🚀 go-pugleaf

Love-Hounds Digest			Issue L1

Topics:

 * Corrections to yesterday's long winded caution.
 * When you wish upon a star in a big country all your dreams come true
 * A boy and his hound
 * In-Oblique-Reply-To: J.A. Rossi's dissertation on audio tape
 * Tape TAPE Tape TAPE Tape
 * Jane Sibbery; M+M
 * Doug's 20th Century Picks
 * Re:  Doug's 20th Century Picks
 * A LITTLE NET.MUSIC
 * KaTching up with the pack
 * "What's that?"
 * Re:  KaTching up with the pack

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Organization: The MITRE Corp., Bedford, MA
Date: Fri, 20 Jun 86 09:57:44 EDT
From: Chris J. Valas <cv%linus@mitre-bedford.ARPA>
Posted-Date: Fri, 20 Jun 86 09:57:44 EDT

> 1) The new Big Country album, entitled "The Seer," which is to be 
> released on Monday (June 23rd), contains a Kate Bush duet on the title
> track.   (I'm pretty pissed that the KBC didn't send out a notice 
> about this...)

Yay! Kate Bush duets with certified desperate-to-be-liked
anything-for-a-fucking-hit assholes.  Their contribution to rock
consists solely of figuring out how to make a guitar sound like
bagpipes.  A band with real balls would get a guy with REAL bagpipes
up there.  

Of course, all you completist types are going to buy their ALBUM, and
the SINGLE, and the DANCE REMIX, just so you don't miss out on the
tinsiest bit of "Our Beloved".  And then every time your friends come
over to pose for a while you'll have to go through fucking gyrations
to explain to the partially hip ones why it is that you own a Big
Useless record (and single, and dance remix), plus the latest issue of
Tiger Beat, you know, the one with Leif Garretsonwanker on the cover,
"just for the paragraph on Big Country, they mention Kate!"

Sad fucks, wake me up when its over.

valas

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Date: 20 Jun 86 10:59:00 PST
From: "ROSSI J.A." <rossi@nusc.ARPA>
Subject: Corrections to yesterday's long winded caution.
Reply-To: "ROSSI J.A." <rossi@nusc.ARPA>


1.  Although many studio mastering decks use 1/2" backcoated tape, they usually
    run at 30 IPS not 32 IPS (I have no idea why i typed that number).

2.  Most high quality 'quasi-pro' reel decks for mastering use 1/4" tape in
    a half-track mode (i.e., two tracks in the same direction which are about
    3/32" wide).  Such decks are marketed by Revox, Tascam, Otari, Fostex?,
    and usually operate at a maximum speed of 15 IPS.  These decks usually
    have provision for some automatic switching noise reduction systems such
    as DBX or Dolby A.

3.  The statement concerning the comparison between Beta and VHS HIFI may have
    been misleading.  I believe that the Beta format is probably better 
    (although Audio Review doesen't agree), since it appears to have better
    transient response and relies less heavily on companding (DBX-like)
    circuits to achieve its speced performance.  I chose VHS-HIFI because I
    needed to rationalize the purchase on more musical interests, and since
    VHS is the most popular video format in the East (rentals are abundant)
    I was willing to make the small sacrifice in musical quality.  I also
    believe that Beta is the better video format, also, however, and have
    been an avid Beta- videofile for about 6 years. [HQ isn't all its
    cracked uop to be, and certainly comes nowhere close to Super-Beta in
    video performance].

Sorry about any confusion,

John

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Date: Fri, 20 Jun 86 15:30:23 EDT
From: nessus (Doug Alan)
Subject: When you wish upon a star in a big country all your dreams come true

> From: Chris J. Valas <cv%linus@mitre-bedford.ARPA>

>> 1) The new Big Country album, entitled "The Seer," which is to be 
>> released on Monday (June 23rd), contains a Kate Bush duet on the title
>> track.   (I'm pretty pissed that the KBC didn't send out a notice 
>> about this...)

