I paid $19.95 (plus tax) for a brand new sealed copy of this record. There is a copy currently for sale on Amazon.ca for $225.18. While that might be over-priced, the cheapest copy in this condition on Discogs is a cool $100. The highest priced one is about $280, so, I got a good deal. This album is simply amazing.
So, Kate Bush decided that she wanted to rework some of her songs. Although the reviews seemed to have been generally positive, I think I was too attached to the original versions and these never really struck a chord with me. It's not that I hate the songs, I just get the feeling like one sometimes gets when listening to a cover version that doesn't top the original.
This is a UK 12" 45 RPM picture disc that contains three tracks: Rubberband Girl (Extended Mix), Rubberband Girl, and Big Stripey Lie. My copy is a promo, so the plastic sleeve has a "Not for Sale" sticker on it. I don't think it's particularly valuable. I saw one for $30 recently, but that was probably over-priced.
Rubberband Girl is the best track from The Red Shoes, which I would say is the weakest Kate Bush record.
This US 12" contains three tracks: Experiment IV (Long Version), which first appeared on The Whole Story, Wuthering Heights (New Vocal), and December Will Be Magic Again, which is a christmas song, but an entirely secular one, which is OK with me.
The Whole Story is an example of a greatest hits (or best of) collection that works well. It includes many of her best known tunes and adds a new single, Experiment IV. By the way, some delete marks are more intrusive than others. The huge drill hole is a bit much.
Thank you, Kate Bush, for re-releasing some long out-of-print and hard-to-find vinyl. I am awaiting Ariel, and then I will have everything. Although I am happy to have a copy of this on vinyl, I will be honest: this record didn't really do it for me. I like some tracks (Rubberband Girl and Eat the Music, especially), but overall, it's probably the weakest Kate Bush release. Even Prince, who joined her for one song, did little to raise my opinion of this record.
I was going to let this one pass, but at 30% off a really good price to begin with, I found it difficult to resist. Plus, I had a $30 gift card for that store.
This box contains four records: 12" Mixes, The Other Side 1, The Other Side 2, and In Other's Words. This is a wonderful collection.
In 2005, I wasn't buying records, so I missed the original pressing, which now goes for insane amounts. Happily, this was repressed in 2018, just in time for Christmas. I guess you'd call it another gift for myself.
Vocal contributions from Rolf Harris, on An Architect’s Dream and The Painter’s Link, have been excised owing to his arrest and conviction on indecent assault charges. Kate's son's vocals are used instead. Oddly, I thought that I had never even heard of Rolf Harris prior to reading about the news stories surrounding this reissue. But, I discovered that I am familiar with the track, Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport.
I wonder if this edit will push the price up of the original pressing? Who knows? I would say that I agree with the decision to remove his voice.
I prefer The Hounds of Love to this record, though I think The Sensual World is brilliant. Some people might argue that this record was her best release up to this point. Parts of The Sensual World (esp. This Woman's Work) seem overly sentimental. But, perhaps that has to do with how the song has been interpreted in such places as She's Having a Baby. The title track is awesome.
This is Canadian 12" single contains three tracks:
The Big Sky (Meteorological Mix),
Not This Time, and
The Morning Fog, the first of which appears on the anniversary CD edition of The Hounds of Love. The Big Sky is one of my favourite tracks from The Hounds of Love. Since there was no video for the extended mix, some intrepid Youtube user created a video using parts of The Dreaming and the original video for The Big Sky. The sync seems to be screwed up.
Apparently, only 800 of these pink marble vinyl records were released in Canada. My copy of the Canadian pressing still has a factory seal, so obviously, I have never played it. I picked this up in 1985 or 1986 in a record store in downtown Kitchener, though I forget the name of the store. I assume that the store is long gone. I was a regular there, because it was the only record store I knew of in the area that carried bootlegs.
You would probably have to pay $40 to $50 to get a copy of this record, which is far more than I paid.
