KTrivia

[IED0DXM%UCLAMVS.BITNET@wiscvm.wisc.edu]

KT news:

Remarkably (and, as usual, stupidly), EMI-America
have NOW released "Cloudbusting" as a twelve-inch in
the U.S. (The Organon mix). Now, explain this one, folks!

The video to "Don't Give Up" may have been delayed (or dropped
altogether) by MTV because it is nearly six minutes long, and
because nothing at all happens in it. Similarly, the song's length
(5:56 even in its seven-inch "edit" form) will make it an
almost certain non-charter on U.S. radio.

Now, for the mail-bag:
Not for the first time, IED finds himself praising Hofmann's
latest posting. He agrees with your theory that Kate's voice
seems silly (to Americans, mind you) in the context of the
(increasingly agressive) music she sings. Ironically, her
contribution on Gabriel's "Don't Give Up", now a U.S. single,
will probably only alienate many American listeners, since it
emphasizes the European "precious" side to her voice -- not a good thing
in any case with U.S. listeners -- in  a song which was clearly
designed to reflect and appeal to American culture (or lack thereof).
It is very revealing that Gabriel originally hoped to have
Dolly Parton for the female vocal. Both she and Kate share, in
some broad category of confessional balladeering, a certain
tendency to affectation and exaggerated emotion; but Parton's
can be embraced by Americans because of its hick familiarity,
whereas Kate's may be rejected by them because of its exotic,
or "furrin", touches. However, we'll see.

-- Andrew Marvick