Re: Hounds of Love EMI Centenary issue

[Richard Bensam <rabensam@earthlink.net>]

Peter wrote:

>Hello Good People,
>
>I've been asked by EMI to scratch 500 words about the significance of
>*Hounds of
>Love* in Kate's career for the centenary special issue. Now I have my own
>ideas,
>a pile of back issues of HOMEGROUND, a larger pile of press cuttings, and
>access
>to the gaffa archives. However, if anyone wants to chuck their own ideas
>on the
>matter at me, they'd be welcome.

Cool!  Congratulations on the well-deserved assignment.

One thing you might mention is that HOL was the followup to THE DREAMING,
which was a complete artistic success but not a complete commercial
success.  In spite of murmurings to the contrary -- you'd have to phrase
this tactfully, of course, on account of how it was EMI doing the murmuring
-- HOL proved that Kate could be in complete artistic control of the
project and still produce something to reach a wider audience.  But the
important thing (to fans as well as to Kate herself) was that she was able
to achieve this wider success *without* compromising her principles or
deliberately setting out to be more commercial.  She explicitly decided
that satisfying herself artistically was more important to her than merely
selling records...and having made this decision, went on to create a work
which sold in massive quantites.  HOL demonstrates that catchy tunes can
exist in perfect harmony with deeply intelligent lyrics about complex
ideas, and that the listening public will respond to both.  In other words,
rather than HOL refuting THE DREAMING, instead one might say that HOL
vindicates it.

Well, that's what I think, anyway.


RAB

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