Once upon a time, I owned the cassette version of this release. I guess I should look through the box and see if I still have it. It compiles a few tracks, one of them live:
Sat In Your Lap
James And The Cold Gun (Live Version)
Ne T'Enfuis Pas
Babooshka
Suspended In Gaffa
Un Baiser D'Enfant (The Infant Kiss)
"She mouthed the words along to "Running Up That Hill"
That song got scratched into her soul
And he never heard that song before, but he still got the metaphor
Yea, he knew some people that switched places before"
Hornets! Hornets! - The Hold Steady
Without question, The Hounds of Love was my favourite album of 1985. While the Smiths did release an album that year, it was not their best work, if you ask me. Only a few other albums would rival my choice for best record of 1985: New Order's Lowlife, The Waterboys' This is the Sea, Lloyd Cole and the Commotions' Easy Pieces, and Psychocandy, by the Jesus and Mary Chain. Oh, I guess I have to add Skinny Puppy to this list. Bites is an awesome record, though a little too bizarre for some people.
I own the deluxe anniversary edition of The Hounds of Love on CD, which is interesting for the bonus material. So many Kate Bush videos feature dancing. I'll admit that I am not a fan of dance.
I once saw Kate Bush in person in Toronto. She was doing an interview and I was holding a position outside the venue and got to see (but not hear) part of the interview through the glass. She waved from the vehicle as it drove her away after the interview. So close, but yet so far.
The Dreaming is simply fantastic from start to finish. Of course, I also have a copy on CD. I am hard pressed to choose a favourite track. Sat in Your Lap, the first track, really gets ones attention, though the video is perplexing, at least to me. But, then again, most of her videos are unusual. I am happy that I decided not to part with the vinyl when I acquired this on CD.
Back in the day, I studied Russian. I was stunned to learn that Kate Bush mangled the pronunciation of babooshka in her song Babooshka. Not only that, the definition of babooshka is grandmother. If I received a scented letter from a woman calling herself Babooshka, I would call the police. But, it is, in the end, a good song, as are the others on this record.
Sadly, I was unable to travel to England to see Kate's return to stage. That would have been awesome. Lionheart is probably my least favourite Kate Bush Record. Well, maybe that is too hasty. The Red Shoes might give it a run for its money. Wow and Oh England my Lionheart are especially memorable, but the other songs didn't leave a big impression on me. But, I enjoy her voice so much that even her weaker albums are still great. I'd take this over the masses of top 40 garbage that is constantly being pumped out by the recording industry. I don't remember where or when I picked up this record.
The Canadian version of The Kick Inside has a different cover, one of at least seven in circulation. I hate it when record companies do that. My favourite piece of trivia about this record is how her song, Wuthering Heights, helped kick Emily Brontë's novel onto the bestseller list. That's cool. Of course, it also reminds me of how I once wrote an essay on Wuthering Heights in high school without having read the novel.
I really think that this album is amazing, especially given Kate's age at the time of release (19) and the age at which she wrote some of the songs (15-16). Moving, James and the Cold Gun, The Man with the Child in His Eyes, and the aforementioned Wuthering Heights are all fantastic.
Finally, we are at #1. First, Steven Page. I am not a fan of BNL (they don't make this list, but I am not that interested in their music, tho I once was). I guess that kills my plans to be a rock star. If such a straight-laced and nice guy can fall for the temptations of cocaine, what hope is there for me? I would be doomed. I have met Steven. In fact, I once had a chat when they were busking on the streets. I sat at the next table at the CASBY Awards one year. He seems like a genuine guy, which makes this all the more sad. Anyway, onto something sinister...
1) Tori Amos - Apologies to the Toriphiles out there for what I am about to write. I loved the first Tori Amos song I ever heard, because I thought it was a joke. I even laughed. I thought she was some sort of satirical act, a female Weird Al Yankovic. Oh yes, there was that breathy self-important voice, a kind of small Kate Bush singing Nirvana's Smell Like Teen Spirit with so much faux emotional intensity. Who wouldn't laugh at that? It was a classic case of recasting a song in an opposing style. Strip out the furious guitar riff, the plaintive voice, and make it all soft and warm - I mean weak and pathetic.
