Re: Rocket Man, Fairlights, plastic forks ...

[MTARR@EAGLE.WESLEYAN.EDU]

Hi!

Larry writes:
 
> I still don't approve of the reggae beat (though if it wasn't "Rocket Man",
> I would like the textures she's created better).

Oh, so I'm not alone!  :)
  
> I went back to the Elton John version last night (on 45rpm record, no less)
> to see what it was amidst the crack and pop that kept me coming back for
> more.  It's so stark.  You feel so alone when you listen to it.  Heroism
> and hermitism blend and become one.  

That's so true.  You feel what it's like to be alone in space, reflecting on
your life and what lies ahead of you... all in a situation where, as Robyn
Hitchcock once described it (and I paraphrase), one and a half inches is a LONG
way, especially when it means life and death!
  
> Kate Bush has a serious problem in that she works *sooooo* hard on her albums
> to make sure there is not a hair out of place that she almost unilaterally
> produces comparatively shoddy-sounding B-sides and side projects (not that
> all of them *are* shoddy, just that she has such high standards for albums,
> which she tosses when it comes to doing a B-side).

Hmmm... I don't think "The Empty Bullring", "Under The Ivy", "My Lagan Love",
"The Handsome Cabin Boy" and "Ne T'En Fui Pas" are sub-par efforts at all,
though I do agree some of her b-sides were mistakes ("Lord Of The Reedy River"
comes most readily to mind.)  These are all so stark, you experience the
lyrics and the power of her voice to induce feeling in you- exactly what
"Rocket Man" doesn't do.  Listening to it as I played it on the air this
morning, I concluded that if she'd done the whole thing like the first few
seconds, it would've been awesome.

(Incidentally, Angelos, "Ne T'En Fui Pas" is the premiere example of a "Kate- 
Bushy" song! Chills go down my spine just thinking about it... :)
  
> 	* If her vocals were any further out front in the mix, she would
> 	  fall off the end of the soundstage (a la Ann-Margaret).

Funny, I thought they were drowned in the instrumentation- my equalizing must
be off. 

> She should have gotten drunk again (it worked wonders for "The Big Sky").

Uh, excuse me?  I've obviously missed something- please explain! :)
 


    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
    Meredith Tarr           		"We let the weirdness in..."
    mtarr@eagle.wesleyan.edu                               -Kate Bush
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