Re: The Lynch Mob

[katefans@chinet.chi.il.us (Chris'n'Vickie of Chicago)]

Chris here,

Jorn Barger analyzes Kate's "The Sensual World" album:

>> Now I've had serious problems with The Sensual World right from the first
>> day, worried that it sounded uncertain, that Kate might be losing her
>> inspiration.  But reading through Cloudbusting I see that she's been
>> dancing on that razor's edge all along, wanting to keep growing, never
>> knowing where the next song is going to come from.

 and Robert L. McMillin replied:

> Aside from being a little trite, this sounds too much like you're implying
> a personal relationship with Kate that isn't there, unless you've a
> secret...

   Trite?? Personal relationship? Jorn's comments are perfectly reasonable
critical comments based on having read nearly every single word Kate has
had to say about her music in print and magazine interviews. 1.3 megabytes
of it. Even if Jorn hadn't read Ron and IEDs "Cloudbusting" cover to cover
his comments are an interesting perspective on Kate's music. "Interesting
Perspectives on the Music of Kate Bush" could be considered Love-Hounds
charter. All Love-Hounds can be said to have a personal relationship
with Kate at least as valid as those who claim to have a "personal
relationship" with the Lord. I've met Kate in person, shaken her hand
and have been close enough to smell her perfume (nice) which is a _little_
more than most Christians claim. ;-)

   The reader who finishes "Cloudbusting" should be awarded an honorary
M.K.B (Masters of Kate-Bushology). (IED and Peter Fitzgerald-Morris have
PhKBDs)

>> Cloudbusting (and of course the Cathy demos!) show Cathy achieving
>> extraordinary maturity at 14... why though, on this accelerated schedule,
>> should not she enter into middle age by 33?  BUT MIDDLE AGE IS NOT A
>> DECLINE, NOT A DIMINUTION OF POWERS!  She is modelling for us our own,
>> baby-boomer middle-ages, which we must welcome, embrace gracefully.
>> (Incredible String Band, "Cousin Catepillar": "My cousin has great changes
>> coming, one day he'll wake with wings...")

> Surprise -- people age and mature.  I thought there was a reason why I
> liked TSW more than any of Kate's other albums.

   Do you have something positive to say? Yes, the fact that (most) people
mature as they age is not as obvious as you might think. In the case of
Kate, some may argue that at the time of the Cathy Demos Kate was writing
at the level of a worldly 30 year old. It could be argued that after having
been operating at the level of an older person for such a long time, HOL,
whith it's heavier rythmic element, was an attempt to recapture some aspects
of a youth cut short by success, and TSW, with the screaming guitar of
_Rocket's Tail_ injecting the aggression of youth.

I would like to hear some other theories about Kate's musical development,
not just the "automatic gainsaying of any statement the other person makes."
(MP).

                                Chris Williams of
                                    Chris'n'Vickie of Chicago
                                        katefans@chinet.chi.il.us