Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.3 4.3bsd-beta 6/6/85; site mit-eddie.MIT.EDU Path: utzoo!decvax!bellcore!ulysses!allegra!mit-eddie!gds From: gds@mit-eddie.MIT.EDU (Greg Skinner) Newsgroups: mod.music Subject: Love-Hounds Digest Message-ID: <2211@mit-eddie.MIT.EDU> Date: Sat, 7-Jun-86 19:40:11 EDT Article-I.D.: mit-eddi.2211 Posted: Sat Jun 7 19:40:11 1986 Date-Received: Sun, 8-Jun-86 04:49:29 EDT Organization: MIT Lusers and Hosers Inc., Cambridge, Ma. Lines: 266 Approved: gds@eddie.mit.edu Love-Hounds Digest Saturday, June 7, 1986, 19:43 EDT Today's Topics: Frankenchrist sales boost Cadbury bars? Oh, forchrissake! Re: Concert review (of Depeche Mode) [][][][][][][][][][] Return-Path: EMAILDEV%UKACRL.BITNET@WISCVM.ARPA Via: UK.AC.SUSX.VAX2; 4 JUN 86 13:49:44 BST Date: 4-JUN-1986 13:48:44 From: SSUD3%UK.AC.SUSSEX.VAX2@AC.UK "SOUNDS" Does a total Hatchet Job on Kate - newsflash from Britain.... I just picked up the latest copy of "Sounds" (June 7 issue) which just came out today (Wednesday, June 4). At first, I was really excited when I saw that Kate was on the cover, although I was puzzled by the use of one of the most commonly available record company promo-photo of her (the one with her head resting with her palms on her temples). Then my heart sank when I saw who wrote the "article" - the Infamous Richard Cook, who interviewed her after the release of "The Dreaming" in '82, and filled the article with sarcastic and petty sniping at her (then why bother to interview her?). Anyway, despite the "front cover status", this "article" is nothing more than an enxtended forum for his criticisms of Kate, with no input whatsoever from her. Although it is too long to completely transcribe (and I have a paper due tomorrow) here are the low-lights... "Kate Bush, a teenager from a wealthy middle-class family, had art-rock waiting for her like a gift from the tooth fairy. The dinosaurs of her listening youth weren't monsters for her. Pink Floyd, the most miserable group that ever existed (Doug's gonna LOVE this!) and the skeleton in many a pioneer's closet, provided her first archangel in the form of David Gilmour, who produced that first studio work. She would later admit her fascination with `The Wall.' It's not hard to perceive the echoes of Floyd's weary symphonies in the Bush catalogue." On "The Kick Inside": "The tunes sounded like the fussy little melodies one associates with musical sewing boxes. The record is a folly..." "One can toil through Bush's work making flip comparisons all the time, but it's a search that turns over no personal vision on all these bits and pieces." "This grain-by-grain pursuit, a quintessence of art-rock, reached overload with `The Dreaming.' IT'S A THUNDEROUSLY AWFUL LP. AFTER THE OPENING `SAT IN YOUR LAP', AN ENERGETIC HOWL ABOUT THE GETTING OF WISDOM, THE RECORD COLLAPSES INTO A SLUGGISH, ELEPHANTINE BLOW-OUT OF WORDS AND MUSIC IN SEARCH OF MEANING AND STRUCTURE. EVEN BUSH'S FAITHFUL WERE FOXED BY IT." !!!!!! "The second side (of Hounds of Love) is a dream sequence that's about as substantial as cotton wool" "Bush can't create anything more than a mood, a nostalgia for the resonance of art. She's like someone who flicks through the pages of a book, impatient for the pictures to come up. It has always been the way of art-rock" "Bush, like Peter Gabriel and Jim Kerr, is a mere translator. A simple soul. A show woman. She is really NO MORE PROFOUND THAN SHEENA EASTON, and you can't imagine Bush making a record that's as much fun (or vapid -ed) as "SUGAR WALLS" (this is getting funny...) or "Like a Virgin". When asked if she might be a bit strange, she says yes, she might be. I think not." "After all, we all know `Kate', don't we? She's not strange, or barmy, or anything that's very far out of line. She just passes on her dreams; she sets art to rock. "And somehow, we find it all fascinating. Then we knock; but she does not let us in-a-her window." Well, that's "it" - anyone who wants to send letters, the address is Sounds - Letters dept. Greater London House Hampstead Road London, NW1 7QZ ENGLAND tel: 01-387 6611 (Once again, the article was by Richard Cook, in the June 7 issue of Sounds. (And the article was called "The Girl [sic] With the Stars in Her Eyes") Happy Writing! Hugh Maher Brighton, England [][][][][][][][][][] Date: Wed, 4 Jun 86 08:53 MST From: "James J. Lippard" Subject: Frankenchrist sales boost Reply-To: Lippard@MULTICS.MIT.EDU Album poster prompts pornography charges (UPI) LOS ANGELES--Pornography charges have been filed against five people in the distribution of an allegedly obscene poster packaged with an album by the San Francisco punk rock group Dead Kennedys, prosecutors said Tuesday. Among those charged in the misdemeanor complaint stemming from the Frankenchrist album is the group's lead singer, Eric Boucher, 27, of San Francisco, who uses the stage name Jello Biafra and who once ran for mayor of that city. "The poster depicts a close-up montage of 10 explicit sex acts," said City Attorney James Hahn. "It's hard to imagine a more sexually explicit poster, and it was the height of irresponsibility for it to be packaged with an album distributed to minors." Hahn said the investigation began last December when a woman wrote the state attorney general's office complaining about the poster after her teen-age daughter bought the album from the Wherehouse, a record store that is part of a chain, as a gift for her 11-year-old brother. Wherehouse officials later voluntarily pulled the albums off their shelves, authorities said. The letter was forwarded in January to Hahn, who ordered an investigation. Charged with one