More KT "drival"

[ganzer%trout@nosc.mil (Mark T. Ganzer)]

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After a hectic week of travelling, eagerly anticipating "Don't Give Up"
to be on the VCR, I get back and find the Empty-V assholes didn't show
it! My apologies to those who had to sit through the drival (at least
I could fast scan through the crap). I KNOW I heard them announce on the
3/16 show that they would have new PG video on 3/23!! I hope it shows up 
this week...

During a visit to "Off The Record" here in San Diego last week, I noticed
a new KT picture/interview disk. The front picture appeared to be fairly
recent, and it had copyright and production dates of 1987. Unfortunately,
I didn't pick it up . Anybody have any info on this?

>                                      ...Personally, he
>has always thought that Kate's Hammersmith vocals of "W. Heights",
>"James and the Cold Gun", "Lionheart", etc. were a little inhibited
>and careful;... 

That's interesting, I don't think "James and the Cold Gun" or 
"W. Heights" sounded inhibited. Personally, I think that vocal is
more powerful than the original, but still retains the haunting, ghostly
quality due to a slight echo in the theater's acoustics.

>>... I would kill to see the unedited tapes of that show.

>Another good reason for attending the Kate Bush conventions.

I keep trying to convince my wife ( who is not a KT fan) that she
wants to go to England rather than Hawaii on vacation...

>>Q:  While it has been touched upon in the past, can any of you KB fans shed
>>opinions/serious info as to why she has never "caught on" in the US?
>>Think of the arguments this will spawn!
>>Prepare for volumuous IED postings!
>>
>>s e v

>Sure--she has a really dumb voice.  Americans don't put up with dumb voices.
>
>--John

It's not her voice. Her music is too fuckin' complex for the average yahoo.
Her music has to be LISTENED to. She doesn't use "hooks" that grab the average
listener nor does she write catchy melodies that can be hummed after hearing
one verse and a chorus. Her lyrics contain many distinctly British references
(ravens at the Tower of London, a tenner, a ten shilling note) that are very
fforeign to most Americans. And she plays such a wide range of characters in
her songs (the ghost of Cathy, the revengeful widow, a Viet Cong soldier,
the son of a mad scientist) that the listener does not have a single "image"
that they can identify her with (such as Springsteen's blue collar image or
Madonna's "boy toy" image).  Imagine Bruce doing a song along the theme of
"Pull Out The Pin". 

NOTE: This is my opinion only. Your mileage may vary.

>From: hofmann@nrl-css.arpa (James B. Hofmann)
>                              ...This is conjecture, though, and I feel
>if she and her record company wanted to, they could "sell" her to 
>the Americans though not without significant trade-offs.  Anyway, why
>care?  You're essentially able to get her new recordings, so it's not
>like the American mainstream shunning of Kate isn't hurting you.  

But remember that "Never For Ever" was a No.1 album in Britain, but 
EMI America did not release it in the US until 1983! Thus it is possible
but not probable that her recordings could be difficult to get in the future
if the record company moguls decide there is not enough market to warrent
a domestic release.


MarK T. Ganzer                    Naval Ocean Systems Center, San Diego
Internet: ganzer@trout.nosc.mil   UUCP: {ucbvax,hplabs}!sdcsvax!nosc!ganzer








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