By accident googling for a more forgettable artist

[saloldgal]

Hi all -

I just got my very first CD (Hounds of Love) from Amazon two days ago. I learned about her totally by accident while googling for some other artist whose identity I have already totally forgotten (can you guess why?). I have been a Peter Gabriel fan since the early '80s, and when I saw her name (which was hyperlinked to a bio), I recognized it as one I had seen in his liner notes from "So". So I clicked on the link and the rest is history...

Well OK... more specifically, I ended up ordering the one I just got, plus three more (The Kick Inside, The Dreaming and The Sensual World) that I am still impatiently awaiting. After listening to this one CD I have received (about 10 times now) I am already so completely addicted that I told my husband that he has to take it to work with him tomorrow so that I can get some work done here...

I'm about to date myself, but I just can't believe that I have been needlessly living without this since 1978 when I was 15.

[Xanadu]

Hi again Sal!

Glad to see you're digging up some threads. We need some new excitement here in your discovery of Kate. Things have been a little slow, but I hope you can help us with that.

So, (pun intended ;D) what's your favorite Gabriel music? Did you know that he gives Kate most of the credits as to how Don't Give Up eventually sounded, since I was originally sort of country? A real collaboration. The more you listen to Kate, you'll hear what he means.

You ordered some other great albums. What am I saying... they're really all great. But yyou did get an interesting mix. The Kick Inside has all the youth, innocence, romance and excitement - the first album. The Dreaming is the most difficult to appreciate - her fourth album - the most experimental but brilliant. The Sensual World - the 6th - is just that, absolutely lush and feminine. The Hounds of Love is probably the best place to start, in my opinion, but I'm sure some here will disagree with me. You won't have my two favorites yet, Never For Ever and The Red Shoes, but they are worth the wait.

And don't worry about dating yourself since we have fans from all ages here and countries. I know... can you believe you have been looking for an artist like Kate all this time... and there she was for the last 25 years (just well hidden in the UK!). I thought "how did I miss this?!" ;D

[Lori]

Hey Sal! Glad you stumbled across us, and welcome as a new Kate listener

Zan's right, you have ordered some great albums (and yeah, they're all great ), but may I recomend Lionheart next. My personal favourite are The Kick Inside, The Dreaming & Lionheart.

Hope you stick around, and don't forget to give us some comments as you listen to each album yeah! It's great to hear what new ears think

[saloldgal]

Hi and thanks for the nice welcome to this board!

Since I was on this board last, I have gotten my second, third and fourth Kate CDs. They are "The Kick Inside", "The Dreaming" and "The Sensual World" ("Hounds of Love" was my fist Kate CD). I love them all! I especially love "The Dreaming". It's hard to even describe how I felt after listening to it the first time (and every time since, to some degree), but the words "stunned" and "excited" would probably be involved. This may sound really strange, but I basically had the feeling that I had just witnessed something of huge significance, complete with an accompanying, urgent feeling that I had to "do something about it". I was literally left sitting there with my eyes popping and my mouth hanging open. I would never have imagined that a CD could affect me that way. I wonder if anyone else has had a similar feeling after listening to it?

This woman's intelligence, talent, creativity and GUTS just blow me away. It is so rare to find a musician that can "think outside the box" the way she does. Its also rare to find one that has the means and purity of motivation that must be necessary to get this kind of music to market; the fact is, when it comes to music (and visual arts, literature, food, ideas...), mediocrity and imitation always seem to sell better than excellence and innovation.

The fact that people typically prefer "entertainment" (think "divas") over "art" (think "Kate", naturally) has alway mystified me, but reading up on her music has actually helped me understand it better. When I was reading her jillions of rave reviews posted on Amazon.com and elsewhere, words like "work", "difficult", and "challenging" kept popping up. Also, with reference to "The Dreaming" in particular, many of the reviewers said that repeated listenings might be required appreciate her music. Although none of this describes how I have experienced her music, it apparently does describe how many of her fans have experienced it. That reveals to me something that has probably always been obvious to everyone else: "Entertainment" is more popular than "Art" because people are lazy by nature, and "Art" requires more effort, adaptability and/or commitment from its consumers.

So now I just have to figure out how Britney Spears fits into this theory, since getting thru just one of her songs requires more effort, adaptability and commitment than I have ever been able to muster... Does that make her music "Art"? Hmmm....

"This is soup
and this is art.
Soup.
Art.
Art.
Soup.
No, that's Cream of Wheat..."

(from "The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe" by Jane Wagner).

[Adey]

You have described almost perfectly my initial responses on first hearing The Dreaming..

I remember I too was stunned and left with that "I must evangelise about this" feeling. In truth, a few tracks made me think WTF is this? But that overall effect of hearing the whole thing is something I hadn't experienced before and don't expect to again. I felt physically overwhelmed by it and immediately knew that it was profoundly important work. At a stroke, I had to completely re-evaluate my entire perception of Kate Bush as an artist. That I then grew to adore very note/sound/nuance of the recording hardly seems worth mentioning. The significance of the work was such that it seemed irrelevant whether I actually liked it or not..

Simply put, for me it's her masterpiece - the defining work. Maybe the greatest suite of music/songs yet commited to plastic by a contemporary artist. And to think that I'd purchased it that day only because Kate was signing records in my local HMV, and felt I guilty about asking her to autograph the TKI, LH & NFE without buying the new one!

What more can you say?

[Al Truest]

saloldgal said:

Hi and thanks for the nice welcome to this board!

Since I was on this board last, I have gotten my second, third and fourth Kate CDs. They are "The Kick Inside", "The Dreaming" and "The Sensual World" ("Hounds of Love" was my fist Kate CD). I love them all! I especially love "The Dreaming". It's hard to even describe how I felt after listening to it the first time (and every time since, to some degree), but the words "stunned" and "excited" would probably be involved. This may sound really strange, but I basically had the feeling that I had just witnessed something of huge significance, complete with an accompanying, urgent feeling that I had to "do something about it". I was literally left sitting there with my eyes popping and my mouth hanging open. I would never have imagined that a CD could affect me that way. I wonder if anyone else has had a similar feeling after listening to it?

As others may know here, ''The Dreaming'' is also my favorite. It represents her most unfettered and creative force. It also represents the reality of economics and critisism. The resulting struggles and difficulties that I believe were brought on by this watershed project and later by ''Red Shoes'', were precipated by the reception of those that preferred she stay in a category. I think that Ms Bush enjoys the art and the process. The fame, noteriety and the negative observations are all unwanted byproducts of the industry. Her uncompromising excellence and expectations dictate that she work at her own pace and in accord with her vision.

... Does that make her music "Art"? Hmmm....

"This is soup
and this is art.
Soup.
Art.
Art.
Soup.
No, that's Cream of Wheat..."

(from "The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe" by Jane Wagner).

Art, there again, may be chicken soup for the soul. However, I prefer a nice gazpacho.