Mailbag, and MisK.

[IED0DXM%OAC.UCLA.EDU@mitvma.mit.edu]

 To: Love-Hounds
 From: Andrew Marvick (IED)
 Subject: Mailbag, and MisK.

 p manchester writes:
 > called "The Organon Remix."  Kate acknowledged in correspondence
 > that this was a spelling error on her part, since Reich's ranch in
 >Maine was called "Orgonon," based on "Orgone" energy, with an o.

     For the record, Kate never said this in "correspondence", at
least not that IED is aware of. |>oug claims (OK, informs us with
indisputible authority and credibility--satisfied, |>oug?) that
Kate told _him_ it was "unintentional". However, John Carder Bush,
when asked directly about the spelling, replied, "It could be
intentional." Since both |>oug and IED are now agreed that Kate
cannot always be believed, you can take your pick of the available
explanations of this spelling "error".

 > Better yet:  Why isn't TSW DDD?
 > Don't get me wrong; it's a wonderful-sounding CD.  But I always
 > figured Kate would take advantage of the miracles of modern recording
 > as much as possible.
 >
 > Liz

     Well, except that there are still a great many audiophiles
who prefer the virtues of various kinds of analog over digital
sound recording and reproduction methods. Also, remember that
Kate, in the recent _Q_ magazine interview, apparently couldn't
really afford--for all her wealth--her ultimate dream in studio
designs/equipment. She apparently was forced to make some compromises,
and the reliance on analog equipment might have been one of them.

 >"When Kate was sixteen she already had a four octave vocal range.  Her
 > first demo tape, made while still a teenager, was sponsored by Pink
 > Floyd's David Gilmour."

     For the record, Kate does _not_, nor has she ever, had a true
"four-octave range". Perhaps with difficulty she could span three
octaves and go half way up a fourth--and this is actually
about as far as most voices go, even the most agile and athletic.
The reason for this kind of hyperbole no doubt stems from Kate's
unusually high "working" vocal range, and the fact that she is
able to reach a great many of her higher notes either _with_ or
_without_ relying on her falsetto.
     A perfect example of the difference in timbre between Kate's
falsetto high range and her non-falsetto high range can be heard
in the new recording, _Never_Be_Mine_. Throughout the recording
Kate sings the line "This is all I need" in her amazingly expressive, full,
rich and intimate falsetto voice. However, toward the end, in the climactic,
intricate final choral section, Kate adds another, _non_-falsetto
version of that same line, with the same melody (more or less) and
in the _same_high_range_. It's placed pretty far back in the mix,
but it's not "secret" or anything, so everyone should be able to
hear the difference in timbre immediately. There are _very_ few
singers working today who have extended their _non_falsetto ranges
to such a degree, or who have been as systematic as Kate in refining
the respective shades of _expression_ for both their falsetto and
non-falsetto ranges.
     Also, of course, Kate can reach surprisingly low notes when
she needs to, although seldom with the same kind of power or control.
     Aside from these physical distinctions, there is another equally
important explanation for Kate's exaggerated reputation in regard to
vocal range, and this has to do with the music she composes. Kate's
melodies, unlike those of _any_ other writer of "popular" vocal music
today, span an enormous range of notes of the scale. Most--nay, _all_--
other people writing songs for the popular genres--are, in comparison, able to
conceive only the most timid kinds of melodic structures, within only
the most limited scalar ranges. Kate Bush's melodies have--and this
was true right from the beginning--very often ventured along completely
uncharted paths--at least within the context of the popular vocal genres.
One result of the unfamiliarly broad range of notes in Kate's melodies,
and the consequent use they make of her vocal range,
has been, in IED's opinion, the frequent reference to a
"four-octave" singing range.

 > The other correction, I'd like to make is that I was probably mistaken
 > to say that Kate mixed *The Dreaming* both digitally and analogly.
 > The album was already mixed digitally or in the process of being mixed
 > digitally when Lynn (the company that makes $5,000 turntables)
 > approached Kate and tried to convince her to remix the album analogly,
 > saying (like true golden ears) that analog technology can produce much
 > better sound if done right than digital technology.  Kate did some
 > experiments with them, but decided that there really wasn't all that
 > much difference, but that the digital mixing created a slight
 > "crystalline" sound that seemed more appropriate for *The Dreaming*.
 >
 > -- |>oug

     No doubting tone is intended by the following request, |>oug,
so don't get uppity, but IED has asked you before where you read
this stuff, without result. Could you please identify the source
of this fascinating technical information, and if possible transcribe
the original conversation in its entirety for the edification of
Love-Hounds everywhere? Thanks.
     Speaking of Love-Hounds' edification, IED thanks Ray Radlein
for his eloquent defense of Love-Hounds' legitimate scholarly
orientation, and in particular, of IED's right to use the "fair
use" principle to defend his occasional transcription of various
Kate Bushological texts.

