Mailbag

[Wieland Willker <willker@chemie.uni-bremen.de>]

Rolfs Question:
To all, who do not know, what we are talking about: 
Coffee Homeground: 3'09  (Mysterious German phrase)
Germans, give it a try!

Someone in Rolfs office suggested: "dann sterb-ig wohl " (ig = ich)

This sounds best of all (really good idea!), but I'm not sure. It makes not
much sense if it's said by the person who offers the poison. 
Also "Dein staendig Wohl" is certainly not correct. But maybe it's "Dann
staerk dich noch" (= brace yourself (with a drink))?

Maybe we can identify KaTe's German 'reciter/source' here. What was her
name? Gaby Zacherl or something? IED? Where is she living now? 


To IED:
> Just as many thanks to Wieland for his thorough run-down of the several
> CD editions of the "Cathy Demos". Very very useful information! 
>
> Wieland's excellent challenge to us ...

Mmmmh, yes. Gimme more of these!  :-)

> By "record noise", IED assumes you're referring to vinyl surface noise,
> not tape hiss, of which this CD has a great deal. 

Yes, that's correct. I for one can't stand it listening to a CD crackling
like a record! Then I prefer tape hiss. This also reminds me more of the
original demo tape. 

We are so lucky that we can listen to these treasures, aren't we? I have
always a feeling of "this girl knows it all". But maybe this is typical for
girls in this age?


> an auto-record-level dub 
> ... which artificially exaggerates the volume and timbre of low-level
> sounds (like the originally very quiet clicks of Kate's tape-recorder,
> which in all the later "continuous" dubs sound like giant trip-hammers).

Oooh, I see, I was always wondering about this strange distortion. 

> All of this is simply to point out the serious need for an authorized EMI
> release  of the demos -- WITH official lyrics and commentary by Kate Bush
> about each song, please! 

Dreams Are! 
I think we will never see an official release. This is one of the very few
things, I can't understand of KaTe. Why she's so completely against a
release. I really would like to talk to her about it, persuade her to do
it. I know I have the arguments on my side, but nothing else! Oh yes, all
lovehounds will stand behind me as one man!
But maybe there's a chance to track down one of the original tapes, find
Mr. John Dixon? Money should be no consideration! But I would suppose, he
is not very cooperative. What can we do? Just read Uli's idea...
A lovehounds -CD!
Sounds very good! Go on with that, Uli! Anyone in Germany with the EP's?
But remember, all this is VERY illegal! Better discuss most of it in private! 
Do not infuriate KaTe! 

An angry Kate? This just reminds me of a little article: 

-----------------
Daily Mirror, Sunday Feb. 17th 1990

Bush Wack
Sultry singer Kate Bush doesn't look in the mood to say cheese as she finds
herself staring into photographer Robin Kennedy's lens. 
A few moments later it was Kate who snapped - with a well aimed boot up the
cameraman's backside. The pop star had to be restrained by long-time
boyfriend Del Palmer as she and Kennedy bumped into each other outside a
London nightspot. Afterwards the cameraman said: "I didn't think that
anyone so small would be able to kick so hard."
-------------------

Alive and kicking, heh?
The article is accompanied with a heavy shot. A really angry KaTe. Woah!
She's very furious! Very! Nothing "I'm quite a happy little soul"... more
an outburst of the lion. Be careful! This was serious anger not fun! 
For all that she looks somewhat BEAUTIFUL! 
I'm bewildered... (she must be...  mmh)


Now to: 
Something Like a Song (aka In My Garden)

[IED:]
> In my garden, wading through the pond, 
> Rest and sing, "Lover, oohoo... 

I think, this is correct. 

[IED:]
> ...finally bring all parts of the song's lyrics into a logical 
> narrative/thematic whole...

The only question for me is: Who sings "Lover..."? Is it him? What's his 
problem? Maybe the song should be called "Melancholy"? Explain. 



[Peter F.-Morris re George the Wipe:]
> Sorry chaps, haven't a clue to the answer to this one. 
> Undoubtedly Bush family in-joke (and they have many)."

Tell me some! 
Dear Peter, as I have you finally on the line, can you please explain
briefly, 
1. how much contact do you have with KaTe?
   Where do you get your "in-informations"? Do you ask her for dinner?
2. I was told you've held The Early Years in your hands? Is this true?
   Where is it now? 
3. What do you know about KaTe and the demos? Why is she so angry? Is there
   ANY chance to persuade her? Can YOU talk to her about it? Have you?
4. it's obvious that you carefully avoid discussing the demos in
   Homeground. Is this a problem? If you try not to annoy KaTe, you are not
   consequent. I remember the lengthy discussion about her very brief
   appearance at the Convention. This was annoying even to me!
Don't get me wrong, please: You are the king of us all, with a special
responsibility. But it might be good to know your politics, to understand
you better.


Re Noise-subtraction: 
[Anders Hultman:] "That is not possible. Noise is, per definition, totally
random.  There is no way to take away noise without taking away other
things as well." 
[Craig Heath:] "This is of course, technically true; however, it is
possible to be a lot  more selective about filtering out noise frequencies
than simply cutting off the top  end (i.e. turning the treble down)." 