> Yay! Kate Bush duets with certified desperate-to-be-liked
> anything-for-a-fucking-hit assholes.

Well, no one said that Big Country has any merit, did they?

> Of course, all you completist types are going to buy their ALBUM, and
> the SINGLE, and the DANCE REMIX, just so you don't miss out on the
> tinsiest bit of "Our Beloved".

Of course.  Isn't that what fandom is all about?  I mean, it beats
collecting stamps or beating up old ladies in our spare time to while
away the boredom of an ultimately futile existence.

> And then every time your friends come over to pose for a while
> you'll have to go through fucking gyrations to explain to the
> partially hip ones why it is that you own [...] the latest issue of
> Tiger Beat, you know, the one with Leif Garretsonwanker on the
> cover, "just for the paragraph on Big Country, they mention Kate!"

Nah, I just write the paragraph down on the back of my hand while at
the magazine stand (until the bouncer comes over and says "Hey, this
ain't no library"), so I'm never faced with *that* particular
embarassment.  It's difficult enough explaining why I have 10 copies
of *Hounds of Love*.

> Sad fucks, wake me up when its over.

			"Look who's here to see you!"

			 Doug

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Date: Fri, 20 Jun 86 16:03:07 EDT
From: nessus (Doug Alan)
Subject: A boy and his hound

> From: IED0DXM%UCLAMVS.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU

> I reluctantly agree with Hugh that the new picture disc seems a
> pretty routine affair.  Not much inspiration behind it; but who
> cares?  It's still another brick in the great edifice of art and
> persona that is Kate Bush, and as such is welcome.

Well, now, lets not get caried away.  I can hardly see it as being a
"brick in the great edifice of art".  It just one of those things like
an autograph or an offical fan club monogrammed toaster that fans want
because they are human, and for a little while it makes them feel a
little bit closer to the person they admire and to the community of
other fans.  In any reasonable sense, it's totally worthless.  But
then, who's reasonable.

In any case, for ordering information on something that almost
certainly is a brick in the great edifice of art and persona that is
Kate Bush, the photograph book of Kate as a kid, *Cathy*, is available
only by post from

	Kindlight
	PO Box 30
	Welling, Kent  DA16 3DL
	England

The price is 25.00 Pounds (no, Kate doesn't come cheap!) per copy, plus
5.41 Pounds air mail or 1.73 Pounds surface mail.  They will only
accept Sterling drafts to be drawn on a bank in London for payment.
Make checks payable to "Kindlight".

> There is absolutely no question that,to date, The Dreaming and
> Hounds of Love constitute, collectively, the greatest achievement in
> 20th century Western music.

You don't even need HoL in there.  But we should probably also give a
nod to Stravinski and The Beatles....

	"She kept asking me 'Do you know what love is?' Sure I know
	what love is.  A boy loves his dog."

	Doug


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Date:     Sat, 21 Jun 86  00:55:38 EDT
From: joelll%UMass.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU  (Tech_Noir)
Subject:  In-Oblique-Reply-To: J.A. Rossi's dissertation on audio tape

hi...

it would be wonderful to find a way to use magtape-type tape for
audio recording...that is, find something cheaper than a CDC tape
transport for use as a tape deck...

just dreaming,
joelll

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From: Jeff Dalton <jeff%aiva.edinburgh.ac.uk@Cs.Ucl.AC.UK>
Date: Fri, 20 Jun 86 18:10:26 -0100
Subject: Tape TAPE Tape TAPE Tape

Whatever happened to the UseNet tape?  IS it possible to get a copy?

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From: Henry Chai <ihnp4!utflis!chai>
Subject: Jane Sibbery; M+M

In early June, Jane Siberry played two nights at the Forum, an open-air
amphitheatre at the Ontario Place (an exhibition/amusement place).  You
only have to pay the $5 admission for the park and you can go to the
concert "for free".  Real Bargain if you ask me.

