Kate-echism VII.4.xii

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

>Since there was nothing really current in the profile, it probably was the
>same one shown months ago that people have been mentioning this week.

It was. No update, no changes. Same brusque, almost openly annoyed
answer to the "What's Cloudbusting about?" question. (As
explained earlier in L-Hs, Kate had answered this question very
emotionally for the cameras during the interview, but was then told
that they had to shoot it again because -- of all things -- her
microphone had been rubbing against her tie. Worst of all, this
had already happened several times during the interview, yet no-one
there had considered moving the mike somewhere else. Kate was reportedly
royally p-o'ed.)

>For you experKTs out there, (I know this has probably been brought up
>before, but I don't remember) is the video version of Cloudbusting on any
>single or something?  It seems quite different than the album version.

No, the video version was never released on record, unfortunately.
The single is the same as the LP mix, and the twelve-inch is a
third, completely different version of the song. The video version
is basically identical to the LP version, except for an insert
of completely new music (It's you and me...Daddy") which Kate
wrote and recorded specifically in order to make the track long
enough to fit the entire story visually into the film. So far, the
best reproduction of the sound for that track is on the PAL Hair of
the Hound video-cassette. Soon, however (any day now, he hopes), IED
will be receiving the Japanese laser-disk of Hair of the Hound,
which will finally give us a hi-fi stereo version (possibly digital
audio) of the track. At that time, IED will gladly make copies
to interested parties willing to pay for materials and postage...

Peter E. Lee is hereby added to the compilation tape mailing list.
When you will receive it is anyone's guess, however. Whoever has
the tape and doesn't know who to send it to, ask IED, who is keeping
a file of requesters' addresses, and he'll tell you who wants it next.
Note: when the tape is filled up with stuff, someone should send it
back to point of origin (Andrew Marvick's place), so it can make a
second sweep. Yes, it is highly inefficient, but we've already begun.

>...TD is assuming a substantial lead.  To be sure, its flaws
>(at least, what I perceive to be flaws) and rough edges, intentional or
>not, are far more visible than those which might be hiding somewhere in
>HoL.  And yet again, it tempers, qualifies the intensity of each image.

Has IED understood your point correctly? You're saying that the rough
edges in The Dreaming somehow soften the intensity of the music? In
other words, the imperfections of The Dreaming (always assuming --
for the sake of argument -- that there ARE any "imperfections", of
course) actually improve the tracks by somehow dissipating the
brutal power of the musical ideas to which they are connected? An
unexpected and highly intriguing idea...

>For Powell & Lawson's anticlimactic string arrangement in Houdini,
>it seems merciful that Kate did not refine the song further.

IED doesn't see the final string passage as anti-climactic. Rather,
it is a kind of ruminative, contemplative coda. Tragedy superseded
by regret and nostalgia. It's indispensible.

>I don't
>see how even the most dedicated L-H could withstand it were it polished
>to the level of Get Out Of My House.

Here you've really lost IED. Assuming that the "it" you are
referring to is "Houdini", then your statement is confusing because
"Houdini" IS polished to the level of "Get Out Of My House", and
beyond. IED agrees with John Carder Bush that "Houdini" is the
most "refined" thing on the album, perhaps in her entire catalogue.
"Get Out Of My House", though packed with an incredible amount of
information, is relatively less polished than "Houdini".
(Admittedly, these comparisons are next to meaningless.)
IED detects a general tendency in your comments to
prefer roughness over refinement; which is pretty clearly the
opposite of the direction Kate has been going in since Lionheart.
The difficulty with all these terms is that it is extremely easy
to confuse a loud, aggressive track for a "rough" or "unrefined"
one (not that you've been doing that). In fact, though, "The
Big Sky", for instance, is arguably more "refined", from a musical
and production standpoint, than anything else on side one of HoL.

>TD is to HoL what a Turbo Esprit
>is to a 928S -- far less passive (HoL PASSIVE?), laden with character,
>and all the more endearing.

Not having a good picture in his mind of the two cars you refer
to, IED can only respond to the latter half of your analogy.
You seem to be questioning your own opinion ("HoL PASSIVE?").
IED does too. The Ninth Wave is definitely not more "passive" than
The Dreaming  -- nor is it less "laden with character" or less
"endearing". Is there ANYTHING in twentieth century
music MORE "endearing" than "And Dream of Sheep" or "The Morning Fog"?
(RHETORICAL QUESTION! DON'T ANSWER THAT!!)

>Fine with me...but I've gotta ask you - is there REALLY a station that
>plays ONLY New Age?  I hope this doesn't escape Cupertino...

"The Wave", a new station in L.A., purports to play only "New Age".
Unfortunately, they define the category as broadly as possible, so
that all kinds of MOR rock gets thrown in, as well, making it not
much different from KNX-FM, purveyor of James Taylor and Carly Simon
songs. Also, they have replaced all dj patter with some utterly
infuriating, sickening and repulsive "skits". It's DISGUSTING.

-- Andrew