[rec.music.gaffa] The album's cover + Melody Maker

Love-Hounds-request@GAFFA.MIT.EDU (10/24/89)

Really-From: Jon Drukman <jsd@GAFFA.MIT.EDU>

>Really-From: ed@das.llnl.gov (Edward Suranyi)
>
>Although I really like the album, I have some problems with the
>cover.  I hope I won't be called a heretic for saying this.

You're OK in my book, Suranyi.

>Most importantly, there's not enough contrast between the dark
>cover and the bronze writing.  The title cannot be read from any
>distance.

No kidding.  Do you think it's a lousy printing job, or a bad photo,
or what?  And the contrast inside the book is terrible!  I'm glad
IED posted those lyrics so I could laser print them, because the
jewel booklet sucks eggs.

>Of less importance, every time I look at the cover I get the feeling
>that someone who didn't like Kate stuffed a flower in her mouth
>in order to shut her up!

You've got your importances messed up, but to each his own.  How
could anyone want to cover up Kate's luscious lips?  Just take a
look at those babies on the cover of TD or even the TSW single!


Of MUCH more importance than any of this crap is the new issue of
Melody Maker, with a huge feature on Kate.  She's on the cover, and
gets their colour pages in the centre.  The interview (by Steve
Sutherland) is GREAT!  One of the best KT interviews I have ever
read.  It is obvious that Sutherland and Bush hit a vibe early on,
and they never let up.  KT seems to be having a blast communicating
with someone who understands her work _perfectly_.  I admit not
hating the NME interview as much as IED, but it pales into total
insignificance when confronted with the MM one.  Besides, I always
liked MM better.

I urge every love hound to get this paper now!!!  I assume someone
will transcribe it soon.  I would do it, but I haven't much time.

-- 
+---------------------- Is there any ESCAPE from NOISE? ----------------------+
|  |   |\       | jsd@gaffa.mit.edu | "I like George Bush, but this `kinder,  |
| \|on |/rukman | jsd@umass.bitnet  | gentler' crap is killing us." - D.Trump |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+

Love-Hounds-request@GAFFA.MIT.EDU (10/26/89)

Really-From: hplabs!brian@hpfcdj.hp.com (Brian Rauchfuss)


/ hpfcdj:rec.music.gaffa / Love-Hounds-request@GAFFA.MIT.EDU /  2:02 pm  Oct 23, 1989 /
Really-From: drivax!liberato@EDDIE.MIT.EDU (Jimmy Liberato)

>Everyone to whom I've shown the cover comments on the "psychotic stare"
>(or words to those effect).  It certainly is cold.  I am one who bought

I certainly would not have described that stare as "cold", I would tend
towards "intense".  "Psychotic"?  Your crazy.

> Jimmy Liberato   ...!amdahl!drivax!liberato                              

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Brian Smokefoot              "... never knowing I could shape my life
brian@hpfcbdr.HP.COM         like the artist paints his dreams
                             on a canvas." - Minor Detail

liberato@drivax.UUCP (Jimmy Liberato) (11/01/89)

 hplabs!brian@hpfcdj.hp.com (Brian Rauchfuss) writes:

> ...!amdahl!drivax!liberato (Jimmy Liberato) writes:

>>Everyone to whom I've shown the cover comments on the "psychotic stare"
>>(or words to those effect).  It certainly is cold...

>I certainly would not have described that stare as "cold", I would tend
>towards "intense".  "Psychotic"?  You're crazy.

Perhaps.  The "psychotic" comment was not exactly mine, however.  It was
an unprompted response from 11 of 16 people unfamiliar with Kate (never
heard of her).  What do they know anyway. :-)   I notice only a cold
sterness.  The photograph is interesting, however.  The sleepy-eyed
chubby Kate (circa _The_Dreaming_) I think of as "sensual."  My opinion!

This is kind of a worthless thread to maintain, anyway.  Let's go listen
to RT!

