Re: 9th wave

["Ronald W. Garrison" <rwgarr@intrex.net>]

Marco Gatti wrote:

> Helleu,
>
> >Ifeel I too must now purge my soul of the black lurking shame. I
> don't
> >like the Ninth Wave either.
> >I don't hate it, and it has great moments (like Tales of Topographic
> >Oceans), but I could live without it.
>
> Are you mad! The Ninth Wave is a little big gem. You know when it's
> great... when you consumed a few magic mushrooms. I did and it was
> incredible. The music gets so intens ('Waking the Witch' was a little
> bit frightening) and the visions you get are unbelievable.
> But I guess if you don't like the music you will get in a psychosis.
>
> >By contrast, Cloudbusting, Hounds of Love, and The Big Sky, make me
> dance
> >and spin and laugh and cry at the same time.
>
> Me too.
>
> >And I skip the track Mother Stands for Comfort EVERY time! Can't
> stand it!
>
> Here I must disagree with again. It's beautiful in his simplicity.
>
> >My biggest KaTe heresy: I do not like RUTH *gasp*.
> >HOL shouls have been a 3 song single instead of a two part album!!
> >To continue with this shameless apostasy, Kick Inside is KaTe's most
> >perfect album.
> >Her second best album, and the most underrated, is The Red Shoes.
> This
> >album is only spoiled by that awful Skippy collaboration,Why Should I
>
> >Love You.Remove it, Constellation of the Heart, and (maybe) Top Of
> the
> >City, and the Red Shoes would be perfect.
>
> I think you don't like the Dreaming. I think that's the best album
> Kate made. I'm sure that Kate put a lot of herself in the album.
> But 'Under the Ivy' is my most precious song. It's still gives me
> goosebumps after 12 years.
>
> Greetings Marco
> delius@xs4all.nl

  ...Looks like a good place for me to uncloak and fire off a few
comments/questions.

...I've been meaning to ask someone in this newsgroup a few questions
for a long time, and this post is a good place for a real zinger:

  Is "Under The Ivy" about what I think it may be? Or, as so often
happens, about something else entirely? My own guess is that *Under The
Ivy* is about secret oppositions to the Third Reich. "...Away from the
party". --Is that not a social event, but the Nazi Party."
"Go the White Rose..." --the ill-fated and heroic group of Germans who
opposed the Third Reich. "It's not easy/ To give away your secret"...

--There are even a few other tangents I could go off on in relation to
this, but for the sake of brevity I'll let off on this one.

Another thing I've long wondered about is the meaning of "Suspended In
Gaffa". It sounds for all the world like a couple of people trying to
get into some Mideast country. The rhythmic clicking always seemed to me
like it must be typewriters or some such. Or am totally off?

My own preferences? (Everyone else seems to have a list.):

  1. Hounds of Love--possibly the most delightful musical surprise I
ever had (late November 1985). After hearing RUTH on the radio a couple
of times, I patiently waited until the CD came out, and took a chance on
it (never heard anything else by Kate).

  2. The Dreaming--OK, this is not for everybody, I know, but I connect
to it on a level I can't explain. Funny thing is, the criticisms I've
heard of TD ("Dark, brooding...") are almost opposite to what people
said about HOL (from "Rock's eternal kid", as one Rolling Stone reviewer
called her)

  3. Never For Ever. The material isn't as moving as on the above two,
but it certainly has some amazing vocal demo moments ("Violin" is
nothing if not impressive singing, from a purely stunt/technical
standpoint).

  4. TKI, LH These have their moments, but that high, "drunk little
girl" voice--well, a little goes a long way.
Some of the lyrics on TKI are pretty obscure too--although I know that,
with Kate, once you get the idea what a song is about, often it all
suddenly pops into focus.

 5. TSW--Again, some really beautiful parts, but I think the influences
on her were not the best for creating her best music--Why didn't she
just front for the Cure for a few years, it might've had the same
effect?

6. TRS--I don't get this one at all, except as (1) a reach for
commercial appeal, and (2) a reaction to themes of despair and death,
prompted by her mother's death (but only in places).

...In addition to the regular albums above, there are two collection
discs in the 8-disc "This Woman's Work" that absolutely carry me away.
They may be even better, in toto, than *Hounds of Love*. God, there's
the a capella purity of "My Lagan Love", the spooky "Lord of the Reedy
River", and "Be Kind to my Mistakes" (the theme from "Castaway")(hard to
even listen to it without drooling all over myself ;-) )
...well, you get the idea.

----
Can't believe someone said *Hounds of Love* should've been a 3-song
single. The *only* thing wrong with that album is that it was way too
short and hurried! That became clear when I listened to some of the
extended single versions of some of the wongs. That could've easily been
a double album, and would've been the better for it. Too bad the CD
format didn't catch on a year or two earlier, the album might have been
made longer in fact.

Oh, there is one other thing wrong, and it's the same thing wrong with
all Kate's recorded music: It really isn't recorded all that well. It's
okay, but it's a bit blase compared to--well, for a handy comparison,
how about Pink Floyd? Even her most Floydian album--obviously, HOL--just
doesn't have the stunning sonic clarity of, say, *The Final Cut*. If it
did, I'd probably drool all over myself on *every* song!

--Ron
http://www.intrex.net/rwgarr/