Hammill, Collins, & Tambura

[duane@Sun.COM (Duane Day, I.R. - Applications Development)]

A new supergroup in the tradition of Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman and Howe?
No, seriously... :-)

Regarding the probability that Kate has listened to Peter Hammill and/or
Van Der Graaf Generator - I'd guess it's pretty high.  For one thing, my
sources tell me that Hammill was staying at Peter Gabriel's house for a
long period of time, and given the known contact between PG and Kate, I
think it's safe to say that there was very likely some contact between
Kate and Hammill.  Also, Hammill/VdG have quite a lot in common with Kate,
notably a love of almost operatic story-telling and an astonishing ability
to convey every possible emotion with the voice.  Very interesting point
to raise, and I hope one of the true Kate scholars has some historical
information to support the theory.

Re: Collins - I don't find his stuff uninteresting because he's commercially
successful, I personally just find him uninteresting as a writer - usually.
I think he's a much better than average singer and (of course) an incredible
drummer.  IMHO, he did some of his best work with the British fusion band
Brand X, but I think he was less of an influence there than many originally
thought, as the later albums they recorded using other drummers sound very
similar to their albums with Phil.  Very interesting stuff, though - often
in the vein of early *electric* Return to Forever or Weather Report, with a
decidedly British bent.  Well worth checking out, a good starting point being
the compilation "Xtrax", which is widely available at budget prices.

Re: the review of Trio Bulgarka which mentioned a tambura player - was this
really a tambura, or might the reviewer have been thinking of either tambour
(a rather plain drum used in much folk music) or tambourine?  Tambura, as
I've heard it, applies to the string instrument which supplies the drone
in classical Indian music (Ravi Shankar, etc.) and I'd be a little surprised
although not overwhelmed to learn that this instrument was used by Bulgarka.
Another very good review of this group, by the way - I just was interested
in clearing up this point...