No Subject

[rhill@pnet01.cts.com (Ronald Hill)]

This is the second part of Andrew's letter to the publishers of The Whole
Story. 
 
         Page 101: In a paragraph detailing Kate's activities at the end of
1981, Mr. Juby writes: "Finally, after an exhausting interview lasting several
days for a US production, Profiles in Rock, Kate took a well-deserved
break..." Several days, perhaps, but not a whole year. The Profiles in Rock
interview was filmed in December 1980, not 1981. This error appears in Peter
FitzGerald-Morris's chronology for the book Kate Bush Complete, which is how I
suppose Mr. Juby came to repeat it. Mr. Juby really should have studied the
superlative fanzine Homeground, however, wherein Peter promptly acknowledged
this mistake of dating in a list of errata.
     Page 102: "Kate left for Jamaica...coming back to work with Zaine Griff
on her tribute [my italics] to Kemp's Flowers." Either Mr. Juby believes that
the song was written by Kate, or he is under the impression that Zaine Griff
is a woman. The song Flowers was not written by Kate, but by Zaine Griff, who
is a man. Mr. Juby would have known this had he taken the trouble to listen to
Mr. Griff's album Figures, on which the song in question appears.
     Also on page 102, Mr. Juby describes Kate as "flushed and giggling" on
the occasion when her dress-strap broke during the Prince's Trust Gala
performance in 1981. This may sound quaint, but it is utterly false. In fact,
the trifling incident is memorable primarily
because of the extraordinary sangfroid which Kate showed during a small
emergency on stage. There wasn't a hint of a flush or a giggle.
     And again on page 115 Mr. Juby writes: "...she came out from hiding
flushed and girlishly enthusiastic about her 'man'." This statement is
distasteful and--of course--completely untrue. I am surprised that Sidgwick &
Jackson were willing to go forward with it.
In fact Kate demonstrated a reserve and dignity on that occasion which
contrasted markedly from the churlish, leering attitude of the Press.
     Page 104 (writing about The Dreaming): "The overuse of percussion and
synthesized [sic] becomes repetitive to the point of annoyance. She put a
label on the sleeve requesting that the album be played loud, but
the result of obeying her wish is a throbbing headache..."
     Remarks like these unwisely draw attention to Mr. Juby's shallow
understanding of Kate's work, and indeed, to his pedestrian musical taste in
general. He peppers his text with this kind of nonsense more and more often as
the book progresses.
      To wit (page 104): "It is an ambitious, even overproduced, album...";
and (page 107): "She was just beginning to grasp hold of the tools that the
studio and various instruments had to offer, and The Dreaming displays an
overabundance of stimuli; it is an overproduced album with far too many
external effects marring [my italics] the clean lines that shaped Never For
Ever."
      When asked (in an issue of the Kate Bush Club Newsletter), "Do you mind
if the press label the new album 'over-produced', or 'even weirder'"? Kate
replied: "I don't mind 'even weirder', but I don't like
'over-produced'. Her point was well taken. Kate's introduction of production
techniques into all aspects of her music-making process during the recording
of The Dreaming is a milestone in modern musical history, and constitutes a
large part of her art as a whole. The casual dismissal of The Dreaming as
"over-produced" shows a woeful ignorance of the nature of the work. Further,
Mr. Juby's naive hankering for what he calls the "more infantile and
commercial Never For Ever" leads him to describe the production of The
Dreaming-- a pervasive aspect of the album of which Kate was by 1982 already a
supreme technical master--as "marring the clean lines" of her earlier work.
With this phrase Mr. Juby reveals his sad inability to appreciate not only the
progression from Never For Ever to The Dreaming, but also the linearity of
Kate's aesthetic progress beginning with her earliest recordings and
continuing steadily through The Ninth Wave and Experiment IV.
      Pages 104-105: "The lyrics range from utterly confusing to obsessively
dramatic..." In fact, every word in The Dreaming makes eminent sense within
the context of the music--providing the listener is willing to take a little
time to study them.
      Page 105: "She claims Get Out of My House and Leave It Open are attempts
to analyse very complex personal emotions, but [my italics]
they are harsh and unmusical numbers, replete with slamming doors and bawdy,
hoarse hollering." Mr. Juby apparently feels that the sounds which he so
crudely describes are incompatible with Kate's "claim". They are not, of
course. Mr. Juby is simply unwilling or unable to
appreciate the musical expression of "complex personal emotions" unless they
are limited to soft, sweet sounds; whereas Kate has a broader and more
enlightened view of music's potential range of expression.
     Similarly, on page 106, Mr. Juby betrays the narrowness of his musical
taste and understanding by saying: "Perhaps the most typical Kate Bush numbers
on the album are All the Love and Houdini where she uses her voice at its
haunting best." [My italics.] As though the success of Kate's expressive
efforts could be measured in direct proportion to the volume level of her
songs! Needless to say, these two songs are no more "typical" than any of the
others--Mr. Juby simply likes them better.
      Page 108: "The Dreaming is of an autobiographical nature..." In fact
Kate has said (more than once) that virtually none of The Dreaming is
autobiographical, except insofar as every artist's work can be said to reflect