And then, I found out that she was serious. I'd been had. The song had been chased up the charts because some listeners, like me, liked her funny one-hit Nirvana rip off. Later, she destroyed a perfectly good Cure Song. Take the time to go to that link and tell me honestly if you think that it is good music. It's a textbook case of a complete annihilation of a good song. Death by Tori. It is waffling, airy garbage. I am embarrassed for her for releasing such a pile of junk. But, the fans adore it. They love her messages delivered in pseudo-whispers, but I find all of her songs to be emotionally vacant and corny.
On close listen, what one discovers is that she cannot sing, not even close. She covers up her limited vocal range with bizarre and quirky vocalizations that sound halting and dumb. And then there's the breathing. I can't think of another singer whose breathing interferes so much with the lyrics. She hasn't the power of someone like Kate Bush. Earlier, I said she was "a kind of small Kate Bush." Kim Hughes might have said it better when she referred to Tori as a "poor man's Kate Bush." I find nothing original in her music, just a weak attempt at imitation.
Some fans are turning on her too. I think this is a reflection of her decision to self-produce, which either means that one has completely lost perspective or one is a musical genius. The latter is certainly not true in her case. Judging by her lyrics, I'd wager it's a loss of perspective. Here a rather bizarre piece of writing from Ms. Amos:
Father, I killed my monkey I let it out to Taste the sweet of spring Wonder if I will wander out Test my tether to See if I'm still free From you
I rest my case.
...but, if you want a good laugh at the pre-Tori Tori, and by that I mean Y Kant Tori Read, try this. If you have a thing for women who can play the piano with one of their legs resting on the keyboard, this is for you. Yes, yes, if you want to leave abusive comments, please go ahead.
I am off to the dentist and then to the optician to figure out why my new glasses don't work properly. The right eye is blurry :-(
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Dexter, Feist, & Kate Bush
I have watched the first four episodes of Dexter and I have to say that I like it very much. It features Michael C. Hall (of Six Feet Under fame) who plays Dexter Morgan, a blood pattern analyst for the Miami Police Department. He is also a serial killer. So, Dexter is not your typical police procedural or forensics show. The show is based on Darkly Dreaming Dexter, a novel by Jeff Lindsay, a book I have never read and probably never will. Dexter will be broadcast on CBS & CTV, but will suffer at the hand of the censor.
I like reading letters to the editor, and very often I find one that irritates me. Usually, these are political letters from those whose views are antithetical to mine. I am sure we have all had those experiences. And then there are letters about culture or music, like a letter in yesterday's Toronto Star.
A certain Diane Walton wrote: "Hasn't anyone realized that perhaps Feist is a clone of the indomitable Kate Bush?" I wonder why she said "perhaps." Anyway, I disagree. If you are looking for Kate Bush clones, you need look no further than Tori Amos. She even looks like her. But, as Kim Hughes once said, Tori Amos is a poor man's Kate Bush. I couldn't agree more. Anyway, Feist and Kate Bush are miles and miles apart. I think that are very few artists like Bush because her music is eclectic, experimental, and maybe surreal.
The letter also has this statement: "Let it be know that [Kate Bush] set the stage for so many sound-alikes in the 1990s and the new millennium and should be getting the credit." Kate Bush released her fist album in 1978! And, only one album was released in the 1990s: the mediocre Red Shoes in 1993. Since then, we have had Aerial in 2005. In other words, most of Bush's music has been released prior to the 1990s.
I think that Kate Bush has influenced many artists, and I think that the most obvious musician would be Bjork (or even Joanna Newsom), even if the music doesn't really sound the same. And, I don't think we should expect musicians to state their influences, although most do freely and openly. I think that's enough credit.
Feist is a folkie and is closer to people like Cat Power than Kate Bush.
