Re: "Wuthering Heights"...Old and New (was Re: Rolling Stone)

[esl!!dbk@ames.arc.nasa.gov (David Kay)]

In article <25358@ut-emx.UUCP> slh@ut-emx.UUCP (Susan L. Cecelia Harwood) writes:

	[..about the version of Wuthering Heights on The Whole Story...]
   It started out okay, but the impression I got, the longer it went on, was 
   that Kate was singing through the motions, so to speak.  Parts of it were
   very good, yes, but the part that nearly made me throw the CD case across
   the room was "You know it's me, Cathy."  The first syllable of "Cathy"
   was a miss.  She didn't hit it.  She overshot it by a mile.  Now, this
   may seem like nitpicking to some, but I have this image of Kate as a
   perfectionist-- a well-deserved image, and not one I consider an insult.
   But this!  I was awfully disappointed.  Live, I could understand.  But
   if they could go to all the trouble of editing some of the celesta parts
   and beefing up the drums, they could have had a voice track that was
   better than that.

-- end inclusion --

	If that were a mistake, I would understand your feelings.  I shared
them the first time I heard the song:  how could she have let that go!

	Then I thought about it.  You don't need to be a professional
critic to pick that mistake out.  KaTe takes plenty of time on her
recordings.  If she wanted it out, it would have been out.  I think
she sang it that way because she wanted it to sound like that.

	It's a pretty common thing for rock keyboardists to deliberately
add an adjacent note for a moment:  the first time you hear it, it sounds
like a mistake, but as you understand the song, it starts to make sense.
Of course, sometimes things are mistakes, too, but it's generally pretty
easy to tell the difference, especially if you know something about the
group.  A particularly effective version of this is in Zepplin's _All
of my Love_ from Coda, I think.

	Back to _Wuthering Heights:_  you are right to notice that the
voice of the older KaTe is much fuller and more assured than in the original.
But one of the keys of the original is how the voice carries Cathy's
vulnerability.  I think the new version uses the break on the first
syllable of "Cathy" to do the same thing.  Because it is an obvious
mistake, it is emotionally and muscially wrenching.  That's its job
within that song.  In the context of the remake, it clearly demonstrates
KaTe's deliberation, control, and confidence.

	I don't know if you sing, but if you do, try singing "You
know it's me...Cathy."  A) it's not hard to do right, and B) it's
extremely hard to do it wrong the way she does and hit the second
syllable of "Cathy" dead-nuts on.

	Of course, if I'm wrong and it really is a mistake, I'll be
very surprised and disappointed, 'cause it's a terrible one.

	David Kay
	dbk@esl.com