MisK.

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

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

   First, a sincere thankyou to woj for his excellent transcription
of the two _Conversation_Disk_ CD interviews. Your contribution
is _much_ appreciated, woj.

   Richard Caldwell writes:
 >   _Heads We're Dancing_ is driving me mad.  There seem to be some
 > backing vocals that are almost completely obscured by the
 > instrumentation and lead vocals.  These are so deeply layered into the
 > music that they are barely discernable.  Another "secret message"
 > perhaps?  Maybe, but sometimes I think they're just saying "do-do-
 > do-do-do".

   IED posted about this a few months ago. In IED's opinion this
is indeed some kind of secret message. IED hears a couple of phrases
being _whispered_, v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y, during the first and second
"pre-choral refrains", underneath the lead vocal(s). The words
are definitely there. Whether they are actually _different_ from
the main lyrics, or just a repetition of the main lyrics, or
(as you suggest, Richard) just some nonsense syllables, is the
big question. But one thing is sure, and that is that Kate went
to some pains to _hide_ a whispered vocal of some kind inside
the mix of this track, and IED is surprised that this phenomenon
has not received more attention from the album's listeners
than it has.
   Speaking of secret messages, has _nobody_ yet figured out
the content of the secret message in _Experiment_IV_? It comes
in between the lines "It could sing you to sleep" and "But that
dream is your enemy," and Kate is _definitely_ uttering a phrase
of some kind. Come on, people, give it a try, and please share
your hypotheses with the group--it's been four years now...
   About the touch-tone sounds in _Deeper_Understanding_, yes
these are the sounds of the modem, but IED believes Richard's
implied question was: _What's_the_number_? IED supposes that
touch-tones in England may be based on different tones than
in the U.S., so he has never tried to figure out the number
here at home, but perhaps some industrious and dediKated UK
KorrespondenT could let us know his/her findings? Has it never
occurred to anyone that Kate might just conceivably have used
a number of her own, at the end of which there might be some
sort of message to those fans perseverent enough to have figured
it out? IED for one wouldn't put something like that past her...

 >   And just how long will we have to wait for the next album?  I'm
 >betting no more than three years.   Sure, she's taken a year longer
 >to complete each of the last three albums but she's never gone more
 >than three years without some kind of major release (i.e. income).
 >All the new equipment that she's bound to realize she'll need for her
 >next album will not come cheap.
 >But then maybe I just don't care to contemplate the possibility of four
 >or even five year wait.  Does anyone know if there are any obligations
 >built into her new Columbia contract?
 >
 >-- Richard Caldwell

   IED agrees with Larry Spence that EMI will release a b-sides-and(or)-
rarities CD before KBVII is ever even begun. IED thinks, however,
that the b-sides collection could be released as early as this fall
or very early in 1991. EMI did, after all, officially solicit _Home-
ground_ as early as 1988 for suggestions about the programme for
such an anthology, and in their reply to IED's letter of suggestions
the Manchester Square EMI staff reps. said that such a project was
being delayed only because _TSW_ would soon be ready.
   The estimate of four years (from now) until the release of KBVII
seems a reasonable one to IED. That would be closer to five years
between albums all told, anyway. Meanwhile Kate could contribute a
one-off single a la _X4_ to support the release of the b-sides
collection. Aside from these little things, and a few more incidental
charity gigs, guest-vocals, etc., there will be pretty much nothing
from Kate until August 1994. That's IED's guess, anyway.
   IED doubts very much that Columbia managed to get Kate to
agree to any kind of time limit or minimum release quotas. Apparently
her only concern in signing with an American label was that she
be allowed to ignore as many details about the U.S. marketing strategy
as possible. In that she certainly succeeded, with the result that
the album was miserably promoted in this country--a misfortune
about which Kate herself seems not to have been the least bit
concerned.

-- Andrew Marvick