Re: Why WH?

[jeffy@syrinx.umd.edu (Jeffrey C. Burka)]

In article <Pine.3.05.9405191956.A12712-a100000@atlas.cs.upei.ca> fmcquarr@upei.ca (Fiona McQuarrie) writes:

>I must say though that I don't like the new vocal on The Whole Story.
>I can appreciate what Kate has said about wanting to redo the vocal
>so it doesn't sound like a "girl" singing it. In terms of the character
>of Cathy, that makes sense. 

Does it really even make sense, though?  As I recall, when Cathy appears at
the window, begging to be let in, she appears as a girl, not a grown woman.
Admittedly, it's been a couple of years since I've re-read _Wuthering
Heights_, so maybe I'm not remembering right, but I think it's only fitting
that it's a "girl's" voice crying, "Heathcliff, it's me, Cathy, I've come
home, I'm so cold, let me in your window..."  <jeff gets shivers just
hearing this lyric in his head as he types it out>

Of course, I should note that I've always preferred the original version of
the song to the new vocal (which I also like very much).  And for the
record, I heard the new vocal a good 6 or 8 months before I heard the
original version, so it's not a question of liking the one I heard first...

[regarding the new vocal]

>I cringe when I hear how she nearly misses the last
>"Cathy" before the final chorus. 

(!)

Kate doesn't miss *anything*.  We've all read about how meticulous she is
in the studio.  Do you really think that if she hadn't intended for that
almost-crack in the new vocal to be there, she would have allowed the track
to be released, particularly as she was considering it a replacement for
the previous recording?

You may not *like* that bit of the song, but please don't attribute Kate's
musical decision to her smoking or the aging of her vocal cords.

(instead, wait for the day when we can all cringe as KaTe coughs up a
blackened bit of lung and keels over)

Jeff
-- 
|Jeffrey C. Burka     | "Everything is still with a fear of never coming out |
|Suffering Bad Grammar|  Never following through / Never ever finishing      |
|jeffy@syrinx.umd.edu |  What we wanted to do."  -- Melissa Ferrick          |