By the way, has anyone else altered the play order on their "listening
tape?"  This is the first time I've felt the need to do that.

Another good thing: even the reviews that are blazingly incompetent tend
to be quite positive.
--
Jimmy Liberato   ...!amdahl!drivax!liberato                              

jsd@GAFFA.MIT.EDU (Jon Drukman) (11/02/89)

In article <254DA880.1ECE@drivax.UUCP> drivax!liberato@EDDIE.MIT.EDU (Jimmy Liberato) writes:
>heard of her).  What do they know anyway. :-)   I notice only a cold
>sterness.  The photograph is interesting, however.  The sleepy-eyed
>chubby Kate (circa _The_Dreaming_) I think of as "sensual."  My opinion!

I agree.  A strangely un-sensual cover photo for an album called The
Sensual World.

>By the way, has anyone else altered the play order on their "listening
>tape?"  This is the first time I've felt the need to do that.

You betcha.  For my "walking around campus" cassette I programmed
"Walk Straight Down The Middle" in place of "Reaching Out" and
relegated Reaching Out to the very end of the tape.  Basically, I
never listen to it, because I usually hit stop and rewind it after
This Woman's Work.  IED can call me pathetic until he's blue in the
face, but Reaching Out is a horrible song. 

This isn't the first time I've butchered Kate's intentions however.  I
used to have a half Dreaming, half Hounds Of Love hybrid tape -- sort
of like concentrated amazingness.

+---------------------- Is there any ESCAPE from NOISE? ----------------------+
|  |   |\       | jsd@gaffa.mit.edu | "I like George Bush, but this `kinder,  |
| \|on |/rukman | jsd@umass.bitnet  | gentler' crap is killing us." - D.Trump |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+

steve@halley.UUCP (Steve Williams) (11/02/89)

In some article or another,
Jon (Mr. Irreverent-but-Obviously-Infatuated) Drukman quotes and then writes:

>>heard of her).  What do they know anyway. :-)   I notice only a cold
>>sterness.  The photograph is interesting, however.  The sleepy-eyed
>>chubby Kate (circa _The_Dreaming_) I think of as "sensual."  My opinion!
>
>I agree.  A strangely un-sensual cover photo for an album called The
>Sensual World.
>

I prefer the TSW CD-single photo myself, but I still don't see what everyone
so far has claimed to see in the album cover photo.  Kate's eyes overwhelm,
of course, but with a child-like look of wonder/innocence, in definite
contrast to the content of the songs themselves.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Steve Williams               ...!cs.utexas.edu!halley!steve
Tandem Computers                (512)-244-8252
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

CCJS@cc.nu.OZ.AU (James Smith) (11/05/89)

Path: cc!ccjs
From: CCJS@cc.nu.oz (James Smith)
Newsgroups: rec.music.gaffa
Subject: Re: The album's cover + Melody Maker
Message-ID: <10976@cc.nu.oz>
Date: 5 Nov 89 15:11:37 -1000
References: <8910231757.AA08057@GAFFA.MIT.EDU> <8911011547.AA22155@GAFFA.MIT.EDU>
Organization: University of Newcastle
Lines: 36

Jon Drukman writes:

> You betcha.  For my "walking around campus" cassette I programmed
> "Walk Straight Down The Middle" in place of "Reaching Out" and
> relegated Reaching Out to the very end of the tape.  Basically, I
> never listen to it, because I usually hit stop and rewind it after
> This Woman's Work.  IED can call me pathetic until he's blue in the
> face, but Reaching Out is a horrible song. 

Generally I have to listen to Kate's albums two or three times before
the beauty of the music starts to sink in.  The first few listens sort
of form a general background level against which the inherant beauty
of the various songs can stand out.  I guess the broadness the forest
has to sink in before I can start to see the actual trees.

