MisK.

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

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

   Ken Woodruff: You are apparently in possession of a tape of
_the_ radio-telephone interview which Kate gave in January 1990
from New York City. No-one that IED knows has ever got hold of
that interview, and consequently IED--as well as, he supposes,
many other Love-Hounds--would be _extremely_ grateful_ to you if
you could take the time to transcribe and post in Love-Hounds/Gaffa
the entire tape of that conversation. Could you do that, PLEASE??
Thanks in advance for your consideration, Ken.
   Kimon Berlin: IED thanks you heartily for your news report about
Kate's visit to France in April. He also asks you: have you
since seen any of Kate's appearances on French TV (La Cinq's 8-o'clock
news report or other shows)? You said you'd be looking out for
any TV appearance Kate might be making in France during the next
month, and so IED is on tenterhooks to hear what the upshot of your
researches has been. The Alain Stivell report makes perfect sense, btw:
it was announced in _Homeground_ a couple of months back that Kate had
agreed to produce and sing back-up vocals on two tracks from Stivell's
next album. Any information you can provide will be much appreciated!
   Someone asked about the pic-disk LP with the pill-box hat photo
which contains the '79 Xmas TV special. That is at least three
years old. It is in all likelihood American-made. And the photo is
by Guido Herera, who did a lot of publicity shots for the _Hounds_
_of_Love_ LP in 1985. That particular session was used mainly to
promote the LP in America. It was the dominant image of Kate in
EMI-America's poster campaign in support of _HOL_ here.
   As to the price of 40 Pounds for the EMI-UK _Wuthering_Heights_
single: it's a reasonable price _only_if_ it really _is_ the
_original_ UK pressing, and _not_ the thin-paper re-pressing which
appeared in 1983 as part of the _Single_File_ boxed set of singles.
Be very careful not to pay big money for that item. Several unscrupulous
dealers have broken up the contents of _Single_File_ boxes to sell
the singles individually. Not only should you make sure it's the
original 1978 release, in a sleeve of relatively thicker cardpaper,
but it should also be in near-mint condition for that kind of price.
   Jorn: You've asked a bunch of difficult (though very tantalizing)
questions about the demo songs. IED cannot, however, give satisfactory
answers to them, because the songs remain very nearly impenetrable to
him. The imagery in _Ferry_Me_Over_ may have something to do with the
works of Salvador Dali--IED doesn't hear anything he can point a finger
to, but at least that way it's _surreal_--not merely baffling? Also, Dutch
Kate-fans Theo Haast and Rob Assenberg claim that the title of the
song is not _Ferry_Me_Over_ but _Dali_. (In other words, they either
hear the last word in the line "Ferry me over the music, darling" as
"Dali", or they simply are reporting what was given as the title on
the label of the cassette of the demos which they obtained in Florida
last year. IED doesn't know which.)
   _But_, IED did just recently notice that there is an old Irish
ballad with the title _Ferry_Me_Over_. IED couldn't afford to buy
the recording he saw of it, but he would be very surprised if this
ballad didn't have a lot to do with Kate's own song. Can anyone
do some research on this title for the group?
   IED would love to be able to conclude categorically that the
line "In my lover's --oooh--" ends with the word "room", but unfortunately