Anyway, they opened the show with "Vladimir, Vladimir", with the two
backing singers and JS herself doing the dialogue (part I). She did all
of the songs from "The Speckless Sky" and 4 from "No Borders Here",
including of course "Mimi on the Beach", which recieved a standing
ovation.  As encore she did "Taxi Ride", a much more powerful rendition
then on the album, with herself on acoustic guitar backed with bass and
drums, and also "Symmetry".  The monologues for "Extra Executives" (Do
*YOU* like grouper fish??) and "Dancing Class" were longer than the
album versions.  She played a bit on the drums, and for "Dancing Class"
she donned a tutu and danced on tiptoes.  Didn't say much but she said
she's gonna tour the US.  So look out if you're a JS-fan.

Did any of you USians see her new video for "One more Color", directed
for the US market, yet?  When asked why she had a cow in it,  she said
that horses are too pretty, too "girlish", and goats and sheep aren't
right.  Cows are great 'coz they're gentle creatures, just walking
along...

M+M will be playing at the Forum in July.  Their new album "The World
is a Ball" is OK, with several songs having that typical new-wave
sound.  The song that stands out the most is "By the Waters of
Babylon".  It has a rhythm track in the background, and steel-drum-like
and other synthesized sounds, creating an effect not unlike the jungle
sounds in "Pull Out the Pin", but of course at a much lower level.  The
single "There's a Song in my Head" is already climbing the charts here
in "Tronto". (There's a 12" with 4 different mixes of this song.)

--henry

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From: "ROSSI J.A." <rossi@nusc.ARPA>
Date: 21 Jun 86 12:48:00 PST
Subject: Doug's 20th Century Picks

I must say that I am amazed that Doug has even heard of Stravinski, let alone
put someone out of vogue in a class with our beloved and (ugh!) The Insects

John

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Date: Sat, 21 Jun 86 15:22:43 EDT
From: nessus (Doug Alan)
Subject: Re:  Doug's 20th Century Picks

> From: "ROSSI J.A." <rossi@nusc.ARPA>

> I must say that I am amazed that Doug has even heard of Stravinski, let alone
> put someone out of vogue in a class with our beloved and (ugh!) The Insects

Jeez, the repsect I get, huh?  How could a fan of innovative music not
have heard of Stravinki???  *The Rite of Spring* is certrainly one of
the very greatest pieces of music ever written.  (And Birdsongs of the
Mesozoic do a wonderful version of it.)   And what is this "Ugh!"ing
about The Beatles???  They were incredible -- just ask Kate.

		"And in her eyes you see nothing,
		 No sign of love behind the tears cried for no one"

		 Doug

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Date: Sun, 22 Jun 86 15:46:26 EDT
From: nessus (Doug Alan)
Subject: A LITTLE NET.MUSIC

Yes, the usenet music tape IS available.  It costs $4 including postage from

		Greg Taylor
		907 Jenifer Street #2
		Madison, WI  53703

It includes wonderful tracks by nrl-css!wicinski, hofmann@amsaa.arpa,
pur-ee!hsut, potomac!jsl, stolaf!robertsl, rossi@nusc.arpa, pyuxd!rlr,
?vax!tjjw, artroatc!gtaylor, and a host of others.  Order one today
and own a little piece of networked culture.

				-Doug

"Seven days turns to seven years"

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Date:    Sun, 22 Jun 86 17:02 PDT
From: IED0DXM%UCLAMVS.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU
Subject: KaTching up with the pack

Here is my reply to the past week's
L-Hs; first chance I've had to log on.

>We should note, too, that Kate Bush's "Hounds of Love" album which I
>conservatively estimated as selling 400,000 copies, has in fact sold
>over 600,000 copies.

