Saints Preserve Us!

[jsd%UMASS.BITNET@wiscvm.wisc.edu (Jonathan S. Drukman)]

From: phs!paul@MCNC.ORG
> Not so.  The main offender was the opening tune, "Wuthering Heights."
> This song, which used to be bizarre and great, had become bizarre
> and putrid.  I suspected that I'd bought Pat Benatar's cover, but
> no mention of her name in the credits.  The only thing in its favor

Well, I think it's a distinct improvement.  Much more sophisticated
production.  Listen to the echo she added to the drums, the ending vocal
improv, etc.  Definitely much better.  Kate knows what she's doing, right?
One would certainly hope so...

> "Wuthering Heights" is not the only offender.  Everything I know
> sounds really, really bad.  Right now -- I write slowly -- "Sat
> in Your Lap" is on.  Very bad.  Kate does reds, lots of 'em.
> "The Man with the Child in His Eyes" -- more of the same.
> Throughout, music replaced by shoddy percussion track; Kate goes
> disco, sort of, and fails.  The only survivors:  songs I don't
> know, from "Never Forever" and "Lionheart" and "Experiment IV."

How can you be the same person that wrote 3 paragraphs earlier that
"The forces of anti-kate hadn't a chance!"  What happened to you that
previously cherished numbers like "Sat In Your Lap" turned into something
as vacant as "kate does reds"???  This song is a masterpiece!  Possibly
one of the finest pieces of music in the history of music!  Definitely on
my top 10 of all time list!  Listen to the infinite care that went into
each track - from the indescribably orgasmic drums to the screaming vocals!
"The Dreaming" becomes _more_ of a masterwork with the passing of time,
not less!

> Awk!  Death!  She makes "Babooshka" sound bad.  My son, if he
> were here, would go to bed early.  Well, late, but sick.  Nancy
> Sinatra on drugs, no less.  Ba.  Boo.  Shka.  Ya.  [Yawn.]  Ya.
> Zzz.

What on earth are you talking about?  The song is the same!  EXACTLY the
same!  They changed NOTHING in transferring it to "the Whole Story".  So
if it was such a great song a few years back, what's changed about it?
I'm mystified... Is there something I'm missing out on?  Are you listening
to the "Patty Smyth sings the Best Of Kate" record or what?

> Is my stereo broken?  I simply cannot believe that "Wuthering
> Heights," on this, the 5th listen, is this bad.  No, it
> supersedes bad -- it's awful, putrid, foul, disgusting, I just

Egads!  It's not _bad_!  Quite the contrary, it's remarkable, phenomenal,
powerful, intriguing, good, lovely, melodic, beat-heavy, hook-laden,
riff-conscious... (oh no, I'm starting to sound like a Feisty Rock Critic,
saints preserve us!)  "Buoyed along by a remarkable pop sensibility, the
erstwhile Ms. Bush presents us with yet another facet of her remarkable
persona.  Strings waft over a piano-propelled piece powered by the punch
of Kate's vocal prowess.  Easily leaping the octaves, you believe that she
is indeed Cathy, come home to Wuthering Heights..." (hey, not bad, maybe
I could go to work for Spin or something...)

Well, Paul, you used to like "The Kick Inside" and "The Dreaming", this
shows you're not beyond salvation.  Lesser beings flinch at Kate's remarkable
voice.  I just showed the video for "Wuthering Heights" (which uses the
original song version) to a friend whose instant reaction was "My god!  Turn
it off!  She's _screeching_!!!"  What these burnouts don't realize is
that that's what makes it great
!  Ah well, more power to us Kate-o-philes.

--Jon Drukman
"Am I yours?  Are you mine?"