aspects of their own consciousness.
     On pages 124-127 Mr. Juby repeatedly refers to the protagonist
of The Ninth Wave as a man. In fact, if he had taken only minimal care in
listening to the music, he would have realized that the protagonist is a
woman. And if a study of the work had not set him straight, a simple reading
of Kate's detailed synopsis of the story, published in an issue of the
Newsletter, might have helped him. She begins:
     "It's the trial of this girl who's in the water; and all she wants to do
is survive and keep her head above water."
      Page 126: Mr. Juby here deliberately misquotes Kate in order to
reconcile her statement with his own misconception. He quotes her
as saying (from the Tony Myatt interview): "The concept [of Hello Earth] had
been in my head for a couple of months and I watched this film called Nos
Feratu" [sic] "by Friedrich Murnau..." (Incidentally, the title is again
misspelled--as "Noseratu"--on page 76.) Kate's actual words--unmistakable on
the recording--were: "...this film called Nosferatu, directed by Herzog..."
Kate is referring, of course, to Werner Herzog, and his re-make of Murnau's
silent film of the 1920s. Mr. Juby's mistake in this case is serious, because
again, Kate's fans might well go to some lengths to find the choir music in
question in the soundtrack to Murnau's film (which doesn't even have any
soundtrack!), rather than seeing Herzog's movie, which features the relevant
music prominently in its final scenes.
      Page 128: Mr. Juby refers to a "disco beat that runs through most of the
A-side of the album." In fact the first and the last tracks of the album
employ strict military march tattoos as their rhythmic bases; the second track
uses stark, aggressive, cymbal-less rhythms with a 'cello obligato--as far
from "disco" as can be imagined; and the fourth
track's rhythm is slow, irregular and unsettling, in reflection of the song's
depiction of a psychotic murderer. That leaves only one song on Side A, The
Big Sky, the rhythm of which follows a very loose, basic rock pattern which
could be described as "disco" only in the broadest
possible sense. Perhaps, more than Mr. Juby's laxitude with the facts, it is
ill-considered remarks about musical style such as this one on page 128 which
have most annoyed his readers, and which have succeeded in alienating so many
of Kate's fans from his book. Mr. Juby must realize that a thorough
understanding of the music is paramount in any book which attempts to deal
with an artist of Kate's calibre and importance.
     Pages 129-130: "[ The Big Sky ] is less serious than anything else on the
album, portraying a whimsical philandering mood in which she simply gazes at
and appreciates nature and the grandiose spectrum of the sky. It probably
isn't a bad thing to loosen up on imagery: to allow music to take precedence
at times over lyric can only emphasize
the rounded nature of her talents."
      These comments will astonish any serious fan of Kate's music.
(Not to mention anyone who takes the time to check "philandering" in the
dictionary--which I advise Mr. Juby to do!) They demonstrate a failure on Mr.
Juby's part to look beyond the most superficial veneer of Kate's work--a
failure which undermines many other passages in his book. There are many
subtle undercurrents in the lyrics of this song which put the lie to Mr.
Juby's suggestion that their meaning is simple and insubstantial. Beyond that,
however, the implication that in general Kate would be better off "allowing
music to take precedence"
over lyrics is as ignorant as it is patronizing.
      Page 130: "The video for Running Up That Hill was considered too risque
for the States (it featured her dancing apparently too erotically) and thus
her performance on Wogan was used in its place for promotional purposes." This
statement (which incidentally was lifted almost verbatim from Peter
FitzGerald-Morris's chronology) invariably induces surprised laughter from
Kate's American fans. Too "erotic"
for MTV? The idea is completely absurd.
     It is far more likely is that MTV did not wish to air a video which did
not feature lip-synching. They therefore asked EMI to send along an alternate
clip with lip-synching, and EMI obliged by offering
her on-air performance from the Wogan programme. It will no doubt disappoint
Mr. Juby to learn that there is no Page-Three innuendo to be gleaned from this
trivial incident.
     Also on Page 130: Mr. Juby twice more refers to passages of "strong
percussion without cymbals" as clear signs of Peter Gabriel's increasing
influence. Mr. Juby evidently has never taken the time to make a study of the
recordings of Captain Beefheart, David Bowie, or even Rolf Harris, which
contain early examples of percussion similar to the kind he describes. Since
Kate has often referred to the influence which these artists' work have had on
her own recording techniques, such percussive sounds in and of themselves are
by no means necessarily
a sign of Mr. Gabriel's influence.
      I believe Mr. Juby is struck more by the similarity of tuning in the two
artists' drum-sounds from this period. He should therefore
also have acknowledged Phil Collins, who provided drumming on Gabriel's
third solo LP, and Hugh Padgham, an engineer who later worked with Kate. These
men were certainly as instrumental as Gabriel himself
in developing the distinctive sound in question--a sound which is in any case
not at all identical to the drum timbres in Kate's own recordings.
      Page 131: "The video [of Running Up That Hill ] features Kate and dancer
Michael Hervieu, clad in grey, simple leotard..." Actually the costumes are
notable for their differences from the "simple leotard" which Mr. Juby