This is good to know. Record Mirror is the only publication that I know
of that publishes the sales status of charted records. Yet ever since
October '85, when Kate's HoL received its first platinum star, no
further sales records have been added to its listing in RM's charts.
Not having seen the June 21 issue yet, I can only assume that this
has now been corrected. (300,000 sales constitutes platinum in the UK,
if I remember right.) It's interesting that the first platinum was
achieved in a matter of about three or four weeks, but that the second
took an additional five or six months -- despite the presence of HoL
in the British top 50 all that time. Isn't the vagueness of these
chartlistings frustrating?

>Foo!

What does this mean?

>Yay! Kate Bush duets with certified desperate-to-be-liked
>anything-for-a-fucking-hit assholes.  Their contribution to rock
>consists solely of figuring out how to make a guitar sound like
>bagpipes.  A band with real balls would get a guy with REAL bagpipes
>up there.

>Of course, all you completist types are going to buy their ALBUM, and
>the SINGLE, and the DANCE REMIX, just so you don't miss out on the
>tinsiest bit of "Our Beloved".  And then every time your friends come
>over to pose for a while you'll have to go through fucking gyrations
>to explain to the partially hip ones why it is that you own a Big
>Useless record (and single, and dance remix), plus the latest issue of
>Tiger Beat, you know, the one with Leif Garretsonwanker on the cover,
>"just for the paragraph on Big Country, they mention Kate!"

>Sad fucks, wake me up when its over.

>valas

Who is this abusive person, and why is he/she so angry?
I cannot say that I have ever considered buying a record
by Big Country before, although I vaguely remember being
mildly impressed by their sound -- at least, I think I thought,
they are distinctive, and immediately recognizable. However,
if Kate Bush has recorded with them, I am far more sanguine
following HER lead than "valas"'s! What on earth has "posing"
got to do with Kate Bush fanaticism, anyway? And by what obscure
biological process is masculinity connected with the choice
of a synthetic over an acoustic bagpipes effect?

>Nah, I just write the paragraph down on the back of my hand while at
>the magazine stand (until the bouncer comes over and says "Hey, this
>ain't no library"), so I'm never faced with *that* particular
>embarassment.  It's difficult enough explaining why I have 10 copies
>of *Hounds of Love*.

When I lived in Cambridge (ca. '75-'79) I always read MM, NME, etc. in
the old Out of Town in H. Square, only buying when KT news appeared.
The proprietor inevitably tried to intimidate with obnoxious "Can I help
you?"s and "Are ya gonna buy that, mister?"s I finally moved back to L.A.

>Well, now, lets not get caried away.  I can hardly see it as being a
>"brick in the great edifice of art".

The above in reference to my defense of hokey sales exploitation
trinket ("Big Sky" picdisc). A dab of hastily mixed mortar, then, maybe?

>The price is 25.00 Pounds (no, Kate doesn't come cheap!) per copy...

And the Sterling draft cost me another $20.00! And two more volumes
in preparation! Ah, but what price Art?

>You don't even need HoL in there.  But we should probably also give a
>nod to Stravinski and The Beatles....

I still cannot accept that HoL is somehow less significant
than The Dreaming, simply because it is more "accessible", or
less "threatening". To risk sounding pretentious, couldn't
The Dreaming be compared to Beethoven's 5th, and HoL to his 6th?
Is one really less "great" than the other, simply because one
is more benign, and less forbidding?

I wasn't in the least surprised at your wise references, Doug. You have
my vote of confidence. And those are very good alternatives for
the dubious and watery title "greatest" of the century.
What about Samuel Barber, though? And I assume you're not allowing
nineteenth century composers who happened to live well into our era,
such as Rachmaninoff or Scriabin?  And what of Shostakovich, Prokoviev,
Schoenberg, etc.?  And some (not I) might argue for Bartok, or Berg,
or Webern, or Ravel, or any of a dozen or so others. I had a friend
in high school who swore that Charles Ives, of all people, was the
only reputable artist, in ANY medium, of our century. But he (my friend)
became a geologist...
This is why I try to confine myself to the subject of KT.
I'm sure no-one will object, after this.

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Date:    Sun, 22 Jun 86 17:52 PDT
From: IED0DXM%UCLAMVS.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU
Subject: "What's that?"

