If not this time, then when will you capitulate?

[IED0DXM%UCLAMVS.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU]

 }Well, sure the vocals are distinctly Kate, and add some value to the
 }song, and there is elephantotic distortion on the guitar that Journey
 }would never use, but in general it has the melodic, rhythmic, and
 }over-produced characteristic (you know, the way that lots of
 }instruments all merge to create a muddled wash that is so common in
 }Journeyish AOR pop) of American corporate rock.
This is, after all, a matter of opinion, and I am trying to
remember that, but really! The stylistic similarities between
"Burning Bridge" and "Not This Time" are clearly audible--
far more audible than the similarities which you claim exist
between "Not This Time" and American corporate rock (good term).
Of course the vocals are "distinctly Kate", but what's more
significant is *how* they are distinctly Kate. One thing many listeners
notice when listening to, say, the final epic (and, by your definition,
apparently, "over-produced") choruses of "The Big Sky" is the
abandon, the deliberate throwing away of technical controls in Kate's
vocals. A similar liberated singing style can be heard in a more
understated form in "The Morning Fog". But this kind of singing
is much more obvious in "Burning Bridge" and "Not This Time", and
it does not, I argue, appear before the new album.  Beyond that, the
whole concept of structuring a song with the overwhelming emphasis
on a long closing sequence of choruses sung by Kate's voice many
times over-dubbed, and consisting of "tiddle-ee-ohs" or some
such traditional folk phonetics in the tradition of "tra-la-la",
is distinctive of these new Hounds of Love songs. Just think
of the background vocals in "Alternate Hounds" and you can see
immediately how similar they are to the chorus in "Not This Time".
Furthermore, such a concept, and such use of phonetic choruses,
are not only absent in Boston or Journey or Foreigner or Styx --
they are completely antithetical to the musical principles (or
absence of same) espoused by those bands. Furthermore, if I were
obliged to find similarities between the song and the music of
any of those bands, I *would* single out the guitar --
despite the "elephantotic distortion", the introduction of such
guitar in the last choruses is a staple of commercial American
rock. I might also cite Kate's use of the popular endearment "baby";
but this word cropped up in "Running Up That Hill" without condemning
the song as a sellout to "Journey". As to rhythm, there I'll agree
with you that its links with mainstream rock are strong, but not
so strong that the closest musical parallel to "Not This Time" must be
"Journey". The rhythms of rock have always been extremely limited,
and the differences between a brilliant, adventurous rock rhythm
and a dull, unoriginal one can usually be traced to slight changes
in emphasis of a beat and alterations of tuning, miking and recording
techniques. Finally, in response to your contention that "Not This
Time" shares melodic characteristics with "Journey", well, I'm
baffled. There are so many beautiful details of melody, both as
written and as interpreted, which are unique to "Not This Time",
and which place it so firmly within Kate's native English musical
tradition, that I am at a loss to understand how they can all have
failed to meet your notice.