More on "Be Kind to My Mistakes"

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

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Alas, in my last posting about "Be Kind to My Mistakes", I was not
very clear about some of my points. For some reason, when I first
listened to BKtmM closely, I kept hearing similarities to X4. This
made me go back and try to break down both songs and analyze it was 
that I heard in both songs.

>>   ... It has elements of structure quite similar to X4 but with the
>>energy of "The Big Sky".

>IED, for example, would never have thought of likening BKtmM with
>"The Big Sky", because what strikes him as most distinctive about
>the former is its restrained tone, its contemplative sound and
>attitude...

The comparison I was making with "The Big Sky" was soley on the energy
level of the underlying instrumentals, with the strong bass and guitar
parts and the incescent two_four-and rhythm going on. The restrained tone
of the song is in the vocal passages, where the energy that the song opened
with is restrained to match the tone of the lyrics. 

>>In fact the structure is so similar to X4 that
>>I would have to speculate that they were both written at approximately
>>the same time.

>You are referring to the seven-inch version of X4, right? Well,
>in some places there is a corellation, but IED doesn't off-hand
>see where the scatter-voice bridge is parallelled in BKtmM. Also,
>X4 ends very classically, with a clear, well-rounded coda
>and a long, emphatic closing "note"; whereas BKtmM is more or less
>"deconstructed" -- really from just after the instrumental bridge.

Yes, I was comparing to the 7 in. version...
My comparison of structure was much more general: 140 beats/min in 4/4 time
with most of the song written around 4 (or multiples of) bar passages,
coupled with the repeating single bar guitar phrases (loops was the
wrong term) and the rhythm emphasis on the second and forth beats (the
deleted forth beat every other bar provides a much more restrained tone to
X4).

>To this listener, the rhythm patterns are radically different
>in everything except tempo. He would have said, in fact, that
>the rhythm was what most distinguished X4 from BKtMM, since in
>the former the rhythm is sharply synthetic and precise, with a
>big, well-rounded "snare" sound which draws attention to itself
>by its disquieting omission from every fourth upbeat; whereas in
>the latter, the rhythm seems to be mainly acoustic, and even a bit
>tinny and ill-tuned, creating a loose, almost garage-like sound;
>and is truly "constant", without any unconventional deviations from
>rock patterns.
>Furthermore, to this listener, the drums in X4 are far more prominent
>in the mix than those in BKtMM.

I really cannot argue with this except to say that the drums in X4 are
more prominant because there are fewer instruments on top of them,
whereas in BKtmM the drums are more prominant as a driving force.
For some reason, though, I still hear similarities between the two...

>>single bar guitar "loops"...single bar bass "loops"...

>No difference of opinion here, but your use of the word "loops"
>is confusing. ...

My use of the term loops for the guitar and bass passages was incorrect
(words! words! I need words!). I would describe them as repeating single
bar instrumental patterns of a melodic variety (there!). I am more and more
convinced that what I hear of X4 (and to a certain extent "The Big Sky")
in BKtmM is these passages.

>                                         ... Instead,
>the fourth segment "chorus" notes now sound to IED like a synth (or
>Fairlight sample) sound.

I would venture a guess that this is a Fairlight sample of Kate's voice.
This would have the same sound as a tape loop of her voice. Could this
also be how she did the backing vocals in "The Handsome Cabin Boy"? It
seems like it would be much easier to do this way...

I really don't have a criticism about "Be Kind to My Mistakes" being a
commercial song. After all, it was written for a movie soundtrack and has
to fit with the picture. I just seem to think that this song (and X4) is
missing the experimentation in sound that we have come to expect from Kate.
More than likely, she is holding back her good ideas for KBVI. Perhaps
what we hear at the end of BKtmM is a taste of things to come?...

MarK T. Ganzer 
Internet: ganzer@trout.nosc.mil   UUCP: {ucbvax,hplabs}!sdcsvax!nosc!ganzer

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