describes. In actuality both Kate and Mr. Hervieu wear hakama, the traditional
culotte-like garments worn in the practice of kyudo. This is a typically
Bushian subtextual reference to Kate's interest in and respect for aspects of
Eastern philosophy.
     Also Page 131 (in reference to Wilhelm Reich): "...who was sent to prison
for creating a rain machine." The "rain machine," the primary alleged function
of which was not to bring rain but to control a theoretical property of nature
known to Reich as orgone, had in fact nothing at all to do with the
psycho-analyst's arrest and subsequent imprisonment. Reich fell afoul of U.S.
law for selling boxes, known as orgone accumulators, across state lines. In
both Kate's song and the book which inspired it, the childhood experience of
Reich's son is
limited by a child's understanding of events. This dilemma is a major theme of
Cloudbusting. Such a limited understanding should not have been shared by
Kate's own biographer, however.
     Page 132: Mr. Juby refers to Terry Gilliam as "Terry Guillia".
Also on the subject of name misspellings, Kate's dance instructor for Running
Up That Hill, Dyane Grey, is identified as Diana; Jon Kelly is also called
John Kelly; and on page 29 Gurdjieff is spelled Gurdjiff. Conifer is referred
to as Canifer. Reference is made to both a Stewart Arnold and a Stewart
Avon-Arnold. On page 43 Leif Garrett's name is spelled Lief Garrett. On page
65 Kate's brother John Carder Bush is referred to as Jon. (Since there are
many Johns and Jons connected with Kate's career, it's important to keep them
straight.) On page 97 Paul Gambaccini's name is spelled Gambicini, and on page
158 Donal Lunny's name is spelled Donnal.
      I hope you have the text on computer-disk, so that these problems can be
resolved easily.
     Page 133 (in reference to the song Mother Stands for Comfort): "If one is
to go by her previous autobiographical themes, then perhaps one could take
this track to mean that her mother (her family) will protect her from
anything, good or bad, from herself and from anyone who comes to get her." As
attractive as such a reading of the song is for Mr. Juby's biographical
purposes, there is absolutely no indication of any kind that an
autobiographical message was intended in this song. As a matter of fact, there
are scarcely more than two or three songs in Kate's entire published oeuvre
which can definitely be said to have a significant, direct link with her own
personal experience, so unlike the usual confessional singer-songwriter is
she. She has often said that she does not feel her own life experience merits
a place in her lyrics. Mr. Juby should take her at her word--especially when
considering a song like Mother Stands For Comfort, which deals explicitly with
the subject of a psychopathological murderer!
     Page 137: "EMI were furious with Kate..." What is Mr. Juby's source for
this implausible statement? Certainly neither Kate nor EMI.
     Page 138: " Under the Ivy sounds more like Kate's pre- Dreaming
recordings, with simplified lyrics..." If the lyrics are "simplified", again
Kate's fans invite Mr. Juby to explain them. Their simple surface conceals a
mysterious collection of riddles and double meanings which have fascinated and
confused countless of her fans for nearly four years.
      Page 141: "To date, The Whole Story still remains on the bestselling
albums and the bestselling compact discs lists." This information was already
out of date when the book first went to press.
     Page 142: "...Kate appears very young and quite unpolished in Wuthering
Heights and The Man With the Child in His Eyes, while the extraordinary
successful [sic] Cloudbusting illustrates her budding dramatic skills." Mr.
Juby is judging Kate's mime-and-dance performances of the late 1970s by the
standards of a short film in which Kate acted alongside Donald Sutherland in a
realistic dramatic
context. He therefore sees Kate's acting in the earlier work as "quite
unpolished." If Mr. Juby had taken the time to make a careful study of the
narrative eloquence of Kate's movements in those earlier performances, rather
than considering them only by the irrelevant standards of film-acting, he
would not have made such a criticism.
     These are the most glaring errors which I personally have noticed
in Juby's book. You may be inclined to treat some of them lightly. Given the
importance of Mr. Juby's subject, that would be a mistake.
     Before closing, I want to say again that I do not consider The Whole
Story to be entirely meritless. It contains some new and interesting
information. But Mr. Juby should address all of the points that I have made
above before re-printing the book. In addition, he should make a real effort
to revise the overal text such that the contradictory and harmful attitudes
which pervade it are brought into some kind of reconciliation. If he is able
to make these changes,
I am sure that his book will find some new advocates.
     Finally, Ms. Hurrell, I take the liberty of reminding you of my
wish that my name should not appear in any revised!dition of the book.
     Thank you for your interest in my comments regarding The Whole Story.


                                      Sincerely,


 
Ron Hill here again.  My biggest critism of "The Whole Story" and the other
Kate Books is that they are to short!!! Cloudbusting is already three times
the size of The Whole Story and the Visual Documentary put together!!!  Kate
says so many interesting things and I marvel at how they could cut out/distort
so much!!! 
 

UUCP: {hplabs!hp-sdd ucsd nosc}!crash!pnet01!rhill
ARPA: crash!pnet01!rhill@nosc.mil
INET: rhill@pnet01.cts.com