (Steve VanDevender) writes: >To me, "Suspended in Gaffa" is the >epitome of incomprehensible songs--it speaks directly to my heart >without saying anything coherent to my conscious mind. > *precisely* finally someone has articulated the way I feel about that song - thanks! mike -- Michael Graham | "The only thing I know about backmasking is that graham@ug.cs.dal.ca | when you play your records backwards it f*cks mgraham@ac.dal.ca | your stylus" - Bruce Dickenson
dwelch@devnull.mpd.tandem.COM (Dan Welch) (04/09/91)
> > OK, this is clearly gonna draw some fire, but anyway, here goes: > Does anyone think that Ms. Bush sometimes overdoes it a bit? > The only point of overdoing, IMNSHO, was in the production of _TSW_. It always sounds a little "muddy" to me (of course, that doesn't mean that it isn't one of my favorite, oh, six albums). As for too much going on in the background, EHHHH, sorry, thanks for playing. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Daniel Welch | "Kate Bush is the sort of performer | | Tandem Computers, Inc. | for whom the word 'superstar' is | | Austin, TX, USA | belittling." | | halley!tzone!dwelch@cs.utexas.edu | Mike Davies, _Melody_Maker_ | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------