Kate's Korner

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

Innumerable thanks to Neil Calton, Love-Hounds' extremely reliable
and highly valued British KorrespondenT, for his latest news report.
Typically, the news here in America failed to list Kate among
the vocalists for the Ferry Aid "Let It Be" single; nor was there
any mention of her name in connection with the Third Ball show(s);
nor has there been the slightest mention of the soundtrack to
"Castaway", or even of the movie itself, here yet. Couple that with
the fact that MTV again failed to show the "Don't Give Up" video
(and chances are they never will, having opted now firmly in favour of
a menu of 90% mindless and repetitive candy-floss pseudo-heavy
metal pabulum "performance" videos to 10% even worse stuff...), and
you'll see how bad things are in this horrid, benighted wasteland.
If only Americans were a bit more tolerant of dumb-sounding voices!
Anyway, your postings are as usual very much appreciated, Neil.

To answer the query re the piKTure disks: there are two twelve-inch
bootleg picture-disk interview records in American import record
shops now. (All of this is a summary of earlier notices from
IED.) The first features two old colour photos of Kate, ca. 1978,
wearing her old white dove earrings. The second (apparently the
one you saw) has two more recent photos: one from the European
lip-synch of "Babooshka" (Kate in red leotard, bass viol by the
throat), the other a close-up from her 1985 visit to America.
Both feature "unofficial" "interviews" with Kate. The one with
the old photos is a real interview, i.e. Kate is talking with
the person interviewing her in a quiet room with good
recording equipment. The interview is horrible: Kate is nearly
as nervous as the incompetent interviewer (who sounds like a
slightly over-the-edge fan himself), and it is a mystery how
he managed to get Kate to agree to do the interview at all --
IED has a theory that she was led to believe the guy had come
all the way from Australia, and that the interview would be
published in "Dreamtime", or some such falsehood. He mentions
Australia in the course of the interview. Anyway, it's a curiosity,
since Kate sounds extremely uncomfortable throughout.
The one with the recent photos is even more despicable.
The interview is fake; that is, a tape of an earlier interview
was played, with the interviewer (possibly the same twerpus who
did the other one) interjecting imitations of the original
interviewer's questions in between her pre-recorded answers. The
sound is terrible, but the interview's content isn't without
interest. This, incidentally, is not the same fake interview that
appears on the infamous SEVEN-inch bootleg fake interview disk,
which is the object of Homeground's venom; although the method
of synching up pre-recorded answers from Kate with newly-posed
questions from the "interviewer" is the same in both cases.
The picture-disks themselves all come from the same group of
U.K. bootleggers, and they are just two of a very long series
of interview-disks, including similar product that features
Peter Gabriel, Siouxsie Sioux, Marillion, Simple Minds, etc., etc.

>>...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.

IED agrees, in a way. The performances ARE highly emotional and
fantastic to watch, especially the ending of "W. Heights", which
can still affect IED even after 5,000,000-odd viewings. But her actual
vocalizing, esp. on "W. Heights", is much more low-key and
low-volume than on either studio version. That's not to say it
isn't still terrific, and even "powerful", however.

>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

Aha! Signs of "elitism" from another L-H. besides IED! Ha-haaah!

>To address IED's points, I honestly must confess that I agree with all the
>points he made and am quite unable to shoot them down, especially as most
>of his info came straight from Kate herself!

This forum is getting to be unbelievably civil and polite. Aren't you
people anxious to get back to the old nasty war of insults with IED?
How long can we go on like this?

>In my defense, I can say
>that I was not attempting to come up with a "doKTrine" (as he phrased it)
>but was merely trying to express a point of view.  The best thing I can
>think of to say is that the whole point of analysing literature is
>trying to find things in it that the author never dreamed of putting in.

Fine. Actually, IED was intrigued with your interpretation, and
is currently re-evaluating the song himself in light of it.

>Obviously, if Kate says that "the garden" refers to her old 8-track
>studio and not to the classic trysting place, then that's what she
>intended it to mean when she wrote it.  It doesn't mean that that
>interpretation is the only one.
>It's very easy to fall back on interviews and say
>"well, Kate said that she was referring to her studio so ipso facto that's
>what it MUST be!"

Right, esp. w/Kate. But wait! Kate never said specifically that
the garden in her songs referred to her studio; IED only
assumes that, because of the layout of the actual East Wickham
Farm garden and because of the purported function of the little
building out back. Your idea that it may have been a trysting place
as well is by no means invalid: there is about as much evidence in
favour of that theory in her songs and interviews as there is in
favour of the "studio" theory. Except that the romantic
experiences themselves seem to be imaginary, fictional.

>I think it is all too easy to fall for
>the "biographical fallacy", which is attaching too much importance to the
>circumstances under which a work was written, rather than the actual text
>of the work itself.  It's very easy to fall back on interviews and say
>what it MUST be!"   If you consistently do this and don't leap to your
>own conclusions, then your imagination will atrophy.

OK. All IED meant to do was caution against going too far with a
theory of interpretation if Kate has herself given a very different
one. The lyrics are certainly vague enough, even WITH Kate's later
explanations, and sexual connotations are probably more likely to be under
the surface than are, say, |>oug's references to fans in "Hounds of Love",
for four reasons: first, because it's a more universal and less
specific subject than the rather mundane topic of Kate's relations
with her fans; second, because Kate has certainly written
about sexuality before ("Feel It", "L'Amour Looks Something Like You",
"In the Warm Room", "Symphony in Blue", "The Infant Kiss", etc.);
third, because Kate actually denied the validity of |>oug's interp.;
and fourth, because Kate's relationship with her fans isn't, as far
as IED can tell, particularly troubled or difficult, and her
comments concerning them have always been affectionate and respectful,
without a sign of anxiety, trepidation or dislike.
IED does retain one reason for remaining
skeptical of BOTH your "Suspended" interp. and |>oug's "Hounds" interp.:
of all the lyrics which COULD be references to what you say,
none of them COULDN'T be references to a great many OTHER subjects,
as well. If you had even one phrase that could only be fully explained
in light of the sexuality thesis, then you'd really have something.

>So, glad you liked it, and maybe I'll be encouraged now to write again.
>Thanks!

Definitely! More, more!

-- Andrew