count each of violating a penal code section that prohibits distribution of harmful matter to minors were Boucher and record distribution executives Michael Bonanno, 25, of Alternative Tentacles Records; Debra Schwartz, 26, of Mordam Records; and Steve Boudreau, 38, of Greenworld Distributors. Also charged was Salvatore Alberti, 66, of Huntington Beach, Calif., whose company was accused of inserting the posters into the album covers and applying stickers on the outside stating the poster is a "work of art". The defendants are scheduled to be arraigned in Municipal Court July 3. They face maximum penalties of a year in jail and a $2,000 fine if convicted. Jim (Lippard at MULTICS.MIT.EDU) [][][][][][][][][][] Return-Path: EMAILDEV%UKACRL.BITNET@WISCVM.ARPA Via: UK.AC.SUSX.VAX2; 4 JUN 86 17:37:00 BST Date: 4-JUN-1986 17:09:23 From: SSUD3%UK.AC.SUSSEX.VAX2@AC.UK RE: "the Big (Budgie) Sky Video" (Sorry, the system over here can't afford an extra prompt for inserting a subject...) Well, I really doubt that she purposely planned it to be random and somewhat incomprehensible, since she said in the last KBC newsletter that the thing she hates most about rock videos is how unstructured they are. I totally agree with this - unless the song is really unstructured and stream-of-consciousness to begin with. For me, at least, if the visual images are totally unrelated from the music, they tend to distract my attention from the music (maybe that's the point...) since I'm trying so hard to figure out what the f*ck is going on on the screen. One thing about Kate's videos (especially her earlier ones) is that they tend(ed) to be fairly simple, with just her dancing around a stage, but moving her body and facial expressions in ways that complemented and illuminated parts of the song. This technique was employed effectively throughout ALL her videos (with the possible exception of "Army Dreamers", which to me totally kills the song - why is the mother of the dead soldier dressed up in army fatigues running around a forest with a plastic gun? - it was a bit too literal, i.e. "It's about the army, so lets dress her up as a soldier" I like the German TV version better, where she's dressed up as the mother in cleaning rags, doing a little waltz with her broom) Boy, I sort of got off the subject there. Anyway, as I was saying, this simple movement/music technique worked in all her videos, reaching its pinnicle in the original (non-mtv) video for "Running up that Hill". In this one, it looks like she had a lot of time to think of the choreography and exactly match it to what was being said in the music (example: the "christ on the cross" imagry during the lines about "You don't want to hurt me, but see how deep the bullet lies") "Cloudbusting" presented a problem in that it couldn't be easily set to a dance routine, and a "storyline" format probably worked better, although the idea of using the music as a "soundtrack" in the back of independent action on the screen is again very distracting. Still one of her best, though. OK, "Hounds of Love" totally bit the dust in my eyes, although I really have to watch it a few more times to look out for all the little things Doug Alan told me about. Basically, the propulsive rhythm of the song totally clashed with the visual images. I'm not sure how much I can really pick out what I didn't like about it... I guess I just didn't like it as much. Finally, with "the Big Sky," I saw somewhat of an improvement, but was put off by the ultra MTV fast-cutting manic action of it all. Once again, I probably have to see it a few more times to absorb all the visual layers. I think this would have been a really good video for mixing live action with animation, but I guess there wasn't time for it. On the other hand, she looks really endearingly cute and playful, and as someone else pointed out, that reynolds wrap jumpsuit she's wearing on the chimmney is to die for....it'll probably show up on Alexis in the next segment of Dynasty. Her dancing is somewhat dorky (maybe intentionally? - How easy is it to dance around on the top of a chimmney?), and those pants don't seem as baggy as they should....is she trying to cover up eating too many cadbury's bars? OK, I'll keep to artistic criticism here....Basically, I think that it's a pretty good video, but missed it's chance at being a GREAT one due to lack of time (if not neccessarily budget). It's interesting seen some really good videos being done these days that are a return to the "minimalist" (ha!) school, in which the band just performs the song. However, it takes a lot of creativity and personality to make this type of video work, and a good example of this would probably be the video of "Would I lie to You?" by Eurythmics. Oh well, let's see what comments this stirs up..... Hugh [][][][][][][][][][] Date: Wed, 4 Jun 86 13:40:56 EDT From: nessus (Doug Alan) Subject: Cadbury bars? No, no.... Too many Kit Kats.... [][][][][][][][][][] Date: Wed, 04 Jun 86 16:14 PDT From: IED0DXM%UCLAMVS.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU Subject: Oh, forchrissake! KATE BUSH...remember? [][][][][][][][][][] Date: Thu, 5 Jun 86 04:05:46 EDT From: nessus (Doug Alan) Subject: Re: Concert review (of Depeche Mode) I wouldn't be so sure David Gahan of Depeche mode doesn't like women! In one of those *Star Hits* star polls, he voted for Kate Bush as "Most desirable human being" (he also voted for her for best song and best female singer....). -Doug [][][][][][][][][][] -- It's like a jungle sometimes, it makes me wonder how I keep from goin' under. Greg Skinner (gregbo) {decvax!genrad, allegra, gatech, ihnp4}!mit-eddie!gds gds@eddie.mit.edu