his ears just don't hear the consonants of that word at all--not any
of the times it is sung. Likewise IED can't really be sure that Kate
isn't singing "the craft of love" instead of "the craft of life" at least
_once_ in the song of that title (though admittedly it sounds more often
like "life" than "love" to IED, hence his original title _The_Craft_of_
_Life_).
     IED can make nothing of the Joan of Arc section.
     IED thinks the name at the beginning of _Canasta_ is "Wrinfrey"
or "Rinfrey", not "Rinfi" as he formerly supposed. Is there not an
old English name which is spelled something like that? It would make
better sense as a companion name for the reference to "Geoffrey the
gardener" later on in the same song.
     IED would likewise love to be able to settle the "snakes and
ladders" controversy by agreeing with you, Jorn, that this is what
Kate is referring to. Unfortunately his ears just cannot hear the
consonant "L" in the word which _should_ be "ladders" ("Climbing
up the --adders to slide down the adders"). IED agrees that it
almost certainly is meant to be "ladders", but if so then (gulp!)
Kate mispronounced the word, causing it to come out without the "L"
sound. That of course is quite possible, esp. since these were very
quickly recorded, virtually "live" takes, without overdubs of any kind.
     IED doesn't have a clue to the meaning of the "at mournings" line.
Sorry. It's just one of dozens of similarly opaque lines in the demos.
     IED agrees with you that the word is probably not "smutty". But
IED hears an "ing" sound in there, too. His tentative conclusion is that
the words are "sweating hands". Ideas?
     As far as IED _knows_, the only one of Kate's companions to have
died of AIDS is Gary Hurst (who will be missed). But IED couldn't
help but wonder about Alan Murphy in this regard, as well, because none
of the reports of his death offered any explanation for it. When young
men in the arts die unexpectedly and the cause of death is conspicuously
left unmentioned, that unfortunately can very often mean that the man
died of AIDS. Perhaps this is what Peter was implying?
     IED thinks you're right about the line "resting so in the water"
in _Something_Like_a_Song_. IED also agrees with you about the image
of "coming forward but never moving". It seems pretty clear that the
song is about (or at least partly about) another bird in a reedy river.
     IED also hears "house" for "home" and "burning up" for "burning
out" in _Frightened_Eyes_. Both were IED's early errors of transcription
which he should have fixed earlier.
     In _Nevertheless_You'll_Do_, you write that you find the line "Don't know
a thing about tapping in on wires" extraordinary, and ask whether it could
be written to her father. IED asks why you think that? Not that he doesn't
think it's possible. Only that he hasn't noticed any particular connection
with Kate's father. IED's thought was that the song is one of Kate's early
"story" songs: as though sung by a dangerous young woman who lives life on
the edge--apparently a spy, or a detective, or perhaps a criminal.
She is singing a wry tribute to her boyfriend/husband, who leads
a much more staid life and who may in fact be completely unaware of
his mate's nefarious or otherwise reckless activities. Does this
seem way off the mark?
     Greg Bossert: You requested information, or discussion by Kate, about
her studio methods. IED knows of only three items on the technical
side of her most recent work. The long article by Del from the latest
_Newsletter_ has yet to be transcribed, though IED still means to do the
job some day. Here are the other two:


     Kate's Crates
     ^^^^^^^^^^^^^

     <From the _Musician_ interview (sidebar), February 1990.>

     In 1984 Kate BUsh built her own studio in Kent, which is used
by her and Del Palmer. <What, Kent or the studio? :) > Her dominant
piece of equipment is the Fairlight Series III, but she also uses
the Yamaha DX-7 extensively. It's centered around a Solid State
Logic 48-channel console with automated mixing and two 24-track decks
that are slaved together. She takes pains to note that they have a
"lot of outboard gear, that's really important."
     They use Pultec valve equalizers. Reverbs and delays include
the AMS, the Quantec, the Lexicon 224 and 224XL. They also use an
AMS Harmonizer and Eventide 3000 Ultraharmonizer. Monitors are AR18s.


     Kate's Place
     ^^^^^^^^^^^^

     <Originally transcribed/posted by Neil Calton (UKorrespondenT
eKsTraordinaire). Taken from International Musician, Tony Horkins's
interview (sidebar), December 1989.>

     Nesting in the grounds of her parents' house is Kate's studio.
Not much has changed since we last visited, though there has been
one major investment.
     "We now have an SSL. <Solid State Logic 48-channel console.>
It's an expensive board, but not the most expensive, and it's very
versatile. It has a good sound, and all those facilities. For the
money the Soundcraft was great, but the SSL is much more efficient to
work with. On the last album we spent a lot of time working around
the desk, and on this one it was just working around me.""
    "We're still using two A80s - we work on 48-track all the time, though
it drives people crazy. When you get outside people in, you can see their
impatience with the machines. We use them with the Lynx, though we used to
have a Q-Lok. I'm not sure there's that much in it, but I think the Lynx is a
bit quicker. It would be even better if we had 800s. The A80s seem a bit
archaic now.
    "With outboard, I love the Quantec. It has a crystalline quality to it,
very distinctive. I use it on instruments sometimes, but particularly vocals.
We've got two Lexicons - the 224 and the 224X. We hire stuff in when we mix -
outboard eqs, like a couple of old Pultecs, they have a really warm sound -
warmer than the SSL eq.
     "We master analogue half inch. A lot of noise, but I still prefer working
analogue. At this point we've found it wise not to change machines
mid-stream.
     "Monitoring is on AR18s, and we did get some Gold Spot Tannoys, they're
quite useful for some things, though generally we stick to the 18s, and
Auratones.  We don't use big speakers. We had some but they sounded awful.
     "As we have a Fairlight, it tends to negate us getting in other sampling
gear. We're pretty well covered with the Fairlight and the DX7 for keyboards,
and the quality of the Fairlight is much better, though so difficult to use.
Everyone says that. I used to programme it myself, but since the new
software ... I can't keep up. They keep changing it as soon as I learn to
programme it.
     "Sometimes we're happier just flying in the half-inch, the old fashioned
technique. There's something about it - I quite like the purist approach.
Like tape delay - you can't get that same sound. It doesn't have the same
presence, it has a wispy quality. With tape delay it's lovely.
     "I guess I'm just a sucker for analogue sounds."

     IED hopes this has been of help to you, Greg, and of interest to others.

-- Andrew Marvick
   P.S.: To Meredith, who was so infuriated by IED's posting in re
Kate's physical appearance: _This_ "real Kate fan" has no quarrel with
anything you said. He agrees with you that 1.) Kate's appearance is not
in itself very important, and that 2.) Kate hasn't really gained more
than a couple of pounds all told anyway! But IED doesn't appreciate
being dismissed as one among some huge anonymous group which you
refer to as "men who want their meat lean and tender". It's an
insulting generalization. Not only are there a very large number
of _women_ who share "men"'s aesthetics of female pulchritude,
but there are certainly a great many men who do _not_ share them.
  This is not to say that most people--male or female--living
nowadays are not in some way and at least to some degree (however small)
affected by the physical appearance of their fellow human beings--male
or female. In short, although it's not a matter of great importance, it
_is_ a matter of at least _some_ importance, and denying that
fact is futile. It's not good, but it's unavoidable.
   Also, IED would like to point out that Kate herself is not
entirely guiltless in this matter. For at least the last seven years,
and arguably since 1978, she has had great, and possibly total, control
over the official EMI-UK imagery which is used to promote the sale of her
records. Yet even in the most recent promotional posters and cover
designs she has seen to it that great pains were taken to touch up the
photos of her face and body such that she would look "her best". Special
care has always been taken by Kate, her brother John, and whoever he
gets to do the touch-up work after he takes his photographs, to
soften Kate's jawline, the flesh beneath her chin, and the lines
beneath her eyes. This is a fact which IED, at least, cannot conveniently
blame on "men who want their meat lean and tender". It is Kate's
doing, and although IED is sure there is some pressure from her
record company about the promotional images used to sell her
records, he is equally sure that Kate has sufficient influence
to see that they release only those images which she herself approves.
She is therefore at least partly responsible for the continued
promotion of an illusory image of Kate Bush the Celebrity, and as
such IED doesn't think it's completely unreasonable of him to take
that aspect of her work into account--at least in some small
measure--when he enjoys or analyzes it.