Re: Disappointed with _TSW_ ?

[jsd@GAFFA.MIT.EDU (Under Gail Succubus)]

Dear old Jon is feeling a bit crusty today, so prepare for some
serious heresy...

>Really-From: mit-eddie!eddie.mit.edu!henrik@gatech.edu (Larry DeLuca)
>I find _The Dreaming_ to be a challenging, stimulating, intensely
>exploratory work of a brilliant but immature artist.  She's managing
>all the pieces, but she's still so busy screaming new ideas at the
>listener she's not quite able to make them work in concert yet.

I prefer the rawness and manic energy.  It feels as if she's saying
"wow!  look what you can DO if you push the limits!"

>A lot of people like this sort of approach.  Because of it, I listen
>to _The Dreaming_ a lot less than my other Kate Bush albums.  For
>example, _Lionheart_ is chock-full in much the way _The Dreaming_
>is, but Powell manages to keep it [just barely] under control in a
>way that _The Dreaming_ spills over now and then with.

This is a completely ludicrous analogy.  _The Dreaming_ was attempting
to define an entirely new musical vocabulary, whereas _Lionheart_ was
just adding a few frills to some tired old ideas.

>Another good example of this problem is _Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation
>1814_.  There are a number of songs which are so "thick" the album
>is tiring to listen to.  I find after a play of _The Dreaming_ my
>ears are worn out from the sheer gymnastics of listening to it.

When artists do that it's called "challenging the listener."  I like
being challenged, personally.  (Of course, there are times when I like
to sit back and veg out to something like "A Huge Ever-Growing
Pulsating Brain That Rules The World From The Centre Of the Ultra-World.")

>One of the really nice things for me about _The Sensual World_ is
>that so much of it is about Kate Bush the songwriter and less
>about Kate Bush the producer.  Her unmistakable touches are 
>definitely there, but it's definitely the songs that are in the
>driver's seat this time.

A very astute observation.  It's clear which camp I prefer to be in, I
guess.  ("songs?  what're songs?  I just make neat noises for five
minutes and call it art!")

>_Waking the Witch_ has a power and fury
>that may never be matched, but _Never Be Mine_ can be as moving
>a capella as with all the studio trappings.  Have you ever tried
>to sing any song from _The Dreaming_ by itself?  Find it disappointing?

I think you're selling TD short, actually.  One of the most amazing
things about it is the fact that, yeah, you CAN strip away all the
production and actually sing the songs with an acoustic guitar.  But
that's not the point, is it?  I suppose it makes the songs easier for
street performers in Harvard Square to cover, but the music was MADE
to go with the sounds, and it works brilliantly that way, so why try
to make it something it was never intended to be?

>(Actually, my favorite example is "Never Be Mine" - I was listening
>to it on my Walkman, and I am one of those annoying people who
>sings along with his Walkman on the train sometimes, and I was 
>singing along with it, and then I stopped when the song ended, and
>I noticed the woman across from me was now crying - she had been
>merely placid before - it's a very moving song, and even someone
>just singing along with their Walkman can convey that to someone
>else).

The only song on TSW that ever really MOVED me was This Woman's Work,
and its impact is diminishing for me.  On the other hand, Suspended In
Gaffa has only grown in its power to bring a tear to the eye.

>This is not to say that I don't approve of creating complete works
>where production is an important leg of the triangle (certainly 
>some of the work I've done depends on the production as much as
>anything else).  It's just that _The Sensual World_ encompasses
>some truly great writing, and much more subtlety.

Unfortunately, the truly great writing is also mixed in with some
less-than-truly-great writing.

>Kate Bush doesn't
>have to shout through reverse-reverb-digitally-delayed-gated-overdrives-
>through-a-qantec - she can sit there at the piano and make us all
>stand in awe just by playing "Under The Ivy".

Too bad there was so little of that caliber on TSW.

>I think she's grown up.

And gotten tired.


+---------------------- Is there any ESCAPE from NOISE? ---------------------+
|  |   |\       | jsd@gaffa.mit.edu | ZIK ZAK - We make everything you need, |
| \|on |/rukman | -Fight The Power- | and you need everything we make.       |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+