 >From: lizard@cbnewse.ATT.COM (russell.j.neumann)
 >Subject: TK symbol

     aKTually, that's KT, not TK.

 >Sounds to me like she's talking about "Passing Through Air" and not
 >"Maybe".  I know that "Passing Through Air" was recorded at Dave's
 >house and not at the initial studio session, but the connection is
 >there anyway.

     True, but it's not as close as it seems. Kate's home demo-recording
session at Dave Gilmour's house took place some two _years_ before
the final three-song demo session which Gilmour financed in 1975, and
to which Kate referred in the recent interview. IED finds it difficult
to believe that she could have confused _Maybe_ with _Passing_Through_
_Air_, or the 1973 session with the 1975 session. IED's conclusion is
that, for reasons of her own, Kate decided to be vague and obscure
in reference to the early demos. Perhaps it was a way of thwarting
people's attempts to identify and catalogue the demos that fans are
even now enjoying worldwide.

 >a chap from our london office, sunil, just came to santa cruz
 >to work here for a few months.  he grew up in welling, and said
 >his family doctor was who else but KaTe's dad, Doctor Bush.  he
 >remembers dr. bush saying things like, "my daughter's really
 >into music", but they never thought much of the comments at the
 >time.
 >
 >-- tracy

     TRACY! This is an extremely fortuitous circumstance. Can you
not wheedle more specific, detailed recollections from your English friend?
IED is dying for gossip of more tangible sort about Dr. Bush's practice,
and anything else KT-related--though it shames him to admit it!

 >Urg! Why didn't I think of that! It's NOT on the promo cd (I'm sure
 >of this as I used to sit and play it multiple times on repeat under
 >sedation and darkness ;)
 >
 >woj --- woiccare@clutx.clarkson.edu

     Yes, but the presence or absence of the laugh on the U.S.
Columbia Records promo-CD settles absolutely nothing. There really
shouldn't be any question about it: the laugh, attached as it is
to _Love_and_Anger_ in the original, Kate Bush-supervised British
edition of the CD, must surely, therefore, be accepted as authoritative.
     (Except, of course, that--as far as we know--Kate leaves the
laugh off of the video...Hmmm...Could this be another of her little puzzles?)
     Finally, IED has only to thank Ed for transcribing the _RAW_
review, which IED liked as much as Ed did. And in the most unlikely
source imaginable!

-- Andrew Marvick
   P.S.: KT NEWS: The new Newsletter has finally arrived, and IED
gives it a very good grade. True, it's no longer than earlier
issues, but this time all the photos (and there are quite a few)
are new, and many are wonderful. And the interview (the same Roger
Scott interview which Steve Wallis has been transcribing in Love-Hounds
from a tape he made of it when it was broadcast on BBC Radio One)
is well worth having. Also there is a fascinating article about some
of the recording sessions by Kate's mate/chief engineer/bass player
Del Palmer; and an untypically un-tongue-in-cheek article by her
brother Paddy.
   Also one of the two new competitions is to find as many words
cof four letters or more) can be made, using the fifteen letters of the
new album's title: THESENSUALWORLD. No names or slang may be used.
And in the event of a tie, the entry with the longest single word
will win. Have fun!
    P.P.S.: IED is not going to swear to anything yet, but he thinks
there may be a _SECRET_MESSAGE_ in _Heads_We're_Dancing_. Listen
to the first half of the song especially, with headphones preferably,
mainly during the solo-vocal sections when Kate is singing verses
and particularly the "PCR"s (Kate's term for the "pre-choral refrains").
Then tell IED that you don't hear a very subtle _whispered_vocal_
underneath. IED hasn't yet had a chance to really study it, and he
realizes that it could turn out to be nothing but a whispered
echo of the main vocal line--but perhaps it's something else. Any
ideas, anyone?