Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site mit-eddie.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!mhuxj!mhuxt!houxm!ihnp4!mit-eddie!nessus From: nessus@mit-eddie.UUCP (Doug Alan) Newsgroups: net.music Subject: Re: Record Reviews: Jazz, Synth, etc... Message-ID: <4487@mit-eddie.UUCP> Date: Tue, 18-Jun-85 01:52:08 EDT Article-I.D.: mit-eddi.4487 Posted: Tue Jun 18 01:52:08 1985 Date-Received: Wed, 19-Jun-85 04:16:59 EDT References: <93700011@hpcnoa.UUCP> Organization: MIT, Cambridge, MA Lines: 88 ["I believe right now if I could, I would swallow you whole"] > [From dat@hpcnoa.UUCP (Dave Taylor)] > Jazz : Count Basie, Darol Anger/Barbara Higbie, Kate Bush, > Chick Corea, Paco De Lucia and Dave Grisman. ... > Kate Bush, "Never For Ever", EMI I don't really mean to flame, but I'm curious as to why you have classified Kate Bush as "jazz". I'm not really in favor of putting labels on music at all, but I think the jazz influence in Kate Bush's music is fairly minimal. To my ears, her major influences (up until her most recent album "The Dreaming", which is much stranger and than all her previous albums) are healthy doses of traditional folk music, pop, and progressive rock. If forced to put a label on "Never for Ever", I'd say it would be "Avant-Garde Pop" or something like that -- not jazz. In record stores they always put Kate Bush in the "New Wave" section (if they have such a section), which always annoys me to no end. I hate record stores that have different sections for different kinds of music! They always put Peter Gabriel and Bill Nelson in the "New Wave" section, but "Genesis" and "Be-Bop Deluxe" in the "Rock" section! When they have different sections for Rock, Pop, Folk, New Wave, Jazz, Experimental, and Electronic, where do you go to find albums by Captain Beefheart or The Residents or Laurie Anderson or Philip Glass or Fred Frith or Pat Metheny? It drives me batty! In any case, what is it that you hear in Kate Bush's music that would make you think it has jazz roots? I would think that Donald Fagin's album, which you put under "Pop" would have a much, much more jazzy feel to it. > Wow! Kate Bush is one heck of a wonderful singer! Won't argue with that! Not every vocalist has a four octave range! And sense enough to use it with gut-wrenching emotion rather than showing off their technical perfection. > Of all the music that I have, when I am in the mood for some > good music with top vocals I either pull out some Jarreau or > this album! Well I dunno about Jarreau... The 3 minutes of his music that I once heard seemed pretty insipid, if you ask me (not in vocal quality, but in musical content). > For those of you who haven't yet heard anything > by Ms. Bush, you owe it to yourselves to buy this album and > give it a few plays. The musical quality is excellent, and > the vocals are not only wonderful and sweet but the topics > that Kate are singing about are not quite as throwaway as the > first hearing indicates. I'm not sure about this bit about the lyrics. They aren't throwaway at all! Many of Kate Bush's lyrics have layered meanings, so they become more full of meaning the more you look at them. But none of them ever appeared anywhere close to throwaway, even initially, to me. Her layered meanings in lyrics and intricate layered music reach a wonderful pinnacle on "The Dreaming". > One of my favorite tracks on the > album, and one that really shows off Kates' voice, is 'Egypt', Ah, yes! "Egypt" and "Breathing", which is also on "Never for Ever", are two of the very very very best pieces of music ever comitted to vinyl! > a song about the dichotomy between the grandeur of ancient > Egypt and the poverty and terrible living conditions of the > modern day Egyptians. Hey, that's pretty good of you! It took me a long time to realize the meaning of "Egypt", because the lyrics don't contain the whole meaning -- it's the contrast between the lyrics and the music inbetween the verses that give the lyrics this special meaning. > ***** (a definite must-own!) Definitely! Good review! And if "Never for Ever" is five stars, then "The Dreaming" is at least 8! I'd be interested in hearing what you think of the "The Dreaming", though, considering your apparent disdain for "hard rock". "The Dreaming" is quite intense! "She's got me with that feline 'guise Got me in those Desert eyes" Doug Alan nessus@mit-eddie.UUCP (or ARPA)