Re: More about Kate

[jeffy@lewhoosh.umd.edu]

Ron Buckmire writes:

>Hi!
>
>Well, I asked about which album I should get: "Hounds Of Love" or "The 
>Dreaming" a while ago. I eventually bought HOL and I LOVE IT! But I have also
>been listening more and more to TSW and I like that an incredible amount. 
>Every single track is incredible and I especially like it when the Trio 
>Bulgarka kicks in...

Ahhhh.  Reading the above was enough to make me pull out TSW and pop it on.
Mmmmmh, yes!  Glad to hear you're enjoying HoL...I'm pretty sure I'm one of the
people who recommended it to you (and if I didn't, I should have--I remember
your original query).  After all, it *is* KaTe's best album...;-)

>Imagine a DDD Kate Bush CD! "Wow"!

- ------here follows a long interview, first posted by |>oug 2 years ago-------

The following article is from *Hi Fi for Pleasure*, August 1983.  I
have typed it in to satisfy IED:

			   DIGITAL DREAMING

	Kate Bush's `The Dreaming' was digitally mastered.  It
       provided the sound that she wanted but next time she'll
	probably opt for analogue processing.  David Aldridge
			    asks her why.

Five years ago, when a young unknown named Kate Bush vocally
roller-coasted her way through the weird 'n' wonderful `Wuthering
Heights', few critics rated her as more than yet another addition to
the swollen ranks of pop's one-hit wonders.

Which just goes to show what we know.

It's now 1983, and the delightful doctor's daughter from Dulwich in
South London has established herself as easily Britian's most
adventurous and exciting female singer-songwriter.

But she's not been content to confine herself to establishing a star
reputation in just those two major areas of today's music.  Kate's
also displayed an increasing interest in, and sophisticated awareness
of, the potential of production techniques over the years.  To the
extent that she effevcively produced her most recent album, `The
Dreaming' (on EMI) herself -- and significantly, it proved to be her
most `produced' album to date.

The recording sessions were digitally mixed -- a pop practice that's
increasingly common these days.  Interestingly, though, shortly after
`The Dreaming' was in the can, Kate was approached by the tech team
from the pro-analogue, anti-digital Linn Products.

They'd heard of Kate's production interests, and decided the time was
ripe to demonstrate to an influential industry superstar just how
superior properly handled analogue recording could be.

And the word that filtered through to us from Linn -- who operate
their own super-analogue recording label -- was that the lovely little
lady was mighty impressed by the analogue-vs-digital dem they had laid
on for her.  So we thought we'd go straight to the horse's mouth and
find out whether that had indeed been the case.  It was -- sort of!

``I wouldn't say that I was necessarily impressed by their
demonstration,'' Kate Bush told Hi Fi for Pleasure.  ``But yes, I feel
that there's an awful lot in analogue recording.

``We had a lot of problems working with digital for `The Dreaming'
which was digitally mixed.  Editing was the main one -- it was so
time-consuming.

``Some things obviously were easier working digitally -- otherwise we
wouldn't have used it.  But the vast majority I reckon would have been
easier on tape.  Particularly as I was working with people who'd
worked with tape all their life."

``In the end we brought in a guy who was familiar with digital
equipment from classical recordings he'd worked on.  And it didn't
take very long after that.

``But the problems rather put me off digital.  We all felt a kind of
alienation from the process of creation using it.  There's something
reassuring about a tape that you can see and touch.  You've more trust
in it somehow.

``There was a feeling of uneasiness about using digital that stemmed
from the fact that we felt it wasn't as easy to use in many respects
as tape is.''

Kate is firmly convinced that there's plenty of life left in analogue
recording yet, despite the pro-digital brigade who reckon its days are
already numbered.  ``For one thing,'' she added, ``there's an awful
lot of really good analogue recording equipment around.  And many
studios I know of have sounded out digital gear, and opted to stay
with analogue.  Certainly it's the way I personally reckon I'll be
recording in the future.''

We talked more about her production of `The Dreaming'.  ``The fact
that I was handling that side of things automatically caused me a
great deal of concern because I was responsible then for the complete
finished product.

``Before we decided to work with digital, we did a comparison test
between analogue and digital, and all of us involved in the making of
the album just felt that we couldn't really detect any difference
except for a slight crystallised sound off of the digital.

``We did a lot of comparisons and we felt that, for the kind of music
that was happening, that was a nice sound quality to have.  Quite
honestly, if it hadn't been for that subtle difference we'd have stuck
with analogue.

``We'd certainly have stuck with it if we'd known the practical
problems we'd encounter using digital.  However, by the time we did
encounter them, we were too far advanced with it.

``I'm not sorry we tried digital.  But in the future I'd certainly
prefer to work with analogue.''

So, no beating about the Bush.  That's Kate's opinion about digital.
OK sonically in theory, but something of a problem-poser in practical
use.  So, on balance, it's analogue that gets her vote.

A fact which'll no doubt enliven the Linn pro-analogue camp no end.

- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As you should now realize that while, yes, I'd love a good DDD recording that
Del had little to do with, I'm not exactly holding my breath.


>So, is any of her old stuff any good?

This is the wrong place to be asking that sort of question...

>I got mixed reviews of "The Dreaming" so
>I don't feel like getting that... But I like most of the stuff on "The Whole
>Story", too.

It's interesting that you got mixed reviews on TD.  Just about everyone on
Love-Hounds whose favorite KaTe album isn't HoL proclaims The Dreaming to
be her best.  

Yes, her "old stuff" is quite good.  On the first two albums, her voice has
a much higher (many say shrill), little girl quality that doesn't show up
much on HoL or TSW.  A lot of people are put off by this sound but there
are plenty of people who are enthralled by it.  

Her third album, _Never For Ever_ is superb.  I'd recommend getting either
TD or N4E as your next album.  

>How do I get on love-hounds and is it an instant, moderated mailing list or
>is it digested?

Both?  Neither?  Half-n-half?

Love-Hounds is a Usenet newsgroup; those who read it through usenet see
stuff appear as soon as it bounces back from wiretap.spies.com.  Lots of
people also read it as a mailing list digest.  There's no way to receive it
through the mail in the instant-bouncing fashion.

To join Love-Hounds, either subscribe to rec.music.gaffa, or, if you want the
digest, send e-mail to love-hounds-request@wiretap.spies.com.  Submissions
should be made to love-hounds@wiretap.spies.com (I find that to work better
than using 'f' or 'F' on usenet)

Whether you read r.m.g or the Love-Hounds digest, there is no true moderation.
r.m.g is a moderated newsgroup solely because it is digested and mailed
out to people.  The pseudo-moderator (who use to be |>oug and is now Bill)
is "merely" the person wonderful enough to offer to handle the digesting
software and mailing list, along with anonymous FTP access to the Archives.


>Factoid: 50% of Americans think that miscegenation should be illegal.

Which brings up an interesting question--when these people were asked, was
the word "miscegenation" used?  I'd be amazed if 50% of Americans actually
knows what that means.  

Jeff


- -- 
|Jeffrey C. Burka                |  Life is a lot like the Freak Show     |
|                                |  Nobody laughs when they leave.        |
|jeffy@lewhoosh.umd.edu          |                     --The Residents    |