I can only remember three of her songs that have actually stood out
from the rest of the tracks as being wonderful on first hearing.
On _The Dreaming_ it was _Suspended in Gaffa_, it stood out from the
rest of the songs, and I had to play it again before I could go on
with the album.  On _Hounds of Love_, the song that stood out for
me was _Waking the Witch_, and on _The Sensual World_ it's _Reaching
Out_.

For me the song has all the power and intensity of _This Woman's Work_,
with an added driving force that makes it just beautiful.  In fact,
this song, more than any other on the album, is just Kate.

How can you say it's horrible?

Jim

-- 
James Smith          | When a man fell into his anecdotage
Computing Centre     | it was a sign for him to retire from
Newcastle University | the world.
ccjs@cc.nu.oz.au     |                 -- Benjamin Disraeli

CCJS@cc.nu.oz (James Smith) (11/06/89)

Jon Drukman writes:

> You betcha.  For my "walking around campus" cassette I programmed
> "Walk Straight Down The Middle" in place of "Reaching Out" and
> relegated Reaching Out to the very end of the tape.  Basically, I
> never listen to it, because I usually hit stop and rewind it after
> This Woman's Work.  IED can call me pathetic until he's blue in the
> face, but Reaching Out is a horrible song. 

Generally I have to listen to Kate's albums two or three times before
the beauty of the music starts to sink in.  The first few listens sort
of form a general background level against which the inherant beauty
of the various songs can stand out.  I guess the broadness the forest
has to sink in before I can start to see the actual trees.

I can only remember three of her songs that have actually stood out
from the rest of the tracks as being wonderful on first hearing.
On _The Dreaming_ it was _Suspended in Gaffa_, it stood out from the
rest of the songs, and I had to play it again before I could go on
with the album.  On _Hounds of Love_, the song that stood out for
me was _Waking the Witch_, and on _The Sensual World_ it's _Reaching
Out_.

For me the song has all the power and intensity of _This Woman's Work_,
with an added driving force that makes it just beautiful.  In fact,
this song, more than any other on the album, is just Kate.

How can you say it's horrible?

Jim

-- 
James Smith          | When a man fell into his anecdotage
Computing Centre     | it was a sign for him to retire from
Newcastle University | the world.
ccjs@cc.nu.oz.au     |                 -- Benjamin Disraeli

jsd@GAFFA.MIT.EDU (Jon Drukman) (11/07/89)

In article <8911050413.24387@munnari.oz.au> CCJS@cc.nu.OZ.AU (James Smith) writes:
>For me the song has all the power and intensity of _This Woman's Work_,
>with an added driving force that makes it just beautiful.  In fact,
>this song, more than any other on the album, is just Kate.
>
>How can you say it's horrible?

I'm really intrigued by the fact that you say that this song more than
any other is "Just Kate." Because it really isn't.  It's more like
Barbara Streisand or Bette Midler or (god forbid) Jon Bon Jovi.  In
the last "Homeground" they repeatedly referred to this song as
"anthemic." And, if you'll excuse the horrible wordplay, I find
anthems anathema.  Anthemic to me means "bombast" and "pomp" and
"really unenjoyable listening experience." I also think that this song
really doesn't have naything to say.  My personal opinion is that Kate
is at her best when telling us stories.  Practically all the songs on
"The Dreaming" are story-telling songs and the ones that aren't are
brilliantly observed tracts on life and philosophy, so I like them
anyway.  For my money, "The Sensual World" is the most barren of
story-telling songs of all the Kate albums.  It's all sort of like
"Love is great" or "We all need support at times." These platitudes
are all very nice but they don't make terribly original songs.  Kate
manages to make original songs out of most them, but "Reaching Out"
fails utterly miserably for me in this respect.

This is how I can call it horrible.  All clear?



+---------------------- Is there any ESCAPE from NOISE? ----------------------+
|  |   |\       | jsd@gaffa.mit.edu | "I like George Bush, but this `kinder,  |
| \|on |/rukman | jsd@umass.bitnet  | gentler' crap is killing us." - D.Trump |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+