I appreciate the lengthy specs analysis of
video audio-recording characteristics. Dropout is
the least of my problems. I re-emphasize that
I will never give up my KT record collection,
or any other discs of really cherished music,
but 90% of my stuff I can live without, at least
in bulky vinyl form.
I'm aware of the limitations of the sound reproduction
in 8mm, but, to my ears, at least, the sound is miles
ahead of conventional audio tape already, and since
my primary aim is to regain some of the space which
my record collection has been usurping from me over the
years, open reel is not a feasible alternative. In what
other system can you put every recording the Beatles ever
made on one palm-sized cassette, and still have another
five to ten hours to spare? The fine distinctions between
75 decibels and 80 decibels, etc., are beyond my barbaric
ears' capacity to notice. I am a CD convert, but since
music is more important to me than sound reproduction, I
can hardly be expected to content myself with CDs' miserable
little catalog. And as for dropout, well, all of these systems
will be made obsolete before another ten years have gone by anyway.
Won't we have digital home recording by then, or something?

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Date: Sun, 22 Jun 86 23:58:10 EDT
From: nessus (Doug Alan)
Subject: Re:  KaTching up with the pack

> From Andrew Marvick:

>> valas

> Who is this abusive person, and why is he/she so angry?

Don't get too upset, Andrew.  I mean according to Kate, Sid Vicious
got into Rock 'N Roll Heaven, right?  And I'm sure if Sid were alive
today and here, and we told him that we were going to buy Big
Country's album just to hear Kate sing, he'd be must less tactfull --
he'd just regurgitate on us.  Ah, culture.

>> [Me:] The price is 25.00 Pounds [for *Cathy*] (no, Kate doesn't
>> come cheap!) per copy...

> And the Sterling draft cost me another $20.00! And two more volumes
> in preparation! Ah, but what price Art?

"Sport death", I always say.  I sent British cash.

>> You don't even need HoL in there.  But we should probably also give
>> a nod to Stravinski and The Beatles....

> I still cannot accept that HoL is somehow less significant
> than The Dreaming, simply because it is more "accessible", or
> less "threatening".

But *The Dreaming* is clearly more significant than *Hounds of Love*,
because it came first.  It is a landmark.  It did new things, created
new sounds, explored new territories, used the studio as a
compositional instrument to an unprecedented degree.  The rest of pop
music is still catching up to it.  *Hounds of Love* is mostly a
refinement and mixture of everything Kate had previously done into
something more immediately muscial.  One might argue that it is as
good (though it isn't), but it's certainly not as important.

			-Doug

"And a rock feels no pain
 And an island does not cry"

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Return-Path: EMAILDEV%UKACRL.BITNET@WISCVM.ARPA
Via:      UK.AC.SUSX.VAX2; 23 JUN 86 11:11:31 BST
Date:     23-JUN-1986 10:59:54
From: SSUD3%UK.AC.SUSSEX.VAX2@AC.UK


Wow! My first "flame" while writing to the net!  I was wondering
how long it would take before that happened....

Just to clarify something - a lot of things I post to the net are
mainly for the benefit of other fans who are much more intent on
collecting Kate-related stuff than I am. After having my 5-year
collection of rare singles suddenly warp into oblivion for no
apparent reason last September, I havn't really been able to invest
the same time, money and energy into this particular "hobby.

On the other hand, I know that other's still have their enthusiasm,
so I like to pass on information that they might be interested in.

No, I'm not very impressed by Big Country, although I'll be interested
in hearing their new album, since I've always thought that there
were a lot of folk influences struggling to dig out from Steve Lillywhite's
production....But I'm still not sure if I'll actually BUY the entire album.

In any case, even if I did buy it (along with the multicolored vinyl remixes...)
I still wouldn't have to make any excuses for it. As Doug said, there's
nothing wrong with a hobby...

Hugh


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End of Love-Hounds Digest