I know this technique from my own research on NMR spectra. You can subtract
mean noise, which makes signals visible, which were hidden under the noise
before.  
It is clear that techniques like this have some effect on the sound itself,
but it seems to work quite good. Remember the new Beatles song! 
I have also heard stories about a company who processes exactly those demo
tapes we are speaking about. It's done before presenting them to a larger
audience. It's done either by the record company or the band. It works
like:

Noisy tape 
       |
       V
heavy computers + very much money ($ 5.000 I've been told)
(As Craig already pointed out, it took large amounts of computing time.) 
       |
       V
Noisefree tape. 

|>oug: Any NASA/NSA/FBI connections? I think we can raise the money, but at
first we need the original tape! 

AND A GIANT CAMPAIGN BROKE FREE
 ***** WHERE IS THE TAPE ? ****

Bring it in the news. Inform your lokal newspaper... 
And when you know, where it is: Steal it. Or commit massmurder (this for
|>oug only). 


Bryan Dongray: 

> It seems that the words of "Ferry me over" has: 
> High, 
> Can't see you. 
> You've seen your "Dali"   (or is that "Darling")

actually it sounds to me like  "you've seen you-en-aaleeee.." But I'm sure
it's  Dali. The last word in the song is definately "Dali" and not
"darling". 
Especially I like these A-ee-aha-ee-aha-oooh's (Ferry Me Over)
and the Ahoo, oohoo, ahoo, oohoo, ahoo, ooh...'s  (Something Like A Song)

Oh God, where is the tape? "WHERE IS THE TAPE?" he cried in pain...



[re "the tiny fish", from the archive for your reading pleasure:]
----------
Date: Tue, 6 Jun 89 23:54:33 EDT 
From: jsd%UMASS.BITNET@mitvma.mit.edu (Jonathan S. Drukman) 
Subject: a bit of saKTrilege 

> The sheets are soaked by your tiny fish. 
This has got to be the most embarrassing lyric Kate has ever written. Far
worse than "thighs like marshmallow" and it's also biologically incorrect.


Date: Wed, 07 Jun 89 13:43 PDT 
From: IED0DXM%OAC.UCLA.EDU@mitvma.mit.edu 
Subject: MisK. 

>> The sheets are soaked by your tiny fish. 
>This has got to be the most embarrassing lyric Kate has ever written. 
> Far worse than "thighs like marshmallow" and it's also biologically
> incorrect. 

IED totally disagrees with you about this one, Jon. Not only does he see
nothing "embarrassing" about those lines from The Craft of Life and In the
Warm Room ), he actually considers those lines to be among Kate's most
remarkable and powerful. Such explicit yet simultaneously sensitive
references to sex are extremely uncommon in vocal music of any era, and
they're even more uncommon in the work of female popular musicians. Though
they may be excruciatingly direct, they are not the least bit trite. These
lines may "embarrass" you, but IED thinks they're totally wonderful. 
Perhaps your dedication to the exigencies of the scientific process is what
makes these images (which are obviously poetic and not subject to
standards of "biological" correctness!) so unpalatable to you, Jon. If so,
it's too bad. 
-- Andrew Marvick 


Date: Thu, 27 Jul 89 11:17 PDT 
From: IED0DXM%OAC.UCLA.EDU@mitvma.mit.edu 
Subject: Mailbag 

Jon Drukman and Joe Turner both seem to share a sad, adolescent fear of
direct  expression of softer emotions in art. The Sensual World : "Ack
barf" (even though  it's plainly one of the greatest album titles in the
history of music); "The sheets are  soaked by your tiny fish": "Ack barf"
(even though it's clearly a line of pure genius,  especially as sung--two
different ways--in the song); ...
---------------

Our IED, in top condition, finding the jewel in the tiniest fish! 



[re 2nd Babooshka: ca. 1'30]
Bryan Dongray has: Can take him back onto a piece of mars. 
IED has:           Can take him back into the blue summers. 

Interestingly both sound quite correct to me! "piece of mars" makes no
sense, "blue summers" could make some sense, if you can tell me what a blue
summer is. 
It's definately more "blue" than "piece". It is "blue-sum-mars" what I
hear. It can be "summer", but I'm not certain, there is too much "a", IMHO.

Maybe it's "blues o' ???", "blues" in the meaning of "sad" in contrast to
the next line "...things that make him want to laugh"?


Okay, enough now, I must back to real life. With headphones on in front of
my sreen for hours now, I think of myself a bit of the guy from "Deeper
Understanding". Scary!  
But: "... I was forced to come to the conclusion that the only thing in
life worth wasting any thought on at all is Kate Bush. Everything else is
just killing time." 

Exactly.
Best wishes
    Wieland

PS: IED, your "Garden" is ace! Thaaaaank you!

Scares me silly (to post so much stuff in a foreign language)
but IT REALLY GETS ME GOING!!! Be kind...