What’s really funny is that though most of the songs on her early albums were considered deeply weird by US execs and radio programmers, including her massive hit “Wuthering Heights” which admittedly is about as deeply weird as they get, Kate was considered fairly mainstream in other countries. When she releases an album that truly IS deeply weird, The Dreaming, she was finally considered too out there in the UK and other countries, but was finally noticed in the US by music magazines and college radio and started to get the respect she deserved here in America.
The Dreaming is, btw, my favorite album. Not just by Kate, but by anybody, ever. It’s my Desert Island Disc if I could only take one. Assuming I could play it, because it’d be pure torture having it with me and not being able to play it. It did take me several listens to get though. Now, even though I’ve heard it 1000+++ times, I still hear new things in it every time I listen.
She was one of the performers at the Olympic Games in London along with all the other music star royalty.
I personally don’t like her stuff, but she has a powerful voice. I used to listen to Virgin Radio online. Broadcasting from London, they occasionally played Wuthering Heights, never liked it.
*Wuthering Heights * was probably the worst song she ever released. She is a terrific song writer and the arrangements and production on all of her music is faultless.
She is only one of plenty of European artists who hasn’t broken in America. Here in Australia we get the best of all the US, British, European and local acts but, as we don’t favor one source over another, we get to miss a little of the crap.
Beat me with the link Baron. Thanks! Your’s is much better than mine.
Zebra, that last line sounds derogatory and if so, that’s not fair. She’s a very very private person and lives a very normal life, a welcome from the whirlwind hoopla her record company put her through during her early years. The more control she got over her life and music, the less she appeared in public. She doesn’t go out clubbing or to any suck-up events. She didn’t even make any personal appearances to promote her last 3 albums, just print and radio interviews. The Olympics is so big, I can’t blame her for not wanting to subject herself to that. She doesn’t need the publicity, and she’s a happy, normal homebody.
That said, I’m glad the producers remembered her and showcased her music, even if the segment was a bit strange. Of course, the US network cut the entire segment from their broadcast so once again, she was ignored here. Millions of people everywhere else in the world got to hear that new remix of “Running Up That Hill” in its entirety.
Edit to add, she didn’t just “not show,” she was never scheduled to appear. There were rumors and she was asked, but declined. She didn’t just not show up and cause a problem. She recorded and gave them her song to use. She may be private but she is exceedingly professional.
Well, obviously, it’s just that I didn’t want the impression to stand that she was supposed to be there and pulled out at the last minute, or just didn’t show up, which is what gaffa’s comment unfortunately made it sound like, and what it sounded like you were responding to. It’s fine if you weren’t responding to that impression, but perhaps a lurker read it that way.
